Practical LawConferences

A graduate of King’s College, London, Steve joined Slaughter & May in 1970 where he qualified and was admitted as a solicitor, and a member of the Law Society in April 1972.

Steve practiced in the tax and corporate departments, and in 1975 he joined the legal department of Imperial Chemical industries Plc. In 1984, he was appointed one of ICI’s two assistant company secretary’s. In 1985 he was appointed Joint Secretary and General Counsel of Unilever in 1986, holding this office for 25 years. At Unilever, he was responsible for all legal, intellectual property and secretarial departments in the Head Offices in London and Rotterdam and was also responsible for Unilever legal services worldwide.  Steve current roles include: directorships at Croda International, Eversheds LLP, Spencer Stuart and Whitbread.

Sir Win Bischoff became Chairman of The Financial Reporting Council on 1 May 2014. He was previously Chairman of Lloyds Banking Group from 2009. Sir Win has substantial experience of leading complex international boards in the UK, Asia and the US. His background spans a range of sectors, including banking and capital markets, finance and government regulation and public policy.

He is a Non-Executive Director of The McGraw Hill Companies Inc., and is Chairman of the Advisory Council of TheCityUK. Sir Win was appointed Chairman of Citigroup Europe in 2000. He became the acting Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup Inc. in 2007 and was subsequently appointed as Chairman in the same year until his retirement in February 2009. Prior to this, he was the Group Chief Executive and then Chairman of Schroders.

Ben Mathews was appointed Group Company Secretary of HSBC Holdings plc on 1 July 2013.

Ben joined HSBC from Rio Tinto, where he had been Company Secretary since 2007, managing the dual listings in London and Sydney. Before that, he spent over five years with BG Group, the leading natural gas producer. He has extensive experience in international corporates, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and share listing across a range of companies. He qualified as a chartered company secretary with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London.

He graduated with honours in European Studies and French. After a period of postgraduate study he was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.

Susan Swabey has been Company Secretary of Smith & Nephew plc since May 2009, having previously held senior company secretarial roles at Amersham plc and Prudential plc.

Susan’s experience covers board support, corporate governance, corporate transactions, share registration, listing obligations, corporate social responsibility, pensions, insurance and employee, and executive share plans.

Susan is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars and sits on a number of industry working groups including the GC100 Executive Committee and the CBI Companies Committee reviewing and commenting on new market developments. She has a particular interest in registration and settlement matters.

Nicky Snook has been with British American Tobacco for nearly 20 years. She qualified as a lawyer in 1990 specialising in IP and left private practice to join BAT’s in-house trade mark department in 1995. Since then, Nicky has held a number of legal roles in BAT. In 2006 she was appointed Company Secretary and has been the Secretary to the Board, its Committees as well as the Executive Committee since then.  Nicky has a particular interest in the work of the Remuneration Committee and facilitated the Company’s consultation with shareholders over changes to its Remuneration Policy in 2013, prior to the binding policy vote at its AGM in April.

Following a career in the City David helped found Black Sun plc in 1992, taking over as CEO of the business in 2003.                                 Early on in his career, David recognised that against a backdrop of changing legislation and increasing stakeholder demands for greater transparency, disclosure and accountability, corporate reporting was a powerful platform to help companies build greater trust and confidence with investors and other stakeholders.

Under his leadership, Black Sun has developed a unique research-driven, strategic-led communications proposition which helps companies to understand and develop best practice reporting and communications programs to better meet the needs of stakeholders across multiple channels.  Over the last 12 years Black Sun has become one of the leading international corporate communications consultancies specializing in corporate reporting, working for blue chip clients from the UK, Russia, Europe, Singapore, the Middle East, China, Australia and South America.

As CEO, David’s principle concern is to ensure that Black Sun is able to meet both the current and future needs of its clients. To this end, Black Sun invests in an extensive research and events programme exploring best practice trends in reporting and communications, speaking at international events and collaborating with governments and industry bodies such as the FRC, IIRC, BIS and the IR Society, championing the views of preparers of reports.

