Stakeholder Insight Group

The Stakeholder Insight Group (SIG) represents preparers, investors and other key parts of the stakeholder universe including reporting framework owners and civil society groups.

The Group:

Shares their perspectives on key opportunities and potential areas of focus for the FRC.
Shares their perspectives on key areas of concern and emerging risks relating to accounting, reporting, auditing and governance issues.
Provides input on:
- Auditing, Accounting and narrative reporting policy development, including proposed developments to international codes, standards and regulations as appropriate.
- The UK Corporate Governance Code.
- The UK Stewardship Code.
- The FRC Annual Report and Accounts and its Strategy and Plan.
- The FRC’s approach to ESG and Climate reporting.
Provides comments on regular Enforcement and Supervision activities such as Audit Quality and Enforcement Reviews.
Considers and responds to requests for input and advice from the FRC relating to thematic reviews and other ad-hoc projects.

Current members

James Ashton

Quoted Companies Alliance

James Ashton is Chief Executive of the Quoted Companies Alliance, the members’ organisation that champions small and mid-sized companies whose shares are publicly traded.
James was City Editor and Executive Editor of the Evening Standard and Independent titles, and before that City Editor of the Sunday Times. He is the author of several business books and chairs Oscar’s Book Prize, the annual search for the UK’s best picture book. James is also a non-executive director of Finsbury Growth & Income, the FTSE 250 investment trust.
Elaine Boyd

Audit Scotland

Elaine Boyd is the Director of Audit Quality and Appointments at Audit Scotland where she heads the organisation’s quality assurance team, driving and upholding standards for the auditors of around £57 billion of annual spending. Over the last five years, Elaine has developed and implemented a quality framework that covers all audit work and providers, this includes six delegated private firms and Audit Scotland. She is responsible for managing the appointment of auditors in the public sector in Scotland. Elaine also has extensive experience in public sector external audit working in Audit Services for 15 years delivering audits in Local and Central government and the NHS. Elaine is an active member of the Leadership Group and Disability Confident working group.
Previously in the NHS, Elaine gained direct experience of managing public services during her employment as a hospital finance manager and financial accountant.
Elaine is a qualified accountant and a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. She is currently Chair of the ACCA Scotland committee.
Listed in the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100, Elaine is a passionate advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion. She is an active supporter of charity work for Cerebral Palsy Scotland, Riding for the Disabled and Disability Snowsports UK. Elaine is currently a board member of Exceed Worldwide and Cerebral Palsy Scotland. In 2018 Elaine was awarded a Flying Scholarship for the Disabled.
Clare Chapman

ACAS

Clare took up the post of Acas Chair in July 2020. She is also a Non-Executive Director at M&G Investments and the Weir Group, and is Co-Chair of The Purposeful Company. Clare previously served as Group People Director at BT Group and before that, Director General of Workforce at the Department of Health. Clare is also a Trustee of the Reconciling Leaders Network, part of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s commitment to mobilise a generation to live out roles as peacemakers and reconcilers.
Katya Gorbatiouk

London Stock Exchange

Katya Gorbatiouk has over 20 years of experience in international capital markets. She works at the London Stock Exchange as Head of Investment Funds in Primary Capital Markets. As part of this role, Katya is responsible for driving the growth and liquidity of the London listed funds market, a conduit of capital into vital sectors of the economy, such as infrastructure, energy transition and innovation. Katya is also a member of the Group Sustainability working group.
From February 2022, Katya has served on the Best Practice Committee of the Board of the Investor Relations (IR) Society. She is Chair of its Sustainability Communications sub-committee and a member of its IR Communications and Engagement sub-committee. She served on the judging panel for the IR Society 2021 Best Practice Awards in ESG Communications. Her articles on the evolution of corporate communications have been published in the IR Society Journal, Informed.
Katya previously chaired the Board Effectiveness & Stakeholder Governance working group at the Institute of Directors’ Centre for Corporate Governance. She has co-authored an IoD publication on best practice of enacting a stakeholder-centric approach by corporate boards. She led the creation of the Centre’s content on topics related to board effectiveness.
Katya’s early career includes 14 years in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Barclays, in New York and London.
Katya has been a long-standing board member of organisations with high social impact, such as the Global Leaders Institute (Washington DC) and London Music Fund, and other prominent institutions such as UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies and London Symphony Orchestra.
Tom Gosling

