Practical LawConferences

Annemarie is an independent non-executive director on the boards of Santander UK PLC and WHSmith Plc serving on multiple board committees for each company. She is Chair of the Listing Authority Advisory Panel, the body that advises the Financial Conduct Authority on the effectiveness of the listed debt and equity markets. In addition Annemarie provides board and  effectiveness advice and is an executive coach.

Annemarie had a 25 year career as an international banker. She was a member of the Group Executive Committee of Standard Chartered, the body responsible for shaping the Group’s overall strategic direction and execution priorities. She spent the last 15 years in and around boards including as CEO and Executive Director of a publicly listed bank in Thailand. As part of her broader executive responsibilities, Annemarie spent 8 years as Group Company Secretary for Standard Chartered PLC, the FTSE100 international bank that is also listed in Hong Kong & India.She was responsible for corporate governance across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.

Annemarie started her career as a barrister and solicitor in New Zealand. She has a MSc in Executive Coaching and is an accredited conflict mediator. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries. Annemarie is married with four children.

Sir Michael Rake, knighted in 2007 is chairman of BT Group plc (2007) and Worldpay Group plc (2015).  He is also a director of S&P Global (2008), and chairman of Majid AL Futtaim Holdings LLC (2010).

Mike’s business advisory roles include chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce UK, his membership of the Advisory Council for Business for New Europe, and Board of the TransAtlantic Business Council. He is also a Senior Adviser for Chatham House and a member of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation Global Advisory Board.  Mike is a William Pitt Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge.  Mike is also Vice President of the RNIB.

Before joining Land Securities in September 2015, Tim spent 5 years as the Group General Counsel and Company Secretary at Mothercare plc at a time of frequent change within the company. Prior to this, Tim worked at Yum Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) as Regional Counsel  for Europe and Africa, and as a Senior International Counsel at PepsiCo working in various businesses in the UK, Eastern Europe and Africa. Tim started his career working for Dentons as a Solicitor where he specialised in commercial law.

In his role as Group General Counsel for Land Securities, Tim heads the Legal, Company Secretarial and Real Estate Information Management teams. He sits on the Executive Committee and his broad responsibilities cover all legal and company secretarial matters affecting the company (including the AGM) as well as working closely with the Chairman and the Board of Directors.

Paula is the international head of our specialist privacy and information law group which comprises 80+ lawyers. With a strong background in information technology law, Paula has developed extensive experience in data protection/privacy, cyber security and record retention law domestically and internationally over 20 years of practice.  Her international experience of these issues across the globe is extensive reflecting that, unlike many counterparts in other firms, her practice is dedicated to the privacy & information law area, recently working on data protection projects covering 60+ countries. She advises on international compliance programmes, GDPR readiness and preparation programmes, regulator investigations, privacy & technology/product development and the handling of data security and cyber security incidents. She has particular sectoral expertise in financial services, consumer/retail, TMT and life sciences.

Paula is frequently involved with cutting edge work, such as advising clients on how to deal with transfers to the US following the ECJ Schrems Case; geolocation tracking of employees to improve efficiency; adoption of security and monitoring tools to address insider risks; Internet of Things projects and “big data” advice for clients developing new products. Paula is also recognised as a leading advisor in cyber related law and has assisted many clients to prepare for and respond to events effectively.  Paula regularly publishes and speaking on this subject, as well as having been engaged in complex cases challenging ICO decisions.

Noted in Chambers as “an incredible lawyer – practical, knowledgeable and able to assemble a great team.” She is well known for her cross-border expertise in this field.

Rob is an experienced company secretary, having held this office with brewer and pub group Greene King, platinum miner Lonmin and, most recently, an interim appointment with Domino’s Pizza Group. His experience spans a very broad range of corporate governance, legal and company secretarial areas and Lonmin won numerous awards for its corporate reporting during his tenure.

Rob is now a non-executive director of AIM-quoted Franchise Brands plc, for whom he chairs the Remuneration Committee, and runs his own consulting business Governance Professionals Ltd.   He serves on the Chairman’s Committee of the ICSA Company Secretaries Forum and is a former member of the Executive Committee of the GC100.   He was ICSA’s Company Secretary of the Year for 2014.

