2023 Awards Judging Panel

Faizan Haq is a Senior Policy Adviser at the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA). He has over 12 years of experience in the legal, consulting and financial services sectors.

Faizan graduated with an Honours degree in Law and started his career at a ‘Magic Circle’ law firm, before later moving on to work for one of the ‘Big Four’ consulting firms.  He then spent over 7 years at one of the UK’s largest banks, with roles in the Credit Risk, Group Corporate Treasury and Group Corporate Affairs teams.   Faizan helped shape the bank’s regulatory and external affairs strategy, and also regularly engaged with civil servants and politicians in Westminster.

In his current role at the FLA, Haq regularly engages with regulators and advises member firms on their approach to mortgage regulation, credit information and technology issues.  He is keen to help his member firms to both navigate technological change and to embrace the challenges that come along with it.

Amir Ali is the CEO at Remote Court Users. He has also worked in private practice for 21 years for a few leading firms of solicitors who specialised in Dispute Resolution, Insolvency together with company and commercial work at senior management level. He was also Head of Litigation for a Midlands-based National Leasing Plc. Amir was invited to join the High Court Enforcement Officers Association (formally, the High Court Sheriff`s Association) firstly at John Marston & Co (now Marston Group) as a Client Relationship Manager before taking up the role as Director of Client Services and Business Development at High Court Enforcement Group and has over 35 years of experience in both the Legal and Enforcement Sectors in the UK.

In addition, Amir is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (FCICM) and is a member of both CICM’s Think Tank and Technical Committee. CICM overseas & is responsible for £4 Trillion of Trade Debt in the UK and abroad.

Amir served as Chair of the Civil Court Users Association (CCUA) for five years from Sept 2015 to Sept 2020 (he served a total of 11 years on the CCUA Board). The Association is charged with airing and addressing the concerns of all Civil Court Users in the UK at the very highest levels of Government, Ministry of Justice (MOJ), and Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunal Service (HMCTS) to include all other Stakeholders concerned with Policy Change within the Civil Realm.

Amir sits on the Law Advisory Boards of three Universities in the UK and was recently appointed the inaugural President of The Professional Paralegal Register (The PPR). The Register champions diversity, inclusivity and equality within the Profession whilst delivering access to justice and consumer protection for all. The PPR is the independent voluntary regulator for all paralegals.

Amir was also recently appointed to the role of Vice President at Resolve Disputes Online. RDO provide Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Platforms to Ministry of Justices’ (MOJ’s) Globally. Closer to home, RDO are also leading the charge for the UK Government-backed initiative powered by Tech Nation / Law Tech UK, to help transform the UK legal sector through technology. The ambition is to create an online dispute resolution platform for UK PLC and the SME business community.

Profile to follow

Steve Williams has over 15 years’ of experience as a corporate finance advisor.  He works at Continuum Advisory Partners having previously been a Director in Deloitte’s corporate finance practice.  He has advised businesses across the credit management industry for 10 years, advising on numerous high profile transactions involving major companies in debt purchase, debt collection and judicial services both in the UK and across Europe.

Steve continues to witness his clients’ development of compliant technology solutions as an increasingly fundamental requirement to maintain operational effectiveness, preserve creditor relationships and adapt to evolving customer trends.

Alexandra Jones was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Registry Trust in July 2019.

Alexandra joined Registry Trust in September 2017 as Director of Operations and Deputy CEO, with responsibility for compliance, business development, contract management and complaints.

Alexandra moved to Registry Trust from the Financial Ombudsman Service where she was Head of Casework, leading on diverse areas including pensions, investments and jurisdiction, with responsibility for planning and directing different elements of the operation. Key initiatives that Alexandra was involved with were the rapid growth of the PPI casework management model; knowledge resource systems and management information reporting among others.

With over 20 years’ management experience, Alexandra has held various roles across financial services and not for profit organisations. Alexandra is an advocate of using technology and data to improve economic fairness and the customer experience.

PROFILE TO FOLLOW…

Rob Thompson is a Partner at Brachers LLP, heading up their Collections and Recoveries Team. Since 2020, he has also been elected annually as Chair of the Civil Court Users Association (CCUA).

Since becoming a Partner at Brachers in 2015,  his team have been shortlisted for a number of awards, including winning the Credit Excellence Award in the Legal and Enforcement Sector, in 2020.

Rob entered the Credit 500 index in 2021. He is also Chair of the Creditor Recoveries Liaison Committee and additionally sits on the Enforcement Law Review Group.

Brendan Clarkson has more than 25 years of experience in corporate lending and insolvency, working with businesses of all sizes, lenders, creditors and government bodies.

Brendan has built close relationships with solicitors, other professionals, banks and client companies in order to understand their debt management needs. He has also developed good working relationships with government organisations. He appreciates the range of debt recovery options available to organisations, and works hard to ensure their best interests are served.

Brendan has regular contact with the credit management profession through his involvement in credit circles across the UK. He has served as chair of Surrey and Sussex CICM and is heavily involved with the institute.

Eleanor Demuth (Ned) is currently Risk Director at Curve. She has previously worked for Metro Bank, Deloitte, NewDay, and Cabot Financial.

