Alice Yip

Elected to Council: 2017

Alice is an audit partner at KPMG in Hong Kong. Dedicated to serving the consumer and industrial sectors, Alice has extensive experience in being the lead partner for initial public offerings and cross-border capital market transactions.

Alice has been a member of ACCA since 2000, and served as the chairman of ACCA Hong Kong for 2016/17. She has also participated in the Professional Development Sub-Committee of ACCA Hong Kong and contributed to the ACCA task force on various consultations on financial reporting, corporate governance and regulatory matters.

Alice is also a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors and the Hong Kong Retail Management Association.

Amos Ng

Elected to Council: 2022

Amos is the group CFO and senior vice president of Straco Corporation Limited, a public listed company operating in the tourism sector. He has been with the company for more than two decades. His other industry experience includes shipping, logistics and management consultancy. 

Amos has previously served as an ACCA Council member; chairman of ACCA Singapore Network Panel, and as Singapore representative to ACCA’s International Assembly. He has also been contributing to the community through active involvement in skills-based volunteering.

He is married with two sons and is an avid golfer and outdoor enthusiast.

Read our interview with Amos.

Anastasia Chalkidou

Elected to Council: 2022

Anastasia Chalkidou is the accounting director and co-founder of Quantum BITS, a digitalised SME firm providing accounting, tax, and IT consulting services to SMEs in Greece and other countries.

Her 20-year career varies from being a senior auditor in one of the Big Four audit firms to IFRS reporting in the financial services sector, as well as representing the profession on international level as the first Greek to work at the Accountancy Europe (FEE) in Brussels, Belgium.

She was the ACCA International Assembly Representative for Greece in 2020-2022 and has been a member of the ACCA Advisory Committee in Greece since 2017. She is an ACCA Practice Room hosts, a member of the ACCA SME Global Forum, and she has participated as a speaker/moderator in numerous panel discussions on accounting matters related to SMEs and digital accounting - always promoting the values and principles of ACCA.

Read our interview with Anastasia.

Ayla Majid
Vice president

Elected to Council: 2014

Ayla Majid is Managing Director Financial Advisory at Khalid Majid Rehman. She has 20 years of experience in transaction advisory, mergers & acquisitions, and corporate governance.

She is an international speaker and is a strong advocate of sustainability; takes part in contributing to important themes: Digital Transformation, Belt & Road Initiative, Future of Work, Future of Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure. 

Ayla is an independent director on boards in energy, pharmaceutical and not-for-profit sectors.

Ayla is a member of the Global Future Council of Energy of the World Economic Forum and is also a Young Global Leader of the WEF.

In addition to ACCA qualification, Ayla holds MBA degree from Lahore University of Management Sciences and LLB (Hons) from the University of London. She is also alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School; University of Oxford, and Nanyang Technological University.

Read our interview with Ayla.

Babajide Ibironke

Elected to Council: 2020

Babajide is Group CFO of Viathan Engineering, based in Lagos, Nigeria. 

Viathan is an energy as a service company where he directs strategy, financial planning and control as well as managing stakeholder relationships including private equity investors, lending institutions, bondholders, shareholders and regulators.

He has a track-record in finance leadership roles over two decades from academic, healthcare, manufacturing banking and non-banking financial institutions. His expertise spans audit, treasury, financial management, strategic business reporting, taxation, budgeting and administration. 

He has many years of project and corporate finance experience in developed and emerging markets as well as achievements in project development, including both the raising and deployment of capital (equity, mezzanine and debt) for direct investments across key infrastructure sectors including healthcare. 

Babajide has experience in structuring and arranging complex, first-in-kind transactions that have shaped project finance in sub-Saharan Africa. 

He is a board member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria’s (ICAN) Financial Reporting Faculty; board member of ICAN ICT and Consultancy Faculty and secretary to the board of trustees of IFRS Experts, Nigeria. 

He is married with three children and enjoys playing golf.

Read our interview with Babajide

Brendan Sheehan

Brendan is a fellow of ACCA and has been a member of Council since 2014. 

He is the CEO of White Squires, a company which provides finance transformation management services in Australia.  Prior to this, Brendan led the national commercial management team at Colliers International in Sydney.