Black Sun’s recent research includes pieces focusing on Reporting, ‘Realising the Benefits of Integrated Reporting’, ‘What Good Looks Like’ and ‘Complete 100: Reporting Trends in the FTSE 100’ and wider communications pieces such as  ‘Communicating a consistent corporate story’. Black Sun also participates and speaks at UK and international conferences, most recently the Singapore CFO Symposium, the IIRC Conference in Madrid and the World Congress for Accounting Educators and Regulators in Florence.

Sarah has been company secretary of Genel since July 2013 having joined the company in June 2012.  Prior to that she held senior positions and worked on many complex corporate transactions for the likes of Misys, Standard Chartered, RSA and Telewest (now Virgin Media). Sarah is a fellow of the ICSA and holds an MSc in corporate governance.

Sarah focuses on providing technical advice on compliance with corporate law and listed company regulation. Her role includes analysing new law and regulation to ensure that the firm is always at the forefront of corporate law and practice. She has extensive experience of international M&A transactions and equity capital raisings.

Sarah is a member of our London-based Corporate Governance Advisory Team and advises listed company clients on compliance matters, particularly in relation to new and upcoming developments. She co-authors and edits the firm’s widely respected “Guide to directors’ duties and liabilities

Mark Stevens was appointed Company Secretary of Amlin in 2012, having joined Amlin in 2011. Prior to working at Amlin, he was Deputy Company Secretary at Dixons, after working as Head of Corporate Governance at BT’s EMEA division.  He spent his early career working within the professional services before becoming a Senior Manager at Deloitte.

Mark’s special focus within Amlin has been developing the Remuneration Policy and attempting to strike the difficult balance between director, stakeholder and shareholder demands.

Deepa Raval is a Project Director in the Accounting and Reporting Policy team at the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Deepa leads the annual reports work steam including the project to develop Guidance on the Strategic Report as well as monitoring developments in narrative reporting in Europe and internationally.

Deepa also leads the FRC’s disclosure framework project and is the author of the FRC’s discussion paper ‘Thinking about disclosures in a broader context.

Prior to joining the FRC, Deepa worked in Financial Services at Deloitte in London and spent time in the in the National Accounting and Audit group where she co-authored Deloitte’s 2008 annual narrative reporting survey ‘Write from the start’.

Emily Carey is the Head of Governance at BP. She advises the Board as part of the Company Secretary’s Office, particularly in relation to the group’s corporate governance activities, corporate reporting and investor relations on governance issues. She is also Secretary to the Audit and Results Committees and BP’s International Advisory Board.

Before joining BP, Ms. Carey worked for Shell where she held a variety of financial and commercial roles and also chaired the UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) Gas Group.

Ms. Carey is a Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA) and has a BA Hons from Cambridge University and an MSc Regulatory Economics and Law from the London School of Economics. She also holds a Certificate in Investor Relations (CIR) from the IR Society.

Michael has been with Computershare for over 14 years, and has worked across business operations, services, products and client services. After working as a Senior Relationship Manager for seven years, he became Head of Industry Relations in 2011 and is actively involved in numerous market infrastructure initiatives and legislative developments impacting the registration industry. He is a qualified Company Secretary and the current Chair of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) Registrars’ Group

Alison Kennedy is Governance & Stewardship Director at Standard Life Investments where she has responsibility for governance engagement on a global basis and oversight of the global voting process and of client reporting. Corporate governance is an integral part of the investment process at Standard Life Investments and, as such, her role also involves working with the fund management team to provide input and insight into their decision-making process.

Alison, who has twenty five years experience in the investment industry, joined Standard Life Investments’ Governance & Stewardship team in April 2005. Her previous experience was as a UK fund manager/analyst working for several major investment institutions in London and Edinburgh including Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and Abbey National Asset Managers. She has a Business degree from Edinburgh University.

