Corporate report

Panel members' biographies

Updated 16 January 2025

Jo Armstrong

Jo was appointed in May 2020. She has operated as a business economist and corporate financier in financial services, oil and gas and government, and has worked extensively with regulatory bodies including Ofgem, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, and the Scottish Housing Regulator. Currently, she is the Chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland and Chair of the Wheatley Group.

Disclosures of interest

Humphrey Battcock

Humphrey was appointed in April 2018. He worked in private equity for 30 years and was, until 2017, a managing partner and chair of the European Investment Advisory Committee at Advent International, one of the world’s leading private equity firms. He is currently a non-executive director of Cambridge Innovation Capital plc. He is a trustee of Sadler’s Wells, Teach First, the Institute for Research in Schools and the Centre for Homelessness Impact and is on the Cambridge University Philanthropic Advisory Board.

Disclosures of interest

Robin Cohen

Robin was appointed in October 2018. In June 2018, Robin retired as a Vice President of Charles River Associates where he worked across the energy and competition practices. He was previously a Partner at Deloitte from 2002 to 2013 where he led the Economic Consulting practice. He has also been a Partner at Arthur Andersen (Business Consulting, Strategy Finance and Economics) from 1999 to 2002. He has over 30 years of experience in economic consulting, providing advice to governments, regulators and corporates across multiple sectors including energy, water and financial services. He has acted as the independent expert in regulatory and commercial disputes in the context of regulatory proceedings, litigation and arbitration. Since retiring from CRA, he continues to consult to a range of clients outside of the UK. In September 2022, Robin was appointed a Member of the UK Endorsement Board. Robin has a PhD in Economics.

Disclosures of interest

Maria Da Cunha

Maria was appointed in February 2019 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels. She is currently a non-executive director of International Distribution Services Ltd and London & Quadrant Housing Trust. She was previously General Counsel and Director of HR at British Airways plc and a trustee of Community Integrated Care. On 1 September 2022 Maria joined the Board of Irwin Mitchell Holdings Ltd.

Disclosures of interest

Margot Daly

Margot was appointed an Inquiry Chair of the CMA in September 2021, having been appointed a panel member in May 2020. She is currently a non-executive board director and chair of the audit and risk committee at the NAAFI, the organisation that provides hospitality and retails services to British servicemen and women around the world. She is also chair of the board of trustees at Gamcare, the UK leading provider of clinical and education services for problem gamblers and affected others. She serves as an ad hoc independent business consultant. Previously she held Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer positions in FTSE listed and privately held companies, served as a non-executive director at Sport Resolutions UK and most recently as a panel member at the Competition Appeal Tribunal. She holds a master’s in competition economics from King’s College London with a focus on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.

Disclosures of interest

Anne Fletcher

Anne was appointed in October 2017 and is a member of the CMA’s specialist utility panel. Anne is a lawyer who has spent most of her career in regulated industries, including as Group General Counsel for BT Group PLC, Compliance Director for Royal Mail PLC and Interim Director of Regulatory Compliance for Visa Europe. She has extensive UK and international legal, compliance, risk and governance experience.

Disclosures of interest

Robin Foster

Robin was appointed in February 2019. He is an economist and expert adviser in media policy, strategy and regulation. Until January 2022, he was a non-executive member of the Content Board at media regulator Ofcom and a member of the Advertising Advisory Committee at the Advertising Standards Authority. He was previously Strategy Partner at Ofcom, Strategy Director at the BBC, and a Director at National Economic Research Associates. He was also a Founder Director of consultants Communications Chambers, in which capacity he advised clients, including regulatory authorities in Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, on economic and regulatory matters.

Disclosures of interest

Roland Green

Roland was appointed in July 2018. He is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels. From 2010 until March 2018, Roland acted as a legal and policy adviser to the CMA and the Competition Commission. Before that he advised a series of government departments on public and commercial matters as a member of the UK Government Legal Service, having qualified as a solicitor at Russell-Cooke in 1981, and worked in private practice for them and Linklaters until 1986.

Disclosures of interest

Ashleye Gunn

Ashleye was appointed in April 2020. She is an independent consumer policy consultant specialising in competition, customer satisfaction and stakeholder engagement in regulated sectors. She is Customer Chair of the Independent Net Zero Advisory Council for Scottish Power Energy Networks and a member of Cadent’s Customer Challenge Group. Ashleye was previously Policy Programme Director at Which? and before this had an award-winning career as an advertising strategist.

Disclosures of interest

Susan Hankey

Susan was appointed in October 2017 and is a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels. She was a partner in law firm CMS Cameron McKenna LLP (now CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP) from 1998 to 2015, having spent 3 years in the 1990s in the Brussels office of predecessor firm Cameron Markby Hewitt. Susan led the firm’s competition practice in the UK and Central Europe for several years and was a member of the management team of the wider CMS international competition group.