Brendan has almost 30 years’ experience working with businesses in many industries in Ireland, Australia and Asia Pacific.

He chairs the ACCA audit committee.

From 2011-14, Brendan was a member of our Australia and New Zealand members' network, which he chaired from 2012-14. He was also part of our International Assembly.

Read our interview with Brendan.

Carol-Ann Boothe

Elected to Council: 2019

Carol-Ann Boothe is a director in the Risk Management – Independence Group, with over 25 years’ experience in financial-related audits, attestation services and advisory services to federal government, financial services and commercial clients.

Carol-Ann assists public entities on initial public offerings and approving new services in accordance with international and USA legislation. Previously, Carol-Ann worked in KPMG’s audit and advisory practices in Jamaica, UK, Romania, Croatia, India and USA with clients in various industries.

Carol-Ann chaired ACCA USA Members Network for 2017–19; member of International Assembly 2015-18; vice chair of the ACCA USA Members Network 2015–17, ACCA Washington DC Chapter head from 2013.  Carol-Ann served as treasurer and president of the ACCA Women’s Society South East Division in London from 1997-2000.

Read our interview with Carol-Ann.

Cathal Cusack

Elected to Council: 2022

Cathal is the managing partner of Cusack & Co in Dublin, Ireland, a firm of Chartered Certified Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisors. The firm is a member of the MSI Global Alliance of accountants and lawyers.

He is proud of the firm’s history of training ACCA members and the success that has followed students who trained with him. He is a strong supporter of the ACCA mentoring programme.

He was a regulatory assessor for ACCA, has represented ACCA Ireland on several governmental committees, and has contributed to ACCA's Accounting and Business magazine.

Cathal is passionate about music, and is deputy chairman of Music Network which makes live music accessible to communities while helping musicians develop fulfilling careers.

Cristina Gutu

Elected to Council: 2018

Cristina is the head of the KPMG Training Academy in Romania, and has been a professional ACCA trainer for more than 10 years and in multiple countries.

Prior to this, Cristina gained valuable practical international experience in auditing and consultancy, both in a large firm and also in a smaller accountancy practice.

Cristina was a member of ACCA’s International Assembly between 2010 and 2016, serving three consecutive terms, and is also an active supporter of ACCA in Romania. She is a member of the ACCA Global Forum for Corporate Reporting.

Read our interview with Cristina.

Dani (Ladan) Saghafi

Elected to Council: 2021

Dani is associate professor in audit and corporate finance at Brunel University London’s Business School.

She is also a partner and head of transactions at Frontier Partners, which advises businesses of all sizes on M&A transactions.

Dani has 20 years of experience working with multinationals including Renault, Kone and Hutchinson, leading investigatory work advising on cross-border transactions.

Dani started her career in 2002 in audit, joining Deloitte Corporate Finance in 2006. She qualified with ACCA in 2007.

Dani also has an MBA from Derby University and a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice.

Dani has worked in nine countries across Europe and the Middle East.

Read our interview with Dani.

Datuk Zaiton Mohd Hassan

Elected to Council: 2016

Datuk Zaiton Mohd Hassan is the chief executive officer of the Malaysia Professional Accountancy Centre (MyPAC). Prior to this, she was the managing director of Capital Intelligence Advisors SDN BHD, the president and executive director of the Malaysian Rating Corporation BHD, and the general manager of Maybank BHD.

She has been involved with ACCA for several years, previously serving as the president of the ACCA Malaysia Advisory Committee, and in this role attending the International Assembly in 2012 and 2014.

Datuk Zaiton Mohd Hassan is the vice president of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), and a member of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee.

Read our interview with Datuk Zaiton Mohd Hassan.

Den Surfraz

Elected to Council: 2020

Den is head of compliance at Butterfield Mauritius Limited.

He is a certified fraud examiner with more than 30 years’ experience in financial crime investigation, risk management and compliance. 

His previous position was with Citco in global operation control. He has also worked as an investigator at the Financial Intelligence Unit and as a police officer mainly with the Anti Drugs and Smuggling Unit in Mauritius. 

Den is chair of Mauritius Institute of Professional Accountants (MIPA) and a board member of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).

He is married with two children and enjoys playing football, watching English football especially Manchester United and trail running.

