Speakers

Stuart Nibloe, CIPFA Scotland Vice President and Finance Manager, Glasgow City Council

Stuart originally started as a CIPFA trainee accountant in late 2009 with East Ayrshire Council qualifying in 2013 and from 2022 working at the Renfrewshire Council.

Stuart now has moved to the Glasgow City Counci and holds Finance Manager position.

He has been actively involved with CIPFA Scotland since 2015 and takes a keen interest in being part of events designed to help students and members. In 2025 Stuart accepted CIPFA Scotland Vice President title.

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.

Shona Robison, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government.

Shona graduated from Glasgow University with a Social Sciences MA and Jordanhill College with a Postgraduate Certificate in Community Education.

Shona was MSP for the North East from 1999-2003 before being elected MSP for Dundee East in 2003. Latterly she was Shadow Minister for Health and Social Justice and a member of the Parliament’s Health Committee.

Shona was appointed Minister for Public Health in the minority Scottish Government formed in 2007 election and in 2009, she additionally assumed responsibility for the sport remit and her title changed to Minister for Public Health and Sport. After the 2011 election, Shona was made Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport.

In 2014 she became a full member of the Scottish Cabinet and served as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport until June 2018. Following the 2021 election, Shona was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government. Shona served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland from 2023 to 2024.

Alyson Stafford CBE, Director General, Scottish Exchequer

Alyson advises the Scottish Ministers and Permanent Secretary of the Scottish Government, with an annual budget of £50bn. She was the driving force in the creation of the SE, defining its purpose, vision and metrics. She is chair of the Infrastructure Investment Board, developing the National Infrastructure Mission for Scotland.

Previously, Alyson was Director General of Finance for the Scottish Government. This included period of minority governments and coalitions, the global financial crisis and the Scottish independence referendum.

Alyson’s earlier career was spent at the forefront of transformational change in the Health Service across both England and Scotland, where she led strategic, operational and corporate services as a Chief Executive and Director of Finance.

She holds an MA (Oxon), is an Associate Chartered Accountant of the ICAEW, and was awarded honorary membership of the CIPFA and the ICAS.

Alison Cumming, Executive Director of Performance Audit and Best Value (PABV)

Alison Cumming joined Audit Scotland as Executive Director of Performance Audit and Best Value in September 2024.

Alison has significant experience in leadership and policy in the public sector. She was the Director of Budget and Public Spending at the Scottish Government from October 2022, and prior to that Director for Early Learning and Childcare where she led the expansion of funded early learning and childcare entitlement to 1140 hours. Alison’s other roles in Scottish Government included tax policy and professional roles in health finance.

Alison is a chartered public finance accountant and was chair of CIPFA Scotland in 2017-18. She completed her training in public sector audit at KPMG before joining the Scottish Government.

Laura Miller, Journalist and Broadcaster

Laura Miller is the face of BBC One Scotland’s flagship news programme, Reporting Scotland. Prior to joining the BBC she was a reporter and presenter with STV news.

Laura has been on the front line of reporting and presenting news in Scotland for the past two decades and has covered some of the biggest stories of recent times; from the Independence Referendum, to the Covid pandemic, the COP 26 climate conference, Olympic and Commonwealth Games, and most recently Scotland’s joyous (but ultimately ill-fated) Euros campaign and the General Election.

She studied Law and French at Glasgow University and has an MA in broadcast journalism from Falmouth University in Cornwall.

The thing she’s asked about most is her cameo in the Marvel superhero movie, Avengers: Infinity War. She knew nothing about it until the story appeared in the paper. And she still hasn’t seen the film.

Katie Hagmann, Convener, Civic Head and Depute Leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Katie Hagmann was born and educated in Edinburgh. She holds a BSc with Distinction in Complementary Therapies from Napier University and completed a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh in 2023.

Elected to Dumfries and Galloway Council in 2017, Katie has developed extensive experience across a broad portfolio. She currently holds the position of Convener of Dumfries and Galloway Council, Civic Head, and Depute Political Leader, leading a minority administration. She is also, since 2022, the Resources Spokesperson for COSLA, representing all 32 councils nationally.

Her previous roles within council include Joint Lead for the Finance, Procurement and Transformation Committee, where she worked cross-party to co-produce Council budgets. She has also served as Chair of the Economy & Resources Committee and Chair of the Harbours Committee. Appointed by council, Katie has chaired the Local Employability Partnership and has been a member of the North Channel Partnership Group and the Dumfries and Galloway Housing Forum.

Katie has contributed her expertise as a trustee and board member for several organisations. These include the UNESCO Galloway & Southern Ayrshire Biosphere, the Southern Upland Partnership, the Dumfries and Galloway Youth Orchestra, and The Whithorn Trust. She has also served as Chair of the Board of Directors for Wigtownshire Women’s Aid.

