CIPFA Public Finance Live Cymru (Wales)
Carol Culley OBE, Commissioner, Woking Borough Council, CIPFA President
Carol's most recent role was Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer at Manchester City Council. She was the Council’s Section 151 Officer and has responsibility for Finance and Procurement, Commercial Governance, Revenues and Benefits and Customer, Internal Audit, HROD, ICT and Capital Programme Delivery. Carol led Manchester’s transformation programme and the Zero Carbon Action Plan, whilst also serving as the Senior Responsible Officer for Factory International and Our Town Hall projects.
Her previous roles in Manchester include Assistant Chief Executive for Finance and Performance, and Assistant Director of Finance and Commissioning for Social Services. Carol has a wealth of experience in financial management, governance and assurance and fulfilling trustee roles. She is CIPFA qualified, has a diploma in management and is a member of the CIPFA Council. Carol is CIPFA President for the year 2024/2025.
Dewi Morgan, CIPFA CYMRU Wales President
Dewi is the Head of Finance for Cyngor Gwynedd, Gwynedd Council, a role he has held since January 2022. Having qualified from Aberystwyth University with a degree in Maths, Dewi started his career in public service and has held a series of finance roles during his career. An active and enthusiastic supporter of CIPFA, Dewi has been President of CIPFA Cymru Wales since 2022 and is passionate about championing the voice of CIPFA members, contributing to national discussions on the role of public finance leaders and ensuring Wales is well represented in how the Institute develops.
Owen Mapley, Chief Executive, CIPFA
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.
Andrea Byrne, Journalist and presenter
Andrea is one of the faces of ITV News. She anchors the BAFTA award-winning daily news programme Wales at Six, as well as ITV’s national bulletins. This has included ITV Weekend News, Lunchtime News, Evening News and News at Ten. Prince Harry and David Cameron are among the many high-profile names she has interviewed. Andrea also presents the current affairs programme Wales This Week and writes a regular column on motherhood for Cardiff Life magazine. She is an Ambassador for ‘Women in Wales’ and ‘The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme’ and a Trustee for the organ donation charity, ‘Believe’.
Jessie Buchanan, Co-founder and Coordinator, Together for Change
Jessie Buchanan is the Co-founder and Coordinator of TfC which brings knowledge of communities and their needs to decision makers and partnerships. TfC supports communities in setting up and evaluating innovative projects by providing training in action research and sharing learning. Jessie has brought her considerable experience in the public and private sectors to bear on her work as a community volunteer, activist and third sector employee. She strongly believes in the importance of participation by local people in the policy decisions that are likely to affect them now and in the future, a commitment that she is pursuing as Coordinator of the Community-led Action Research Work Stream in the Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership.
Adrian Crompton, Auditor General for Wales
Adrian Crompton was recommended by the National Assembly for Wales for appointment as the Auditor General for Wales. He was formally appointed to the position by HM The Queen in July 2018. As head of Audit Wales, he oversees the annual audit of over £20 billion of taxpayers’ money and reports on value for money matters across the Welsh public sector. Most of Adrian’s career has been spent supporting parliamentary democracy at a Welsh, UK and international level. Prior to his current appointment, he held various senior roles within the Senedd and, before then, in the House of Commons. He spent several years providing expertise and practical support to senior politicians and civil servants at the heart of projects nurturing democratic transition in Sudan, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan.
Mark Drakeford MS, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language
A former probation officer, youth justice worker and Barnardos project leader in Ely and Caerau, he has been a professor of Social Policy and Applied Social Sciences at Cardiff University. Previously, Mark was a Labour Councillor on South Glamorgan County Council, specialising in education issues, including Welsh medium education. He provided support for the Cabinet’s health as social policy adviser at the Welsh Government, and was latterly head of the First Minister’s political office under Rhodri Morgan. Mark became the Assembly Member for Cardiff West in May 2011. In the past he was Chair of the Assembly’s Health and Social Care Committee and of the All-Wales Programme Monitoring Committee for European funds. In December 2018 Mark was appointed First Minister of Wales and became a member of the Privy Council in February 2019. He stood down as First Minister in March 2024. Mark was subsequently appointed as Minister for Finance and Welsh Language on 11 September 2024 by Eluned Morgan.
Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE - Life Member of the House of Lords
Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmer and an active member of the House of Lords with a policy focus on digital technology for public good. Lord Holmes is a passionate advocate for the potential of technology and the benefits of diversity and inclusion with a particular interest in technologies such as AI and blockchain and areas of application such as fintech and trade. In Parliament, he specializes in legislation that deals with technology and inclusion, introducing Private Members Bills on the regulation of artificial intelligence and banning unpaid work experience. He was integral to the passing of the ground-breaking Electronic Trade Documents Bill.
