Our Board

Kathryn Stone OBE was Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards a post she held from January 2018 to December 2022. Before that she held the post of Chief Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales. She has also been a Commissioner with the Independent Police Complaints Commission and at Commission for Victims and Survivors Northern Ireland.

She is a Chartered Director, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and was formerly a Registered Social Worker.  She was made OBE in 2007 and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Derby in 2018.

Andrew Mitchell KC was called to the Bar in 1992 and took silk in 2011. He specialises in commercial and civil litigation and arbitration. His practice is predominantly in the fields of banking, financial services, professional negligence, professional and financial regulation, and (re)insurance law, with a significant international element. He is a member of the Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR), and also an accredited Mediator. He is a member of Fountain Court Chambers, and was formerly an experienced member of the Professional Conduct Committee of the Bar Standards Board, on which he sat from 2010.  H

He sits as a Deputy High Court Judge and as an arbitrator at the London Court of International Arbitration.

Gisela Abbam FRSA is a Senior Director for Government Affairs at Revvity, a global science and technology corporation. She is the Chair of the General Pharmaceutical Council, GB and former Chair of the British Science Association. She also serves on the Board of the Briyah Institute, USA. Gisela is the Founder and former Managing Director of OTGA Management Consultancy. Gisela is a Commissioner for the National Preparedness Commission in UK. She has worked in conjunction with the WHO, World Bank and the UN to improve health outcomes globally.

Gisela was named one of the 100 Women to Watch for FTSE 350 Boards. Gisela was the winner of the 2019 Black British Business Person of the Year Award. She was awarded Iconic Woman creating a better World for All by the Women Economic Forum. In 2018, Gisela was awarded Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce for her contribution to social change. Previously, she was the Director of Strategic Partnerships and a Company Officer for Abt Associates, one of the top 20 global research and evaluation companies.

Gisela was also previously the inaugural Global Executive Director for Government Affairs & Policy for General Electric Healthcare. She developed the global function. She was responsible for the strategic direction of government affairs and policy for GE Healthcare, the $18 billion business unit of GE that provides transformational medical technologies to health customers in over 100 countries. She was part of the leadership team that set up the Centre for Public Health Excellence at NICE.

Gisela has written over 50 white papers on various public policy issues

Alison Allden OBE joined the Bar Standards Board as a Lay Member on 1 January 2017. Alison has a professional background in higher education, IT, culture and archaeology. She retired from the post of Chief Executive at The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in 2015. Previous senior posts include Deputy Registrar and Director of IS as a member of Bristol University's senior executive team and Director of IT at Warwick University.

Having retired in 2015, Alison maintains a portfolio of non-executive roles including being on the Boards Regent's University London, Study Group UK and Harper Adams University. She is an external member on the Cambridge University Information Services Committee. She also undertakes governance reviews with AdvanceHE.

She is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS), a member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists (MIFA) and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (MCILIP).

Alison was awarded an OBE for Services to Higher Education in the 2016 New Year Honours. 

Jeff Chapman KC was called to the Bar in 1989 and took silk in 2010.  He specialises in commercial litigation and arbitration; especially in matters involving civil fraud, financial services and regulation (including sanctions) and banking.  Jeff is a member of the Commercial Bar Association, the Chancery Bar Association, JUSTICE and Fountain Court Chambers.  He was first appointed to the Complaints Committee of the BSB in 2007 and was a Barrister Vice-Chair of the Professional Conduct Committee of the BSB from 2015 to 2019.
 

Emir is a Chartered Accountant and a specialist in transformational change and Essential Resource Planning. The majority of his career was spent at the Sunday Times as Associate Managing Editor.

Emir is at present, a Board member of Companies House, Disclosure and Barring Services, Authority member of the British Transport Police, The Planning Inspectorate, the Honours Committee, and is a Governor of Wycombe Abbey School.

He has been a Commissioner for the Judicial Appointments Commission and held non executive board member positions with the Serious Fraud Office, the DVSA, St Georges University Hospital NHS Foundations Trust and the Bar Tribunal Adjudication Service, amongst others.

Steven Haines joined the Bar Standards Board as a Lay Member on 1 January 2017. He is currently  Chair of the Board at Effingham Golf Club and a Director of Parkwood Partners Ltd.

He recently completed an appointment assignment  for the Speaker of the House of Commons to refresh the Independent Experts Panel (IEP).

He was previously a CEO of two new enterprise start-ups (Broadway and Light Speed) in the Telecoms Industry and, prior to that, worked in BT Group.  Previous roles there included Managing Director in the new independent Openreach Executive, Managing Director for BT Group (Mobile), where he was responsible for transformation into a mobile business, and Chief Operating Officer/Managing Director BT Wholesale.

Steve is a highly accomplished senior executive and NED with over 30 years’ experience operating at board level in complex and challenging competitive markets and regulated organisations. A strategic thinker who demonstrates passion, collaboration, and drive to deliver outstanding business growth. His inclusive and empathetic leadership style creates a culture of achievement through unity, trust, transparency, and personal integrity.

Simon Lewis is a barrister with particular expertise in employment and equality law.  He sits as a part-time judge.  He brings experience from a number of board-level roles: within healthcare, workplace relations, professional regulation, higher education, sport, and charity.  He has (or has recently had) a number of independent regulatory roles across various sectors: within sport, healthcare, and finance/business.

Irena Sabic KC was called to the Bar in October 2002 and took silk in 2023. She is a member of Garden Court Chambers and an established public law practitioner with a particular expertise in immigration and asylum, community care, housing and planning law. In recent years Irena has focussed on the representation of vulnerable children and adults subject to immigration control. Irena is regularly invited to deliver lectures and seminars to solicitors, public bodies and NGOs. She also sits as Deputy Master of the King’s Bench Division.

Leslie Thomas KC was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2014. A human rights practitioner, Leslie specialises in claims against the police, public authorities and corporate bodies. He is also a specialist in inquests and public inquiries. He is currently an independent member on the Standards Committee for public life for Lewisham Council. He is on the Council executive for the organisation JUSTICE. In 2016, Leslie won the Legal Aid Lawyers' (LALY) Award for work on the Hillsborough case and in 2017, he won the Chambers and Partners' UK Legal Diversity Lifetime achievement award. Between 2020 - 2024 he was Gresham Professor of Law. He is a Visiting Professor at Goldsmith, University of London. Leslie is a member of Garden Court Chambers and also an attorney in Antigua and Barbuda with a Caribbean practice - JC Legal Solutions.

Stephen's executive career was spent in the health sector where he has been chief executive of Cambridge & Huntingdon Health Authority, The NHS Confederation and The Health Foundation. His health sector non-executive roles have included The Healthcare Commission; Monitor (the independent regulator for NHS foundation trusts); the Eastern Academic Health Science Network; The Pathology Partnership; and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

He also chaired the National Institute for Health Research's Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for the East of England. He has been a Member of the Board of Overseers for the International Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Development, Duke University, North Carolina, USA; a Member of the Governing Council of the International Hospital Federation; and a Lay Adviser on the UK Board for Healthcare Chaplaincy.

He has also been a Member of the Governing Council of the Open University.

He is presently Chair of Cambridge City Food Bank.

He was, until recently, a volunteer generalist adviser at Cambridge and District Citizens' Advice Bureau and is an Elder of Downing Place United Reformed Church, Cambridge