London Business School

Tom Gosling is an Executive Fellow in the Department of Finance and the Leadership Institute at London Business School where he contributes to the evidence-based practice of responsible business by connecting academic research, public policy, and corporate action. He is also an Executive Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute, a member of the Advisory Panel at the Financial Reporting Council, and an adviser to the Steering Committee of The Purposeful Company thinktank.
Tom has over 20 years’ experience as a board adviser. Most recently, he was a senior Partner at PwC where he established and led the firm’s executive pay practice, advising FTSE 100 and equivalent private and European companies on corporate governance and executive pay.
Prior to joining PwC, Tom was a Research Fellow in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University. He has a PhD in mathematics, is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, and is a Meyler Campbell Mastered Graduate.
Andrew Harding

AICPA/CIMA

Andrew Harding FCMA, CGMA, ACA has been the Chief Executive – Management Accounting at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA & CIMA) since 2017. He is also currently the Secretary General of CIMA.
Andrew leads management accounting activities for AICPA & CIMA, developing plans and strategies, managing relationships and delivering results for members.
Andrew is a Deloitte alumnus where he qualified as a chartered accountant, having started his career in the mid-1980s as a trainee auditor. He progressed into training and development from there, and then began professional body work in 1991. He joined CIMA in 2009, originally as Executive Director for Global Markets, and became Managing Director in 2011— a position he held until 2016.
Andrew was born in London. He holds an MBA from Henley Business School and a BSc (Economics) from the University of Bristol.
Gavin Hayes

Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors

Gavin Hayes has been Head of Policy and External Affairs at the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors since July 2018. In this role, Gavin leads the Institute’s engagement with external stakeholders, research and thought-leadership programme, public affairs and advocacy, as well as overseeing PR and media relations. This includes leading the Institute’s work on audit reform, spearheading the Institute’s response to the Government White Paper on Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance. As well as this, Gavin played a key role in the development, and successful launch of the Institute’s Internal Audit Code of Practice, leading the secretariat that supported the independent committee that helped to develop the Code.
Gavin has a background in public policy, campaigns and communications. His previous roles include Aviation Campaign Director at the business membership organisation London First, where he led the organisation’s airport expansion campaign ‘Let Britain Fly’; Editorial Director at the public policy events and communications specialist Neil Stewart Associates and prior to that General Secretary of the centre-left political campaign group Compass.
Cat Hoad

Cat is director of secretariat at the Hundred Group, driving and delivering n the agenda of the FTSE100 CFO members. In this role, Cat delivers on the Group’s daily & strategic operations, providing member CFOs with the influence, insight and access they need across the Plc finance landscape. Working with member CFOs and their teams she gathers, interprets and represents the combined views of the FTSE100 CFO membership, and engages with Policy makers (Institutional Investors, Regulators and Government) to deliver an attractive environment for businesses to succeed, create jobs and drive growth.
Her career began at KPMG Audit in London, where her Global client base lead her to secondments in Sydney, Australia; Bangalore, India; and Budapest, Hungary. Cat’s career has included senior roles in audit; compliance; pursuits; and stakeholder engagement programs, with an overarching focus on process transformation.
Cat also sits on the UK Endorsement Boards Preparers Advisory Group and is a co-opted governor at a large comprehensive primary.
Leon Kamhi

Federated Hermes Limited

Reporting to the CEO of Federated Hermes Limited, Leon has led the firm’s Responsibility Platform since 2014. In this role, Leon leads EOS, Federated Hermes’ stewardship service in public markets for institutional investors and through the Responsibility Office all the firm’s advocacy, stewardship and ESG integration activities. This includes ensuring that investment teams across all public and private market asset classes are aware of and integrate material ESG performance in investment decisions and that engagement is effectively incorporated alongside investment activities to enhance and sustain investees’ long term performance. Led by Leon, the Responsibility Office also feeds into, and challenges, the firm’s responsibility-related policies and delivery, including those relating to governance, the environment, and colleagues.
Previously, Leon was responsible for the development and delivery of EOS at Federated Hermes’ global corporate and public policy engagement programme from 2012-2014 and acted as its commercial director from 2009-2012. Prior to that, Leon worked within the Hermes UK Large Cap Focus Fund for seven years, where he was responsible for executing the fund’s engagement programmes. He also has 12 years of strategy consulting and operational industry experience.
Athanasia Karananou