Sir Win Bischoff is Chairman of the Financial Reporting Council in the United Kingdom and Chairman of JP Morgan Securities plc.  He is a Director of S&P Global Inc, and is a member of the International Advisory Board of Akbank TAS, Turkey.

He was previously Chairman of Lloyds Banking Group plc (2009-2014). Sir Win has substantial experience of leading complex international committees and boards. His background spans a range of sectors, including banking and capital markets, finance and government regulation and public policy.  He was CEO and then Chairman of Schroders plc (1984-2000), Chairman of Citigroup Europe (2000-2009) and interim CEO and then Chairman of Citigroup Inc (2007-2009).  Since 1983 he has served on the boards of 10 major public companies (5 in the UK, 3 in the US, 2 in Europe).

Sir Win was awarded a Knighthood in the New Year Honours List in 2000 for services to the banking industry, and an Honorary Doctorate in Science by City University, London in the same year.  In 2016 he was awarded a Non-Executive Director Lifetime Achievement Award.

Magnus protects individual and corporate reputations by helping clients to manage unwanted media attention. He is frequently called upon before stories are published or broadcast to prevent inaccuracy and stop businesses and prominent individuals from being defamed or private information being published. Magnus also advises on information security and manages the risk to reputation that arises in the event of data loss. Magnus is ranked as a leader in his field in Chambers & Partners and the Spear’s 500 Index.

Brad is the Global Chief Privacy Officer for Aon. Headquartered in London, Aon plc is the leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage and a global leader in human capital and management consulting. With an employee base of 65,000 colleagues in 500 offices in more than 120 countries, Aon is responsible for significant amounts of personal information relating to its own employees and that of its clients.

Brad is member of the Data Protection Working Group for BIPAR, the European Federation of Insurance Intermediaries and has been involved in the review of the General Data Protection Regulation for BIPAR members. Brad qualified as a solicitor in Australia and after working in private practice moved to the United Kingdom. Prior to working at Aon Brad was Corporate Counsel at McAfee and Vice President Legal and Compliance at Morgan Stanley and legal counsel at ABN AMRO Bank in London.

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.

Emily Carey is the Head of Governance at BP p.l.c. 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.

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.

Carol was appointed Company Secretary of Halma plc in 1998 having originally joined Halma in 1995 as Group Finance Manager.  Carol is also a non-executive director of Renishaw plc where she chairs the Audit Committee. Prior to Halma, Carol spent three years with English China Clays plc. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen and is a mathematics graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Virginia.

Appointed as Rolls-Royce Company Secretary in October 2014.  Pamela has been a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators since 1997, and is an expert in governance and company law.  She has held a variety of company secretary roles throughout her career.  She joined Rolls-Royce from Centrica plc, where she was head of secretariat.  Pamela’s previous roles also include group company secretary and a member of the executive committee at The Rank Group plc and company secretary & head of legal at RAC plc.

Area of expertise is governance, advisory and administrative support to the Board and Board Committees.

Specific responsibilities are organising Board and Board Committee meetings, ensuring that information flows to the Board and Board Committees to ensure proper oversight, taking and circulating minutes of Board and Board Committee meetings.  Assisting the Nominations and Governance Committee with plans for Directors’ induction and ongoing training.  Assisting the Chairman with arrangements for the AGM.  Planning and production of the Annual Report and Accounts.

Rick Cudworth is the UK Lead Partner for Resilience & Crisis Management services at Deloitte.

Rick has over 25 years’ industry-leading experience in Resilience & Crisis Management. He has been interim Group Head of Resilience & Crisis Management at two global banks and has supported and facilitated executive leadership teams in responding to crisis events such as Pandemic, Mumbai Terrorist Attack, Share Price Crash and Hurricane Sandy. He has undertaken several high-profile Independent Post-Event Reviews examining the root causes and effectiveness of response to crisis events. These include the RTGS outage at Bank of England, failure of public healthcare response system and the events leading to delayed market opening of a major overseas stock exchange.

