CHARTERED TRADING STANDARDS INSTITUTE - Key Persons
Abbie started her career as a receptionist with a shipping company in Romford, Essex. There, she worked closely with the HR Manager who was a role model and inspiration for the beginning of this HR journey. A master's degree later, Abbie has worked for several large organisations in both the public and the private sector, notably working for the NHS, Ocado and Peninsula.
Although a generalist, Abbie's passions lie with engagement, employee relations and EDI, which is handy as Abbie has been our HR and EDI Manager since February 2023. Understanding the intrinsic link between staff satisfaction and the success of an organisation, Abbie has taken control of all things employment and strives to share her passion for CTSI with the world.
Outside of CTSI Abbie is an avid Rugby supporter, dancer and dog-mum.
Adrian has over 15 years experience in consumer protection and business advice. He is a Policy Advisor at the British Retail Consortium, helping UK retailers in supplying safe and compliant products.
He has had a career as a front line trading standards officer and later as senior trading standards officer and manager at the London Boroughs of Greenwich, Redbridge and Waltham Forest. Following those roles he joined the Chartered Trading Standards Institute directing the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme and the Government sponsored business education service. He then joined QA Scheme Support Services, a consumer protection schemes covering the home improvement sector.
He has held a number of voluntary roles including CTSI Lead Officer for renewables and home improvements, non-executive director at the National Home Improvement Council and as a consumer representative at the British Standards Institution.
Adrian lives in Kent with Charlotte and their four children Riley, Eliza, Oliver and Nancy. When not working on BRC or CTSI matters he enjoys writing and producing his own music as ‘Real Life Begins' and following the (mis)fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur.
Job Titles:
- Contact & Advice Centre Manager
Andy entered the trading standards service with Cornwall County Council in 1998, spending 6 years in a variety of roles including consumer advice, business support and food enforcement activities.
Between 2004 and 2012 he managed operations for the South West region's Consumer Direct contact centre with the centre dealing with over one and a quarter million consumer complaints in that time.
Since December 2013 Andy has led CTSI's European Consumer Centre and European Consumer Centre for Services teams. These services operate as part of a European Commission run network to provide advice and assistance in avoiding and dealing with disputes over cross border purchases. Through this work Andy has been involved in implementation discussions for both the Online Dispute Resolution Regulations and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Directive at both a European and national level.
Job Titles:
- Corporate Services Director
- Finance
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Director of Policy and Public Affairs
- Policy and External Affairs Director
Duncan has overall responsibility for CTSI's policy, campaigning and communications activities. With more than 25 years' experience, he has achieved considerable success in his field - having led the policy, campaigns and communications for two national, member-based charities.
Duncan is CTSI's Policy and External Affairs Director, with overall responsibility for the Institute's policy, campaigning and communications activities.
With more than 25 years' experience, he has achieved considerable success in his field - having led the policy, campaigns and communications for two national, member-based charities. Most recently, he served 7 years as Deputy Chief Executive and Director of External Affairs at the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH). There, he was directly responsible for developing a number of award-winning campaigns, formulating policy that influenced legislation and practice, building strategic partnerships worth millions and, ultimately, completely transforming the media and political profile of the charity.
He has led a considerable number of successful and impactful campaigns and profile-raising initiatives on a variety of issues including, advocating for drug policy reform, promoting a range of measures to tackle obesity, raising awareness of gambling related harms and challenging vaccination misinformation.
Prior to RSPH, Duncan led the parliamentary and stakeholder relations team for the Care Quality Commission, during a period of change. And, as Head of External Affairs at the YMCA, Duncan initiated and led a national campaign on body image, including establishing the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image - which led to the formation of the national BeReal campaign. He also created a number of national health and wellbeing programmes, working in close partnership with the NHS, DWP and Department of Health.
After graduating with a Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) degree from Oxford University, Duncan started his career working in industry. Notably, at Unilever UK he led thought leadership on a variety of issues, such as food labelling, advertising to children and product reformulation and supported EU lobbying on issues including the Biofuels Directive. Outside of work, he enjoys weight-training, swimming and occasionally dabbles in magic!
Job Titles:
- Marketing and Sales Manager
Elaina has been at the heart of CTSI's sales and business development efforts for more than a decade. Currently extending her talents within the marketing department, she remains the driving force behind many of the Institute's commercial endeavours - including its flagship Annual Conference.
Job Titles:
- Head of Membership and Governance
After obtaining a Diploma for Secretarial Linguists, Jacqui worked for a London buying office for international department stores and then an English language school. Prior to joining CTSI in June 2001 she was the Guest Services Manager for a five-star hotel in central London.
Jacqui's role at CTSI includes providing support for the Chief Executive, Executive Directors and the wider governance structure of the Institute including the Board, Council, Committees, Branches and Sections. She leads the membership activities of the Institute and is also responsible for overseeing the administrative functions provided to the Institute as well as contracted services.
John has a background working across various sectors, ranging from commercial through to local government and from the Armed Forces to not-for-profit organisations. A career spanning 35 years has given him an incredible diversity of perspectives on how different sectors operate and how they can work together successfully.
Driven by a strong sense of social purpose, John is committed to and driven by the not-for-profit sector's mission. Values-driven leadership is what this sector represents, and it provides incredible benefits to society which sits absolutely at the heart of CTSI's work. He is also consciously aware of the value of strong professions using their expertise and experience to lead the discussions on key issues affecting society.
