Global forum appoints joiners to bring new thinking to the finance debate at ACCA (the Association for Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA (Institute of Management Accountants)

Business leaders from around the world have been appointed to a global think tank to bring new perspectives on the key issues facing Chief Financial Officers, finance functions and global businesses.

The new appointees to the Accountants for Business global forum, a joint venture between ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA (Institute of Management Accountants), join from a wide range of industries and backgrounds. They include CFOs, managing directors and vice presidents of leading organisations who will bring direct insights and new thinking to the key challenges facing finance leaders and global finance functions.

Richard Moat FCCA, CFO of Eircom Group and co-chair of the forum comments: “I am delighted to welcome new joiners to the forum and I am sure they will bring a wealth of experience and perspective to the key issues, challenges and opportunities we all see as finance leaders in today’s business environment.”

Jamie Lyon FCCA, head of corporate sector at ACCA and co-chair, said: “We’re really looking forward to working with the new forum members across a wide range of issues facing CFOs and the finance function today. There’s lots happening in this space right now and I’m sure they will make a great contribution to the on-going success of the forum.”

Raef Lawson, vice president of research at IMA, adds: “This is a great opportunity to bring in senior leaders from the business world to enrich our discussions on future issues impacting the finance function and the broader business agenda.”

The new forum members are:

• Richard Aitken-Davies FCCA is currently the independent chairman of Electricity Pensions Limited. Richard has previously served as ACCA’s president, and has had an extensive career in industry, including senior executive roles in the Central Electricity Generating Board, Powergen, Railtrack and London & Continental Railways. He was involved in two major UK privatisations and has also worked in the USA, during which he had responsibility for implementing the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as Chief Financial Officer of LG&E Energy Corp.

• Teuta Bakalli FCCA is currently CFO at Pepper Europe since May 2012. Teuta is responsible for managing Financial Control, IT, HR, Legal, Project Management and Risk & Compliance across Pepper's European operations and has over fifteen years' experience of regulated financial markets. Prior to joining Pepper, Teuta held Finance Director roles with Vanguard Asset Management and Willis Insurance brokers. Prior to this she held senior level finance positions with Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse First Boston and Schroders.

• Holger Lindner is currently the CFO of the global Product Services Division of TÜV SÜD AG. He was formerly CFO of Daimler South East Asia and Chrysler South East Asia. He spent 17 years in various international functions in finance, sales and marketing, and business development with the Daimler Group in Europe and Asia. He is also a member of the Advisory Council to the Singapore CFO Institute.

• Jennifer Tan Yuen Chun FCCA has more than 28 years’ experience in finance and general management. She is currently managing director of fixed business at Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong (Holdings) Limited, a listed company in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, since September 2012 and joined the group in May 1996. Before joining the group, Jennifer gained extensive senior management experience with various Fortune 500 multinational corporations.

• Neil MacLean FCCA, MBA, is vice president for finance transformation at Capgemini Consulting. He has worked in a wide range of operational finance and consulting roles for the past 30 years on international projects and large scale business transformation programmes. He currently leads Capgemini Consulting digital finance initiative assessing the impact the digital economy on the finance function of the future.

• Oliver Colling FCCA leads Grant Thornton's Finance Transformation team in the UK and has over 20 years’ experience in advisory, line and change roles in professional services and industry. His clients include leading FTSE 100 businesses such as Vodafone, the BBC, BP and Centrica amongst others. Oliver has also held senior line roles at Alcan Aluminium, Aviva and RAC.

• Paul Mok FCCA is Group Financial Controller at OOCL in Hong Kong. He holds 30 years of finance experience in a wide range of senior finance roles across industry and the OOIL / OOCLL group. He is also a qualified banker and lawyer and serves on a wide range of public interest bodies.

• Dr. Solaiman Altwaijri is IMA board member and CEO of Saudi Amiantit, one of the world's largest pipe manufactures. Before joining Amiantit in 2008, Dr. Altwaijri held numerous management and finance-related positions, including director of shared services for Zajoul for Advanced Communication in Riyadh.

Dr. Altwaijri also serves on the boards of numerous companies and organisations in the KSA and around the world. He also has extensive experience as a trainer for CMA, CPA, and CIA review courses.

• Raymond Jack is executive director - finance & operations at ACCA. Raymond qualified with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) where he worked for 12 years largely in Corporate Finance, Recovery and Consulting. He joined the retail arm of ScottishPower in 1997 and held posts including Sales & Marketing Director, Business Transformation Director and latterly, became Executive Director of ScottishPower, Energy Retail.

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For more information:

Marc Gerrone, IMA

+(201) 474-1502

mgerrone@imanet.org

Alana Sinnen, ACCA Newsroom

+44 (0)20 7059 5807

+44 (0)7715 812120

alana.sinnen@accaglobal.com

Notes to Editors

1. About ACCA

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the global body for professional accountants with 154,000 members and 432,000 students in 170 countries worldwide. We aim to offer business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management.

We work through a network of over 80 offices and centres and more than 8,400 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide high standards of employee learning and development.

www.accaglobal.com

2. About IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants)

IMA®, the association of accountants and financial professionals in business, is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA® (Certified Management Accountant) program, continuing education, networking, and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices.

IMA has a global network of more than 65,000 members in 120 countries and 200 local chapter communities. IMA provides localized services through its offices in Montvale, N.J., USA; Zurich, Switzerland; Dubai, UAE; and Beijing, China. For more information about IMA, please visit www.imanet.org