Outside of her public service, Katie is a passionate gardener and food grower. When time allows, she enjoys walking, running, and mountain biking in the Galloway Hills. A dedicated supporter of the arts, she proudly champions the work of her mother, an artist, and her son, a musician.

Dr Tom Wilkinson, Chief Data Officer, Scottish Government 

Working for and with government organisations, at various levels and around the world, I have spent a decade developing and improving use of data to inform policy, strategy, and operational decisions. I have extensive hands-on experience working across Data Science, Data Analysis, Data Architecture, Software Development and Data Engineering, and have provided technical advice to blue chip companies and startups as well as intergovernmental organisations.

Iain Murray, Director of Public Financial Management, CIPFA

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.

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 the issues public finance and public services. At CIPFA Iain leads the teams in the key areas of policy, technical and standard setting.

Kirsten Hogg, Head of Policy and Research, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO)

Kirsten Hogg is Head of Policy and Research at SCVO, the membership body for the voluntary sector in Scotland.  Kirsten has worked in policy and leadership roles in the voluntary sector for 20 years, including Barnardo’s Scotland and the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland.  She has an academic and professional focus on the ways in which public sector funding flows to the sector, and on partnership working between the private and voluntary sectors.

Annamaria De Felice, Communications Manager, JustRight Scotland

Annamaria is Communications Manager at JustRight Scotland, where she develops and implements strategies to promote the organisation and its mission at both national and international levels.

She works closely with JustRight Scotland’s legal centres and external partners to design and deliver strategic campaigns across a range of human rights and equalities issues. She also manages the organisation’s social media and digital platforms, creating accessible and engaging content.

Annamaria brings ten years of experience in the communications sector, working with charities across Scotland and managing relationships with both public and private stakeholders.

She believes that communication has the power to create impact and is passionate about building campaigns that increase public understanding and drive positive social change on the issues that matter most to the people JustRight Scotland supports.

Louise Wilson, Political Editor, Holyrood Magazine

A political journalist for more than 10 years, Louise has covered everything from big elections and referendums to the minutiae of legislation as it passes through Holyrood. She has particular interests in net zero and climate change, health inequalities, and how parliament works.

David Butler, Team Leader in the Energy Transition team, Scottish Enterprise

His team helps shape the strategic focus of SE’s Low Carbon Transition Strategy. It plays an ongoing role providing Due Diligence to other parts of SE (such as the Scottish Investment Bank). We also assist the development and delivery of new projects and programmes that are critical for SE’s aims and ambitions. Prior to this David worked at an early-stage energy technology funder and a power company.

Ian Cook, Industry Solutions Architect, TechnologyOne

Ian is an experienced LG industry consultant with an extensive history working in the computer software industry. Ian has worked at TechnologyOne for the last 9 years and has experience here in pre-sales, solutions architecture, accounting, consulting and product management. Ian has been in the working in the LG industry for the last 25 years.

Emma Foy, Local Government Lead, TechnologyOne

Emma has recently joined TechnologyOne from West Lindsey District Council where she was Director of Corporate Services and Section 151 Officer to support the TechnologyOne team with her industry knowledge and experience.

Having worked in Local Government and Public Sector Finance for the past 20 years including eight years with big four firms in external audit, Emma brings knowledge and experience of what our software needs to provide to prepare financial statements and statutory reports accurately and efficiently.

Joanne Pitt, Senior Policy Manager (Local Government), CIPFA

Joanne Pitt is an experienced local government adviser and has 25 years of public sector experience. She was responsible for the delivery of the CIPFA Financial Management Code and is an advocate of strong financial management and good governance.

She is a national speaker and author of numerous publications on topics such as government funding, housing and financial sustainability. Through her work with CFOs across the country she supports local government improvement and reform using data analysis and strong evidence-based insight.

Dr Eleanor Roy, Health and Social Care Policy Manager, CIPFA

Eleanor started her career in academia, completing a PhD and postdoctoral research in immunology and microbiology. In 2007, seeking a new challenge, she joined the Welsh Parliament, applying her scientific rigour to the scrutiny of public finance and the evidence-base behind all aspects of government finance policy. She joined CIPFA on secondment as research consultant in 2014, focusing on public finance policy across the devolved nations, in the run up to the Scottish independence referendum. On returning to the Welsh Parliament she focused on constitutional change, primarily related to the devolution of finance and taxation powers.

Given her biomedical background, Eleanor has maintained an interest in health and care, and in 2018, she returned to CIFPA to combine this with her experience of public finance policy, taking on the role of Health and Social Care Policy Manager. She leads on CIPFA's policy work in this area, with particular interest in investment in prevention, social care funding reform and integration of health and care.