John is Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London, supporting initiatives to bring communities closer together across the capital. Having studied extensively in business, education, engineering, psychology and law, he holds several masters degrees and professional fellowships. He is currently researching ethical leadership at Exeter University alongside being proud to serve as a Naval reservist holding the rank of Captain.
John lives in South East London with his family, and whilst thriving on the hustle and bustle of city life, there is nothing he enjoys more than escaping to the great outdoors to experience the freedom and fresh air of the countryside.
Job Titles:
- Consumer Codes & ADR Manager
Paul has worked at CTSI since November 1997, having previously been employed as an Analyst Programmer at Essex County Council. In his role as Service Director IT & Production, he is responsible for the development and ongoing delivery of the Institute's products and services and its technical infrastructure.
Paul's broad IT knowledge sees him liaising closely with other teams, clients and specialist suppliers to provide technical input across a diverse range of CTSI projects.
Job Titles:
- Advisor to Governments
- Service Delivery Director
Phil is a committed and passionate trading standards professional, that has worked in the trading standards profession for 25 years - as a practitioner and manager in local government, a policy and programme director in central government and for the past 15 years has led a variety of management and leadership roles at CTSI.
Phil is professionally qualified, a Fellow of the Institute and a Chartered Trading Standards Practitioner, with internationally recognised expertise in food safety, product safety, market surveillance, risk assessment, inspection and regulatory reform. He has a proven track record as leader for the delivery of large revenue generating member and non-member facing services. This extends across Trading Standards, Local Government, National Government and business contexts.
Over the past 15 years, Phil has led CTSI's engagement with external organisations being the external ambassador, both in the UK and internationally. He has extensive experience representing UK interests at EU level on aspects of market surveillance, developing regulatory reform training solutions for EU market surveillance authorities and auditing of member states market surveillance arrangements and up until recently was a board member of the Product Safety Forum of Europe.
Phil has been an advisor to Governments including Armenia, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. Since 2015 he has continued to deliver a number of projects on behalf of the UK Government to assist the Government of India in their Ease of Doing Business initiatives. He is also a lead trainer on the EU's Better Training for Safer Foods Programme on E-Commerce and led the development and delivery of the successful Regulatory Compliance Officer Apprenticeship Scheme.
Phil has high levels of cultural and racial awareness given the extensive experience he has gained working in Europe, South Asia, South East Asia and Post-Soviet environments.
His career started as an inspector at Staffordshire County Council where he led on food and health issues and was invited to become a visiting lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University to lecture EH and TS undergraduates. Phil moved to Oxfordshire County Council - taking on management responsibilities and leading the County's professional development programme.
Job Titles:
- Education and Training Manager
Richard joined CTSI in August 2023 having previously worked as a Qualifications and Assessment Manager. Previous to this, Richard was a teacher for 10 years, and taught across the national curriculum phases in Primary Schools in Leeds and Bradford, before becoming a maths specialist. Richard also worked for HM Prison Service from 2004 to 2013.
In his spare time, Richard enjoys the great outdoors and is a keen amateur hiker, especially in the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District. He has two children.
Job Titles:
- Head of Marketing and Digital
Spencer has worked in marketing and digital development for nearly three decades - holding senior positions in many large organisations, while operating as a digital consultant, project manager and troubleshooter for the last 12 years.
With a longstanding interest in consumer protection, he joined CTSI at the start of 2024 (on an interim basis). And leads on a number of key digital transformation projects.
Career Highlights
Prior to CTSI, Spencer has a long history in marketing and digital development, working for an impressive roster of big tech companies and several household names.
He began his career in advertising agencies (having completed a graduate traineeship at an offshoot of Abbott Mead Vickers), before switching to the client-side - where he managed the advertising and in-store promotions for British Telecom's 50-store retail arm (later, the O2 store chain). In 2000, at the height of the 'dotcom boom', he joined one of the UK's first 'price comparison' start-ups (backed by Saatchi and Saatchi) - where he progressed to Marketing Director, while also learning the ins and outs of digital marketing from some of the industry's early pioneers.
Later, he served as Publishing Director at the global media giant, ValueClick, with overall responsibility for the marketing and digital development of its Consumer Brands division (20+ websites, including PriceRunner - then, one of the UK's most popular shopping sites). He also led the marketing for the Daily Mail Group's online classified division (Loot.com). Then, at Dennis Publishing - at the time, the largest independent magazine publisher in the UK (with 60+ titles, including The Week, AutoExpress and Men's Fitness) - he ran the group's standalone marketing agency, where he overhauled the entire operation, directed the development of several big digital projects (including an innovative charity-fundraising platform), and forged close partnerships with major retailers, such as Tesco.
More recently, he has worked as a Marketing and Digital Consultant - helping a variety of commercial and non-profit organisations transition from old media to new. These have included a TV and film distribution company, an international mail order business, a number of large magazine publishers, and several professional membership associations (and qualifications bodies).
With a longstanding interest in consumer protection, Spencer joined CTSI, on an interim basis, at the start of 2024 - having worked for nearly three decades in marketing and digital development (with the last 12 years as a consultant and digital project manager).
Job Titles:
- Head of Education & Training
Sue is Head of Education & Training at CTSI, she has worked for the Institute for 3 years, having originally been taken on to drive forward the Qualification Review.
She has 14 years experience of working within the qualifications and education sector and is an experienced project manager, having worked in the UK and overseas facilitating examination delivery.
In her current role Sue also has responsibility for the Codes Approval Scheme (client management) and the Business Education Project on behalf of BEIS.
Away from work, Sue is married with kids and enjoys going on holiday.