Read our interview with Den

Dinesh Jangid

Elected to Council: 2022

Dinesh currently leads technology and data analytics for one of the leading audit firms in India, BSR & Co LLP (a sub-licensee firm of KPMG in India). His current role involves developing technology tools for external audits as well as implementing a data-analytics driven audit approach.

Previously, he was a partner of KPMG in India leading various accounting and financial reporting projects across many geographies. He also spearheaded IFRS convergence, accounting change and finance transformation projects for some of the largest corporations in India.

Previous roles also include the PMO of global Accounting Advisory Services (AAS) at KPMG working with the global head of AAS to drive revenue growth and collaboration across the network.

In addition to being an ACCA Council member, he is also the chairman of the ACCA members committee in India. 

Read our interview with Dinesh.

Dinusha Weerawardane

Elected to Council: 2018

Dr Dinusha is a senior lecturer - accounting and finance, University of West London.

Originally from Sri Lanka, she has several years’ experience in higher education in the UK, as well as in the MESA region. She is committed to building the ACCA brand globally.

Dr Dinusha is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA), a chartered manager (CMI UK), and holds a PhD in Consumer Behaviour, an MSc. in International Business Management, an LLB (Hons) specialising in Business Law and a BSc. (Hons) in Applied Accounting.

She is an external examiner for Ulster and Coventry Universities, an Oxford Brookes University registered mentor for the BSc Applied Accounting programme, and was formerly an ACCA CB-exam writer and external technical reviewer.

Read our interview with Dinusha.

Ernest Wong

Elected to Council: 2021

Ernest is president and group CFO of KVB Holdings in Hong Kong SAR. He has 30 years of experience in venture capital, corporate finance, business development and general management.

He has been executive director, CFO, company secretary, non-executive director, independent non-executive director and audit committee chairman of several listed companies on the Hong Kong SAR and London stock exchanges.

Ernest has an array of masters degrees including one in management from the Said Business School at the University of Oxford; in investment from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; electronic engineering from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Hong Kong University.

He joined ACCA in 1994, and was a member of the Accountants for Business global forum between 2017-2020 and an International Assembly representative in 2020-2021.

Ernest is the court member of HKU. He was also the deputy chairman of the HKU Convocation; President of the Hong Kong University Graduates Association, and the board director of CFA Hong Kong.

Read our interview with Ernest

Gary Kent

Elected to Council: 2022

Gary is the chief financial officer and commissioner of corporate services for Peel Region, the third largest municipality in Ontario, Canada, delivering services and infrastructure to 1.5 million residents and 175,000 businesses. Gary manages an annual fiscal budget of over $3.8 billion.

He has led many significant community and corporate transformational strategic initiatives in the UK and Canada, focused on delivering strategic value.

As well as being an ACCA member, Gary is a CPA in Canada and earned a BA in Accountancy from Glasgow Caledonian University. He has graduated from the Directors Education Program from the Institute of Corporate Directors, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, holding the ICD.D designation. 

In addition to being elected to ACCA’s Council and sitting on ACCA’s Public Sector Global Forum, his board and committee commitments include: the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA); One Investment Board and Sheridan College’s Professional Advisory Council. 

Gillian McCreadie

Elected to Council: 2019

Gillian has worked in practice since graduating in 2008 and is now business services manager at Robb Ferguson Chartered Accountants.

She has served as ACCA Scotland committee chairman since 2017 and also represents Scotland on ACCA’s International Assembly.

Her professional interests include accounting and tax compliance for SMEs across sectors including manufacturing, retail, engineering, dentistry and charities.

Gillian enjoys reading, keeping fit, volunteering with a veterans’ charity and watching Rangers FC, where she is a season ticket holder.

Read our interview with Gillian.

Helen Morgan

Elected to Council: 2022

Helen is an experienced finance and non-executive director working in the retail sector for one of the UK’s largest character clothing companies.

She became a fellow member of the ACCA in 2008. Prior to that, she attained her Accounting Technician qualification, first-class Applied Accounting degree, and an MBA through Oxford Brookes.

