Back in person in 2022, the Memcom annual conference will address the key issues of the day for the professional membership sector. Launched in 2000, Memcom has consistently led the way in thought leadership for over two decades.
Our overarching conference theme is ‘Back on Track?’ and as ever, our speakers will be addressing the key issues of the day through a series of talks, debates, panel discussions and roundtables.
Themes will include the latest thinking and sharing of best practice in the following areas:- Sustainability; EDI; Strategy; Finance and New Business Models; Membership, Marketing & Communications; Influence and Lobbying; People, Culture and Skills; Digital, Data & Technology; Good Governance Models and more.
Delegates will have plenty of time for networking and will be able to meet with the leading sector suppliers in the exhibition.
Previous speakers:
Alex Skinner
Alex is the co-founder of Pixl8 Group – a London-based creative technical consultancy and digital products business with a wide reach into the membership sector..
Over the last 18 years, Alex’s vision to harness the potential of digital to solve complex business challenges has taken Pixl8 from a start-up with innovative ideas, to an established agency that consistently delivers above and beyond. His belief that clients should expect more underpins his commitment to understanding the business and technical needs of every organisation he works with and then solving the challenges intelligently. This approach has helped him to build trusted partnerships with over 100 clients across a broad range of membership bodies, associations, and charities.
Alex’s blend of strategic vision, technical expertise,and extensive industry experience means he is perfectly placed to lead on the creation of a diverse range of sophisticated technical products and solutions.
The Pixl8 group can provide a single digital transformation solution for membership organisations. They can provide strategic advice, website design and build, bespoke email, CRM and events solutions while making sure systems meet rigorous cyber security standards.
Ama Afrifa-Tchie
Ama Afrifa-Tchie is a valiant cultural builder, who's specialism spans across people experience, workplace culture, diversity & inclusion, mental health and wellbeing and corporate responsibility. She is experienced in leading the design, analysis, and implementation of people-centric products/services, inclusion & wellbeing initiatives.
She works with senior leadership, management teams, and employee engagement to; embed and integrate organisational culture through behaviour, processes and systems, and seeks to promote a positive, inclusive and supportive work environment and company culture by developing and evolving programmes and initiatives that support the organisation’s mission and values.
Ama has built her career and expertise (over 14 years ‘experience) with different industries such as - start-ups, tech, professional services, legal, financial services, media & entertainment.
Ama has an LLB in Law and a MA in Public Relations and Public Communications.
She is a Fellow of The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce UK, a Trustee of Artswork, a Governor on the Board of The Boxing Academy and the former Mentoring Chair of Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WITC UK).
Ama’s interests includes travelling, fitness, outdoors activities, theatre and movies, animation, and interior decor. She is an avid foodie and loves spending time with family and friends.
Anastasia Stefanidou
Anastasia Stefanidou is an Associate Manager - Enterprise Content Strategy at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the largest global association for accounting and finance professionals. She is responsible for developing and executing integrated communications and content campaigns to drive awareness and interest among the organisation's target audiences. Prior to joining the Association, she worked at various not-for-profit and membership organisations, enjoying the challenges of limited budgets and being a jack of all trades.
Anastasia is passionate about AI and her latest (and proudest) achievement is creating the Association’s award-winning automated Facebook Messenger Chatbot, which is designed to understand questions and provide answers to users without human intervention.
- Twitter:
- @@alinastf
- Website:
- www.aicpa.org/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/stefanidouanastasia/
Ann Francke OBE
Ann started her career at Procter & Gamble and has held senior executive positions at Mars, Boots, Yell and BSI.
Ann is an expert on gender balance in the workplace and speaks frequently in the media and conferences on this and other management topics. Her book on gender balance published on 26th September 2019. Ann authored the ‘Financial Times Guide to Management’ and was named in the top 100 women to watch in the 2015 Female FTSE Cranfield report. She was awarded the memcom award for 'outstanding leadership of a UK professional body’ in 2016.
Ann holds several board positions and five honorary doctorates for her work in management and leadership.
Ben Summerskill
Ben Summerskill was Chief Executive of Stonewall from 2003 to 2014, where he grew its nascent Diversity Champions programme – advising major employers and service providers on good practice – from 35 to 650 organisations, employing six million people. By 2014 it had become the largest non-governmental intervention of its kind in the world.
