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.
Stephen Boyle

Audit Scotland

Stephen Boyle was appointed Auditor General in July 2020 by Her Majesty the Queen, and is responsible for auditing around £40bn of taxpayers’ money. He audits all public bodies except local authorities, including the Scottish Government, NHS bodies, police and fire, further education colleges and most non-departmental public bodies. He is the accountable officer for Audit Scotland and works closely with the Accounts Commission.
Stephen previously led Audit Scotland’s central government external audit work. As Audit Director, he was the engagement lead on the audits of the Scottish Government’s consolidated accounts, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and the European Agricultural Funds Account. He was also the appointed auditor of the Scottish Police Authority, the Scottish Public Pension Agency and Registers of Scotland. Stephen has wide experience of auditing the public sector, including local authorities and the NHS.
Before joining Audit Scotland in 2013, Stephen was the Assistant Director of finance at Glasgow Housing Association and before that, the Head of Finance and Corporate Services at Cube Housing Association, both now part of the Wheatley Group, Scotland’s largest Registered Social Landlord group.
Lauren Branston

Institute of Business Ethics

Lauren is the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), a role she has held since September 2024. The IBE’s purpose is to champion the highest standards of ethical behaviour in business.
Before joining the IBE, she ran her own strategic advisory firm for ten years, working at the intersection of culture, strategy, communications, sustainability, leadership, and governance. With a wealth of experience in corporate affairs and sustainability, Lauren served on the UK & Ireland Executive Leadership team of The Coca-Cola Company for nearly a decade and has experience in both Environmental Management Consultancies and Public Relations Firms, on a wide range of social, environmental, and governance issues.
Lauren currently serves on a number of external committees, including the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) Integrity Committee and the University College London (UCL) Centre for Ethics and Law Advisory Panel. She is also a guest lecturer at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, where she speaks on Business Ethics and Sustainability, Business Transformation, Personal and Corporate Advocacy. Additionally, she is a Board Trustee of the Soil Association.
Amanda Cantwell

GC100

Amanda is Senior Specialist Legal Editor (Corporate) at Practical law (Thomson Reuters) and acting Joint Secretary to GC100. GC100 is the voice of general counsel and company secretaries working in FTSE 100 companies. GC100 engages with government, regulators and policy makers to provide practical and business-focused input on law and regulation which impacts on the largest UK listed companies.
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.
Adam Jackson

BlackRock

Adam Jackson is a member of the Government Affairs and Public Policy team at BlackRock. In this role Adam works on a range of UK public policy issues, covering investment stewardship, sustainability, and infrastructure investing. Before joining BlackRock worked as an Economist and Policy Analyst at HM Treasury. Adam holds a BA in Economics from the University of the West of England.
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.
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

The Investor Forum

Currently, Sallie is a Managing Director at The Investor Forum, a not-for-profit, practitioner-led membership organisation, set up by institutional investors in UK Equities focused on positioning stewardship at the heart of investment decision-making. There she is leading on the Investor & Issuer Forum initiative which brings together investors and issuers to work on initiatives to enhance the effectiveness of the UK capital markets, with a focus on sustainable value creation.
She is an Advisory Panel and Stakeholder Insight Group Member of the FRC, Communications Group Member of the Accounting for Sustainability (A4S), and fellow of the Investor Relations Society. Until recently she was an owner and Executive Director of Black Sun plc a Stakeholder Communications Business where she ran a global advisory and research team, of investor, ESG, sustainability, and communications specialists.
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.
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.
Helen White

TheCityUK

Helen is Director of Policy at TheCityUK. Prior to joining TheCityUK in July 2022 Helen worked in a range of policy, strategy and public affairs roles in various industry trade and professional bodies (The Association of British Insurers, The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, The Chartered Insurance Institute, The British Property Federation), government (HM Treasury and HMRC on tax policy, including EU tax law negotiations), the Financial Conduct Authority, the Money Advice Service, and the EU Commission.
Paul Wilson

Federation of Small Businesses

Paul Wilson is the Policy Director at the Federation of Small Businesses, where his team aims to provide a voice for the UK’s 5.5 million small businesses and the self-employed. Paul’s team publishes regular research reports on a range of topics that affect small businesses, including FSB’s quarterly confidence report – the Small Business Index. Prior to joining FSB, Paul spent five years at the Law Society of England and Wales, as Director of Public Affairs and he also headed up their regulatory team. Paul started his career in Whitehall, as a civil servant.
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.