CQI International Quality Awards – meet our 2018 Judges

Alan joined Nuvia in June 2017 as Head of Quality with no previous experience in the Nuclear Industry. He previously worked in quality roles for companies such as BAE Systems, Ultra Electronics, Philips Components, De La Rue Security Threads and Carnaud Metalbox. 

Alan pursued his Bachelor of Science degree in Quality Management at Salford University. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt and Chartered Quality Professional. Alan shares Nuvia’s belief that one team is accountable for success. He believes this ethos goes a long way to ensuring that all business functions work together toward a common goal. 

Amanda is currently Quality Director for the Major Projects business within Balfour Beatty, she leads on Nuclear Quality and Infrastructure projects, particularly tunnelling. She has worked in the Construction and major infrastructure projects sector for most of her career with spells in Government and client level organisations. In her current role she has developed a number of training schemes for Quality, particularly in the Nuclear sector, her current team includes apprentices, trainees and graduates and a lot of time is spent mentoring and coaching emerging talent within the nuclear quality sector. 

Amanda is a trustee and board member of the CQI, and also the chair person for the Nuclear Special Interest Group. She is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, speaking at numerous events to promote LGBT equality, she is a Co-Chair of both the Balfour Beatty LGBT network and the Gender Equality network, working towards a more inclusive construction and infrastructure sector. 

Through her company, the Innovation Leadership Forum, Bettina works with leaders and leadership teams to give them confidence to innovate and collaborate in the 21st century.  To support her work she has developed tools, such as the Innovation Wave®, a facilitated approach for the assessment of innovation capability, as well as an effective method to address the challenges that come with ‘collaboration across communities’ - the kind of collaboration that is essential to facilitate innovation.  

Passionate about sustainability-driven innovation, she is Director of Awards Program for Katerva, a global NGO whose mission it is to identify, evaluate & accelerate sustainable disruptive innovation.  

She delivers executive programs at prestigious universities and corporations around the world. Her prolific writing includes 4 books and innumerable articles. She has an MBA and PhD from London Business School, and a first degree in architecture and town planning. from Kiel University, Germany. 

Charlotte Laverty is the 2017 CQI International Awards Emerging Talent Award Winner, and in her words, it is the biggest achievement of her career to date by far.

She started her Quality career working at a Civil Engineering company where she created, maintained and improved the Quality Management System.

In her role at Golder Group (formally Alan Auld Engineering) she was responsible for the management of the QMS including the delivery of audits, training and system development. She also undertook the transition of the management system to ISO9001:2015. Charlotte managed the supply chain including delivery of supplier audits, providing advice and guidance of system related issues and handling all external audits undertaken for the business by 3rd parties.

Like most quality professionals, she fell into the role and fell in love with the diversity of the job and managing the systems.

In early 2018, she expanded her scope and is now Quality and Business Continuity Manager at PlusNet where she is responsible for both PlusNet’s Quality Management and Business Continuity Management Systems. On the QMS side, her main responsibilities include ensuring the QMS is maintained and improved, and manages internal and external audits in line with ISO9001:2015. For BCM, she is responsible for coordinating Business Continuity Management planning and testing across the business in line with ISO22301.

Enjoying a successful international career in hotels, Chris’s passion for leadership and entrepreneurship eventually led him to launch McFarlane Telfer in 1992. McFarlane Telfer provide commercial kitchen maintenance to global brands in hospitality and facilities management, and employ 100 staff across their operations in the UK, UAE and Qatar.

Chris has a demonstrable interest in Organisational Excellence & Quality, having implemented ISO and EFQM across the McFarlane Telfer business. Sincere in his interest in engineering and people development, Chris regularly volunteers his time to the quality profession, attending special interest groups, and judging professional awards.

Estelle is the Chairman of the Judges for the International Quality Awards 2018 and is on the panel for three of the award categories.

Estelle Clark CQP FCQI is Executive Director of Policy for the CQI, which includes the role of Head of Profession. She is also chairman of the technical and advisory board of Lloyd’s Register Management Systems and chairman of the stakeholder board of Riversimple (the world’s only privately-owned company making hydrogen fuel cell cars).

Previously, Estelle held Quality Director positions on the top teams at Fujitsu Services, Alstom Power, Lloyd’s Register and the Financial Ombudsman Service. Her professional background is in business systems, customer engagement and project management.

She is a past winner of both the UK and the European Quality Leader of the Year Awards as well as a chartered fellow of the CQI and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).

