NAO Board and Leadership Team
Biographies
Non-Executive Chairman
Professor Sir Andrew Likierman
Andrew Likierman became non-executive
Chairman of the National Audit Office on 1 January 2009. He is also
Dean of London Business School and a non-executive Director of
Barclays plc. In the course of his career, Andrew has been Head of
the Government Accountancy Service and was a Managing Director of
the Financial Management, Reporting and Audit Directorate at the
Treasury.
Andrew is a past President of the Chartered Institute of
Management Accountants and has been a member of a number of
official inquiries, including the 'Cadbury Committee' on corporate
governance. In 2006, he was a member of the Steering Committee on
governance and oversight of the United Nations
Non-Executive Members
Ruth Evans
Ruth Evans has extensive experience in consumer issues and
the representation of the public interest. She will be well placed
to engage in the strategic debate on how the NAO sets its
priorities and how these meet the interests of the wider public.
She was Chair of the Bar Standards Board until 2008.
Richard Fleck CBE
Richard Fleck is a lawyer with extensive experience of audit
and governance arrangements and is Chairman of the UK Auditing
Practices Board. He was a member of the Financial Reporting Council
when it changed status to a corporate body.
Paula Hay-Plumb
Paula Hay-Plumb is an accomplished Board Director in
both the public and private sectors. Her wealth of financial and
governance expertise will be invaluable to our work in helping
government use public sector money better. Paula is currently also
a non-executive director of The Forensic Science Service. She is a
Chartered Accountant and a Member of the Association of Corporate
Treasurers.
Dame Mary Keegan
Mary
Keegan brings a great depth of experience of audit, both in the
public and private sectors, to her role as non-executive member.
She is well networked in Whitehall and has experience of change
management in large, complex organisations. She was Head of
the Government Finance Profession until March 2008.
Comptroller and Auditor General
Amyas Morse
Amyas Morse was appointed Comptroller and Auditor General on 1st
June 2009.
Amyas was born in Edinburgh, and is a member of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. He led the Coopers
and Lybrand practice in Scotland, before moving to London to manage
the London City Office. He subsequently became the Executive
Partner of the Coopers and Lybrand UK firm. When
PricewaterhouseCoopers was formed, he took on global
responsibilities, and served as Global Leader of Assurance practice
(audit and related services), and then as Global Managing Partner
(Operations).
Amyas Morse joined the Ministry of Defence in July 2006 as the
Defence Commercial Director. During his time as Defence Commercial
Director he was responsible for shaping the Department’s
relationship with industry, and he played a key role in the
agreement of strategic commercial arrangements. More widely across
government, he served as a member of the Major Projects Review
Group, the Public Sector Board of the Chartered Institute of
Purchasing and Supply, and on a National Health Service Project
Board.
Chief Operating Officer
Michael Whitehouse
Michael Whitehouse was appointed Chief Operating Officer for the
NAO on 1 July 2009.
Michael is CIPFA qualified and has had responsibility for a
range of portfolios both as Assistant Auditor General (from 2002)
and as Director (from 1990). Michael has extensive experience of
value for money work across government including defence, foreign
affairs and international aid, agriculture and economic regulation.
Michael spent 15 months working in New Zealand with the Office of
the Auditor General. In 1992 he was seconded to the Ministry of
Finance in Zambia where he led a nine month review of Zambia
Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM). From 1994 to 1997, he was the UK
Audit Commissioner for the European Space Agency.
As well as having responsibility for strategy and the
operational performance and capability of the NAO Michael leads the
NAO’s work on cross government systemic issues. Michael is an
executive member of the NAO Board.
Assistant Auditors General
Gabrielle Cohen
Gabrielle has been an Assistant Auditor General since 2005
having joined the NAO in 1987 and trained as an accountant.
Gabrielle is responsible for leading our stakeholder
relations. This includes responsibility for all our interactions
with Parliament and developing a strategic approach to the
management of NAO relations with the bodies subject to its scrutiny
and other key external stakeholders. Core to this aspect of her
role is to increase the NAO’s impact by securing increased take up
of its recommendations and the good practice guidance it produces.
It includes responsibility for communications, media handling,
knowledge management and marketing. Gabrielle also has
responsibility for NAO Governance, relations with the Board and
corporate policy. Gabrielle is an executive member of the NAO
Board.
Ed Humpherson
Ed has been an AAG since 2007, having joined the NAO
in 1993. He was appointed to the new NAO Board in July 2009. He is
responsible for the NAO’s work on business and economic affairs,
including the audits of HM Treasury, HM Revenue and Customs, the
Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department of
Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Department for Transport.
He is also responsible for coordinating the NAO's work on the use
of Private Finance to deliver public services, the effectiveness of
regulators and regulator reform, and the public sector's work with
the Third Sector. He is currently coordinating the NAO's audit work
on the Government's response to the financial crisis, including the
nationalisation and recapitalisation of several key financial
institutions.
Since qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1996, Ed has
specialised in analysing the interaction of public and private
sectors in a variety of roles, including privatisations, the
Private Finance Initiatives and Public Private Partnerships. Prior
to appointment as Assistant Auditor General, Ed was previously the
NAO’s Director of Regulation studies. He produced reports to
Parliament on the effectiveness of regulation across a range of
sectors, including communications, the postal market, utility
industries, the pensions industry and competition enforcement. He
was also responsible for the NAO’s work on the Financial Services
Authority and Better Regulation, including the evaluation of
Regulatory Impact Assessments, the Government’s programme to reduce
administrative burdens.
Lynda McMullan
Lynda joined the NAO as an Assistant Auditor General in October
2011 and is responsible for overseeing the NAO’s work on local
government, education and health.
Lynda
worked for eight years in London with Hammersmith and Fulham (where
she was Assistant Director of Finance) and Southwark, plus another
six years for Nottingham City Council. Lynda took up the role of
Director of Finance at Kent County Council in April 2006, following
three years as Kent’s County Finance Manager.
Lynda brings to the NAO her extensive local government
experience given the importance of local service provision and at a
time of significant change in the public sector.
Martin Sinclair
Martin has been an AAG since 1999, having joined the
National Audit Office in 1981. From 1989 to 1992 he was Private
Secretary to the Comptroller and Auditor General. From 1992 to 1994
he was UK Director of Audit operations at the United Nations Board
of Auditors based in New York. He is a member of the Chartered
Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and was elected
to its Council in 2007. He is Chair of CIPFA’s Accounting and
Auditing Standards Panel and a member of a range of professional
committees.
Martin is responsible for the audit of a broad portfolio of
clients including the Ministry of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, Department for International Development, Home Office,
Ministry of Justice, Northern Ireland Office and Parliament,
embracing both value for money and financial audit assignments. He
also oversees the NAO’s international activities. This includes the
audit of international public sector organisations and a programme
of technical cooperation assistance to other supreme audit
institutions worldwide.