Disclosures of interest

Ulrike Hotopp

Ulrike was appointed in October 2017. She is Director of the Economic Consultancy LIVE Economics Ltd and a reader in Economic Policy Analysis at the University of Kent. Before this she was Chief Economist at the economic consultancy Simetrica, Chief Economist and Director for Analysis at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and had a number of senior roles in the Government Economic Services including in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (now BEIS) and the Department for Energy and Climate Change (now BEIS).

Disclosures of interest

Paul Hughes

Paul was appointed in February 2019. He is a former partner of international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, and has specialised in competition law and regulation for almost 40 years.

Disclosures of interest

Colleen Keck

Colleen was appointed in February 2019 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels. She is currently Deputy Chair of the Copyright Tribunal. Before that she was a partner at international law firm Allen & Overy LLP for over 20 years and more recently General Counsel and Company Secretary at Parkinson’s UK.

Disclosures of interest

Juliet Lazarus

Juliet was appointed in September 2021. Before her appointment, Juliet was General Counsel and Director of Competition at the Office of Rail and Road. She joined ORR in 2004 to set up the legal team and become chief legal advisor to ORR’s board. She led ORR’s legal function and was a member of ORR’s senior team for 17 years. In 2013, she became Director of Competition and, in 2020, she was appointed ORR’s first Diversity and Inclusion Champion. Before working for ORR, Juliet was a solicitor in private practice in the competition and regulation department at Linklaters. She is also an Independent Member of the Provider Risk Committee at the Office for Students and a member of the Ofgem Enforcement Decision Panel.

Disclosures of interest

Sheila McClelland

Sheila was appointed in October 2017 and is a member of the CMA’s specialist communications panel. She was previously Chairperson of the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland and is a board member on a number of organisations focussed on community relations in Northern Ireland including the Community Relations Council and Cooperation Ireland. She is also a council member of the Council for Curriculum Examinations and Assessment. She has been appointed a designate CEO of the Office of the Police Ombudsman in Ireland.

Disclosures of interest

Frances McLeman

Frances was appointed in May 2020. She is also a member of the CMA’s Audit and Risk Assurance Committee. She is an experienced Corporate and Regulatory lawyer. A former Corporate Partner at City law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (BLP) (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP), she was subsequently Head of Corporate and M&A Legal at Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) and then LBG’s Head of Ring Fencing Legal delivering a major regulatory reform programme. Her broad range of legal and regulatory experience includes financial services regulatory reform, mergers, acquisitions, divestments, flotations and public fund-raisings, restructurings, real estate investment funds, international projects, investigations, litigation and public sector procurement. Whilst a partner at BLP, she undertook executive level secondments to Tesco and two public sector bodies to deal with high profile events including plans for the London 2012 Olympics.

Disclosures of interest

Cyrus Mehta

Cyrus was appointed in April 2020 and was appointed as a CMA Board member in February 2024. He is a former Partner and Head of the EU and Competition team at law firm CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP. He has over 35 years’ experience in the field of UK and EU competition law, state aid, consumer law, trade law and regulation in both London and Brussels. He is also a CMA Board Member.

Disclosures of interest

Paul Muysert

Paul was appointed in April 2018. He is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications, payment systems and utility panels. He was a senior consultant at Competition Economists Group (CEG) and was one of the founding partners of the firm. He has extensive experience in the economics of competition policy and regulation covering several jurisdictions, including the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa. He has provided expert economic evidence to the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, UK High Court, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. He has also acted as a testifying expert in several International Arbitrations. Paul previously worked for Charles River Associates (CRA) as an economic consultant based in London. Previous regulatory appointments include positions at Ofcom and the New Zealand Commerce Commission.

Disclosures of interest

Jeremy Newman

Jeremy was appointed in October 2017 and is a member of the CMA’s specialist newspaper and payment systems panels. He qualified as a chartered accountant and is the Chair/Non-Executive/Trustee of a range of public, private and not-for-profit sector organisations, including Chair of the Workforce Development Trust and The Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Open Banking Ltd. He is a member of the Boards of Clarion Housing Group, Frontline and of World Jewish Relief. He has served as a Chair of Optionis Group; a non-executive member of the Boards of the Government Legal Department and the Crown Prosecution Service; as Chair of The Audit Commission and of the Single Source Regulations Office; and as a member of the Regulatory Decisions Committee of the FCA.

Disclosures of interest

Sir Kenneth Parker

Sir Kenneth was appointed in May 2020. Initially a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and a University Lecturer in Law, he was called to the bar in 1975, became a QC in 1992 and was joint head of Monckton Chambers from 2000-2006. His practice was primarily in competition and regulatory law, with cases in the UK, Brussels and Luxembourg. He was a Special Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee for two competition enquiries. He was a Law Commissioner from 2006 until 2009, when he became a Judge of the High Court until 2015. He is currently a Judicial Commissioner under the IPA 2016, and a legal chair for the Financial Reporting Council.