William Underhill is a Partner in Slaughter and May. He specialises in company law and corporate finance, including securities issues and mergers and acquisitions, acting for a number of major corporate clients on a wide range of transactions and advisory matters. He has been an editor of Weinberg & Blank on Takeovers since March 1995. He is Chairman of the City of London Law Society Company Law Committee and a member of the Financial Reporting Lab Steering Group.

Peter Swabey is Policy & Research Director at the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA). Based in London, he is responsible for developing the profile of the Institute to members, regulators, policymakers, employers and other stakeholders by delivering thought leadership and lobbying campaigns aligned to ICSA strategy and promoting strong governance as the vital ingredient for success in organisations.

Peter, who joined ICSA in 2013, has almost 30 years’ experience of the share registration industry. He joins from Equiniti where he was Company Secretary and Industry Leadership Director; he was also a Director of Equiniti David Venus, Equiniti’s Company Secretarial Services provider. Peter is a member of the ICSA Company Secretary’s Forum, the CBI Companies Committee, the QCA Corporate Governance Expert Group and the Shareholder Voting Working Group, as well as being an Alternate Member of the Takeover Panel and a past Chairman of the ICSA Registrars Group.

A history graduate, and Fellow of ICSA, Peter is a regular speaker at industry conferences and events, with an industry-wide reputation as an expert on shareholder and corporate governance matters.

Cameron Craig is deputy general counsel and group head of data privacy at HSBC, a role which he took on in September last year. In this new role he has responsibility for advising the Bank on global data privacy risks and appropriate measures to address these risks. Before joining HSBC Cameron was a partner in DLA Piper’s IP & Technology Team where he built and was the co-chair of DLA Piper’s EU Data Protection and Privacy Team. He worked as an engineer before turning to the law and his practice retains a strong technology focus. He has extensive experience in advising on outsourcing transactions and in managing and implementing global data protection solutions for international businesses. Cameron has managed many multi-jurisdictional projects, co-ordinating advice on compliance with data protection legislation across the world and advising clients on strategies for cloud adoption. Cameron is recognised as a data protection expert in Chambers for both UK and international data protection law which in 2010 stated that “he is well respected by market observers, who recommend him for his client-friendly and commercial approach” and in 2011 states that he is “technically second to none,” while clients value his “approachable manner and commercial advice.” The 2012 edition of Legal 500 recommends Cameron for “co-ordinating privacy projects for blue-chip clients” and the UK data protection team for providing ‘top-notch commercial advice’ on regulatory compliance matters, including for online products, international data transfers and security breach issues. He is also a regular contributor to journals and is the author of the data protection chapter for the Communications Law Handbook published recently by Bloomsbury Professional.

Jane Jenkins is co-head of the Defence Sector group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and has been a partner at the firm since 1996.

Jane is a member of the firm’s cross-jurisdictional cyber security skills team advising on risk assessment, mitigation and crisis management. Her practice covers transactional, regulatory and contentious mandates. She is also legal adviser to the CBI and ICC’s task forces addressing public sector procurement and trade.

Michael Kempe joined the Capita Registrars board in July 2007 as Operations Director, responsible for industry issues as well as for all operations relating to registration, corporate actions, investor relations and corporate reconciliations.

Michael is now Chief Development Officer of Capita Registrars and is responsible for all product development, projects and industry issues.

Tim Ward is CEO of the Quoted Companies Alliance, the independent membership organisation that champions the interests of small to mid-size quoted companies. Through effective policy campaigns, events and publications the QCA helps quoted companies use the public markets effectively, helping them build long-term value for shareholders.

Tim’s past roles include Head of Issuer Services at the London Stock Exchange, Finance Director at FTSE and various management roles at a quoted company.  He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at PwC, has a MBA from Henley Business School and is a qualified coach and mentor.

David Fuller, FCIS, is a Chartered Company Secretary with over 15 years’ company secretarial experience.  He has worked for a broad range of listed and non-listed companies including the Financial Services Authority, Diageo plc and Sportingbet plc.  He is Company Secretary and Head of Group HR for CLS Holdings plc, a Premium Listed FTSE Small-Cap company, where he has been for the last 5 years.

