Chartered IIA Scotland Conference 2025

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.

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.

Manav is a Partner in Grant Thornton’s Business Risk Services team. He has over 25 years of experience and focuses on Internal Audit Co-Source solutions for the Insurance and Asset Management sectors. He also leads Grant Thornton’s Internal Audit EQA and QA propositions across the Financial Services sector.

Paul Skinnider is a Chartered Internal Auditor and serves as the Head of Internal Audit at Taylor Wimpey Plc, a FTSE100 housebuilder. In this role, he leads the Internal Audit function and holds strategic responsibility for Business Continuity Management, Fraud Risk Management, and oversight of the Group’s whistleblowing framework.

Paul joined Taylor Wimpey from Lloyds Banking Group where he worked for 5 years, including as Interim Head of Audit for People Risk, and has previous Internal Audit experience at Oxford University Press, Heineken UK and Heineken International during which he directed IA review activity across the Americas.

Paul is an active member of the Chartered IIA, he has been a member of the Scottish Committee for the past 9 years and leads the Heads of Internal Audit and Professional Practices forums in Scotland. Paul was a member of the Independent Steering Committee for the 2024 update of the Chartered IIA’s Code of Practice for Internal Audit, and is a regular contributor to the Chartered IIA’s development of thought leadership including fraud risk management, AI use and governance, and ED&I. Paul was elected Vice Chair in 2023 and Chair in April 2025.

Leigh has over 20 years of experience delivering internal audit services to Grant Thornton’s financial services clients. She has managed a range of regional, national and global client accounts, both delivering internal audit services and also being placed on numerous long term client secondments, truly experiencing the differences, challenges and successes of being in an in-house team versus delivering services to clients.

Heikki is an experienced Senior Audit Leader, having held senior roles at major Insurance Groups, including four years as a Chief Audit Executive for a diverse Financial Services Group. For Grant Thornton, Heikki focusses on providing audit Quality Assurance and methodology enhancement advice to UK Financial Services clients, including overseeing our market leading Internal Audit QA as a managed service offering. He also looks after a large and diverse portfolio of Insurance co-source clients, ranging from FTSE100 Groups, to niche providers, providing them with IA support ranging from SME advice to full audit plan delivery. 

Heikki also sits on the Audit and Risk Committees of two housing associations as well as for Social Care Wales as an independent member.

Joseph has spent 10 years at Barclays Internal Audit, where he leads on Analytics, Technology, and MI. A pioneer in applying advanced analytics to audit, he won the CIIA’s ‘Professional Impact’ Award for driving innovation, thought leadership and talent development across the profession.

A respectable military veteran, Colin MacLachlan served an impressive 18 years for The Royal Scots and the 22 SAS unit. He has lived to tell the tale of many incredible and dangerous experiences, from being kidnapped to hunting down guerrilla gangs and hijacked planes. Since retiring from the forces, he has provided high-level security to the likes of the Saudi Royal Family.

During his time in the military, he participated in an exchange programme with Delta Force and Seal Team 6, and while being held hostage, was filmed for terrorist propaganda - Colin has shown consistent courage in the face of danger. Most recently, he appeared on the Channel 4 show SAS: Who Dares Wins, to put his 25 years of military experience to the test. First joining the army in 1989, he put himself through gruelling training and passed selection into 22 SAS when he was just 23 years old. Since leaving the forces, Colin has continued his journey of protecting civilians - becoming the owner of Blade, his own security company.