Fausto Aiello, Head of Audit, EMEA, Walt Disney Company

Sandy Begbie CBE, Chief Executive, Scottish Financial Enterprise 

Sandy Begbie CBE, FRSE was appointed Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise in October 2020. 

Prior to joining SFE, Sandy led the development of the Scottish Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee following an 18-month contract at Tesco Bank as the Chief Transformation Officer. Sandy was responsible for the Global People, Organisation and Culture Integration following the successful merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017. Before the merger Sandy was the Chief People Officer and Lead Executive for China and Hong Kong for Standard Life for eight years. 

Ann Brook, Director of Knowledge & Learning, Chartered IIA

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.

Kezia Dugdale, Associate Director, Centre for Public Policy at the University of Glasgow and Chair of Stonewall

Kezia Dugdale is Associate Director of the Centre for Public Policy at the University of Glasgow and Chair of Stonewall. She is a respected public policy leader, commentator and advocate with extensive experience across politics, academia and the third sector.

Kezia previously served as Director of the John Smith Centre for Public Service, where she championed democratic engagement, leadership development and greater participation in public life. Before moving into academia, she was a Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothians and Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, leading her party through a period of significant political and organisational change.

Alongside her professional roles, Kezia has held a number of influential governance and trustee positions, bringing a strong understanding of leadership, accountability, culture and decision-making. Her experience spans the public, private and charitable sectors, giving her a unique perspective on the challenges facing modern organisations and the role of leaders in building trust, resilience and high-performing cultures.

Maureen Evans, Executive Coach, Rosewell House

Maureen coaches Leaders and Executives and has built and operates a successful movement and wellness business. Her focus as a coach is on helping leaders to find clarity at times of transition. Earlier in her career, she spent 20 years working in consulting and financial services organisations including Zurich, Andersen, Deloitte and Barclays. At Barclays, she spent time as an internal audit leader in the UK, Europe & US as well as leading development and roll out of training across the UK, US, Europe, Africa and Asia. At Andersen and Deloitte, she worked in risk consulting and business consulting working in UK, Europe and the US. In 2011, she was inspired to make a career change. She undertook advanced movement training and set up a movement and wellness business. She currently operates and manages this business as well as working with clients. Alongside this, she uses her analytical, listening and questioning skills as a an executive and leadership coach and facilitates leadership workshops for Internal Audit leaders at leading Financial Services firms. Maureen’s experience allows her to listen to and support clients to develop clarity and confidence. 

Louise Fleming, Executive Coach, Rosewell House

Louise coaches Senior Executives and Professional Services Partners, and designs and facilitates specialist leadership development programmes. As a coach, she provides a confidential space for clients to explore their role as a leader. She works with clients navigating complex stakeholder relationships, transitioning to new roles, or looking to find and fulfil their personal purpose. Her work as a facilitator is focused on the intersection of technical and interpersonal skills. She specialises in working with professionals in governance, risk, control, audit, legal and financial roles. With over 30 years in professional and financial services, she brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her clients. She has experience at Andersen and Deloitte in governance, risk and control consulting in the UK and Asia Pacific, including a secondment to the UK regulator. She has also worked at Barclays in roles across the lines of defence: first internal audit, then risk and finally as a leader in corporate banking with teams in the UK and US. Over the last decade, she has partnered with many global financial and professional services organisations; trained and practised as an individual and team coach; worked as an independent trustee and board member; and facilitated hundreds of workshops in the UK and internationally. Most importantly of all, she has had the privilege to work with professionals all round the world learning about them and their roles; what they find challenging; the skills they have and the skills they want to develop.  

Caroline Gardner CBE, Chair of the Audit Oversight Body for PwC and Board member, Wheatley Group

Caroline Gardner CBE is a respected leader in audit, governance and public accountability. Former Auditor General for Scotland, she currently serves as Chair of the Audit Oversight Body for PwC UK and as a board member of the Wheatley Group. A Fellow and former President of CIPFA, Caroline has also helped shape international ethical standards for the accountancy profession. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, an Honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Strathclyde. 

Anne Kiem, CEO, Chartered IIA

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.

Arleen McGichen, President, Chartered IIA

Arleen is a qualified Director of Internal Audit and Risk management, with over twenty-three years of experience in audit, assurance and risk management in the insurance, asset management and retail banking sectors. She holds the Chartered Banker and member qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland and also has the Chartered Member qualification from the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors. She also holds qualifications in Investment management and Treasury.

Currently Group Chief Audit Officer for Royal London, she is responsible for leading the Internal Audit proposition and representing the function at executive and board level. She is passionate about Internal Audit and Risk and is a Director on the Council of the CIIA; this role gives her the opportunity to influence the internal audit industry and to advocate for the value internal auditing brings.

Marc McNulty, Partner, Deloitte 

Marc is a Partner at Deloitte with over 18 years’ experience leading internal audit and controls, SOX, transformation assurance and regulatory compliance engagements. He currently leads the UK Controls, Internal Audit and Assurance Practice for Investment Management and Wealth, working with clients across all sub-sectors developing operating models, establishing appropriate governance, implementing controls transformation and delivering assurance over clients key risks and priorities.

Scott Richards, Associate Director, Deloitte

Scott is an Associate Director with 15 years' experience who specialises in the provision of internal audit and Quality Assurance services. On top of experience leading various outsource and co-source internal audit relationships with a range of firms across the Financial Services sector, he leads the Deloitte UK Quality Assurance ‘Centre of Excellence’ with a focus on QA delivery, providing insights on QAIP programmes and IA ways of working. He started his career delivering external audits under PCAOB and ISA auditing standards whilst qualifying as an ICAS Chartered Accountant.

Dr Vivek Shivram, Global Head of Analytics & Data Science for Internal Audit, Aegon