More recently Ben has advised the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Cabinet Office on strategic approaches to diversity. He's on the board of ACAS and the Honours Committee for the Voluntary Sector and was a founder Commissioner at the Equality & Human Rights Commission.
- Website:
- www.acas.org.uk/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/ben-summerskill-674740
Caron Bradshaw
Caron Bradshaw is Chief Executive of Charity Finance Group. She joined CFG in June 2010 from the ICAEW, where she was Head of the Charity and Voluntary Sector. In addition to supporting a number of small charities and community organisations Caron has been a member of the NCVO’s National Assembly and the Charities SORP Committee, has sat on a number of government working parties, is a member of the Church of England Pension Board’s Audit and Risk Committee, and is Chair of the Board of the Directory of Social Change (and her local hockey club). Caron is a trained Barrister and has a wide array of experience across charity, regulation/law, policy, member support, and professional ethics.
Caron is an avidly ‘social’ CEO and was been named in the top 30 social CEOs in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2015 she was named Charity Principal of the Year at the Charity Times Awards. In 2016 she received the Association Excellence Award for Leadership. She was named in the top 30 UK social influences in Risk, Compliance and Regtech 2017 and in the Charity Times top 25 Influencers in the charity sector 2019. In October 2020, Caron was named Woman of the Year (non-CCAB) at the Women in Finance and Accountancy Awards.Caron was honoured with an OBE for 'services to charity' in the New Year's Honours list 2021.
- Website:
- www.cfg.org.uk/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/caron-bradshaw-obe-2b4
Clare Walton
Having worked in the voluntary sector in Milton Keynes for about 19 years, I have unfailing belief in the power of three things: curiosity, conversation and cake. When this trio aligns, the possibilities can be endless.
As a Community Development practitioner, I am interested in the way relationships can be transformative for people and places coupled with the way urban design and social policy influence how people make connections.
Community Action: MK is a membership organisation for the local voluntary and community sector. We believe in vibrant communities where people are able to take action on the ideas, interests and issues which are important to them.
We support collective action so we work with the local Voluntary Sector to develop a network of networks which helps us understand the issues which groups and communities face, the ideas they have for change and the interests they wish to pursue.
This intelligence helps us design our services and support the sector and help build their capacity to run their organisations well, learn, develop and connect with each other so our communities are resilient and able to influence decision making.
Damian Corbet
- Website:
- thesocialcsuite.net
- LinkedIn:
- https:// https://www.linkedin.com/in/damiancorbet/
David Blackburn
David Blackburn is a multi-award winning senior management executive with over 20 years’ experience in leading all aspects of Human Resources from a diverse career background including manufacturing, IT, retail, housing and financial services. David is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development; the Royal Society of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce; the Institute of Leadership and Management and a Member of the Guild of HR Professionals.
He has designed and delivered learning and development across the NHS and the not-for-profit sector and is a regular conference speaker – addressing delegates at the People Development Summit in Barcelona, the Work Foundation, NCVO HR Conference and the HR Summit in Lisbon. David is a member of the Business in the Community (BITC) Race Equality Leadership Team and is an avid ambassador for BITC Age at Work. In addition David has been a judge of both the HR Excellence Awards and the Recruitment Advertising Awards.
- Website:
- www.fscs.org.uk/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/david-blackburn-chartered-fcipd-b7251aa
David D'Souza
David joined the CIPD, the professional body HR and people development, in 2014 and has been its Membership Director since 2018. He is responsible for growing membership and ensuring the CIPD connects effectively with the profession to understand how it can continually improve its support offer.
He previously worked as an independent consultant and has also held roles across a range of financial services and retail organisations.
David is a respected and in demand speaker and writer on progressive HR and business practice, with his commentary regularly featuring in national media. He has expertise in a wide range of areas, including organisational development and culture, learning and development, corporate ethics and the future of work.
He is a Fellow of the Learning Performance Institute, the Centre for Evidence Based Management and the RSA - as well as being a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.
