Ireland Conference 2025 - Internal Audit: Raising the Standard

Ann has been working in the internal audit and related professions for over 25 years and became a Head of Internal Audit in a large Building Society in 2009. Since then, she worked in Risk Management and various governance roles, and held multiple appointments as Board, Council and Audit Committee member across a range of sectors and industries.

Ann moved into Higher Education in 2013 with the aim to giving more back to the internal audit profession. She was course leader for the only Internal Audit focused degree in the UK and helped develop both the level 4 and level 7 Apprenticeships with the trailblazer group of employees. She subsequently implemented and delivered the level 7 apprenticeship which she grew over 5 years by 700% with great success. 

Ann has been an active volunteer of the Chartered IIA since 2007 and is now Head of Technical Content and Research. She aims to bring her practical and higher education experiences to drive practical support for the internal audit profession.

Anne Kiem joined the Chartered IIA in January 2023 having been Chief Executive of the Chartered Association of Business Schools for eight years. In that time the staff team has more than tripled as a result of significant new activities and income streams. She attributes this success to fantastic colleagues and supportive and dedicated members.

Her career to date has included membership organisations, education and financial services. She was awarded an OBE in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Banking Executive with significant Asset & Liability Management, Treasury, Finance, Risk, Governance and Control experience. Prior to taking on his current role, Conor was previously Managing Director, AIB Mortgage Bank, uc, and Group Head of Asset & Liability Management, AIB Group plc. Conor has an MBA in Finance from the University of Manchester, and is a Certified Bank Director.

As Regional Director, Derek's responsible for the overall development of the Chartered IIA regions and ensuring the appropriate support is provided for the membership. 

He is a Fellow of the Chartered IIA, with over 25 years’ internal audit experience, and a career spanning some four decades.

During that time, he’s worked not only in financial services, but across multiple sectors, on both a national and international basis. He’s also worked for several years within the first and second lines of defence.

He is the past Chair of the Scotland committee and holds a non-executive directorship with a Financial Services organisation

He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry with a focus on governance, internal controls, regulatory compliance, and risk management.

Gavin joined Goodbody in January 2013, during this time Gavin had built the team and led professionals providing subject matter expertise audit coverage across Corporate Advisory, Wealth Management, Capital Markets, Compliance, Market/Counterparty Risk, Operational Risk, and Strategic & Enterprise Risk Management.

Prior to joining Goodbody, Gavin was Head of Performance Management at Aviva Europe, Technical Specialist at the Financial Conduct Authority. He has also served as Head of Risk and Quantitative Research in Asset Management.

He holds both a BSc and an MSc in Finance from Queens University Belfast.

Ken Hickey is an Executive Coach and CFO Mentor. Having established his own business Ken Hickey Advisory in 2023, he is now supporting the development of executives across Europe, the US, and Asia.

Ken is a seasoned finance executive with over three decades of leadership experience. A former CFO of Microsoft Worldwide Operations and CFO of Microsoft’s Communication Sector business, Ken spent 16 years with the company living in both Ireland and the US. Prior to Microsoft, Ken held international financial leadership roles in Hertz, GE, and AIG, spending fifteen years in the travel and financial services sectors.

Ken is passionate about learning and development. He spent several years lecturing in Business Strategy in UCD and is a visiting lecturer at Warwick Business School. Ken is a qualified Accountant, Corporate Treasurer, and Chartered Director. He holds an MBA from Warwick and a MSc in Executive Coaching from UCD Smurfit.

Liam McKenna is a Partner with Forvis Mazars leading advisory services and internal audits of business continuity and operational resilience. Over the past two years, Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) has been a key area where Liam has helped clients conduct gap analyses and develop compliance pathways, complete in-flight project reviews and recently has kicked off internal audits of DORA compliance. His expertise ensures organisations navigate DORA requirements effectively while strengthening operational resilience frameworks. 

Nick Wallis is an award-winning investigative journalist and broadcaster, who brought the Post Office scandal to public attention via three Panoramas, a Radio 4 series and podcast (The Great Post Office Trial), his book The Great Post Office Scandal and his work as the series consultant on Mr Bates vs The Post Office. 

He now speaks regularly about the extraordinary injustice that saw sub-postmasters wrongly imprisoned for theft, false accounting and fraud, covering both the legal processes and the human stories that emerged from this scandal.

Sandro is currently President of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors.

He is employed as the Co-Head of People Enablement and Culture Assessment with Deutsche Bank’s Group Audit function.

Sandro Boeri was one of the founders of Risk Audit Professional Development with a career spanning over forty years in financial services corporate governance in the City of London and internationally.

His main area of specialism is in the field of internal audit where after serving his apprenticeship during six years at Kleinwort Benson he went on to run the audit functions at Amsterdam-Rotterdam Bank in London, Credit Agricole, Sumitomo and the Gerrard Group.

Sandro is a major thought leader on culture in financial services as well as regulation in the fields of wholesale financial services.

Sandro is a prominent speaker on subjects ranging from corporate governance to motivation in the workplace. 

Tom is the SMF5 Chief Internal Auditor for Barclays Bank UK PLC, Barclays’ UK Ring Fenced Bank, 
taking up this role in April 2022. Tom initially joined Barclays Internal Audit (BIA) IA in 2002 and has 
held audit roles across a range of audit teams including as the BIA Portfolio Manager for audit 
coverage of the Compliance, Legal and HR functions, as well as pioneering BIA’s audit approach to 
Conduct Risk across wholesale and retail banking. Most recently Tom was BIA’s Head of Audit 
Practices & Data Analytics, covering auditing methodology, learning, quality assurance and DA 
practices. Between 2006 and 2011 Tom led internal audit for GE Capital’s UK Mortgage Business. 
Tom is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Internal Auditor, and has been actively involved with 
development the profession through public speaking, peer engagement and guidance material for 
the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors

Majella is a Finance Lecturer at the Institute of Public Administration and is a member of the IPA Governance and Finance Team delivering training and consultancy services to various public, state, and semi-state bodies, charities, boards, and not-for-profit organisations with specific areas of experience and expertise across governance, risk, audit, and financial management.  Majella is an experienced accounting and finance lecturer and has worked in various educational institutions in both the public and private sector. She holds qualifications from the Institute of Certified of Public Accounts in Ireland and Chartered Accountants Ireland; an MSc in Management and Applications of IT in Accounting; Graduate Diploma in Computing; and a Bachelor of Business Studies (Hons) (Finance).

Mary is a member of AIB’s Executive Committee with responsibility for leading the Group Strategy and Sustainability function. Mary has over 20 years’ experience in Finance, Strategy and Transformation and held a number of senior leadership roles across the bank spanning retail, corporate and treasury businesses. Prior to joining AIB, Mary trained as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor with PwC. Mary is a graduate of UCD and is also a Non-Executive Director of Goodbody, a financial services firm offering wealth management, asset management and investment banking services.