SSAC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Public and Security Services
Alison Baptiste is the Director of Public and Security Services at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.
Alison has extensive strategic and operational project and programme leadership experience gained both in private and public sectors. As Director of Strategy and Investment at the Environment Agency, she led both infrastructure and transformation projects and held senior operational delivery and emergency response roles reporting to COBR. Alison is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Alison was appointed as Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the environment in the 2019 New Years Honours.
Alison leads a team providing deep project delivery and technical expertise to departments on the Government's Major Projects Portfolio to ensure projects are set up for success and to drive improved project delivery.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Angus Knowles-Cutler served as London office Managing Partner of Deloitte for 7 years until 2020. He has worked in professional services for over 30 years and has advised 170 organisations on major investment decisions, operational execution and progress reporting.
He serves as business chair of the London Local Enterprise Partnership and is a member of the national LEP board. He co-chairs the London Royal Docks Enterprise Zone Development board.
Angus graduated from Cambridge with a history degree and has been a visiting professor at the University of Surrey's Centre for the Digital Economy.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Ben Alexander has over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector. He was a director at Deutsche Bank in London where he was co-head of derivatives trading and subsequently a partner of Close Brothers Private Equity where he was involved in institutional fund raising and sat on the boards of a variety of UK companies. He is currently a partner of a strategic consultancy, a non-exec director of a virtual reality content business, a commercial adviser to the Cabinet Office and a member of the Finance Committee of Cambridge University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Cecilia McAnulty has spent most of her career advising, restructuring and investing in listed and private companies, many experiencing extreme operational and / or financial challenges. She was formerly a senior partner and portfolio manager at Centaurus Capital, a London based hedge fund, and headed similar businesses in Barclays Capital and Royal Bank of Scotland. She is a non-executive director and audit chair of Northern 2 PLC, an LSE listed venture capital trust and was recently appointed an independent non- executive director of Alcentra, a $40 billion fund management business focused on debt and wholly owned by BNY Mellon.
She was formerly a trustee of English National Ballet and chair of its Finance and General Purposes Committee. She is a graduate of Glasgow University and a chartered accountant.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Management Team
- Director, Strategy
Chris Flatt was appointed Director in November 2018. He leads on strategy, rights and legacy matters. He first joined the Northern Ireland Office in 2002, working on various policy issues including the legacy of Northern Ireland's past, public inquiries and human rights as well as on corporate services delivery. Chris worked in the Scotland Office from 2010-2015, leading on constitutional issues during the build up to the 2014 independence referendum. He returned to the NIO in 2015.
Chris' previous roles in government include: Deputy Director, Legacy in the Northern Ireland Office - 2015 to 2018; Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Scotland - 2014 to 2015; Deputy Director, Constitution in the Scotland Office - 2010 to 2014
Job Titles:
- Member of the Management Team
- Director at the NIO
- Director, Economy & Protocol
Colin Perry was appointed Director at the NIO in December 2014. He leads on issues relating to the Northern Ireland economy and Protocol. Colin has also previously held the role of Director at the NIO for Legacy, Economy & Change, where he led strategies dealing with the legacy of the Troubles, and economic prosperity.
Prior to that, Colin was Deputy Director for Telecommunications at the Department for Culture, Media & Sport where he worked on strategic development for telecommunications and broadband policy. Other roles included: Deputy Director at the Cabinet Office delivering a project to lead cross-Government international anti-corruption work; Deputy Director for Media at DCMS where he delivered a new system of press self-regulation, following the Inquiry into the Culture Practice and Ethics of the Press. He has also held roles in HM Treasury, the Department for Business, the wider public sector and the private sector.
Job Titles:
- MP Resignation Letter and the Prime Minister 's Response
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Director General
- Member of the Management Team
Previously Dominic was Director General of Security Policy at the the Ministry of Defence where he was responsible for policy on all Defence activity in the UK and overseas, for relationships with allies and partners globally and for ensuring that Defence policy and plans are fully integrated across Government.
Dr Stephen Brien was appointed as Chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) from 14 September 2020.
Job Titles:
- Director of Function, Profession & Standards at the Infrastructure and Projects
Fiona Spencer is the Director of Function, Profession & Standards at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.
Fiona was previously interim Director General, Capabilities and Resources, and before that Chief Portfolio Officer, at the Home Office, where her responsibilities included leading strategic investment planning, overseeing delivery of the Home Office projects portfolio, and building skills and capability as departmental head of profession for project delivery.
Over her career, Fiona has led a range of major government projects in technology, shared services and business transformation in the home affairs, criminal justice and mental health areas. Previous roles have included leading work on:
departmental transformation
identity strategy for foreign nationals
regimes for dangerous and severe personality disordered offenders
development and delivery of IT, estates, information management and shared business services, as director of shared services for the Home Office.
Fiona graduated from the Government Major Projects Leadership Academy in 2014.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Gail has significant experience in driving profitable growth and leading major change in large and small businesses in emerging and developed markets across Europe, US, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Over 20 years, Gail held senior executive roles in strategy, finance and business development; at Diageo, she took the lead on several mergers and acquisitions transactions and, as Group Strategy Director, helped transform SABMiller from a multi-local brewing business to a globally integrated branded beer business. Gail is a senior adviser to a variety of listed and private companies and is an independent non-executive director of Real Good Food plc.