Ian is the Quality & Business Improvement Director for Network Rail’s Infrastructure Projects business group, with more than 30 year’s experience in all aspects of Quality across the defence, nuclear and rail sectors globally. Key achievements include; successfully developing business operating models and integrated management systems through several complex organisations, delivered a Quality Strategies that have returned a 30% reduction in failure costs, improved the delivery quality of complex global supply chains to repeated quality performance of greater than 99% and as a part of a team won the British Quality Foundation Business Excellence Award.

Ian is currently Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Chartered Quality Institute and is an active Fellow of the CQI having held a number of positions on Groups and Boards. Ian is delighted to be judging the CQI International Quality Awards as he believes recognition is a fundamental part of good leadership, a cornerstone of the CQI competence framework.

John Feltham is a Chartered Fellow of the CQI and holds a Master of Science degree in Quality Management.

He was awarded Quality Professional of the year at the 2017 CQI International Quality Awards.

John has worked in quality for over 40 years starting on the shop floor, becoming a lecturer and was a former principal examiner at the CQI until 2010

He has spent much of his time working as a consultant in the field of management systems and risk management.

John now works as the systems and standards compliance manager for Portsmouth International Port which is part of Portsmouth City Council specialising in corporate governance and social responsibility.

Karen is a seasoned quality professional with over 30 years’ experience across all aspects of quality management. She has extensive & varied knowledge of; complex processes, operational business improvements, has worked in regulated industries, manufacturing, major infrastructure civil engineering projects, and across multi-site organisations. She has worked within various industries including: Ministry of Defense, Railways, Roads, power generation and standby power, industrial & commercial electrical industries, and with the Highways Agency, Network Rail, British Telecom, and Water industries. 

Karen was a judge for the Emerging Talent Award in 2017 and is delighted to be part of the judging team for this year’s awards.  She continues to be passionate about quality and believes that the CQI International awards are essential for recognizing the importance of quality in all industries and for raising the profile of quality professionals.  

Laura is the Commercial and Customer Experience Director for NQA Certification Ltd, a UKAS accredited global certification body. Laura joined NQA straight from University and has since completed a Global MBA with the Manchester Business School. Having worked within the TIC (Testing, Inspection and Certification) industry for over 10 years her roles in this time have encompassed telesales, scheme development, new product development, sales management, commercial leadership and more recently customer experience.  

 In her role as Commercial and Customer Experience Director, Laura is responsible for the commercial team in the UK and Ireland (Sales and Marketing) ensuring that NQA remains competitive and organically grows year on year through the sale of NQA’s Certification and Training services. Her focus on customer experience, ensures that the client is at the heart of both the certification and training journey with NQA, ensuring that NQA follow and embrace the principles laid out in effective quality management standards.  

Liz Sandwith’s background is firmly embedded in the Internal Audit, Governance and Risk worlds.  She has worked for several organisations in both the public and private sector, e.g. Bupa, Information Commissioner’s Office, Channel 5, The Electoral Commission and The London Clinic as well as a number of Local Authorities helping develop risk management and control awareness wearing both the risk and the internal audit hats.   

Liz provides internal audit and risk management training to Directors, Audit Committee members, internal auditors and risk managers in Europe, the Middle East and also the Far East, on behalf of a global training provider (MISTI).  Liz also provides training on the Certificate in Internal Audit and Business Risk on behalf of the CIIA UK and Ireland. 

Liz was President of the Institute of Internal Audit 2001.  She has recently become a Board member and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for a Housing Association based in Leeds. 

Len is a Quality Director with Costain and provides leadership and oversight of quality management on Nuclear and Oil and Gas projects. He was the director of a quality services business within an international engineering consultancy firm, providing quality and inspection support to an international client base. Len has delivered quality management on many high-profile projects in the UK and overseas, as well as across several sectors including Nuclear, Airport, Hydro and Fossil Power, Oil and Gas, and Light Rail.

Mark is the Head of Business Assurance at The Automobile Association (The AA), managing assurance activities within operations including Risk, FCA, HS&E through an effective and efficient integrated management system (ISO9001, ISO14001, OHSAS18001 and PAS43).

Mark has successfully completed the ISO transition for ISO9001:2015 and ISO14001:2015 for circa 7200 employees, across 5 sites and 2500 mobile resources. Mark has a vast knowledge and experience in standards writing and development in many areas, quality in projects, quality plans and realising quality. Mark is currently Head of UK delegation to ISO/TC176 the technical committee responsible for ISO9000 and ISO10000 series of standards.

His latest project included being part of ISO working group responsible for ISO9004:2018 Quality management — Quality of an organisation — Guidance to achieve sustained success which received an outstanding 100% vote in support of the FDIS, and now published. Mark is also the Chair of QS1 (BSI) the UK mirror committee for Quality assurance and CQI Standards panel member. Mark has over twenty years’ experience in quality including improvement and governance for service, sales, transportation and insurance sectors.

