Regulatory Board

Following 20 years at the BBC – as a journalist, programme maker and editor and latterly as Managing Director of the World Service – the second half of Sam’s career has focused principally on regulation. He served as the inaugural Chair of the Electoral Commission from 2001 to 2008 and as Chief Executive of the Charity Commission for England and Wales from 2010 to 2014.

His other main regulatory roles have been as Chair of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2004-09); Chair of CILEX Regulation (2015-2021); Director of the Advertising Standards Authority (2014-2020) and Senior Independent Director (2018-2020); and Public Interest Observer at the Chartered Institute of Taxation (2015-18).

Currently Sam is Chair of the Consumers’ Association (Which?), Chair of the Advertising Advisory Committee of the Advertising Standards Authority and a member of the Remuneration Committee of New College, Oxford. 

Sam holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Brunel and Plymouth and was awarded the CBE in 2008. Beyond his professional life, he is a keen choral singer and a long time season ticket holder at his local football club Queens Park Rangers.

Oliver is the Senior Pricing Actuary for Great Lakes Insurance, a subsidiary of Munich Re. He has 3 decades of experience in the general insurance industry, initially in underwriting and consultancy before retraining as an actuary in the early 2000s.

He has a strong interest in climate change and economic theory and how these topics affect actuarial practice. He was the first chairperson of the IFoA Sustainability Board in 2013, served on the Research and Thought Leadership Board, and he currently co-chairs the Economics Member Interest Group. He is a director of Promoting Economic Pluralism and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity. Oliver was elected to IFoA Council in 2022.

David is a Senior Consulting Actuary with Gallagher Benefit Services (GBS), and has over 38 years’ experience within the pension and life assurance industry, with 20 years’ experience as a scheme actuary. David advises both trustees and sponsors. David is a member of GBS’ actuarial committee, GBS’ lead on PPF levy management and also a Senior Quality Assurance Representative for GBS.
 
David was previously a member of the IFoA’s CPD Committee and a panel actuary for the IFoA’s Disciplinary and Capacity for Membership Scheme, having sat on some high-profile cases. Recently, David was also a member of the GN30 Compensation for Professional Shortcomings Working Party.

Helen has a non-executive portfolio in insurance and the charitable sector, building on her 29-year career as a senior executive at AIG and Accenture with international operating experience and deep expertise in strategy, transformation, and governance in the insurance industry.

She is a collaborative problem solver with an academic background in philosophy. Her interests include the effect of change on people with special reference to cultural differences and organisational values, and the social, economic, and ethical impact of data. She is a Non-Executive Director of the Lloyd’s Managing Agent RenaissanceRe, and also holds non-executive positions with edtech charity Founders4Schools and The Data Lab. She joined the IFoA’s QAS Committee as a lay member in 2019 and the Regulatory Board in 2020.

Elizabeth is an emeritus professor at the Robert Gordon University and a chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). She holds a variety of independent board positions in education and the accounting sector following an extensive career in higher education where she lead an award winning business school.

She chairs the integration assessment board and qualification board at ICAS while also sitting on its oversight board and council. She is Vice Chair of Council at St Margaret’s School for Girls and a trustee of the Riding for the Disabled Aberdeen Group. 

David Heath enjoyed a long career in public life, firstly as a leader of a county council and chair of a police authority, followed by 18 years as an MP. In 2010 he joined the UK government as deputy leader of the House of Commons and then minister of agriculture, before retiring from politics in 2015. He has since taken on a number of regulatory roles at board level or as chair. 

Previously he was senior independent director at the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and has also worked with water consumers, the NHS, and the IFoA. He is currently chair of the Costs Lawyers Standards Board and independent chair of standards for MCS, the body ensuring standards of installation and manufacture of low-carbon domestic energy. He also sits on the disciplinary committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He is a member of the Privy Council.

David has just started an interim career, having spent 34 years working for RSA. During his time with RSA he worked in the UK, Denmark, and the USA primarily practising in general insurance. His main areas of focus have been reserving, and capital management and modelling. He was Chief Actuary for RSA Scandinavia’s businesses. David led RSA’s implementation of Solvency II, including the internal model approval process. He is a former chair of the ABI’s Prudential Regulation Committee.

Sue is an independent board member and consultant. Previously a senior Treasury official, Sue’s more recent experience includes:

• Chair of the FCA’s independent Financial Services Consumer Panel
• Trustee Director at The People’s Pension
• lay member of the Chartered Insurance Institute Professional Standards Committee and of the Chartered Banker Professional Standards Board

Sue has also been a beneficiary representative on EIOPA’s Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group and advised international organisations on financial education, financial inclusion, and financial services consumer protection regulation. Sue has a particular interest in how developments in data science will impact on regulation and consumer outcomes.

Phil is a Principal of Milliman LLP based in London. Phil has served on a number of boards and committees for the profession. He was a member of the profession’s Life Board for 10 years, including two years as its chair. Phil was also a member of the Research and Thought Leadership Board and has chaired, or been a member of, other IFoA committees and working parties. Philip works as a consulting actuary specialising in life insurance and financial services with over 30 years’ experience.

Mike is a partner at Isio, which was previously KPMG’s UK pensions advisory business. He has over 30 years’ experience delivering pensions advice to trustees and sponsors in a wide range of situations.  Over his career he has worked for a law firm, Big Four consultants, and employee benefit firms including Towers Perrin and Mercer. He has a MBA from London Business School. He has previously been a member of IFoA Council and various industry and DWP working groups. He is also a regular press commentator and speaks at a number of conferences and events on topical pension issues.

Emma Gilpin is Director of Regulation, Policy and Risk at the IFoA and a qualified solicitor with a background specialising in professional regulation, public law, and litigation. Prior to joining the IFoA, she spent 8 years in private practice working for a large law firm and was an in-house lawyer to the Scottish Police Authority.