He is Chair of the British Standards Institute Technical Committee for Continuity and Resilience and was a contributor and review panel member for BS 11200: Crisis Management and BS 65000: Organisational Resilience.

He is a leading member of Deloitte’s Global Centre for Crisis Management, providing an integrated crisis service to some of the world’s largest organisations, covering crisis readiness, response and recovery. In the UK he is responsible for Deloitte’s Crisis Management services encompassing specialists in crisis advisory, cyber, forensics, financial restructuring and claims management.

Anna has been with Diageo plc for 13 years, working within their in house Registrar and Employee Share Plans team in Edinburgh.  Having held various roles throughout her career with Diageo, including a secondment to the Company’s Secretarial department in the London head office, she currently acts as Shares Process and Projects Manager.

Her role is to provide change and implementation management to ensure all process and policy requirements are embedded across the team.  As a member of the ICSA Registrars Group and associate member of the Institute, she monitors industry developments and changes affecting share plan and share registration practices, implementing the resultant requirements within the Diageo operation.

A Chartered Accountant with 7 years’ experience in Audit at Deloitte, Heather joined Price Waterhouse in 1990 and was a headhunter for 12 years in their Executive Search and Selection division, before becoming an Associate Director at Veredus.  Heather’s search and selection expertise at senior levels spans the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.  Since 2006, she has focused on leadership development and, alongside this, has gained an MSc in Executive Coaching from Ashridge Business School.  Heather splits her time between leadership development work at senior level in both the public and private sectors and one to one coaching and career transition.  With her business background, headhunting experience and leadership development expertise, she is very well-placed to work with both corporate and individual clients.

• Oversees Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy and integration across geographies and asset classes from 2014.
• Responsible for Corporate Governance policy and implementation.
• 19 years investment experience.
• Fund manager on Prime team since 2006 which manages c.£9bn.  Specific responsibility for managing c. £1.6bn in ethical equity mandates.
• Extensive analytical experience covering financials and utilities on a Pan-European and Global basis.
• Joined Schroders in 1997 on the Graduate Trainee Scheme.
• Member UK Investment Association Corporate Governance and Engagement Committee.  Steering Group for BankingFutures.
• ASIP, Associate of the CFA Society of the UK.
• Degree in History, Bristol University.

Jonathan has spent much of the last decade focusing on governance.  He is a recognised expert in the review of boards and committees, as well as additional expertise in the effectiveness of risk management, internal audit and external audit.

Jonathan has participated in over 60 board and committee reviews, many of them at FTSE 100 companies.  He has also worked with subsidiaries, private companies, pensions fund trustee boards and public sector organisations.

He was previously a partner with PwC in London and Moscow and has been a non-executive director and audit committee chairman of a foreign-owned bank in London.  He is a regular speaker and writer on governance issues and sits on the ICAEW’s Financial Services Risk and Regulation Committee.  In 2011 he was expert witness for FSA Enforcement in a case involving governance and risk management in the London branch of a global wealth manager.

Nick leads Deloitte’s reward legal team. Having qualified as a Solicitor in 1998, he spent the majority of his career at Clifford Chance and has over 15 years’ experience advising a wide range of companies on the implementation and operation of their employee share plans in the UK and globally.

Michael joined Capita Registrars in January 2007 after having spent 11 years with the Euroclear Group. Michael joined the Capita Registrars board in July 2007 and become Chief Operating Officer in March 2015. His current responsibilities include operational functions, compliance, legal, people and organisational development, service excellence and industry matters.

Prior to joining Capita, Michael worked for Chase Manhattan Bank and CRESTCo, which became part of Euroclear in 2002. At Euroclear, Michael was responsible for creating a harmonised corporate actions platform for the Euroclear group. In addition to meeting this challenge in the Belgian, Dutch, French, Irish and UK markets, Michael was Chairman of the European Central Securities Depositories Association’s Working Group 5 and was also co-Chairman of the ISO 15022 Global Market Practices Group defining global market practice in relation to ISO 15022 and corporate actions.