Disclosures of interest

Keith Richards

Keith is a barrister and CEDR-accredited mediator specialising in equalities and consumer rights and has served as an independent member and non-exec director on bodies in the public, private and third sectors in a variety of industries and professions delivering challenge and specialist expertise on consumer advocacy, equality and inclusion, dispute resolution and redress. He set up the first Consumer Panel at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and served as its Chair for six years until 2017. In February 2023 he completed a nine year term as Chair of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) at the DfT. He served as a Member of the Air Travel Insolvency Protection Advisory Committee (ATIPAC), a Member of the Financial Services Consumer Panel at the FCA, and as a Non-Executive Director at ECPAT UK, a charity with targeted policy and advocacy around child trafficking, prostitution and pornography.

He is a non-exec on the Boards of Transport for London (TfL) , Transport Focus, Co-Chair of the Heathrow Access Advisory Group (HAAG) and Chair of the Board at the National Centre for Accessible Transport (ncat). He also serves as a Board member of the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), an Independent Member of the General Chiropractic Council, Chair of the Renewable Energy Consumer Codes (RECC) Non-Compliance panel, a Member of the PAY.UK End User Advisory Council and a Member of the MOSL Performance Assurance Committee (PAC) for Non-Household Water Market.

Keith was awarded an OBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours list for services to access and inclusion in the transport sector.

Disclosures of interest

Stephen Rose

Stephen was appointed in April 2020. He was a partner in international law firm Eversheds Sutherland from 1997 to 2018 and before that worked for Slaughter and May in London and Brussels. Stephen was a senior partner in the Eversheds Sutherland, Competition, EU and Trade team for over 20 years.

Disclosures of interest

Karthik Subramanya

Karthik was appointed in February 2019. He is currently Senior Advisor with Boston Consulting Group. He is also a Board member of Scottish Enterprise. He previously held senior executive roles in the Utilities and Banking industries.

Disclosures of interest

John Thanassoulis

John was appointed in October 2017. He is the Professor of Financial Economics at Warwick Business School (WBS), University Of Warwick. He is also the Associate Dean for the Bank of England Partnership and a CEPR Research Fellow. Previously John has served on the Board of Oxford Investment Partners (OXIP), was an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, Department of Economics, and the Heyman-Moritz Fellow at Christ Church. John was educated at both Oxford and Cambridge, studying Mathematics followed by Economics. He is also Treasurer of the Blackfriars Overseas Aid Trust.

Disclosures of interest

Mark Thatcher

Mark was appointed in April 2018. He is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and newspaper panels. He has published and taught in the UK and elsewhere on regulation and comparative public policy. He is currently Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, where he was previously Professor of Comparative and International Politics, and professor at LUISS, Rome. His relevant research expertise includes policies for network industries in the UK, France, Germany and Italy; EU merger and regulatory policies, especially in telecommunications, energy and banking; the establishment and operation of general competition authorities and independent regulatory authorities for network industries in the UK, France, Germany and Italy.

David Thomas

David was appointed in October 2017 and is a member of the CMA’s specialist utility panel. He has a master’s in economics and is a chartered accountant. He also acts in similar independent capacity for four other UK regulatory bodies. He was Ofcom’s Director of Competition and Regulatory Finance. Through a boutique consulting firm, David acts as an expert witness and provides economic regulatory and competition advice in digital and regulated markets largely outside of the UK. Before establishing that firm David was the founder and leader of KPMG’s global economics and regulation practice.

Disclosures of interest

Claire Whyley

Claire Whyley was appointed in October 2017 and is a member of the CMA’s specialist utility panel. She is a professional researcher, policy analyst and consumer advocate focusing on outcomes-based consumer protection and consumer-focused regulation. She specialises in user-led, evidence-based and impact-focused policy development, across a range of markets, with a particular interest in vulnerable and excluded consumers. She has delivered a number of research projects aiming to support organisations in putting consumers at the heart of their processes and decision-making.

Claire holds a number of non-executive roles including membership of:

• the Board of the Private Healthcare Information Network
• the FCA/PSR Competition Decisions Committee
• the Management Board of the Consumer Code for Homebuilders
• the Air Travel Insolvency Protection Advisory Committee
• the Pay.UK End-User Advisory Council; the SSE Strategic Panel
• the Finance and Leasing Association Lending Code Board.

Claire has also recently been appointed as Chair of the MOSL Performance Assurance Committee.

Disclosures of interest

Crispin Wright

Crispin was appointed in April 2020. From 2015-2018 he was Director General of the Takeover Panel. Before that he spent 33 years as an investment banker specialising in mergers and acquisitions at Rothschild, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Grenfell. He is a member of the Investment Committee of Merton College.

Disclosures of interest