Vanessa co-heads Linklaters’ operational intelligence group and heads the firm’s sustainability practice, focusing on risk management, regulation and governance, including advising on emerging environmental and safety policy, regulatory compliance, and on sustainability issues in projects and transactions.

Relevant experience includes:

Advising funds and corporate clients on the CRC energy efficiency scheme with regard to the delineation of their organisational perimeter

General CRC advice on qualifying energy consumption, and in the context of transactions and insolvency

Advising listed Companies Act companies on the new requirement for mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions

Reviewing the sustainability reports for several listed companies

Providing legal input on a pro bono basis to DECC on proposals for the minimum energy performance standard for leased commercial property

Linklaters is ranked as the leading London environmental practice in Chambers 2014, and Vanessa is described as “a standout lawyer in the world of environmental law”.  She is in the global top ten list of environmental lawyers in International Who’s Who of Lawyers and in June 2104 won the Best in Environment, Europe Women in Business Law Award.

Madeleine is Senior Manager with TMF Group’s UK company secretarial business and has been a company secretary for over 25 years both in industry and in professional practice, including three years working offshore. She was company secretary of a FTSE250 retailer for eight years and has assisted many listed FSTE and AIM clients with their governance and company secretarial practices before and after their flotations.  Madeleine has served on various committees of the Quoted Companies Alliance which supports smaller FTSE and AIM companies and arranged joint technical and networking events on new developments including the Bribery Act. She has recently acted as Interim Secretary for a FTSE 100 company through a hostile takeover bid. Madeleine regularly carries out corporate governance effectiveness assessments and Company Secretariat reviews and delivers face to face training for directors as well as developing an online programme.  She is joint author of Shackleton’s Law of Meetings, delivers training courses for MBL, a regular speaker at conferences and is also a mentor for the Association of Women Chartered Secretaries. 

Deborah is responsible for the implementation of Railpen’s global corporate governance and shareholder engagement policies. This involves both direct company engagement and market policy work to address corporate governance risk and improve shareholder rights in the markets in which Railpen invests.

Deborah is a non-executive director of the Railways Benefit Fund and a Fellow of the UK’s Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. She holds the CFA’s Investment Management Certificate. Deborah started her governance career in December 2000 at the UK’s Co-operative Insurance Society.

Deborah is the founder of The 100% Club, a network for female governance professionals. She read Mathematics and English at the University of Manchester and previously worked in corporate tax at Ernst & Young. 

Claire Davies has nearly 30 years’ experience in legal, compliance and company secretarial roles, principally in the banking and insurance sectors. She is a qualified solicitor and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries, with a broad background gained in private practice, in house and professional services. She is currently Company Secretary at the Co operative Group having joined in March 2014 to lead their Governance Reform Project. Prior to that, she spent 5 years at Lloyds Banking Group at the height of the banking crisis, as Deputy then Company Secretary. She spent a number of years Legal & General Group ending up as Company Secretary having held a variety of senior legal and compliance roles, including Compliance Policy Director.  She also spent 4 years in Ernst & Young’s Financial Services Risk & Regulatory Practice, where, as a Director, she was responsible for delivering a number of large regulatory reform projects.

Tom is a corporate partner and co-head of Linklaters’ newly established Operational Intelligence Group, which focuses on risk, regulation and governance. Tom has significant experience in M&A and equity capital markets transactions in the United States, Europe and South Africa, having acted as the lead U.S. adviser on a number of high profile and complex transactions in recent years. He also provides U.S. corporate law and SEC-reporting advice to a number of the firm’s largest clients. Tom is also chair of the firm’s Corporate Responsibility Committee.

