Owen Mapley, Chief Executive
Owen was appointed as CEO of CIPFA in July 2024. Prior to joining CIPFA he spent five years as Chief Executive of Hertfordshire County Council and three years as the council’s Executive Director of Resources and s151/Chief Finance Officer. His time in local government followed an eight-year tenure in the Senior Civil Service, where he held Finance Director positions at the Home Office, HM Courts Service, and the Legal Aid Agency.
Owen began his professional career with PWC, spending 12 years in professional services working with a wide range of private and public sector clients and qualifying as a chartered accountant. In addition to his operational responsibilities at HCC, Owen was a member of his local system’s Integrated Care Board alongside NHS and voluntary sector partners. Owen’s additional leadership roles also included terms as lead local authority Chief Executive for the East of England region and as Vice-Chair of the Association of County Chief Executives.
As a longstanding FCA member with the ICAEW, Owen is very proud to be one of the first to take advantage of CIPFA & ICAEW’s dual membership offer as part of their strategic partnership.
Khalid Hamid, International Director
Khalid Hamid is CIPFA's International Director. Having started his career as an assistant auditor with the UK National Audit Office, Khalid qualified as a CIPFA accountant in 1990 and was promoted several times to the position of Principal Auditor. In his 30 years of public audit experience, he has held senior posts in South Africa and the UAE. Most recently, Khalid was the Executive Director of the UAE State Audit Institution, serving more than 11 years at the audit body.
He is currently the Chair of the Financial Audit and Accounting Sub
committee of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), which provides support to national supreme audit institutions, sets standards for public sector auditing and promotes good governance.
Sarah Carruthers, Head of HR
Sarah is Chartered MCIPD and qualified HR professional with over 15 years’ experience working with leaders and senior management teams to deliver people strategy and objectives.
Sarah joined CIPFA in 2022 working with our leaders to deliver key people plans and has since transitioned into her current interim role as Head of HR. She has previously worked in private and public sectors including NHS, Higher Education and Further Education. Sarah is enthusiastic in her approach to leading our people strategy, and in delivering an inclusive and positive employee experience.
Iain Murray, Director of Public Financial Management
Iain is CIPFA’s Director of Public Financial Management and has over 20 years’ experience of working with the public sector. Having joined District Audit as a graduate trainee in 2002 Iain moved his way up to manager at the Audit Commission before joining Grant Thornton in 2012 where he progressed to director and became a key audit partner.
He is CIPFA qualified and has a BA (Hons) in History from Cardiff University. Working with the public sector has always been a deliberate choice, during his career Iain has worked with local government, NHS and police bodies of varying size and complexity in both an audit and advisory capacity. He is well versed in public finance and public services. At CIPFA Iain leads the teams in the key areas of policy, technical and standard setting.
Lindie Engelbrecht, Director of Education and Membership
Lindie Engelbrecht is the newly appointed Director of Education and Members at CIPFA. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a Master of Accountancy.
Lindie has extensive experience in membership value proposition and customer service within member organisations through her previous roles as Executive Director of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa. She has advised, consulted and presented to boards and audit committees in the public and private sectors on all aspects of governance, risk management, assurance and integrated reporting.
Anna Blackman, Interim Finance Director
Anna comes to CIPFA with a wealth of public sector experience, having been in both external and internal auditor roles as a partner in PwC and serving as Chief Operating Officer for PwC's Government business. Anna trained with CIPFA and spent the majority of her career at PwC working across healthcare, local government and the not-for-profit sectors.
Following a successful career as a Partner at PwC, Anna's portfolio of work is now focused on impact-driven organisations. Anna's work has included being the Chief Operating Officer of FormScore, a mental health and wellbeing tech business and supporting Naked Sprout, a company which produces the UK's most sustainable toilet roll. Anna is a Trustee of the InsideOut Leaderboard Charity and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee at UK Athletics.
Ex-officio members
Ian Carruthers, Chair, CIPFA Standards
Ian became chair of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) in January 2016, having served as a member since 2010. As a member, he led the IPSASB's work on long-term financial sustainability and alignment between IPSASs and Government Finance Statistics.
After joining HM Treasury from PwC in 1999, Ian played a key role in the UK government's transition from cash to accrual budgeting and reporting, in particular leading its Whole of Government Accounts program. He joined CIPFA in 2006. As part-time chair of CIPFA standards, his role encompasses all aspects of the Institute's activities, and he has led its work on the role of the public services CFO, as well as the development of the International Framework for Good Governance in the Public Sector with IFAC.