Vanessa is an independent consultant specialising in UK corporate law and corporate governance. She is the chair of the company law committee of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Union (CCBE) and is a member of the informal expert group on company law set up by the European Commission.

Vanessa was a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP for many years and has advised listed and private companies and charities on company law and corporate governance matters. She was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for services to corporate law in 2007.

She lectures in company law and corporate governance at University College London and is a visiting professor at Queen Mary University of London.  She is a member and former chairman of the City of London Law Society Company Law Committee.

Andy Lewis is Company Secretary and General Counsel of Intermediate Capital Group plc, a FTSE 250 listed Alternative Asset Manager. Prior to joining ICG, he spent eleven years in legal practice with Slaughter and May and Ashurst LLP, specialising in company law, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. He is qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales and is a graduate of Oxford University.

Kevin Massie is the Corporate Counsel and Company Secretary for Tullow Oil plc, a FTSE 250 oil & gas company focusing on oil exploration and production in Africa.  Kevin joined Tullow in 2011 as a legal advisor in Tullow’s Cape Town office before relocating to London with the company in 2014.   Kevin advises Tullow on a wide range of issues including corporate governance, corporate finance, structuring, M&A and tax.  Prior to joining Tullow, Kevin was an associate at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Canada and at Ashurst LLP in Dubai

Liz started her career as a solicitor at Linklaters specialising in M&A before moving in-house to work in the corporate legal team at Vodafone working on M&A and corporate advisory work.   It was in the course of this role that Liz realised her true passion lay with corporate governance and so made a switch to the corporate secretariat team and went on to qualify as a company secretary.  Liz now leads the Corporate Secretariat team at Vodafone ensuring best practice corporate governance and compliance for Vodafone Group Plc and its subsidiaries.

Alex is the Group General Counsel and Company Secretary at Novae Group plc and leads the legal, company secretarial and compliance functions.  Prior to joining Novae, Alex was Emerging Markets General Counsel at RSA responsible for the legal and compliance across Asia, Latin America, Central & Eastern Europe and the Middle East.  Prior to moving in house in 2007, Alex practised as a corporate lawyer in two leading City firms.

Ken is a regular speaker at events such as the ISSA Dragon’s Den, (ISC)2 Chapter events and CREST (Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers), where he sits on the board. He’s also an Executive Member of the “Internet of Things Security Forum”, a body that aims to promote best security practice and the application of controls in smart device manufacturing, and spoke out on IoT security design flaws at the forum’s inaugural event. He’s also not averse to getting deeply techie, regularly participating in hacking challenges and demos at Black Hat, 44CON, DefCon and Bsides.

Ken has a wealth of experience in penetration testing but it’s the systems and objects we come into contact with on an everyday basis that really pique his interest. This has seen him hack everything from keyless cars and a range of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, from wearable tech to children’s toys and smart home control systems. This has gained him notoriety among the national press, leading to regular appearances on BBC TV and BBC News online as well as the broadsheet press. He’s also a familiar contributor to industry magazines, penning articles for the legal, security, insurance, oil and gas, and manufacturing press.

Zoë Newman is a Managing Director in Kroll’s Investigations and Disputes practice, based in the London office. Zoë is responsible for financial investigations across the EMEA region. She has extensive experience in leading complex, cross-border forensic investigations into matters of fraud, corruption, and potential regulatory breaches, including those relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and UK Bribery Act. She also advises clients on how to best implement controls to mitigate these risks.

Since joining Kroll in 2000, Zoë has developed particular expertise in advising governments and corporates in emerging and frontier markets in the investigation of corruption and related asset recovery. This has expanded to include the detection of financial crime and fraud risk within the banking sector on behalf of central banks and other supervisory functions in such markets.

Zoë’s broad range of investigative expertise spans forensic accounting, data analysis, and asset tracing across complex corporate structures and multiple jurisdictions. She has spent significant periods of time working across Eastern Europe and the CIS, as well as in the Middle East.