Martin is MD of Catalyst Consulting Ltd and an active Lean Six Sigma practitioner, trainer and coach. He has wide experience in working with many global clients in the fields of quality and change management.  He is co-author of the popular book Lean Six Sigma for Dummies, as well as Lean Six Sigma for Leaders, which has just been published.  

His past roles include Head of  Quality at BT; on LRQA's General Technical Committee; a Trustee of Lloyd's Register; and on BQF's Executive Committee.

At BT he had responsibility for Quality and Business Excellence across the group where he successfully lead several BT Divisions to Quality Award Winning level. In his earlier career, he held senior management roles in communications systems, software and systems development. Martin studied Electronic engineering at the University of Liverpool and also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Management. He is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

He is passionate about quality and believes these awards are an ideal way to spread the word about the application of quality methods more widely in all organisations and in recognising the success of professionals in the field.      

Natalie Shoemark-Dyer is a Head of Quality for a Facilities Management company working on the biggest MOD PFI within the UK. Natalie has ten years’ experience in the Quality profession including time spent on a government project working for a leading Telecoms company, implementing a Management System and embedding the culture of Quality within the organisation.

Natalie became Chair of the CQI’s Next Generation Network in October 2014 and has worked with her team in supporting the mission of the CQI redefining the profession and attracting the next generation of Quality Professionals. She is currently working on delivering a number of projects designed to attract new members and to provide support to those joining profession. Natalie is also Co-Chair of the CQI’s Thames Valley Branch.

In addition to his role as Quality and Technical Manager for DNV GL Business Assurance in Northern Europe, Niall maintains an active role as a Lead Auditor for management system certification, specialising in the project management of complex global clients.  

An aerospace engineer by training, he is passionate about delivering excellence to clients and continuously improving processes. He is delighted to be a judge for the 2018 International Quality Awards again this year and The Quality Team of the Year Award as he believes teamwork is the living embodiment of the whole being greater than the sum of individual parts.  

Paul Phyall is a seasoned Senior Operational Business Leader & General Management Specialist with over 30 years of extensive experience in technical, certification, testing and inspection industry. With an abundance of international experience, Paul has a strong understanding of auditing, technical management, management systems and associated standards.

Currently Paul is UK&I Director of Assurance with SAI Global, a leading provider of integrated risk management solutions, assurance and property services. Where he is responsible for managing and overseeing both UK and Ireland operations, spearheading several initiatives to create value added services to the Company’s customers in both food safety and assurance.

He obtained his BEng, Engineering Technology from Northumbria University and holds an MBA, Finance, Marketing, General Management from the University of Durham.

Paul Simpson, CQP FCQI, has been a quality professional all his working life and a full member of the CQI since 1987. Since 1999 he has been involved in a range of roles within CQI and is currently Chair of the Milton Keynes branch. He maintains an infectious enthusiasm for quality management and promotes innovative approaches to understanding customer and stakeholder needs. Paul is currently Principal Consultant and Owner of s2a2s Ltd. and has recently formed Quality Online Learning Ltd. with plans to deliver a range of eLearning offerings in the field of quality. 

Paul is passionate about standards development and is Chair-elect of ISO’s TC 176 Sub Committee 2, responsible for developing ISO 9001, ISO 9004 and other supporting standards. With fellow judge Susannah Clarke and Jan Gillett, Paul published ‘Implementing ISO 9001:2015: Thrill your customers and transform your cost base with the new gold standard for business management.’ 

Paul is a Lead Quality Manager in Projects for Siemens Mobility Limited and boasts over thirty years’ experience of working in quality related roles across a number of diverse industries. The last twelve of which, have been spent in Rail where he has worked on prestigious projects such as Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Thameslink and Crossrail. 

Paul is a Chartered Quality Professional and having joined the CQI over twenty-five years ago, feels extremely proud and honoured to be a judge for this year’s Quality Leadership Award. Paul strongly believes that people (and their leadership) are one of the key factors in delivering successful and effective quality. 

Outside of work, Paul enjoys socialising, reading and through an enjoyment of writing, is a self-published author.  

Richard Green is the Founder and Managing Director of Kingsford Consultancy Services (KCS) Limited, which specialises in the provision of management system consultancy, training and audit related services to businesses of all sizes, both within the UK and overseas.

Richard previously served as a member of the Chartered Quality Institute’s (CQI’s) Senior Management Team with a remit encompassing Corporate Partners, Member Services, Special Interest Groups and the global branch network, he also provided the technical lead for both the CQI and IRCA brands.