Conor Judge, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Aberystwyth University
Conor Judge has experience at grassroots, national and European levels in rural community development, as a community development officer, a policy analyst, a consultant and an academic researcher. He will be speaking about his recently completed DPhil research at Oxford University that investigated evaluation tools for EU rural and community development programmes. He is currently employed as a quantitative post-doctoral researcher on the Rural-Spatial-Justice project at Aberystwyth University which is examining inequalities, rural discontent and support for disruptive politics.
Oliver Kent, Head of Customer Success, MHR
Oliver brings a wealth of experience particularly in the Public Sector and Central Government. His background in delivering transformation programs in technology, specifically within Payroll, Finance, and HR, positions him well to address the pressing needs of this sector.
Stuart Leslie, Director for Buildings Decarbonisation and Energy Efficiency, National Wealth Fund
Stuart joined us at the start of 2023 after 15 years at Lloyds Bank, where he was a Relationship Director responsible for a portfolio of large corporate UK FTSE and international clients. He has extensive experience leading complex debt financing transactions and providing insight on capital structuring, liquidity and risk, and has also previously worked in both debt restructuring and securitisation. In 2018 he became an Exec Board member at St Nicks, an award-winning environmental charity, stepping up to Chair.
Heledd Morgan, Director of Implementation and Impact, Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
The Commissioner's role was established under the world-leading Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and exists to be a guardian of the needs of future generations and promote long-term thinking. Heledd's role includes advising and challenging public bodies on their implementation of the legislation, providing training, offering support and working closely with Audit Wales. Previously, Heledd has worked in local and national government. Heledd is from Carmarthenshire originally and speaks fluent Welsh, but now lives in North Cardiff, where she loves having a daily walk along the River Taff.
Jeffrey Matsu, Chief Economist, CIPFA
Jeffrey Matsu is Chief Economist at CIPFA and a Fellow of Practice at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. With extensive experience in connecting policy with practice through evidence-based research, he works with partner governments, accountancy bodies and the public sector around the world to advance public finance and support better public services.
Previously, Jeff was responsible for market analysis and thought leadership at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and co-led the economy theme at the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE). He was also a senior economist at Morgan Stanley and served on the research staff at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington DC. He holds degrees in economics from the University of Washington and Johns Hopkins University.
Diana Melville, Governance Advisor, CIPFA
Diana is lead advisor for the Better Governance Forum and is CIPFA’s representative on the Internal Audit Standards Advisory Board. She is a CIPFA-qualified accountant and a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Prior to joining the institute in 2008 she was head of internal audit at Salisbury Council, and held other audit roles in local government and at the National Audit Office. She is part of the CIPFA working group that developed the Good Governance Framework for Local Government (2016) and supports other CIPFA policy initiatives and publications on governance, internal audit and counter fraud.
Hannah Perry, Lead Researcher, Demos
Hannah is a Lead Researcher at Demos-the cross-party think tank focused on putting people at the heart of policymaking. Hannah recently led a study exploring the role of disinformation in the response to Low Traffic Neighbourhood policy in local information ecosystems with a view to understanding how and why tensions arose. She brings over a decade of experience in research for behaviour change policy programmes and is currently completing an MSc in the Social Science of the Internet.
Zachary Scott, Policy Researcher (Prevention), CIPFA
Zachary joined CIPFA in 2023 and is currently working on the Exploring Preventative Investment in Local Government in England project, supported by the Health Foundation. Previously, he was working as a Program Specialist at the Tokyo-based Health and Global Policy Institute where he was involved in projects related to global health, universal health coverage, and biobanking. Zachary also served as a member of the UHC Expert Review Panel for the Parliamentarian Guide on UHC which provides lawmakers with tools to facilitate affordable, quality health services. He holds an MSc in Medical Anthropology from the University of Oxford and an LLB in International Public Policy from Osaka University.
Alwen Williams, Portfolio Director, Ambition North Wales
Alwen is responsible for leading the North Wales Growth Deal and delivering the Growth Vision for the region. In addition, Alwen leads the work to establish the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee to produce a regional transport plan and a regional strategic development plan as well as a duty to promote regional economic wellbeing. Prior to this, Alwen had a 24-year career with BT plc and infrastructure provider Openreach Ltd in a range of different strategic and operational leadership roles. Alwen has received an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Wales Trinity St David’s and Glyndwr University in recognition of her contribution to business.
Professor Michael Woods
Michael Woods is Professor of Human Geography and Director of Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales, the Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership. He has over 25 years experience of working with and on communities in Rural Wales, including in current roles as Co-Director of the Centre for Welsh Politics and Society and Co-Director of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD), and previously as Co-Director of the Wales Rural Observatory. His previous work has made recommendations to the Welsh Government on strengthening town and community councils, co-produced a Rural Vision for Wales with the Welsh Local Government Association, and explored best practice for partnership working in rural regeneration and for civil society action to address polarisation in communities.