Owen Mapley has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). Mapley is the current Chief Executive of Hertfordshire County Council and will take on the CIPFA role in the coming months. The announcement follows the retirement of current CIPFA CEO Rob Whiteman. 

Mapley has held several senior roles in local and central government, after 12 years working at PwC. He has also been an NHS Integrated Care System board member for the last five years. 

Whiteman will work closely with Mapley during the transition period to ensure a seamless handover of  responsibilities. 

Caroline Rassell, President and member of the nominations committee, announced Owen’s  appointment after an open and extensive recruitment process. “The panel was impressed by his extensive experience in central and local government, and believes he is the right leader to take over the reins at CIPFA during this exciting period, to support our members and our public services,” she said. 

Mapley says CIPFA plays a unique and vital role at the heart of public service financial management in the UK and globally: “I feel both personally and professionally thrilled and honoured to be succeeding Rob, who has done so much both for CIPFA and wider public service. I look forward to joining CIPFA to lead its work to pursue sustainable, confident and resilient public services, ensuring public money is well managed for the benefit of us all.” 

Outgoing CEO Rob Whiteman offered his own congratulations to Mapley, and said how proud and privileged he felt to have led CIPFA over the past decade. “I’m sure CIPFA’s best years lie ahead, and I look forward to seeing it go from success to success under Owen’s stewardship.” 

ICAEW Chief Executive Michael Izza also offered his congratulations to Mapley: “ICAEW looks forward to working closely with him to strengthen further the strategic partnership between our two institutes, and to tackle the challenges facing local authority audit and financial reporting. We thank Rob Whiteman for the huge contribution he has made to the accountancy profession in this country and globally, and he has our very best wishes for life after CIPFA.”

FRC CEO Richard Moriarty said: “CIPFA’s ongoing support in developing measures to support timely local authority reporting and audit will be hugely important over the coming months and I look forward to working closely with Owen.”