Helen has experience in a wide range of industries and sectors, including telecommunications, cloud services, BPOs, financial services and charitable institutions. Her roles have ranged from working in FP&A (finance, planning and analytics) and accounting, to director and senior/non-executive positions.

She became an ACCA panel member for the South Wales region back in 2018, and has supported ACCA students and members in the UK and worldwide, including delivering keynote speeches, contributing towards research projects and panel discussions, She has also contributed to podcasts on topics such as ‘Leading the global footprint’ and ‘Accounting for the future’.

Ian Ng

Elected to Council: 2022

Ian has 22 years finance experience in multiple industries. He started with PwC Malaysia as an auditor where he worked for four years before moving to Ernst & Young China for another two years. He then joined Eaton Corporation as APAC M&A manager before moving to handle business finance for Eaton Electrical China. 

He joined GE in year 2012 as CFO for GE R&D organisation and moved within GE to be CFO for GE Transportation China for almost five years. 

Ian then worked at Nielsen from 2018 to 2021, before moving to Ammega APAC where has been since May 2021, leading the finance, IT and M&A functions. 

Ian is currently an ACCA International Assembly Member, serves on the ACCA Business Forum Committee, and the Central China Steering Committee.

Read our interview with Ian.

James Lizars

Elected to Council: 2022

James is the founder and CEO of Thrive, a purpose-led SMP that works with early-stage tech businesses. Thrive has the distinction of being B Corp certified and is a signatory of the Million Tree Pledge. This beyond-profit focus was recognised with the award of Sustainability Initiative of the Year 2022 by the International Accounting Bulletin. 

A member since 2005, James began his accounting career in industry, primarily working within advertising and digital agencies. Holding FP&A (finance, planning and analytics) and finance director roles in multinational and SME businesses, he has championed employee engagement as a growth driver. 

Starting his own practice in 2013 as a sole founder, James has developed a keen appreciation for the challenges and rewards of running a small business. Recognised as a supporter of the UN Global Goals, he promotes the SME business case for pursuing a purpose beyond profit as a speaker at industry events and contributor to industry publications.

Jennifer Tan

Elected to Council: 2022

Jennifer Tan, is the CEO of Alipay Financial Services (HK) Limited and the EVP – Strategy Development and Government Affairs, GBA of Ant Group.  As well as being an ACCA member, she also holds an MBA.

She has been an active leader in promoting Fintech industry and the accounting profession. In 2021, she was named winner of the Outstanding Women Professionals and Entrepreneurs Award and was named by the Fintech Magazine as one of Fintech’s Top 100 Leaders in a global league table. In 2019, she was named ACCA Advocate of the Year, both for Hong Kong and Greater China.  Jennifer is the immediate past chair of ACCA Hong Kong.

Jennifer is active in voluntary community services, especially in the development of young people and has been serving various universities in Hong Kong as a chair or member of the advisory committees.  

Joe O’Regan

Elected to Council: 2022

Joe has spent the majority of his career supporting international operations in both for-profit and non-profit settings. He has led finance and HR teams, international tax reporting, audit liaison teams, accreditation renewals for educational institutions, the implementation of emergency management response plans, and the establishment of an overseas presence in numerous countries.

Joe is the director of Global Support Services at Harvard University. In this role Joe and his team operate research centres across the globe, advise on operating overseas, and oversee the international safety and security program.

He also serves as both the vice president for Operations and the secretary for Harvard Global Research and Support Services Inc, as well as having various board appointments with Harvard Global and its overseas affiliates.

He serves as the ACCA chapter head for the Boston area and is an ACCA Europe and Americas Advocate of the Year Award winner.

Joseph Owolabi
President

Elected to Council: 2015

Joseph is chief executive at Rubicola Consulting, a green finance firm based in Melbourne, Australia.

Prior to joining Council in 2015, he served on ACCA’s International Assembly. During his gap-year on Council, Joseph was elected as a Panel member for ACCA Australia and New Zealand.

His previous experience includes director and senior manager at Deloitte Asia Pacific and PwC Australia respectively. He was also the pioneer leader of EY West Africa's Climate Change and Sustainability Services. 

His specialisms include green finance, climate risks, and accounting standards change.

Read our interview with Joseph.