Richard still collaborates with the CQI. He retains the Chair of the CQI Standards Panel and represents the CQI on UK and international committees redrafting ISO Management System and Audit Standards. In 2017 Richard was one of the judges at the inaugural CQI International Quality Awards.

Prior to joining the CQI, Richard held a variety of senior quality management, facilities management, contract management and IT service management positions, in both the UK public and private sectors.

He is a Chartered Quality Practitioner, a Chartered IT Practitioner, a Principal Quality Management System (QMS) Auditor and a PRINCE2 Project Management Practitioner.

Roger Cliffe is a Strategic change and Quality specialist with more than 20 years’ experience in ‘blue chip’ chemical, telecoms, financial services and global manufacturing organisations.

He has worked as Quality Director at Vodafone Group, as Strategic Change & Quality Director at Lloyds TSB Group, has also been a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick and is now Associate at Bourton Group consulting in Strategic Change & Lean Six-Sigma.

He is a Chartered Quality Professional and a Fellow of the Chartered Quality Institute, a Master Black Belt Coach – Lean Six Sigma and a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

In his spare time, he enjoys long distance cycling, the opera, classic cars and wood carving.

Sally is a lead programme manager within the governance and resilience sector of BSI, the UK's national standards body. She is responsible for building relationships with national and international experts and developing standards in the fields of quality management, OH&S management and auditing management systems. She has in-depth knowledge of management systems both through industry experience and standards development work.

Sally is passionate about providing excellent service, fairness and equality - and generally improving people's lives, especially in the workplace. She is currently exploring new tools to help small and micro businesses and is open to conversations about providing informative sessions, developing guidance and holding suitable local events. Sally has over 20 years’ experience of publishing and management, encompassing people, projects, quality and health and safety.

Shirley Parsons is the CEO and founder of Shirley Parsons Ltd, the Global Leaders in HSEQ recruitment. She has over 30 years Quality, Health & Safety, and Environmental consulting experience. She is a Chartered IOSH professional and sits on the CMIOSH awards committee. 

Shirley’s personal network spans more than 30 years in the Quality, Health & Safety, and Environmental professions.  Since formation, she has ensured that the scope of our networks and the quality of relationships within those networks remains at the heart of what we do.  This is why we are able to excel at professional matchmaking across all industry sectors needing such expertise. 

From a standing start in 2005, Shirley Parsons Ltd quickly became the largest specialist Executive Search and Recruitment business of its kind in the UK. We have been recruiting QHSE professionals for over a decade, with a combined 200 years of niche recruiting experience. As it stands, the company now has offices in Aylesbury and Reading in the UK and in Dusseldorf in Germany, covering EMEA business offerings, and Boston, MA and Los Angeles, CA in the USA, covering all of the Americas. 

Susannah is Managing Partner and Head of Skills & Capabilities Practice at PMI where she leads three main areas of business; Open Learning (classroom, virtual and online), performance coaching and strategic partnerships and resellers.

Prior to joining PMI, she was EMEA Partner Director for Oracle Corporation where she was responsible for sales and delivery of Oracle University’s technical training portfolio through the partners with an annual revenue of £40m. She was also an active member of the Women’s Leadership Team and was identified as part of the Oracle High Performer programme.

Before joining Oracle, Susannah was owner of her own company and previously Managing Director of the European Division of an international training corporation.

Susannah is an accredited executive and performance coach. She enjoys working with clients to enable them to take control of their future to achieve tangible results for themselves and their organisation.

Trevor joined the British Standards Institution (BSI) in 1986 and has been involved with auditing management systems since then. He was BSI’s product technical manager for Occupational Health and Safety management standard BS OHSAS 18001 from 2008 until 2017. He is a long-standing Chartered Quality Professional and a Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. He obtained a Post Graduate diploma in Occupational Health and Safety management in 2004. Trevor is currently self-employed as a management systems specialist providing consulting, training and auditing services in relation to quality, environmental, occupational health and safety, road traffic safety and integrated management systems. He is also an active member of several UK and ISO committees involved in standards development related to the above management systems. 

Vincent is the CEO of the CQI. Vincent’s early career was in education and educational management, working as Director of Studies at International House in the UK, Egypt and the Czech Republic. Vincent has held executive director roles at the International Register of Certificated Auditors, IRCA Japan and subsequently with the Chartered Quality Institute.  

Vincent knows the value the quality profession gives to organisations in terms of enhancing reputation and performance, and believes the awards provide a fantastic opportunity for individuals, teams and the whole profession to celebrate this.