Martin Higgins – Deputy Chair, Institute of Public Health

Martin Higgins is a career public servant and has held senior positions in the Civil Service and in the health semi-state sector.  He was CEO of the north-south health promotion body Safefood for 14 years until his retirement.

He qualified as an accountant with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and holds additional qualifications in governance, international regulation and health economics.  He is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute

Martin is an experienced non-executive director.  He is currently Deputy Chair of the Institute of Public Health and sits on the boards of HIQA and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland.  He was previously chair of the Food Safety of Ireland.

Martin has a particular interest in audit and risk, and chairs the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. He is currently the external member of the Health Research Board’s ARC and previously he chaired the ARCs of Comreg, The Arts Council, An Bord Pleanála and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland

Roza Watson – Senior Audit Manager, Willis Towers Watson

Roza is a Senior Audit Manager at Willis Towers Watson.

Prior to that Roza has held various senior roles including the UK Group Audit Country Lead at Zurich Insurance and a Head of Audit role at a small Lloyd’s Syndicate firm.  Roza has worked both in Professional Practice firms and in Industry.

Roza has 19 years of experience in Internal Audit with 16 of these in managerial positions.  Roza's specialism is in the Insurance sector which she has been in since 2009.

Roza is a Chartered Internal Auditor and has a Bachelors degree in Mathematics and Computer Science.

Joseph Duggan – Chief Internal Auditor, Health Service Executive (Ireland)

Joseph is an experienced international risk professional with extensive risk, investigations and audit expertise gained across various sectors, both in business and practice. He has led engagements regionally and internationally across Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region in providing internal audit, operational and strategic risk management, and governance advice. In addition, Joseph has led financial and accounting investigations, medico-legal enquiries, complex regulatory examinations, and forensic and dispute services in several forums including, the High Court of Justice (London), the Supreme Court of Queensland, the Federal Court of Australia, and the High Court (Ireland).

Currently, he is the Chief Internal Auditor for the Health Service Executive (Ireland). Before this he held senior executive roles in the Australian State government, focusing on internal audit delivery and integrity risk. Joseph was the Chief Audit Executive (CAE) of Service New South Wales (NSW) which provides one-stop access for NSW Government services. He also held the roles of CAE for the NSW Independent Review Office, which provides legal and medical review assistance to injured workers and the NSW Long Service Corporation.

Joseph led corruption prevention, whistle-blower governance and fraud and corruption investigations for the NSW Department of Customer Service cluster, across 25 government agencies and entities. He was previously the Head of Investigations at Transport for NSW (Sydney Trains), with an annual patronage of 380 million.

He holds Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Accounting degrees. He is a Chartered Accountant (FCA), an Associate of the Irish Taxation Institute (AITI) and holds accreditations from the Governance Institute (Australia) and Institute of Internal Auditors (Australia).

Cyndy Nkyi-Acheampong – Audit and Risk Manager, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

Cyndy is an Internal Audit and Risk Manager at the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, with over a decade of experience in Public Sector Internal Audit.

As Co-Chair of the Chartered IIA Race and Ethnicity Community, Cyndy is passionately dedicated to driving meaningful change for racially diverse and underprivilege individuals in internal audit, promoting inclusivity and equality.

Cyndy's thought-provoking article, 'The Only One in the Room,' published in Audit and Risk Magazine challenges conventional perspectives and highlights the vital role diversity plays in shaping the future of internal audit.

Cyndy’s influence extends beyond her role. She championed and developed the Internal Audit Apprenticeship programme at RBKC, actively facilitating training for IIA and CIPFA apprentices. With a focus on driving positive change and thought leadership, Cyndy aims to impact internal audit through improved training standards for newcomers to the sector and enhancing opportunities for individuals from ethnically diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds.

Sandro Boeri – President, Chartered IIA

Sandro Boeri has operated as an internal auditor for more years than he cares to mention rising through the ranks to lead the functions of Amsterdam-Rotterdam Bank, Sumitomo Bank, Credit Agricole and the Gerrard Group in London.

In 1999 he founded Risk Audit, a company specialising in the provision of consulting and training services to the financial services industry.

Having lived through and survived the Global Financial Crisis, he developed an interest and conducted research into the root causes of poor behaviour in banking. He is now one of leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of managing and auditing culture.

He joined Deutsche Bank in 2017 to lead Group Audit’s Staff Development team and heads up its Cultural Assessment processes.

Sean Casey – Independent Director and Chair of the Audit Committee, Standard Life International

Sean is an Independent Non-Executive Director, Board Chair and Chair of the Risk and Audit Committee for leading companies in the financial services sector in Ireland, including Independent Director and Chair of the Audit Committee for Standard Life International, Board Chair for Phoenix Life Assurance Europe, and Independent Director and Chair of Risk Committee for Allianz Insurance and Hannover Re Ireland