Liz Blackburn

Elected to Council: 2017

Liz has a diverse range of asset management reporting and audit experience, as well as a passion for, and track record of, information gathering, sharing insights, building business relationships and helping businesses and individuals develop and succeed.

Her roles with blue chip financial services organisations (BlackRock, Royal Bank of Scotland, AEGON Asset Management, Standard Life Investments) and Big 4 accountants (PwC, EY) over the past 30 years have given her extensive experience of external audit, review and challenge, risk and control assessments, driving Risk Culture activities, Operational and ESE risk, and exposure to Board Risk Committees. 

Liz was admitted to membership of the ACCA in 2000 and became a Fellow in 2005.  She was elected to Council in November 2017.

Prior to joining Council Liz chaired the UK Financial Services and the Edinburgh & East of Scotland Member Network Panels and was awarded ACCA UK Advocate of the Year in 2016.

Liz now chairs the Accountants for Business Global Forum, a group of 25-30 CFOs from around the world which meets quarterly and discusses a wide range of topics from cyber security, finance transformation, future finance careers through to climate change and Covid-19 response.  Output from the Forum informs the Professional Insights (PI) research, and as such Liz has worked with the PI team and contributed to a number of PI reports.

Liz is an ex officio member of the ACCA Scotland Committee.

Read our interview with Liz.

Lock Peng Kuan

Elected to Council: 2018

Lock is the Managing Partner in audit & assurance at Baker Tilly Malaysia.

Since first joining ACCA in 2000, Lock has served on ACCA’s Public Practice Committee (including as chairman), Malaysia Advisory Committee (as Deputy President), International Assembly, and as the chairman of ACCA’s Global Forum for Audit and Assurance.

Lock is a member of the Audit and Assurance Standards Board (AASB), and member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, where he sits on the Capital Market Advisory Committee. Lock is also a member of the Industry Advisory Board of two colleges and Professional Standards Committee of Baker Tilly International.

Read our interview with Lock Peng Kuan.

Marta Rejman

Elected to Council: 2015

Marta is the Head of Shared Services Centre for Publicis Groupe. She is responsible for Finance, HR, Legal and IT services provided to CEE, Baltic and Nordic regions.

Marta has spent six years as the Director of the European Finance Centre, building the JLL Shared Services Operation for the EMEA region.

Before that, she has held positions of CFO and Deputy Director Finance and Administration at ING Lease both in Poland and Germany.

She served six years on the board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and was also a member of its Audit Committee and Finance and Planning Committee.

Marta has a degree from Warsaw School of Economics and an MBA from the University of Calgary. She was a member of our first Poland committee in 2006, and has also been part of our International Assembly.

Find out more about Marta's career.

Maryam Abisola Adefarati

Elected to Council: 2020

Maryam is a Lagos-based business leader who has spent the last 20 years developing strategy, leadership and financial management skills while contributing to the growth of leading brands. She has held roles across West Africa and Europe with Coca-Cola, Pernod Ricard, BAT, PwC, Morgan Stanley, Deloitte and KPMG.

Maryam co-owns the Babalola Adefarati Foundation which has improved the lives of over 3,000 Nigerians with free medical care, food supplies, school fees and clean water supplies. 

She joined ACCA in 2005. Maryam is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and a certified internal auditor.

Maryam is married with one son and a daughter. She enjoys travelling and reading.

Read our interview with Maryam

Matthew Wong

Elected to Council: 2017

Matthew has more than 30 years of extensive experience in the accounting profession in Hong Kong and mainland China. He is a partner at PwC and the leader of PwC China’s financial services tax practice. He is also a trusted tax adviser to many Fortune 500 financial service companies, international hedge funds and private equity houses making investments into Asia and particularly China.

Matthew has served on the Steering Committee of ACCA Central China for more than a decade, since 2007. In 2016, he was elected as the Chairman of the Steering Committee and has represented ACCA Central China at the International Assembly.

He frequently contributes technical articles for AB Magazine, and provides insights for ACCA’s local development and events via the ACCA Central China expert panel.

Read our interview with Matthew.

Md Arif Al Islam

Elected to Council: 2022

Arif Islam is MD and CEO of Summit Communications Ltd, a company that has the widest integrated telecommunication and IT infrastructure (fibre network, tower, internet gateway) footprints in Bangladesh. 