Russell Hamblin-Boone was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Enforcement Association (CIVEA) in January, representing around 2000 enforcement agents who collect civil debt on behalf of local authorities. For almost five years he was CEO of the Consumer Finance Association (CFA) and led reform of short-term lending practices during a period of intense political and media scrutiny. He has been described as doing more than anyone else to build the intellectual case for a high-cost, short-term credit market in the UK. For the second year running Russell was named in the Credit 500, as one of the fifty top influencers. He has also held senior positions at the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) and the Energy Retail Association, now known as Energy UK, where he helped to set up the first trade association dedicated to energy suppliers. He has worked in Downing Street and as private secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords.

Bryan Coverdale is now retired but was previously the Global Head of Recoveries for Standard Chartered Bank,  Europe & JAPA Head of Collections for American Express  and Collections Head at Lloyds Bank.

He is now a Trustee at Money Advice Plus in his home town of Brighton. He has worked in various regions of the world and with his last role at Standard Chartered Bank, based out of Singapore,   he was responsible for  31 countries covering all products ranging from  Mortgages, Secured / unsecured Loans, Credit Cards and Auto finance.

Ian Leslie has walked the unique path of accountant to sales leader and has over 20 years experience working in both finance and sales across a variety of sectors including Property and Insurance. Working as the UK & Ireland Sales & Business Development Leader in Marsh Credit Speciality he specialising in cashflow optimisation solutions, and

Ian always seeks to provide his clients with a tangible financial benefit.

As a sales leader, he aims to move sales in insurance into the 21^st century, and bring through the next generation of sales talent.

Ian is a big supporter of the benefits of collaboration and regularly works with others within the industry to organise events and workshops aimed at sharing best practice and improving our ever-evolving industry.

Naveed is the Head of Policy & Advice at the Consumer Credit Trade Association, an Association which represents nearly 200 consumer credit firms. Naveed’s role and responsibilities include advice and guidance to members in relation to legislative and regulatory matters. Naveed has extensive experience and knowledge in Consumer Credit.

Prior to joining CCTA, Naveed worked as a Compliance Consultant/Advisor for many years at various firms, supporting portfolios of clients with legislation, FCA regulation and compliance.

Martin Kirby Head of Credit Collections and Risk at Scottish Water Business Stream since January 2020.  Martin has repeated success in guiding global business strategy by establishing and developing credit, collection and fraud policies and objectives, aligned with the company’s acceptable risk appetite for commercial, consumer and credit card lending.

Martin has extensive experience in developing risk management framework and scorecard analytics, ensuring compliance with internal and legal regulatory guidelines. He has a proven history of achievement working with globally recognised brands including KIER Group, Adecco UK, Hays Recruitment, Bupa Healthcare, and CHEP. Talent for driving optimised operational performance to achieve measurable financial targets and stakeholder satisfaction. He is expert presenter, negotiator, and communicator; able to forge solid relationships with strategic partners and build consensus across multiple organisational levels.

Bob Winnington has 30 years’ experience in the Banking Sector, including a diverse range of positions within Lending Control, Relationship Management, Area/Regional Management and Senior Service Management. He combines this with many years’ experience as a Customer Service Strategy Consultant working across a range of sectors including over six years at the Institute of Customer Service as a National Account Director.

Bob joined the Money Advice Liaison Group in 2016 since which time he has led a transition of the not-for-profit membership organisation to develop an engaging, inclusive and diverse business with a strong focus on working together to support the lives of people in problem debt”. MALG  is an agile organisation passionate about meeting and developing the needs of its members in a rapidly changing world.  This has led to the establishment of a strong virtual presence alongside the provision of national and regional face to face events and meetings.

Bob is keen to work with all those involved in the money advice and personal debt arena to collaborate on ‘game changing’ solutions that don’t just meet the immediate needs of consumers today. This includes the increasing challenge of supporting vulnerable customers and addressing the long term eradication of problem debt through the proactive and meaningful use of inclusive technology.

Daniel Cichocki is a Commercial Finance Director at UK Finance, the UK’s leading banking and financial services trade association.  He leads on all commercial finance regulatory advocacy and implementation.  His focus is on improving customer relationships, access to finance and enhancing competition.  In recent years, Daniel has also lead UK Finance’s LIBOR transition team supporting over 100 banks and lender members during the benchmark transition.

Daniel started his career in Deloitte’s Banking and Capital Markets group, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and served a range of financial services clients in assurance and advisory engagements.  He is also a Chartered Banker.

Maria Harris is the Director of Digital Cat Consultancy Ltd and is a Non-Exec Director at United Trust Bank and South Tees NHS. In her consultancy role, Maria provides digital and fintech expertise to the mortgage industry. Previously the Director of Lending at Atom bank where she designed, built and launched the multiple award winning, first fully digital mortgage in the UK.

With over 25 years’ experience in management, Maria has held roles across a number of sectors including travel, utilities and more recently in financial services where she was awarded the inaugural Women in Finance Award for services to banking by HM Treasury. She is a vocal advocate for equality, diversity, and the role of technology in improving financial wellbeing and the customer experience.