AIB - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board Are
- Non - Executive Director
- King 's Counsel
Almira is a King's Counsel, with a particular specialism in insolvency. Prior to joining the bar, she was a corporate finance solicitor in private practice.
She is a graduate of Edinburgh and Harvard Law Schools.
Job Titles:
- Head of Finance
- Member of the Advisory Board Are
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board Are
- Programme Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board Are
- Non - Executive Director
- Independent External Committee Member
Christine worked in the financial industry for 19 years before moving on to work for Scottish Enterprise Dumfries & Galloway where she was responsible for setting up their Business Development Loan Scheme.
Christine has worked for Dumfries & Galloway Citizens Advice Service (DAGCAS) for over 16 years and has been Operations Manager since June 2014 with responsibility for their core operations including the three bureau offices as well as Debt Advice, Benefits Advice and In Court Advice projects.
She has served as a member of Money Advice Scotland's Council of Management for 13 years having held director roles including Vice Convenor, Convenor and currently Treasurer.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Protected Trust Deed Standing Committee
- Protected Trust
Job Titles:
- Independent External Committee Member
Job Titles:
- Accountant
- Executive Director
- Depute Accountant and Executive Director of Case Operations
- Executive Director of Case Operations
John Cook joined Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) in January 2005 after working for the Department for Work and Pensions for 18 years.
John led the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) team from its inception and spent time working on secondment with the Bankruptcy and Diligence Bill team in Edinburgh to carry out the DAS One Year Review.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board Are
- Non - Executive Director
Laura is a qualified solicitor working in-house in the financial services sector.
Previously Laura worked in private practice for a leading commercial law firm in their finance and insolvency division. Laura's specialism is litigation and dispute resolution, focussing on helping clients achieve resolutions on a wide variety of contentious matters, with a particular interest in insolvency, having passed the Insolvency Practitioner Association's Certificate of Proficiency in Insolvency exam with Merit in 2012.
In 2017, Laura was awarded the Law Society of Scotland's in-house lawyer of the year award.
This background together with her wider board experience ensures she brings an attention to detail and logical solution based approach to the Board on all aspects of governance including business planning, goal setting and emerging risks.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Advisory Board As a Non - Executive Board Member
- Non - Executive Board Member
Mike Norris joined the AiB Advisory Board as a non-executive board member in 2017.
Since 2008, Mike has headed up the UK, Canadian and Dutch operations for Max Recovery, the leading purchaser of consumer receivables where customers have been sequestrated or have signed a protected trust deed. Max Recovery has around 11,000 open insolvency claims in Scotland.
He commenced his career in the insolvency sector in 1984 when he joined the UK Insolvency Service.
Over the course of a 23 year career there, he moved through operations, human resources and investigations teams before becoming director of policy, where he led the team that developed, took through Parliament and implemented the personal insolvency provisions of The Enterprise Act 2002. He also chaired the process to review the operation of the IVA market which led to the establishment of the IVA Protocol and the IVA Standing Committee.
Mike has represented the UK government on a number of insolvency working groups at the European Commission and on the insolvency working group at the UN Commission on International Trade Law.
He retains a strong focus and interest on Scottish insolvency matters and has given evidence to the Scottish Parliament on a number of occasions during the passage of various pieces of legislation.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chief Executive
- Accountant in Bankruptcy and Agency Chief Executive
Richard joined AiB in 2015 following four years as head of the Fire and Rescue Division at the Scottish Government while the eight regional services merged into the new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
His previous career included being head of Civil Law Division, dealing with a range of issues from charity law to the law on succession and damages, and a number of jobs in the Finance directorate including, at separate times, being responsible for the Budget Bill, the Spending Review and the SEAS Accounting system.
Richard joined the Civil Service in 1992, with jobs in the Department of the Environment, the European Commission's Environment directorate general and the Treasury before moving to Scotland.
He read Modern History at Oxford, with a DPhil looking at the relationship between landholding structures, wealth and power in eleventh century England. Outside work, his interests include running, hillwalking and horse riding.
Job Titles:
- Independent External Committee Member
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board Are
- Non - Executive Director
- Independent External Committee Member
Simon Gill has over thirty years' experience working in international development and public financial management in numerous countries across Africa and Asia. The international experience is built on ten years operating as a Finance professional in the UK public service in a variety of rules covering a local authority, Health authority and a Nationalised industry.
Since joining ODI in 2012, Simon's work has focused on strengthening budget processes in fragile and conflict-affected states working with finance ministries, principally in sub-Saharan Africa. He has recently undertaken roles within the organisation as Acting Executive Director as well as Managing Director. He is now supporting and developing ODI's advisory portfolio building on his earlier roles as Head of the Public Finance and Institutions Programme, and Director of the Budget Strengthening Initiative.
Before joining ODI, Simon spent 19 years working in senior roles at the UK Department for International Development, in public financial management advisory and technical assistance as well as a series of corporate roles, latterly as DFID's Acting Head of Finance after having been Head of Programmes in Tanzania.
Prior to his time with DFID, Simon worked in PFM advisory and training roles for four years with the Ministry of Agriculture in Lao PDR, and five years with the Ministry of Finance in Lesotho. Simon holds a BSc in Economics and Accounting and an MBA, and is an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).
Job Titles:
- Audit Scotland - Auditors
Job Titles:
- Business Support Manager
- Member of the Advisory Board Are