Gareth Kingston
Gareth has worked for membership bodies of one form or another since 1994. He cut his teeth working for students’ unions before moving into the membership sector as the Head of Membership Services at Advice UK. After a stint with an environmental grant making charity Gareth returned to the world of membership first as a consultant, then as a manager of a community partnership, and for six years as a Membership and Marketing manager at the Royal College of Surgeons. Since 2016 Gareth has been Head of Membership at the Chartered Quality Institute. Outside of work, Gareth is an avid quizzer and runs a YouTube channel called All Things Quiz.
Gary Luffman
Gary Luffman is an Occupational Psychologist with a background in developing talent management solutions to support organisations strategies and goals. He is an experienced consultant, facilitator and assessor who has designed and delivered courses for a wide variety of audiences across the UK and Europe. Gary’s delivery style combines his knowledge of neuroscience and psychology with a business-focused approach. Through research and engagement activities he is able to understand the real needs of an organisation and communicate them in a practical and pragmatic way. This enables him to design programmes that are linked to business results, whilst having a lasting positive impact. Key skills and experience: Supporting clients in designing ‘fit for purpose’ succession planning/talent management solutions. Developing and delivering tailored management development programmes for clients in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Designing, delivering and managing assessment and development centres for recruitment and development decisions across Europe. Designing and delivering effective development programmes focused on the psychology and neuroscience of leadership and management. Delivering coaching for senior managers across a wide range of industries Specialties: Assessment/Development Centres, Management Development, Change Management, Application of Neuroscience into Business Benefits
Graham Kench
Graham oversees Membership, CPD, Chartership, Fellowship and Corporate Affiliate for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. His background is in membership development having previously worked at the Chartered Quality Institute, the International Register of Certificated Auditors, and the Chartered Institute of Marketing where he was Sales Manager for their sales and marketing training courses and qualifications.
Heather Lishman
Association Director, Association of British Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO)
Heather Lishman is Association Director of ABPCO, a dedicated industry association representing the voice of professional conference organisers whose credentials clearly demonstrate the skills, knowledge and experience required to plan and organise major UK and international conferences.- Website:
- www.abpco.org
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/heatherlishman
Helen Anderson
Helen Anderson currently leads the Marketing and Communications team at the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, a membership and awarding body for over 44,000 Wealth Managers, Asset Managers, Investment Managers and Financial Planners around the world.
Previous to that she was Director of Communications and Events at the US Chamber of Commerce looking after the interests of businesses across the transatlantic corridor; from 2009-2015 she led the Marketing and Communications function for the City of London Corporation’s 14 Open Space Trusts, which included a rebrand of some iconic sites around London such as Epping Forest and Hampstead Heath. From 2005 – 2009 Helen was Head of Events and Communications for the Association of Town and City Centre Management, an organisation sharing best practice for centre managers and place managers around the world, during which time she launched two world congresses, a new Place Management Institute, an academic Masters programme and an EU funded project across the UK.
Helen started her career at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) where she delivered a programme of over 100 events per annum for property professionals around the world and launched the RICS brand in China in 2005.
Helen has a Masters in Leadership and Management, is a Fellow and on the Ethics Committee of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, is on an Advisory Panel for GamCare, a guest lecturer at Greenwich University and Vice Chair of a School Governing Body.
Helen Gordon
Helen has been Chief Executive of the Science Council since February 2019. She has 15 years’ experience as a CEO in professional membership organisations, namely, the Royal Society of Medicine, Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Prior to this she was Chief Executive at The Hillingdon Hospital for a year and then Queen Mary’s Sidcup NHS Trust in South East.London for five years following a clinical career in nursing and management in the NHS.
She was appointed as one of the Vice Presidents at University of Reading in August 2020, and has served on their council for three years. Helen chairs the Alumni and Development Board at Henley Business School and also a trustee of AESOP (Arts Enterprise for Social Purpose).
Jennifer Jenkins
Jennifer Jenkins is a Board Director of leading event and experience agency, Worldspan plc.
Formerly Managing Director of the UK-subsidiary business of MCI Group, Jennifer has more than 30 years' experience working in the live events sector. She has a special interest in association and not-for-profit events business sectors and has worked both in-house and agency-side for many notable membership based organisations.
A member of the Events Industry Board, the DCMS advisory group for ministers and a member of the Visit Britain grant awarding panel for business-to-business inbound events, she is a sought-after speaker on industry matters.
Jennifer is also: a former Chair of ABPCO; a former CEO of EVCOM; and a former Chair and Trustee of Meeting Needs, the event industry charity.