Andrew is responsible for representing The Investment Association members interests as institutional investors on corporate governance and engagement matters. He has oversight of The Investment Association’s Institutional Voting Information Service (IVIS), corporate governance policy development and company consultations or collective engagement with the companies in which Investment Association members invest. Andrew joined The Investment Association in June 2014, through merger of the Investment Affairs division of the ABI with the IMA. He joined the ABI in 2005 as a Corporate Governance Analyst and was promoted to Head of IVIS in October 2011 and Head of Corporate Governance in January 2012.  Before joining the ABI, Andrew was a Socially Responsible Investment analyst at HSBC, having joined HSBC’s graduate scheme in 2001 after reading Economics at the University of Bath.

Nick’s practice includes UK and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, fundraisings, public takeovers and general corporate advice. He has advised a number of corporates and financial institutions on the implementation of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). As part of a working group led by ICSA: The Governance Institute, GC100 and the Quoted Companies Alliance, Nick played a key role in the preparation of a suite of MAR-compliant dealing documents for UK companies.

Victoria is a chartered secretary with over 20 years’ experience primarily with large listed companies. She has taught company secretarial practice to students undertaking the ICSA’s exams and lectures on many aspects of the company secretary’s role. She is currently an Honorary Officer of the ICSA and chairs its Audit and Risk Committee.

Mary Phibbs FCA. is a Chartered Accountant with over thirty years’ experience in audit, advisory, banking, finance and insurance in the UK, Australia and Asia Pacific.

She currently holds a number of Non-Executive Directorships including at:

• Morgan Stanley International Limited, Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc, Morgan Stanley Bank International Limited and Morgan Stanley Securities Limited, where she chairs the Nomination & Governance Committee and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committees
• NewDay Group Limited –Where she chairs the Risk Committee and is a member of the Audit Committee.
• Novae Group plc  – Where she is Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Risk, Remuneration and Nominations & Governance committees respectively.

Mary previously held the position of non-executive Director at the Nottingham Building Society, Novae Syndicates Limited , Friends Life Group plc ,the Charity Bank Limited, Stewart Title Ltd and Northern Rock plc during its period of temporary public ownership.

Her executive career included spending six months as interim group Chief Risk Officer for Allied Irish Banks plc during an intensive period of crisis and change for the Irish Banking sector. Previously Mary held a number of senior business and risk management roles at leading financial institutions such as Standard Chartered Bank in London and ANZ, National Australia Bank, Bankers Trust and the Commonwealth Bank in Australia. This was preceded by a period in the accounting profession in the UK and Australia. She holds an honours degree from Surrey University.

Professional affiliations include the Institute of Chartered Accountant in both England and Wales and Australia. Mary is an author of articles on risk management and governance and has provided senior executive training in the UK and overseas.

Will joined Hermes in 2015 with particular responsibility for the development of the firm’s responsible investment and ownership policies directed towards the group’s purpose of providing long-term holistic returns for savers. Will sits on the corporate governance committee of the Quoted Companies Alliance as well as that of the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England and Wales. Prior to joining Hermes Will led the corporate governance and stewardship activity at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (formerly the NAPF) from 2012 having previously worked on similar matters at Aviva plc.

Kerry Porritt is Group Company Secretary of Keller Group plc, a position she has held since November 2013.  Kerry is Secretary to the Board and all of its Board Committees and a member of the Executive Committee.  In 2015 she was also appointed Group Ethics and Compliance Officer.

Prior to joining Keller, Kerry worked in various company secretarial roles within Hambros plc, Investec plc, Brambles Industries plc, Severn Trent plc and GKN plc.  She has also provided strategic advice and business development consultancy services to Board Intelligence, the board reporting specialists, and to Royal Mail Group, where she acted as a specialist advisor and led the development and delivery of Listing Rule, Disclosure and Transparency Rule compliance as part of the 2013 IPO.

She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and holds a degree in Law from Birmingham City University.