Representative examples include advising:

An SEC-registered company in the extractive industry on an SEC-investigation and a global compliance review throughout the U.S., Africa, Australia, Asia and Latin America

A UK plc in connection with the design of its compliance and governance framework

The United Nations Global Compact on its Global Corporate Counsel Initiative

AMEC plc in connection with its $3.3 billion offer for Foster Wheeler AG

Rio Tinto in connection with the $142 billion unsolicited offer by BHP Billiton

The Royal Bank of Scotland in connection with the €71.1 billion cash and share offer for ABN AMRO

Gold Fields Limited and Sibanye Gold Limited on the spin-off and NYSE listing of Sibanye

National Grid in connection with its £3.2 billion rights issue

Rio Tinto in connection with its $15.2 billion rights issue

Jonathan was formerly an audit partner in PwC in Moscow and London, where his responsibilities at one time included researching new methods of audit, during which he was able to experiment with new audit approaches at some of the firm’s top worldwide clients.  Since he co-founded Independent Audit Limited as a governance advisory firm in 2002, it has become a market leader in board effectiveness reviews and other high-level governance advice at clients ranging from very large to quite small.  This has given him a very broad perspective but he has retained his interest in external audit and is a regular contributor to the public policy debate as well as advising clients on audit tenders and external audit effectiveness.  Jonathan has been the audit committee chairman of a foreign-owned bank in London, is a member of the ICAEW’s Financial Services Risk and Regulation sub-committee and has twice been invited to give evidence on audit before Parliamentary Committees.  His monograph on external audit, Thinking Not Ticking, was published by the Centre for Studies in Financial Innovation in 2003.

Adrian de Souza qualified as a solicitor in 1997. He specialised in corporate finance and M&A at Clifford Chance before joining SABMiller in 2004.

Adrian worked in a number of global roles within SABMiller prior to joining Land Securities, the FTSE 100 commercial property group, as its Group General Counsel and Company Secretary in 2010.

Rosemary Lemon is Group Head of Reward, Pensions and Benefits for Legal & General, a position she has held for the past six years.  She is responsible for executive remuneration and associated Corporate Governance, global mobility, pensions and all employee benefits including share schemes.  Rosemary has over 25 years’ experience of working in the business as well as in the reward area of Human Resources.  She has experienced several different types of industry including oil and gas (Texaco Ltd), container shipping and logistics (P&O Nedlloyd Ltd) and luxury retail (Burberry Ltd).  She sat on the Financial Reporting Lab panels reporting to the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) helping to evaluate some of the questions in the new BIS legislation.

Julian joined Unilever in 2004 and has been Head of the PLC Secretariat since 2011.  He is actively involved with the Board and its committees in the development of corporate governance, and is Secretary to both the Audit Committee and Disclosure Committee.

Prior to Unilever, Julian held company secretarial roles in Chrysalis Group Plc and Computacenter Plc.

Julian is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.

Jonathan Lloyd joined Tesco in April 2005 and was appointed Group Company Secretary in December 2006.  He has worked closely with two chairmen and two CEOs to develop the governance structures and processes of the business and build a strong corporate secretariat function to support them.  Jonathan has also been Company Secretary of Tesco Bank since 2009.

Jonathan previously spent 10 years as a solicitor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in their London, Paris and Bangkok offices, working in the general corporate, commercial and corporate finance areas.

Jonathan also spent three years at Morgan Stanley supporting their investment banking business and managing legal coverage of their French business and e-commerce initiatives.

Jonathan is married with three sons and lives in London.

Sacha Sadan leads LGIM’s Corporate Governance team. The team performs a highly active role in engaging with the companies LGIM invests in, seeking to deliver the best possible long-term value for shareholders. Prior to joining LGIM, Sacha worked for Gartmore where he was a Senior UK Equity Fund Manager and co-managed a range of UK equity hedge, retail and institutional funds. Sacha was the top-rated Pan-European Fund Manager in the Thomson Reuters Extel Awards in 2010, as voted by UK companies and key sell-side participants. Prior to Gartmore, Sacha was the lead UK Equity Fund Manager of a £4bn pension fund for the Universities Superannuation Scheme. Sacha is a member of the CFA institute and holds a BA in Accounting and Finance from Manchester University.

