Alan was previously CEO of the Chartered Insurance Institute, leading the premier professional body for insurance and financial planning. A chartered accountant with Ernst & Whinney, Alan is a Fellow of ICAEW, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and an Honorary Fellow of the Korean Institute of Architects.

Malcolm qualified as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant in 1981. He joined the ICAEW Council in 2005 and was elected President in 2024. He has worked in industry for the majority of his professional life, mainly as CFO of AIM-listed companies, across a wide range of sectors including property, childcare, mining, manufacturing, telecommunications, and construction. Amongst many other committee roles across ICAEW and its London District Society, he served as a member of the ICAEW Ethics Standards Committee from 2015 and was its Chair from 2018 to 2022. He is currently a member of HMRC's Administrative Burdens Advisory Board and of the Court of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Having worked in the public and private sectors for over 20 years, Alix is now a Sustainability lead at Zurich, both internally and externally, leading Zurich's response to emerging and evolving risk areas, with a focus on environmental and social risk areas. Strategic planning, performance management, program management, and business resilience are among her skills.

From 2004, Emma was employed as a Benefit Fraud Investigator prior to the transfer of Housing Benefit investigation, with Local Authority staff, to the Department for Work and Pensions. Not wishing to jump ship and following a successful bid for funding in 2015, Emma led the project to develop a Corporate Counter Fraud Service which supports all areas of Local Government. Working with Kate to create a shared service across five Councils, the team were made permanent from April 2019. Emma leads the continuing growth of the delivery and expansion of the service through legalities, regulations, and Local Government red tape to provide a service that is professional, resilient, and one that gives value for money.

Darshan is immersed in the world of AI & Generative AI. These technologies have the ability to transform industries by creating efficiencies in current processes, augmenting the skills already present within your teams and unlocking new business opportunities that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Darshan and his team work closely with clients to design AI-powered solutions, ensuring that every application is grounded in real-world commercial and business value.

Mark heads up the Public Sector Fraud Authority, which works with UK government departments and public bodies to better understand and reduce the impact of fraud. Mark is a fraud and financial crime expert, specialising in risk assessment and measurement.

Carol's most recent role was Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer at Manchester City Council. She led Manchester’s transformation programme and the Zero Carbon Action Plan, and her previous roles in Manchester include Assistant Chief Executive for Finance and Performance, and Assistant Director of Finance and Commissioning for Social Services. Carol has a wealth of experience in financial management, governance and assurance and fulfilling trustee roles. 

Oliver has led and coached teams across the UK, US and Europe, and has 1,000+ hours of coaching experience with big tech companies such as Microsoft, finance professionals from all the Big 4 firms, and tech start-ups. He is a Professional Credentialed Coach with the International Coaching Federation, an ICAEW Fellow Chartered Accountant and gained his Earth Sciences Master’s degree from Oxford.

Jo has over 20 years’ experience of public private partnerships. She was previously head of Private Finance Initiative policy at Infrastructure UK (HM Treasury); she led its review in 2011-12 and subsequently set up Treasury’s PFI equity investment unit. She was a director of their investment companies and several PFI project companies. She is the government appointee to the Board of the Oversight Trust - Assets for the Common Good.

Before joining CIPFA, Owen was Chief Executive of Hertfordshire County Council, where he also had leadership roles as lead local authority Chief Executive for the East of England region and as Vice-Chair of the Association of County Chief Executives. Owen moved to local government after spending eight years in the senior civil service, where he held finance director roles at the Home Office, HM Courts Service and the Legal Aid Agency.

James joined the MoJ in 2016 and is currently providing leadership across many of the department’s professional functions, including finance. He has previously held a number of roles including Deputy Chief Executive, Legal Aid Agency. Since April 2024 James has jointly headed the Government Finance Function.

Jessica Pulay was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) in July 2024, following the retirement of Sir Robert Stheeman. She joined the DMO in 2015 as Co-Head of Policy and Markets, with responsibility for the UK government’s debt issuance and cash management, as well as the policy, research and business operations areas. She has also been a member of the DMO’s Advisory Board since 2015. Prior to joining the DMO, Jessica spent 16 years at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London where she was Deputy Head of Funding, responsible for the EBRD’s borrowing programme and listed equity divestments. Earlier in her career Jessica worked as an executive director in the debt capital markets departments at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, and was also a managing director at Deutsche Bank, responsible for financing governments and supranational institutions.

Joshua is the Director of Counter Fraud and Corruption at the NAO where his role includes overseeing reports on fraud, corruption and transparency. Previously, Joshua led the NAO's value for money work relating to the Department for Work and Pensions, and their commercial and contracting insights work. He joined the NAO in 2002. Joshua has an executive MBA from the Bayes Business School.

Karina is the Director of Function, Insight and Profession at the IPA, government’s centre of expertise for major projects. She is responsible for growing professional capability, leading the data analytics and AI agenda and setting future-proofed standards across government project delivery. She is a Fellow of the APM and an accredited Master Practitioner.

Christian is a Project Director at the IPA with a focus on PFI expiry. He joined the IPA in 2020. Christian has a background as a lending banker, financial adviser and as PFI commercial director with Taylor Woodrow, John Laing and Skanska. Christian led the development of the IPA’s guidance on PFI Contract Expiry and Service Transition.

Sarah Williams is a seasoned CX professional with over two decades of experience, and is a Head Judge for the national Contact Centre Awards. With a passion for innovation and commitment to excellence, she drives CX initiatives to enhance the customer journey, streamline processes and implement cutting-edge technologies to meet the evolving needs of the community.