John has around thirty years’ experience in HR, fifteen of which have been in professional services. Most recently he has been Group HR Director of specialist Lloyd’s underwriting business Novae Group Plc, and he previously spent five years as HR Director at Mourant.  Prior to that, he helped manage the merger that created CMS Cameron McKenna, and held senior positions with Standard Life, global accounting and business advisory firm Grant Thornton, and City law firm Linklaters. John has also published reports on Remuneration and Motivation, contributed to a book published by the FT on Operational Risk Management and is a regular speaker on a number of HR topics. He is also Clerk to the Guild of HR Professionals.

Rachel joined Premier Oil plc as Deputy Company Secretary in January 2014 and was promoted to Company Secretary earlier this year. Rachel is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and has 13 years’ experience across a broad spectrum of industries including financial services, engineering and materials science and leisure retail.

Sacha is Director of Corporate Governance at LGIM and has overall responsibility for the corporate governance investment team which includes Environment Social Governance (ESG).  The team performs a highly active role in engaging with the companies in which LGIM invests, particularly FTSE companies, seeking to deliver the best possible long term value for shareholders.  The team also collaborate with other investors, the Government and FCA.

Sacha is a member of the Investment Association, Governance and Engagement Committee. Sacha also helped in the formation of the new UK Investor Forum and is a founding member of their Board.

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 and rated third in 2009 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 PLC.  Sacha is a member of the CFA Institute and holds a BA in Accounting and Finance from Manchester University.

Michael is Head of Cyber Innovation at Novae and is responsible for driving innovation and product development for the Cyber portfolio.

Michael was previously at Liberty Specialty Markets for 6 years, where he was the Senior Underwriter on the Strategic Assets Team writing business across the classes of Cyber, Intellectual Property, Non-Damage Business Interruption and Reputation. He was responsible for leading and designing cyber programs for many Fortune 1000 companies across multiple industry sectors including Retail, Healthcare, Financial Institutions and the Energy Sector.

Prior to that he was at Catlin, CNA Europe and HCCI, where he was a Technology and Media E&O Underwriter, starting his career in the market back in 2002.

Michael is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Insurance and has a degree in Classical Studies from the University of Newcastle.

Carol is a corporate partner at Herbert Smith Freehills and a member of the firm’s Corporate Governance Advisory Team. She has extensive experience of corporate and corporate finance transactions and has particular technical expertise in corporate law, corporate governance, corporate reporting and listed company regulation. Carol’s expertise includes advising on company meetings, corporate reporting, the UK Corporate Governance Code, continuing obligations under the listing regime, market abuse, directors’ duties and board and committee procedures. Her role includes analysing new law and regulation and ensuring that the firm is at the forefront of corporate law and practice.

Raj Singh-Dehal joined Center Parcs in 2009 as Company Secretary and joined the Board of Directors as HR & Commercial Services Director in 2015.  Raj has a broad remit encompassing Legal, HR, Compliance and Procurement.  In 2015, Raj played a central role in a landmark year for Center Parcs; securing a site in Ireland for the 6^th Center Parcs location, completing a £1,050 billion re-financing and culminating in a £2.5 billion sale of the company to Brookfield.  Raj was recognised in “The Lawyer Hot 100 2016” for the work he has undertaken.

Prior to joining Center Parcs, Raj practised as a Corporate Lawyer at Eversheds and then went on to head the Corporate & Commercial Legal Team at Alliance & Leicester Plc.

The Center Parcs brand is synonymous with premium quality short breaks in the UK. Center Parcs employs 7,500 people and welcomes over 2 million guests to its 5 UK sites.

Alex began his career in law, working for firms in Sydney and London before focussing on IPOs and corporate governance. Previously Corporate Secretary, EMEA, Caesars Entertainment Inc., Alex is currently Group Company Secretary at The Restaurant Group Plc.

Peter joined Hikma as a Deputy Company Secretary in 2010 and assumed the role of Company Secretary in 2012. Peter is responsible for advising the Board and Committees on governance matters. Prior to joining Hikma he worked for Barclays and Pool Re, the UK terrorism re-insurer.

Peter is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and holds a Law degree from the University of East Anglia.

Peter is Vice Chair of Governors and Chair of the Finance and Resources Committees of Lime Tree School.