He co-founded the company in partnership with a large conglomerate Summit Group over twelve years ago. Before this entrepreneurial initiative, he was Deputy CEO and CFO of the market leader mobile operator GrameenPhone, a subsidiary of Telenor. Over a decade-long career in GrameenPhone, he played an instrumental role in growth, technology adaptation and strategy formulation, leading the company from a start-up to be the largest corporate house in Bangladesh. 

He had over six years public practice experience in UK and later worked as senior manager in KPMG Bangladesh. 

He has been playing an ACCA brand ambassadorship role to the community since qualifying in 1999. He was the founding chair of Members Advisory Committee in 2017 and continues to contribute to the development of ACCA community in Bangladesh.

Melanie Proffitt

Elected to Council: 2015

Melanie's experience spans several sectors, including healthcare, print and packaging, automotive, and heavy engineering. She now jointly runs Proffitt Consultants Ltd, a business that specialises in process improvement and change management. She previously worked as divisional financial director at Chesapeake Packaging and general manager within Spire Healthcare.

Melanie has an MBA from Warwick Business School and a postgraduate diploma in sales and marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She's also a governor at South Leicestershire College.

She's been part of our Leicestershire network panel since 2007 and was its president for three years. 

Read our interview with Melanie.

Merina Abu Tahir

Merina Abu Tahir has over 30 years of working experience in various senior management roles in finance, accounting, business development, audit, governance and ethics; in Malaysia, the UK, Middle East, Africa and South America.

She sits as an independent non-executive director on the boards of Malaysian public-listed companies, Tenaga Nasional Berhad and SP Setia Berhad.

Merina is active in the development and promotion of the accounting profession through current appointments in ACCA Global Forum on Governance Risk & Performance, ACCA Malaysia Women Network, ACCA Malaysia ESG Task Force, Malaysian Institute of Accountant (MIA) Education Board, MIA-Malaysian Qualifications Agency Joint Technical Committee and MIA Professional Accountants in Business.

Merina is the past chair of ACCA Malaysia Advisory Committee, past MIA Council member and past Executive Committee member of the International Association of Airline Internal Auditors.

Read our interview with Merina.

Michelle Hourican

Michelle first became involved with ACCA in her local student society, and has since served as president of the Members' Network in Dublin, on the ACCA Ireland Executive Committee, and led the working group that reviewed and updated the ACCA Ireland constitution and governance arrangements in 2012.

Michelle is a director of Datatrails, a start-up GDPR consulting firm focused on the SME market. She served as a director of Community Credit Union for three years up to 2019, where she was chair of the audit, governance and risk committee and the IT committee. She recently served as a board member of the European Association of Data Protection Professionals Irish branch.  

Her work specialisms are data protection, business strategy, change management, project management, information technology, lecturing and corporate governance.

In addition to ACCA qualification, Michelle holds a Masters in Science in the Management and Application of IT in Accounting from Dublin City University, and is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals. She holds an advanced diploma in Data Protection Law from the Honorable Society of King's Inns.

She was awarded ACCA Accountant of the Year in 2015.

Michelle has been an active member of a variety of committees at ACCA including:

•  Business Leaders Forum
•  ACCA Ireland Committee
•  Irish Technology Group
•  Irish SMP Working Group
•  Leinster Student Panel and Leinster Panel (president in 2012)
•  Irish Executive Committee
•  and is a lead member of the working group for the review and updating of the ACCA Ireland constitution and governance arrangements.

Natalie Chan

Elected to Council: 2019

Natalie, from Hong Kong, has been a member of ACCA since 1998 and became a Fellow in 2003.

Her professional interests are in providing audit and advisory services to financial institutions in Hong Kong (SAR) and China including listed financial institutions, securities and asset management companies and investment funds.

Since 2011 she has been a partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and served as ACCA Hong Kong (SAR) chairman 2018-19.

She is a member of Hong Kong Red Cross and enjoys jogging, hiking, yoga and movies.

Nauman Asif Mian

Elected to Council: 2020

Nauman is based in Dubai as chief financial officer of Bayt.com, the Middle East's top job site.

He is a certified internal auditor and started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Nauman went on to work for LA Fitness, the leading health and fitness provider in the UK.