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/ jenny-jenkins
Jo Revill
Jo Revill has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal College of Paediatricians and Child Health (RCPCH) since June 2018. The RCPCH is a Medical Royal College and membership body which supports 20,000 paediatricians in the UK and abroad with a mission to build a healthier future for children and young people.
Jo has extensive experience in leadership, governance, strategy and communications. After a career in journalism as Health Editor and Whitehall editor at The Observer newspaper, she worked as adviser to Alan Johnson MP during his periods as Labour Health Secretary and then Home Secretary.
Jo subsequently worked as a strategy and communications at GlaxoSmithKline, London Councils and at the Royal College of Surgeons before becoming CEO at the British Society for Immunology, a learned society working with scientists and clinical researchers in immunology. She is also the author of two books on allergies and bird flu.
Kathryn Burton
Kathryn trained with haysmacintyre and qualified in 2003, becoming a Partner in 2009 and is now leading their Professional Institutes and Membership Bodies (PIMBs) group. Having specialised in the not for profit sector early in her career, Kathryn has spent the last eight years working with many of professional institutes and membership organisations providing statutory audit and accountancy services, but also provides advice on financial system and internal controls reviews, implementation of regulatory changes as well as best practice and policy matters. She also has a great intertest in other areas including medical research and care charities as well as educational organisations.
Outside of work, Kathryn is a Trustee and the Chair of the Audit Committee of a multi-academy Trust and has previously been the Chair of Governors of a primary school. This allows her to bring her own trustee and governance experiences to her clients.
Kursty Groves
Workplace strategist who helps workplace leaders reinvent the future of work and spaces that support connected cultures. With a background in innovation consulting, capability development and design, Kursty’s approach to workplace is grounded in coaching and co-creation, putting people at the heart.
Kursty’s passion lies in seeking to understand what makes work work, and how environments can inspire people to perform their best. Kursty writes and researches about how physical environmentscan support and enable human productivity, collaboration and creativity.
Author of two books and postgraduate professor on the subject, she is an award-winning designer with over 20 years' experience facilitating innovation and design thinking - helping people to solve problems and engage with others to inspire change and implement the right solutions.
- Website:
- www.shapeworklife.com/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/kursty/
Kyle de Bruin
With a background of supporting major international consumer brands and retailers deliver their products to market, Kyle specialises in providing solutions to complex business challenges across the globe. Kyle joined Leesman in 2019, and now applies his experience to the workplace industry, delivering analysis and insights to the CRE, FM and HR communities at many of the world’s largest and most forward thinking organisations.
Leesman measures employee experience via the Leesman Index – a global business intelligence tool that captures employee feedback on how effectively the workplace supports them and their work, and provides organisations with critical insights into how their buildings are performing. Performance is then benchmarked against the world’s largest employee experience database of 800,000 individual responses – of which the statistical robustness, research richness and diversity is unrivalled.
- Email:
- [email protected]
Linda Hausmanis
Linda was appointed CEO in October 2016 where she embarked on a programme to create a modern professional body, the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management and to re-position workplace and facilities management as a value-creating profession. Linda joined the former British Institute of Facilities Management in April 2007 where she delivered an educational strategy that enabled the Institute to become a regulated Awarding Organisation. Working with the sector, she went on to lead the Institute’s work to develop professional vocational qualifications in facilities management, which are now accredited and delivered internationally. She spearheaded the development of Professional Standards for facilities management which are now embedded by employers in the recruitment, development and management of professionals in the UK and beyond. IWFM provides value to a membership community of around 14,000 and to the sector more widely. Its vision is to be the trusted voice of a distinct profession recognised, beyond the built environment, for its ability to enable people to transform organisations and their performance.
- Website:
- www.iwfm.org.uk/
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/linda-hausmanis-bbab35
Matt Day
Matt Day lives to mix it up.
He started his media career at the BBC producing and directing on shows as varied as Blue Peter and Watchdog.
Matt co-founded LIQUONA in order to combine three personal passions; creativity, methodical processes and outstanding client service.
New services at LIQUONA that complement ‘traditional’ video and animation have led to several firsts in sector for interactive video and virtual reality.
LIQUONA is a Televisual Top 40 UK production agency helping some of the UK’s best known organisations and brands to get their message across.
