Greater Brighton and Hove Area
I am a senior certification and assurance leader with over 20 years’ experience across scheme integrity, third-party certification, operational governance, risk management and regulated service delivery. I currently lead RSPCA Assured’s Certification & Assurance function, with responsibility for a 41-person team, a £2.5m operating budget, assessment delivery, certification body relationships, ISO 17065-aligned procedures, investigations, sanctions, appeals and risk-based assurance. My work focuses on protecting the credibility of certification schemes by ensuring assurance systems are robust, transparent, consistent and trusted. Recent priorities include strengthening investigations and sanctions governance, developing risk-stratified assessment models, improving KPI reporting, and increasing unannounced assessment activity. I have also led and supported transformation across certification body transition, operating model redesign, Salesforce development and digital workflow improvement to strengthen assurance delivery, auditability and performance insight. Earlier in my career, I built a strong operational leadership foundation across food retail and branch management, with accountability for food safety, health and safety, cost control, customer delivery, team development and operational KPIs.
Senior leader accountable for RSPCA Assured’s certification and assurance function, reporting to the Executive Director. Lead a 41-person team through four direct reports, with responsibility for a £2.5m operating budget, scheme integrity, assessment delivery, certification body relationships, ISO 17065-aligned procedures, investigations, sanctions, appeals, risk-based assurance and operational transformation. Selected impact: Strengthened investigations, sanctions and appeals governance, supporting clearer escalation, more consistent decision-making and improved assurance oversight across high-scrutiny scheme matters. Led development of a more risk-based approach to member assessments, including non-conformance classification, certificate risk profiling and prioritisation of compliance risk across scheme membership. Increased the scale and focus of unannounced member visits, improving assurance coverage and strengthening visibility of member compliance risk. Built additional operational and assurance capability across the certification and assurance function, supporting greater resilience, clearer accountability and improved delivery capacity. Established stronger monthly, quarterly and annual KPI reporting for certification delivery, improving performance insight, leadership visibility and evidence-based decision-making. Further developed Salesforce capability to improve colleague, member and stakeholder experience and strengthen the platform for future workflow automation and assurance reporting. Led cross-functional improvement activity to create a clearer, more scalable and more consistent approach to assessment delivery, aligned to organisational priorities and scheme integrity. Hold additional governance responsibilities for health, safety and wellbeing, safeguarding, compliance register review, policy updates, lone-working controls and union engagement.
Senior certification leader responsible for certification operations, scheme integrity controls, certification body relationships, ISO 17065-aligned processes, operational improvement and budget management. Managed field assessment and operations through direct reports and personally held budget responsibility of c.£3.4m. Selected impact: Led transition to a new certification body from RFP through onboarding, maintaining operational continuity while strengthening the external assurance relationship. Maintained and developed ISO 17065-aligned procedures covering scheme membership, assessment recording, controlled documentation and quality reporting. Led organisational redesign of field and operations teams, improving structure, accountability and alignment across core certification delivery. Introduced and developed an in-house compliance function, strengthening monitoring, assurance oversight and scheme integrity. Co-led design and migration to a new CRM platform, improving certification workflows, operational visibility and stakeholder experience. Created the company health, safety and wellbeing strategy and led multiple process improvement programmes recognised by the certification body and United Kingdom Accreditation Service. Invited to step up into the CEO role during a two-month transition period in early 2022. Represented the directorate on the Society Senior Leadership Group, ED&I Steering Group and co-chaired the Neurodiversity Affinity Network.
Operational leader responsible for IT infrastructure, certification scheme operations, project delivery, financial management and quality procedure support. Selected impact: Supported Membership Services and Field Assessment Teams to deliver compliance against annual internal and UKAS-related audits. Strengthened certification body relationships through SLA review, improving quality procedure delivery and operational effectiveness. Led process improvement activity recognised by the certification body and United Kingdom Accreditation Service. Led financial oversight for Freedom Food, coordinating annual reports, management accounts and budget processes to support robust financial governance and informed decision-making.
Supporting the Board and senior leadership team of Reset Connect, a sustainability-focused event platform. Appointed to provide strategic input, sector insight and network support from a sustainable supply chain perspective. Contributed to the event’s growth in scale, commercial maturity and market relevance, and supported the development of the Food Systems Hub, connecting food innovators, investors and policymakers around regenerative agriculture, net-zero supply chains, circular food economies and sustainable food system transformation.
Led branch operations, compliance, customer delivery, cost control, stock loss prevention, health and safety, employee engagement and succession planning.
Led full branch operations, financial performance, operational KPIs, health and safety compliance, colleague development and customer proposition delivery.