Nauman is a member and ex-chair of the ACCA UAE Members Advisory Committee and a member of the Global Tax Forum and Global Business Forum at ACCA. 

He has been nominated for multiple awards, including Young Accountant of the Year and Chartered Accountant of the Year at the Finance and Accountancy Middle East Awards.

He is married with two children.

Oluwaseyi Oshibolu

Elected to Council: 2021

Seyi is director - external audit (banking and capital markets) with EY in Nigeria. He was educated at Kings College Lagos and Oxford Brookes University.

He leads EY's accounting advisory services for the financial services sector in West Africa and also oversees external audits of some of EY's largest banking and capital market clients in Africa.

In his accounting advisory role he focuses on a range of services supporting CFOs and finance leaders.

His special interests are corporate reporting, economic policy, investment management and professional education.

Seyi is a CFA charterholder.

Orla Collins
Past president

Elected to Council: 2012

Orla is interim managing director with Aberdeen Standard Investments Ireland.  Prior to this Orla has held a number of senior roles within the financial services sector, most recently as chief risk officer with Standard Life International.  Orla’s experience includes roles in risk management, compliance, branch banking, financial control, internal audit and asset management.

Orla was appointed global vice president of ACCA in November 2019.  In addition she sits on the ACCA Global Council, is a member of the Council Board and of the Nomination and Governance Committee.

Orla holds an MSc in strategic management (first class honours), is a member of the Institute of Bankers, a licentiate of the Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland and a qualified financial advisor.

Read our interview with Orla.

Oxana Losevskaya

Elected to Council: 2020

Oxana is a partner at SL Partners in Moscow, a company which provides corporate finance services to businesses.  

She has over 20 years of experience in investment, banking and consulting with global companies such as EY, Citibank in Australia and Russia and Glitnir bank. Oxana’s expertise includes corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, fund raising and strategy consulting. 

Oxana has been an ACCA member since 2011, and has chaired the ACCA Russia Network Panel and also served on ACCA’s International Assembly from 2017 through 2020.  

She speaks at finance conferences and universities as a finance expert and holds an MCom degree from Sydney University. 

Oxana manages the ACCA club on Facebook linking members and finance professionals in the CIS and other countries. She also enjoys travel, walking and reading.

Read our interview with Oxana

Paula Kensington

Elected to Council: 2017

Paula is the CFO of Bulletproof Group Limited, an Australian public listed cloud services provider.

Paula undertook her ACCA qualification as a school leaver, forgoing university for the chance to work, to earn and become financially independent at a young age.

Now a FCCA, Paula has extensive experience in financial, operational and strategic management with previous roles including the chief financial & operations officer at Regus and the CFO & company secretary at Rubik Financial Limited.

Paula has been the chairman and vice chairman of the ACCA Panel ANZ for the past four years, driving local member engagement and employer awareness through ownership, accountability and goal setting.

Read our interview with Paula

Philip Maher

Elected to Council: 2021

Philip is a Dubliner who now lives in Limerick, where he is a director with Mazars. He has been an ACCA member since 2005.

He has served on the ACCA Ireland committee since 2018, chaired the ACCA Munster Panel 2017-2019 and was elected chair of ACCA Ireland in 2021.

Philip holds a BM (Hons.) Majoring in Accountancy and a Diploma in Corporate Restructuring.

He has over 20 years’ experience in advising clients on strategic and financial matters, corporate finance, and corporate restructuring. His specialties are corporate finance, financial advisory, corporate restructuring and insolvency.

Read our interview with Philip

Philip is a strong advocate for the urgent need to address the climate emergency, and is proud that ACCA is dedicated to playing its part in doing that.

Ronnie Patton
Deputy president

Elected to Council: 2014

Ronnie initially chose to study for the ACCA qualification due to the flexibility it afforded. Prior to moving into education, he was employed in professional practice, consultancy and a variety of industries including distribution, retailing and financial services. He's been a senior lecturer in Professional Accounting Practice at Ulster University since 2003.

Ronnie has broad experience in curriculum and course design, developing and delivering courses and assessment. He's been an ACCA examiner and coordinator in the past and he is a past president of ACCA Ireland. 