Lisa has worked for Equiniti, formerly Lloyds TSB Registrars, for 27 years.  During this time she has held various management positions and for the past 13 years has been heading up a team dedicated to the delivery of shareholder meetings.  This specialist area has seen increased focus and a lot of change over the past few years such as updates to the Companies Act, Shareholders Rights Directive and Listing Rules.  Lisa personally manages a number of high profile relationships and has dealt with numerous contentious meetings, including requisitioned meetings/resolutions, adjournments and ad-hoc procedural matters.

Kate Anthony Wilkinson is Head of Group Legal and Company Secretary for Mulberry, an English luxury leather goods manufacturer and retailer, famous for its iconic leather bags such as the Bayswater and Alexa bags. Kate is a Solicitor and is responsible for all legal facets of Mulberry’s global business, including company secretarial issues, governance and compliance; commercial contracts; intellectual property and brand protection; retail and property issues as well as any legal mattes arising out of e-commerce. Mulberry, an AIM company, has an established global presence, with shops in Europe, USA and Far East, as well as its strong presence in the UK. Previously to Mulberry, Kate was Head of Legal for Alcan Aluminium, a Canadian mining, metals and packing group, and has been Head of Legal and Company Secretary for a number of packaging and aluminium companies as well as previously being a corporate finance lawyer with a private law firm. Kate is a prolific writer of articles and blogs for a variety of legal and commercial matters for UK publications.

Victoria Whyte, Solicitor and FCIS has over 20 years experience as a company secretary in a wide range of businesses covering Board support, corporate governance, corporate transactions, pensions, insurance and employee and executive share plans. She joined GlaxoSmithKline in August 1998 as Director, Secretariat Services was appointed Deputy Company Secretary in 2005 and Company Secretary with effect from 1^st January 2011. Her team provides company secretarial and Corporate Governance support to the GSK Board and its UK business, as well as servicing the Company’s shareholders though liaison with the Company’s registrars and depositary. Previously, she was Deputy Company Secretary at Vickers, she trained as a Company Secretary with BAE Systems and has also worked in the Secretariats of Coats Viyella, St Ives and Schroders.

Julia Morton qualified as a Chartered Secretary in 1992 and started her career working in the group secretariats of FTSE 100 companies dealing with a range of listed company and private company compliance work. She is currently Company Secretary of Camellia, a FTSE Small Cap global conglomerate with 75,000 employees and is responsible for legal, compliance, pensions, insurance and CSR matters.

A co-founder of Independent Audit, Richard has worked extensively with clients on governance and has particular expertise in risk, assurance and ethics. His clients include numerous global and FTSE 100 companies where he has undertaken reviews of board and committee effectiveness and provided support to audit committees with independent reviews of the effectiveness of internal audit, external audit and risk management. He has published widely on governance issues, particularly around behaviour and culture and its impact on governance.

Richard is currently audit committee chairman of Russia’s largest coal producer, SUEK and previously chaired the audit committee of Eurochem a global fertiliser company. He was formerly a partner in the risk management practice of PwC and started his career with the Bank of England and HM Treasury.

Patrick Gonsalves joined Barclays in 2000 and became Deputy Secretary in June 2002.  Prior to Barclays he was with National Westminster Bank PLC from 1993 to 2000 where he was an Assistant Secretary.  Before that he was at Lloyds Bank PLC from 1980 to 1993.  Patrick is a Chartered Secretary with over 25 years company secretarial experience.

Tonia has a degree in law from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.  She initially worked at Linklaters for six years and has been at Unilever since.  At Unilever Tonia was initially a corporate/commercial lawyer  before becoming the  General Counsel for Unilever’s UK/Irish businesses in 2003. Between 2010 and 2013 Tonia was both Group Secretary and Chief Legal Counsel for the Unilever Group. The roles split in 2013 and, as Group Secretary, Tonia is now company secretary of both the UK and Dutch head companies of Unilever (Unilevers PLC and N.V.).

Edward is responsible for the management of the UK Equity Unconstrained Fund.  He is also responsible for analysing the general industrial, industrial engineering, electronics & electrical equipment, and auto & parts sectors.

