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.