Job Titles:
- Director of Strategy, Performance & Assurance
Helen Campbell is the Director of Strategy, Performance and Assurance at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.
Helen joins the IPA from National Grid where she held the position of Director of Strategy and Performance, Gas Transmission and provided strategic leadership and management of the business performance system including governance of major project delivery. Helen has worked in senior roles across National Grid over her 13 year tenure, including leading complex projects and change programmes, strategy and policy development and implementation, business planning and performance management and operational management.
Helen has a degree in Economics from Nottingham University and an MA in European Economics from the College of Europe and prior to joining National Grid she held positions in consulting, financial services and energy companies, with extensive experience in strategic change, business planning and transformation programmes.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Management Team
- Acting Director, Safety
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Humphrey Battcock has worked in private equity for 30 years and was, until 2017, a managing partner and European head of Advent International, one of the world's leading private equity firms. He is currently a non-executive director of Cambridge Innovation Capital Limited and a panel member at the Competition and Market Authority. He is chair of the Institute for Research in Schools and a trustee of Sadler's Wells and the Centre for Homelessness Impact. He has degrees from Cambridge University, London Business School and London School of Economics.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Senior Managing Director and a Member
Ian Guthrie is a Senior Managing Director and a member of the UK Executive at Jones Lang LaSalle, a New York listed Fortune 500 professional services company and a world leader in real estate services. He has specific responsibility for JLL's pan-EMEA loan advisory and restructuring business, which focuses on the sale or acquisition of European loan portfolios as well as the restructuring of real estate related entities facing some form of financial stress or distress.
Previously he was a Senior Advisor and External Member of the Advisory Council of SVP Global, a c.$8 billion distress investment firm across a hedge fund and private equity strategies. Before that, he was Managing Director of Lloyds Bank Group's non-core real estate group, with responsibility for a £20+ billion portfolio (cumulative) covering all real estate related asset classes.
Ian has more than 25 years' experience in financial services, is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a Member of the Institute for Turnaround.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
John Drake was Chief Commercial Counsel at Bird & Bird LLP, having been COO for 7 years until 2015. A qualified barrister, for over 20 years John was in industry in the offshore oil services, building services, telecommunications, electronic systems, radio navigation and transportation sectors in Asia and the UK, mostly as CEO in operational engineering and service provision businesses undertaking major change.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chief Financial Officer for the Port of London
Julie Tankard is currently the Chief Financial Officer for the Port of London. Previously she was at BT plc as Vice President responsible for group contract and commercial management and before that was Vice President running the Global Services commercial finance team. Prior to joining BT she was the Finance Director at Racal Datacom and also worked for Unisys as a divisional Finance Director. She has been a Non-executive Director for a mental health Trust in Leeds and York where she chaired the Audit committee. Julie has over 30 years of finance experience and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Kay was a partner at Silverfleet Capital, a leading European private equity firm, until 2020. Having joined in 1992, she was responsible for a number of successful investments and was a member of the investment committee. She is still engaged with Silverfleet as a consultant and as a non-executive director of Sigma Components.
Prior to joining Silverfleet, Kay worked at NatWest Ventures (now Bridgepoint Capital). She qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers after graduating from Cambridge with a degree in Natural Sciences. Kay is also a member of the board of Luxempart S.A.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Advisory Board
- Chairman of Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd
Kevin Taylor has previously been Chair of Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd and before that was Managing Director of BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, the Cyber Division of BAE Systems Plc. He has also previously been the Group Strategy Director as well as the Managing Director of the Military Air Business, and of the Submarines Business. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, having graduated from Oxford with a physics degree.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Management Team
- Lead Non - Executive Board Member
Job Titles:
- Parliamentary under Secretary of State
Job Titles:
- Member of the Management Team
- Non - Executive Board Member
Job Titles:
- Member of the Management Team
- Permanent Secretary for the Northern Ireland Office
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Member of the Management Team
Job Titles:
- Director
- Infrastructure and Project Finance Advisory Executive
Sacira Coric is a global infrastructure and project finance advisory executive with more than 20 years of experience in economic and social infrastructure, advising public sector authorities, equity investors and lenders on infrastructure strategy and procurement, development, operation and maintenance, privatisations, acquisitions and contract management.
Sacira is a Director, leading Business Case and Project Finance advisory at Turner & Townsend LLP, an independent, global professional services company specialising in programme and cost management and advisory on major capital programmes in infrastructure, real estate and natural resources.
Sacira has a strong knowledge of public sector value for money drivers, policy and regulatory objectives, investors' and lenders' interests and concerns, project sponsors' drivers and most prevalent challenges arising on transactions involving private capital.
She has developed, operationalised and managed private and capital markets investments and corporate spin-offs from large multinational advisory firms.
Job Titles:
- Northern Ireland Secretary of State
- Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shailesh Vara MP met with young people during his first visit to Belfast since his appointment.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Management Team
- Director, Legacy Implementation
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Volker Schultz brings over 30 years of experience in the oil refining, marketing and petrochemical industries. He is CEO and a founding shareholder of Circle Gas Limited, a recently established company to provide affordable and clean pay-as-you-go LPG cooking fuel to low income households in East Africa and beyond. He is a board member of Argent Energy Holdings Limited (a Swire Group company) and of SOCAR Turkey Enerji A.Ş.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Management Team
- Director, Political