Nick is a specialist technology lawyer, a fluent Japanese speaker and a data protection specialist.  Much of Nick’s commercial work focuses on the cloud computing, e-commerce and online services sector and the data protection and privacy issues arising from the cross-border provision of cloud-based services, mobile apps and e-commerce, particularly for Japanese and US cloud service providers. Nick started his legal career with the IP/IT team of Baker & McKenzie in London before joining the Corporate/TMT team of Herbert Smith’s Tokyo office in August 2007.  He joined White & Black in 2012.

Stephen joined Deloitte UK as a Partner in November 2008. He has 20 years’ experience in advising companies on compensation strategy and equity incentives, having previously been head of executive compensation and leader of Mercer’s human capital business in Western Europe.

Stephen has extensive experience of advising companies in the UK, Ireland, US and Asia on all aspects of executive remuneration, including total compensation reviews, long term incentive design and consultation with institutional investors.

Stephen has recently provided advice to a number of high profile FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 clients.

Stephen is a qualified actuary and a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries in Ireland.

Gareth leads the firm’s dedicated corporate governance advisory practice and is recognised as a leading individual in the International Who’s Who of Corporate Governance. He has more than thirty years’ experience as a corporate lawyer.
Gareth advises clients in a broad range of industries, and on matters ranging from very large public M&A deals, to private company transactions and board level advice. He regularly writes for legal publications on topics such as corporate governance, corporate restructuring and directors’ duties.

Nikki Mitchell is Head of Deloitte’s FTSE Audit Practice. She is a Senior Partner, a member of the Audit Executive and the UK Leadership team. She has over 25 years of experience auditing and advising international clients across a broad range of sectors and industries.

Nikki is the lead audit partner for a number of Deloitte’s major listed global audit clients. Current and recent clients include: Mondi, Dixons Carphone, Melrose, Bodycote, Rotork and WPP.

She graduated with a BA in Russian and German from Bristol University in 1988 and became a partner in 1999.  She is a fellow of the ICAEW.

Nikki is married to Gary and has a thirteen year old daughter, Thalia, with whom she goes horse riding. She plans holidays with a passion and enjoys the theatre, food and fine wine

Robert Amaee is a partner in Covington’s White Collar Defence and Investigations practice. He is recognized internationally as a leading white collar crime lawyer specializing in governmental and regulatory
investigations. He advises companies and senior individuals on serious economic crime matters, internal investigations, disclosures to governmental and regulatory authorities and the development of effective
compliance programs. According to Chambers UK 2014, “clients value his pragmatic and attentive manner.”
Before joining Covington, Dr. Amaee served as Head of Anti-Corruption and Head of Proceeds of Crime at the UK Serious Fraud Office, leading the investigation and prosecution of high-profile bribery and money
laundering cases. He led the negotiations that resulted in civil settlements in the cases of Johnson & Johnson, MW Kellogg/KBR and Macmillan Publishers. He also served as the SFO’s Head of International Assistance working with governmental and regulatory agencies including the Financial Conduct Authority, City of London
Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Ministry of Justice, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as International Financial Institutions, including the
World Bank. He represented the SFO on the UK Attorney General’s Working Group tasked with drafting the UK Bribery Act Prosecutors’ Guidance, the UK Foreign Bribery Strategy Board and the Prosecutors’
forum at the OECD. Dr. Amaee is admitted to practice as a barrister in England and Wales,
and has defended and prosecuted cases in the UK criminal courts. He also has practical business experience having worked in business development roles across EMEA for VeriSign Inc. and APC Inc. Dr. Amaee holds a Ph.D. in medical research and a B.Sc. in life sciences.

Sam has worked in information security for the last 16 years, across a wide variety of industries including government, telecommunications, consultancy, finance and oil & gas. Since joining BP he has held a number of positions within BP’s Digital Security team including Chief Security Architect, Digital Security Officer for Corporate Functions and Head of Security Risk Management. Sam is currently the Head of Cyber Security Strategy, accountable for ensuring that the company has an approach for managing current and emerging cyber threats.