Speakers

Jayne Owen, CIPFA President, Finance and Resource Director, North Wales Housing

Jayne is a CIPFA-qualified accountant with 30 years of public sector experience, including five as treasurer/director of finance. Prior to taking up this role she was director of finance (Police and Crime) for the Greater Manchester combined authority. This and previous roles involve significant complexity, with accountability for multi-million budgets and advising on the deployment of these resources. Areas of expertise include treasury management, financial planning, audit, procurement, commissioning, value for money, organisational transformation and effective governance.

Prior to taking up this role Jayne worked as treasurer for the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner and prior to that various roles for Trafford Council. She offers a breadth of experience that goes beyond her financial expertise, including public service reform, partnership working, estates strategy and performance management. Her career is rooted in the public sector, caring deeply for the role of the public, voluntary, social enterprise sector in society.

 

Sir David Sterling, former Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS)

David joined the Northern Ireland Civil service in 1978 and spent the early part of his career in the Police Authority for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Office. He was transferred to Central Finance Group in the Department of Finance and Personnel in early 2000 and served in Supply Division and Central Expenditure Division. He was responsible for coordinating public expenditure planning across the Northern Ireland departments. He was promoted to deputy secretary in January 2003 and transferred to the Department for Regional Development.

As Senior Finance Director he had responsibility for DRD’s resources and management services. David transferred to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in 2008 where he led the Department's Policy Group. He was appointed as Permanent Secretary of the Department in 2009. While in DETI he oversaw the implementation of a major review of economic policy in Northern Ireland and the development of the Executive’s 2012-2016 Economic Strategy. In 2014, David was transferred to the Department of Finance and Personnel where he led the Department through a three year period. David served as Head of the Civil Service from June 2017 until his retirement in August 2020.

 

Marc McAuley, Senior Counter Fraud Consultant, CIPFA

Marc is CIPFA's Senior Counter Fraud Consultant. He is also the institute's representative on the Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally board, the government’s Cross Sector Advisory Group and the CCAB’s Economic Crime Panel.

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Joanne Pitt, Policy Manager (Local Government), CIPFA

Joanne Pitt is an experienced local government adviser and has 25 years of public sector experience. She was responsible for the delivery of the CIPFA Financial Management Code and is an advocate of strong financial management and good governance. She is a national speaker and author of numerous publications on topics such as government funding, housing and financial sustainability.

 

Paul Gosling, Writer and Broadcaster

Paul Gosling is a writer and broadcaster, author of ‘A New Ireland’ and other books.

He is also a former councillor in England.

 

 

William Crawley, Journalist, BBC Television and Radio Presenter

William is an award-winning journalist and BBC presenter. He hosts Talkback, the daily current affairs discussion programme on BBC Radio Ulster, and Sunday on BBC Radio 4, and has written and presented scores of radio and television documentaries on subjects ranging from history and science to religion and literature. He is a recipient of the Eisenhower Fellowship, an honorary doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast for services to broadcasting, and, in 2019, was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy.

 

Colum Boyle, Permanent Secretary, Department for Communities

Colum took up the post of Permanent Secretary in the Department for Communities in April 2022. His early career focused on leading human resources and organisational development across a range of organisations. He has led a number of key statutory delivery organisations in Northern Ireland and he has undertaken a range of strategic business reviews to build operational capability and improve customer value. Colum previously held the post of Interim Permanent Secretary in the Department of Finance following his time as Deputy Secretary in Department for Communities responsible for leading the implementation of Welfare Reform in Northern Ireland.

 

Steve Mungavin, Chair of CIPFA Northern Ireland Branch

Steve has over 30 years' experience working in and with public bodies throughout the UK, Ireland and overseas.

He is a well known lecturer, consultant and trainer in leadership, strategy and corporate governance at a variety of levels including political, Chair, Board, CEO and senior executive, and trainee.

 

Ollie Thorn, Senior Manager, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Client Solutions, Michael Page

Ollie is passionate about making social change driven by his experience of life. Ollie has a disability and knows first hand the impacts of inclusive and diverse teams. Now working at Michael Page, running the team support our clients on their DE&I journey. Ollie is also chair of the disability employee resource group at PageGroup and a Trustee at the international humanitarian charity Humanity Inclusion.

 

Graham Oliver, Director MOORE Optima

Graham is Director of MOORE Optima, a consultancy that provides specialist accounting support into Local Government and the wider public sector. He is a qualified accountant with 30 years of experience in the public sector; including over ten years at senior management level. In addition to his financial and management accounting expertise, he has significant experience of managing large and multi-disciplinary teams. Graham has experience of IT and ERP system implementation and design projects across finance, HR, and procurement. Graham has worked across the public sector working in District, County and London Boroughs across his 30+ year career as well as with the Department for Transport, Cabinet Office, Government Property Agency in central government.

 

Dorinnia Carville, Comptroller and Auditor General, Northern Ireland Audit Office

Dorinnia is a Chartered Accountant who trained and worked in “Big 4” private sector accountancy firms in London and Belfast, before moving into public sector audit, joining the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) and gaining experience auditing a wide range of public bodies in Northern Ireland. Over the course of 11 years, Dorinnia held a number of positions in the NIAO including Financial Audit Director and Director of Corporate Services. Following the review of public administration, Dorinnia moved into local government as Director of Corporate Services at Newry Mourne and Down District Council in 2016. She was the senior financial officer within the Council, and was also responsible for a wide range of corporate services. Dorinnia was Acting Chief Executive of the Council from February 2022 until she took up the post of C&AG.

 

Robin Swann, Minister for Health at Department of Health Northern Ireland

Health Minister Robin Swann was appointed Minister of Health in the Northern Ireland Assembly on 11th January 2020. A father of two young children, he was first elected as an MLA for North Antrim in 2011. Before his appointment as Minister he held a number of posts including Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Chairman of the Employment and Learning Committee, Assembly Commissioner, as well as Party Leader and Chief Whip of the Ulster Unionist Party. He is an active member of Kells & Connor Community Association and has served as a Board member of the Volunteer Development Agency in Northern Ireland.

Karen Sanderson, Programme Director, CIPFA

Karen qualified with ACCA and is a CIPFA member. She has deep expertise in public sector financial management and public sector standard setting. She spent five years at HM Treasury, and in that period delivered the first ever Whole of Government Accounts. Karen initiated the cross government project to recommend how financial reports could be simplified and how they could better meet user needs.

Karen later joined the New South Wales (NSW Australia) Treasury using her expertise to set the accounting policy and financial management frameworks as well as cash management policies for the sector.  She subsequently led NSW Treasury advice across a portfolio of government departments and agencies driving value for money spending decisions. Karen is currently leading a project to develop the first ever global financial reporting guidance for non-profit organisations. She is a member of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board’s Consultative Advisory Group and the UK government's Financial Reporting Advisory Board.