Read our interview with Ronnie.

Sharon Critchlow

Elected to Council: 2016

Sharon is a non-executive director and consultant who spent eight years as a public practice accountant in the UK, followed by nearly 20 years as a shareholding director leading a rapidly expanding company in the financial services sector. She is currently the director of Newgrange Developments Limited.

Sharon has served ACCA members in the Bristol and Cheltenham region for 10 years, including three years as the regional president. She was awarded the UK Member Contribution Award in 2012 and the UK Outstanding Contribution Award in 2013.

In addition to ACCA qualification, Sharon is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments and a Chartered Financial Planner with the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Read our interview with Sharon.

Shujuan Yang (Jane)

Elected to Council: 2022

Jane is the Chairman of the ACCA China North Steering Committee and an ACCA International Assembly representative.

She is the managing partner of EY Beijing, the Government & Infrastructure Market Segment leader of EY Greater China and an Advisory Council member of EY APAC.  She used to work in EY London for two years and EY Chicago for 18 months. Jane graduated from Renmin University in Beijing with major in Economics in 1994. She also has an MBA from University of British Columbia.  

She has been a guest professor for the Master of Professional Accounting of Renmin University for more than 10 years. She is also an accounting expert engaged by China’s Ministry of Finance.  

Jane is responsible for the audit and project management of a number of state-owned companies, privately owned companies as well as multinational joint ventures. Industry coverage ranged from pharmaceuticals and biotech science, consumer products, industrial products, construction, mining and retail. She is familiar with International Financial Reporting Standards, Hong Kong SAR Financial Reporting Standards, US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Chinese Accounting Standards.

Siobhan Pandya

Elected to Council: 2017

Siobhan is the senior director of business assurance and excellence at Mary Kay, a top skincare and cosmetics direct seller in over 35 markets worldwide. Prior to this, Siobhan worked with Shell Oil for 17 years, most recently as senior continuous improvement practitioner.

Siobhan has extensive experience and a strong focus on the delivery of key business and finance focus areas such as operational excellence, customer service, and business assurance.

Siobhan is a longstanding ACCA advocate, who went from completing her ACCA exams and experience with Shell Oil to later helping Shell gain their Globally Approved Employer status. She currently fulfills roles as a Global Council Member, Member of the Audit Committee and Member of the Global Forum for Sustainability. She has previously been the chairman of the US Members’ Network and as a member of the International Assembly.

Read our interview with Siobhan.

Susan Allan

Elected to Council: 2015

Susan is finance director for Willerby Holiday Homes, a privately owned business in the UK of 70 years' standing. Before this, she was head of finance at DFS, where she led the commercial business partnering team and also helped float the company on the UK stock exchange.

In 2010, she joined our Hull members' panel and from 2012-14, she was part of our International Assembly.

Susan's expertise includes: strategic planning, performance improvement, change management and people development.

Trusha Lakhani

Elected to Council: 2022

Trusha has been an ACCA member since 1997. Her other qualifications are an MSc Computing from DeMontfort University and B.Com from University of Mysore.

She has also been actively involved in local, national and international panels. She is a former member of International Assembly, is a past chair of the Leicestershire panel, and is a member of the UK Corporate Sector panel.

Trusha is a multi-award-winning business coach and fractional CFO specialising in SMEs, and passionate about business growth, digitalisation, and sustainability.

She has held various roles in a variety of local and international organisations throughout her 30-year career. This has allowed her to move between a variety of roles from standard accounting to IT integrations, to company growth projects, board participation - and today as a business owner herself.

One of her biggest joys is meeting our members and learning about their journeys and their diverse roles.

Victoria Ajayi

Elected to Council: 2021

Victoria is deputy CFO for TVC Communications in Lagos and she has also studied and worked in the UK. She is a member of the Institute of Directors, Nigeria.

Victoria helped launch ACCA Women’s Network Nigeria, where she is involved in encouraging and equipping women to develop their capacity for leadership.

She is a seasoned executive with over 15 years of experience in treasury, management and financial accounting, project finance and financial planning and investment.

Victoria graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and holds a Masters in Financial Management from Liverpool John Moores University.

She sits on the advisory board of a gender finance and impact investment fintech firm.