William is one of the firm’s Vice Chairmen. He serves principally FTSE 100 clients, primarily in FMCG and TMT, both in an audit and advisory capacity.

William leads Deloitte’s Governance Services Group, developing the firm’s points of view on governance matters, and leading the firm’s Board education programme delivered in the Deloitte Academy in London. He serves on the ICAEW Corporate Governance Committee and co-hosts Deloitte’s programme for FTSE 100 Audit Committee Chairs.

In the community, William is a non-executive director and Chairman of the Finance Committee of techUK, the UK’s High Tech trade association and is a Governor at the Dragon School, Oxford.

Clare joined Coca-Cola European Partners as General Counsel & Company Secretary in May 2016. Between 2010 and May 2016, Clare has played a leading role in many development and expansion projects as Group General Counsel at Kingfisher – Europe’s largest home improvement retail group. Before joining Kingfisher, Clare was Company Secretary and General Counsel of Tube Lines Limited and prior to this she was Head of Post Office Ltd Legal. Clare was called to the bar in 1984, joined Lovells in 1986 and then moved to the Post Office in 1996.

Gerry Watson is the Group Company Secretary of FTSE 250 listed life insurer, Phoenix Group. He was previously Group Company Secretary of Henderson Group plc, the FTSE 250 listed asset manager and before that, worked in general insurance as GI Overseas Manager at Pearl Assurance, focused on business development (where he represented Pearl at the annual Insurance Hard Market white collar boxing event). He is qualified as a chartered secretary and has twice managed listings into the FTSE 250.

Victoria Whyte is Company Secretary of GlaxoSmithKline plc group.  She joined GSK’s Corporate Secretariat in 1998 as Director of Secretariat Services. Was appointed Deputy Company Secretary in 2005 and the Group Company Secretary with effect from 1 January 2011.

Victoria has acted as Secretary to the Remuneration Committee since 2009 and acts as Secretary to all of the Board Committees since her appointment as Company Secretary.

Prior to joining GlaxoSmithKline, Victoria worked in various company secretarial roles within BAE Systems, Coats Viyella, St. Ives plc, Schroder Investment Management and Vickers plc.

She is a solicitor and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.  She sits on the CBI Companies Committee.

Lucie was appointed Company Secretary of Tate & Lyle PLC in 2012 having been Deputy Company Secretary since 2008. She previously held senior company secretarial roles in several listed companies, including Experian PLC and Brit Insurance Holdings PLC. Lucie is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Tracy is one of the leaders of the Deloitte UK Centre for Corporate Governance and specialises in corporate governance.  Tracy regularly presents to clients on the latest governance and corporate reporting developments. She is also a regular presenter at the Deloitte Academy and as part of our Next Generation CFO Programme.  She undertakes benchmarking exercises for many companies keen to meet current standards for best practice and bespoke training for board members new to the UK governance framework or needing a refresher on the requirements.

Tracy is the author of Deloitte’s series of governance publications ‘Governance in brief’ and ‘Governance in focus’.  In addition she is a member of the following external bodies:

• The Confederation of British Industry’s Companies Committee
• The Institute of Directors Governance Policy Group
• The Quoted Companies Alliance Governance Expert Working Group

A career company secretary, fellow of the ICSA and a solicitor, John has worked in a variety of sectors including financial services, hotels, FMCG and now mining, and led teams dealing with high profile hostile takeovers, rights issues, international demergers, listings and de-listings and corporate crises. He has successfully built and rebuilt high performing and well regarded company secretarial departments and has twice won the award for the ICSA Team of the Year  while managing teams at Cadbury and RSA Insurance.

Nicky Snook has been with British American Tobacco for over 20 years. She qualified as a lawyer in 1990 specialising in intellectual property 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, including Senior Trade Mark Counsel and Marketing Counsel. In 2006 she was appointed Group Company Secretary and has served the Board, its Committees and the Executive Committee since then. BAT’s Company Secretarial Team is also responsible for compliance and ethics, whistleblowing policies, data protection and records management.