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Speakers
Speakers confirmed so far for this year's Financial Director Summit include:
GALA DINNER SPEAKER - Lord Norman Lamont
Lord Lamont (Norman Lamont) was at the centre of British politics for many years. He was a Cabinet Minister under both Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and was a member of the House of Commons for twenty-five years. Norman Lamont was Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) from 1990-1993 and introduced three Budgets. He inherited the policy of membership of the ERM, which made it a difficult and controversial time to be Chancellor. This culminated in Britain’s exit from the ERM in September 1992.Many Economists have attributed much of the economic stability and low inflation enjoyed in his first years by Gordon Brown to the policies introduced by Norman Lamont after Britain’s exit from the ERM in September 1992. These new policies included an inflation target for the Bank of England and a tough tax raising Budget in 1993. Sir Alan Walters, economic advisor to Lady Thatcher, in a letter to the Times described Lord Lamont in his “post ERM phase”…. “to be not only the most effective but also the bravest Chancellor since the war”.
CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
Dennis Turner – Chief economist, HSBC
Dennis Turner is one of the most sought-after commentators on the
economic scene, with a presentation delivery that is as witty as it is
insightful. As chief economist, his role involves advising lending bankers on
economic trends at national and regional level. He joined Midland Bank in 1978
prior to which he worked in the National Economic Development Office.
Read Dennis’s column for Financial Director here
Stuart Bridges – CFO, Hiscox
Stuart Bridges is CFO of FTSE-250 specialist insurer Hiscox and is
noted for having taken the decision to redomicile Hiscox to Bermuda in 2005 –
the first major UK business to depart the UK tax jurisdiction. He is chairman of
the ICAEW’s Business Advisory Board.
Read Financial Director magazine’s interview with Stuart Bridges here
Richard Pennycook – FD, Wm Morrison Supermarkets
As FD of FTSE-100 supermarkets group Morrisons, Richard Pennycook has
revived its fortunes after its acquisition of Safeway and returned it to profit.
He has extensive experience as a turnaround FD with a host of well-known British
companies.
Read Financial Director magazine’s interview with Richard Pennycook here
Richard Meddings – CFO, Standard Chartered
The one major British bank to survive the current maelstrom virtually unscathed,
Standard Chartered has had Richard Meddings as its CFO since shortly before the
crisis started. He has extensive experience in risk and treasury, and was
previously at Barclays and Woolwich.
Tony Lomas - Lehman Brothers’ administrator and PwC partner PricewaterhouseCoopers point man on the Lehman’s administration is almost four months into what has widely been recognised as one of the most complex wind-downs in history. The sheer volume of outstanding, or ‘hung’, trades the collapsed investment bank still held, and the sheer scale of the assets involved make this perhaps the most challenging administrations ever.
Neville Kahn - Woolworths administrator and Deloitte partner
The collapse of Woolworths sent shockwaves through the British economy and
insolvency veteran Kahn has had to make tough decisions including making the
whole of Woolworths staff redundant and closing down the business after being
unable to find a buyer.
Arif Kamal - Finance Director, GL Hearn
After qualifying as a Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA), Arif
worked in general practice and for an international firm of chartered architects
before he joined GL Hearn in May 1997 as Group Financial Controller. He was
prompted to the role of Group Finance Director in June 2003, joining the Main
Board of GL Hearn.
John Whiting - Tax Policy Director, Chartered Institute of
Taxation
John Whiting has recently become the first Tax Policy Director of the Chartered
Institute of Taxation (CIOT), following a long career with
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).The Tax policy work involves regular high level
contacts with the UK tax authorities, Ministers and Shadow Ministers and
appearances before Parliamentary Committees. John is a past President of the
CIOT and is regular speaker and writer on a wide variety of taxation topics, His
explanations and views on tax issues are constantly sought by both broadcast and
print media. John was awarded the OBE in 2008 for services to the tax profession
and confesses to having been the inaugural recipient of the ‘Tax Personality of
the Year’ accolade.
Watch John Whiting discuss tax policy here
Keith Cochrane - Group Finance Director, Weir
Keith is a chartered accountant and was appointed group finance
director in July 2006. He was formerly group director of finance at
ScottishPower plc. Before that he was with Stagecoach Group plc where he was
group finance director before becoming group chief executive in 2000. He is also
a non-executive director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Society
Limited.
David Kappler - Chairman, Premier Foods
Joined the Group on flotation in 2004 as Chairman. Mr Kappler was previously
Finance Director of Cadbury Schweppes plc. He was also a non-executive director
and latterly Chairman of HMV plc until 2006. He is a Chartered Management
Accountant and is currently a Senior Independent Director and the Chairman of
Audit Committee at both Shire plc and Intercontinental Group plc.
Read about David Kappler’s time as FD of Cadbury Schweppes here
William Connell - Former FD, BOC Group
Bill Connell began his corporate career with The BOC Group plc which included 11
years as Group Controller at global head quarters, 2 years as Global Finance
Director of a major line of business, focussing on business strategy, and 2
years as Group Director of Risk Management. Bill is now an independent
consultant specialising on governance, strategy, risk and change management
projects.
Zarin Patel - CFO, BBC
Zarin Patel has been CFO for the British Broadcasting Corporation since
2004. She joined as FC in 1998 and in that role led the reform of the
Corporation’s financial management disciplines; as CFO she has led a major move
to offshore both core and non-core services, making significant savings.
Read an interview of Zarin Patel here
Mark Freebairn - Partner, Odgers
Mark Freebairn is a partner, head of CFO practice and a member of Board &
CEO practice at Odgers Berndtson, an executive search group. Mark regularly
places FDs, CFOs and non-executive directors across all sectors in a range of
businesses, public and private.
Read about Mark Freebairn’s work with FDs here
Alistair Woodland - Partner, Clifford Chance
Alistair Woodland is a partner at leading law firm Clifford Chance. His work
focuses on employment law including litigation, the employment aspects of
M&A transactions and remuneration.
Read about Alistair’s work for FDs here
Robert Clarkson - Finance Director, TalkTalk
Robert Clarkson is finance director of TalkTalk, the consumer telephone and
broadband business owned by The Carphone Warehouse. He has led the integration
of acquisitions by TalkTalk and is currently integrating Tiscali UK, which it
acquired earlier this year, into the business.
Mel Carvill - Director, Generali Worldwide
Mel Carvill is founder and CFO of PPF Partners Group, a private equity firm
investing in emerging Europe part-owned by insurance group Generali, where he
worked for 23 years in a range of accounting, technical and general management
positions. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England
and Wales and an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Eric Tracey, Senior Independent Director, Chloride Group & Findel
Plc
Eric is currently the senior independent director and chair of the audit
committee at both Chloride Group PLC and Findel plc (listed companies), a non
executive director and chair of the audit committee at NEC Group, a member of
the advisory board for Governance for Owners LLP (an investment manager), the
chair of the NZTE UK Beachhead Advisory Board, as well as advising a private
equity backed company in relation to its banking situation.
Kevin Wesbroom - UK Lead for global risk services, Hewitt
Kevin Wesbroom is UK Lead for global risk services at Hewitt, bringing
to bear a 30-year career in pensions. A qualified actuary, Kevin works with both
Hewitt’s actuarial and investment departments with the aim of helping clients
develop their pensions objectives in a risk controlled framework. In his time at
Hewitt, Kevin has developed its defined contribution unit and its employee
benefits offering.
Please check back soon for further speaker updates.
You can view the list of speakers from the 2008 Financial Director Summit under the ‘Last year’s event’ link