RBC Brewin Dolphin

Athanasia Karananou is the Head of Stewardship at RBC Brewin Dolphin, working closely with the research team across equities and funds. She is also a member of the Investment Association Stewardship Committee. With more than 15 years of experience in the responsible investment industry, Athanasia has worked for a range of different actors such as a proxy advisor, investment manager, ESG service provider and a global investor network. Before joining RBC Brewin Dolphin in 2022, Athanasia was the Director of Corporate Governance and Research at the Principles for the Responsible Investment (PRI). Her other experience includes positions at HSBC Global Asset Management, Sustainalytics and PIRC. Athanasia has an MSc in European Policy and Management and a BA in History, Art History & Archaeology.
Charlotte Morgan

Charlotte Morgan is a Chartered Accountant and Corporate Treasurer. She is non-executive director and Audit Committee Chair of UK Export Finance, the UK’s export credit agency, and of Union Bank of India (UK) Limited. She is a Governor and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee of the University of Westminster. She has been a nonexecutive director and Audit Committee Chair of SMBC Bank International plc, and a non-executive director of FCE Bank plc (Ford Credit). She has served as Vice President of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. During her executive career she was Head of Corporate Treasury and Tax at Standard Chartered plc, amongst other senior finance roles. She is a trustee and Chair of the Finance & Risk Committee at the London Sinfonietta Orchestra, and Chair of trustees at Second Movement Opera.
David Otudeko

Association of British Insurers

David is the Association of British Insurers (ABI) Head of Prudential Regulation. David leads the development and promotion of the ABI’s Prudential Regulation strategy, policy, and proposals on areas such as Solvency II and on wider issues that affect the UK Insurance and long-term savings industry both domestically and internationally.
David joined the ABI in June 2021 from AmTrust International where he was part of the Risk Management function and was instrumental in establishing a Shared Services Risk Function at the Insurance Group. Prior to this, he had spells working in the Insurance Risk and Regulation Practice at PwC, the Prudential Regulation Authority’s Major Life Insurance Groups Supervision Department and in various roles at RBS over a 10-year period.
Ian Peters

Institute of Business Ethics

Ian Peters has been Director of the Institute of Business Ethics since May 2020.
Previous roles have included Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (UK and Ireland), Director of External Affairs at the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF), Deputy Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, Head of SME Policy at the Confederation of British Industry, and a period in public relations for PR agency Burson-Marsteller.
Ian has held a number of non-executive and public appointments including Chair of the Independent Monitoring Panel of the UK Chartered Banker Professional Standards Board, member of the UK Regulatory Policy Committee and its predecessor, the Better Regulation Task Force, and member of the Court of the University of Lancaster. He is currently a member of a number of committees and panels concerned with business ethics.
He holds a PhD from Southampton University on the role of small businesses in economic growth and a BA in Geography from the University of Lancaster.
In 2015 Ian was awarded an MBE for services to regulatory reform in the UK.
Sandra Peters

CFA Institute

Sandra Peters leads the Financial Reporting Policy Group at CFA Institute where she oversees a team responsible for tracking all corporate disclosure issues of interest to investors (e.g. financial reporting, auditing and ESG disclosures). She serves as spokesperson for CFA Institute to policymakers, standard setters, and regulators (e.g. IASB, FASB, SASB, ISSB, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, European Commission) and conducts outreach to other professional organisations and the media to discuss and promote data for investment decision-making.
Sandy has an extensive and well-balanced background as a user advocate, preparer, and auditor. Most recently, Sandy served as Vice President and Corporate Controller at MetLife Inc. Prior to joining MetLife, she was a partner at KPMG LLP providing audit services primarily for insurance and financial services companies.
She is currently a member of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee and the PCAOB’s newly formed Investor Advisory Group as well as the Standards and Emerging Issues Advisory Group. Sandy was previously was a member of the IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRS IC), the PCAOB’s Standing Advisory Group and the FASB’s Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC).
Sandy is a CPA licensed in New York, Texas, and Nebraska. She earned the CFA designation in 1998 and is a member of the CFA Society of New York.
She holds a BSBA in Accounting from the University of Nebraska and an MBA in Finance from Indiana University.
Sallie Pilot

Black Sun

Sallie is a Board Director and responsible for setting overall strategic direction for client work and the integrity of all of Black Sun’s research, thought leadership and engagement with the marketplace. She will be responsible for working closely with the South32 team throughout the stakeholder interview process.
Sallie has more than 25 years’ experience in delivering strategic communications consultancy projects for a range of UK and international clients. Sallie is a leader in the external market, driving the corporate communications debate around key topics of stakeholder value creation, integrated reporting and the evolving relationship between business, governments, society and broader stakeholders.
She is a board member and chair of the Best Practice Committee of the UK Investor Relations Society, member of the Institute of Directors (IOD), Centre for Corporate Governance Stakeholder Governance Working Group and member of Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) Communications Group.
Sallie has also provided strategic advice on integrated thinking and reporting for a range of UK and international clients such as Coca-Cola Hellenic, DBS, HSBC, Olam, Tesco and Worldbank.
Ashish Ray

Jupiter Asset Management

Ashish joined Jupiter in 2007 as a Governance analyst and has held managerial roles within the central stewardship function since 2015. Ashish currently serves as the Head of Stewardship and leads Jupiter’s Stewardship team which is part of the fund management department. Over this period, Ashish’s role has been focused on working in partnership with investment teams to help execute and enhance Jupiter’s active ownership approach. This has meant developing direct and collaborative engagement programmes with investee companies to discuss ESG issues affecting long-term performance and sustainability.
Ashish is also a member of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association’s Policy Committee.
Cindy Rose

Cindy Rose was formerly Head of Responsible Capitalism at Majedie Asset Management and has 23 years’ industry experience. Before joining Majedie in August 2019, Cindy was Head of ESG, Clients and Products at Aberdeen Standard Investments and before that she co-headed Stewardship at Aberdeen Asset Management. At ASI and predecessor companies, Cindy has been responsible for a wide range of ESG and active ownership responsibilities, including client and company engagement, designing ESG integration platforms and SRI product development. Previously, she also worked as a trial clerk at the US Tax Court in Washington, D.C. Cindy holds an MSc in Comparative Literature from the University of Edinburgh and is IMC qualified.
Peter Swabey

Chartered Governance Institute

Peter Swabey is Policy & Research Director at The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland. Based in London, he is responsible for developing the profile of the Institute and the governance profession with members, regulators, policymakers, employers and other stakeholders by delivering thought leadership, lobbying campaigns and professional guidance promoting strong governance as the vital ingredient for success in organisations.
Peter, who joined the Institute in 2013, has more than 35 years’ experience of company secretarial work. He is a member of a number of industry committees and working parties, and is a regular speaker at conferences and events, with an industry-wide reputation as an expert on shareholder and governance matters.
Gareth Sykes

Herbert Smith Freehills

Gareth Sykes is a corporate lawyer specialising in corporate governance matters and is currently UK Head of Corporate Governance Advisory at international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. Gareth has extensive experience advising on a range of company law and corporate governance issues including corporate reporting requirements, the UK Corporate Governance Code, continuing obligations under the UK listing regime, company meetings and directors' duties.
Gareth writes widely on corporate governance matters and is actively involved in various industry bodies. He is vice-chair of governors and chair of the finance and general purposes committee at a local primary school.
Richard Whitaker

Capital Group

Richard is a Senior Stewardship Manager at Capital Group, based in London but covering various sectors across EMEA. He has 10 years of industry experience and joined Capital Group in April 2023. Prior to joining Capital, Richard was a Director, Investment Stewardship at BlackRock in London. Richard is a qualified lawyer and holds a master’s degree in Law from the University of Cambridge.
Nala Worsfold

UK Finance

Nala has over 20 years’ experience in financial services from auditing at KPMG, senior roles at NatWest Group and UK Finance, where she is currently Principal, Financial & Risk Policy. At UK Finance, Nala leads on financial, corporate and sustainability disclosure and corporate governance policy work and co-leads on prudential policy. Her most recent role at NatWest Group was head of risk developments, encompassing finance, treasury, and risk. She is also a non-executive director at Market Harborough Building Society.