Paul Rees
Paul Rees joined the Royal College of Psychiatrists as Chief Executive in November 2016, from the Royal College of GPs – where he was Executive Director of Policy and Engagement.
Working closely with the RCPsych Honorary Officers, Paul has led the modernisation of the RCPsych – leading to the transformation of College IT, stronger membership communication, more effective stakeholder engagement and a dynamic employee relations strategy.
In collaboration with the College Officers, Paul led the introduction of a values-based approach to the way the organisation works with both its members and staff team – based on the organisational values of Courage, Innovation, Respect, Collaboration, Learning and Excellence, which were introduced in 2018.
Among other things, this new approach saw the College celebrate Pride and Black History Month for the first time ever in 2019, and International Women’s Day for the first time in 2020.
The values-based approach led to the College being awarded Charity of the Year in the European Diversity Awards in 2019. In 2020, Paul was shortlisted for the Louis Armstrong CEO Leadership Award in the Memcom Awards.
Paul began his career as a journalist working at the Times, Sunday Telegraph and BBC national network news.
A move into communications saw him co-lead the successful right to roam campaign as Head of Communications at the Ramblers Association, which led to the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.
Later, as Head of Campaigns and Communications at the National Housing Federation, Paul managed the campaign which brought about an end to the pre-payment meter tariff charged by the 'Big Six' energy companies to low income households for gas and electricity – saving £100m a year for less affluent families.
As Director of Communications at the Charities Aid Foundation, he ran an award-winning campaign in 2012 that successfully persuaded the Chancellor to drop his proposed 'charity tax' on large donations, a tax that would have cost the charity sector £500m per year.
In other roles, Paul worked as Director of Communications on the Victoria Climbié and Zahid Mubarek public inquiries, and held the post of Head of Communications at the Home Office.
As Director of Communications at the Association of University Teachers he co-led a successful, national campaign to protect the pay and conditions of university lecturers.
Pearl Mensah
Pearl has a distinguished career within the professional membership sector. Her roles have included Head of Membership at the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and she is currently the Director of Membership and Professional Standards at the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Peter Vermeulen
Peter Vermeulen is the National Trust’s Chief Financial Officer. He started his career in audit and assurance with PricewaterhouseCoopers, after which he worked in the both the banking sector and higher education. He left his position as Deputy Vice Chancellor (Finance) at Middlesex University to join the trust in April 2016. He now is a member of the National Trust’s Executive Team and sits on the Historic House Hotels Board. He has overall responsibility for the financial affairs of the charity, IT, procurement and risk and assurance and he acts as the link with the Pension Scheme Trustees.
He qualified as an accountant in 2002 and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Rachel Suff
Rachel Suff Rachel leads on the CIPD’s public policy work for employment relations and health and wellbeing, and is a policy and research professional with over 25 years’ experience in the employment and HR arena. She has led a range of policy and research studies about employment relations and health and wellbeing at work, including the CIPD’s annual Health and wellbeing at work survey report and represents the CIPD on key Government and external advisory groups. Rachel is a qualified HR practitioner and researcher with an MSc in Human Resource Management; her prior roles include working as a senior policy adviser at Acas.
- Website:
- www.cipd.co.uk/
Rosalind Azouzi
Ros leads the RAeS careers, outreach, education, assessment activities and supports the delivery of their D&I Strategy. Her role includes project management, end point assessment of apprenticeships and supporting education and industry partners in skills policy and development.
- Email:
- [email protected]
Sandy Mather
Sandy is a values based leader. She has a wealth of experience at senior management level, leading strategy and change programmes for non profit organisations and membership bodies particularly those involved in professional education, training, standards, research and international development. She joined the Intensive Care Society in November 2017 where she established a programme of strategic growth. Sandy is responsible for strategic leadership and overseeing the governance and operational delivery of the charity’s strategy and activities. She has embedded a culture of collaboration and high performance across the Society with a focus on improving membership experience. In 2019 she was elected to the Board of the Institute of Association Leadership and in 2020 she won the memcom membership excellence award for Outstanding leadership in a time of crisis.
- Website:
- www.ics.ac.uk
Sarah Atkinson
Sarah Atkinson is CEO of the Social Mobility Foundation, a charity working to ensure young people from low income backgrounds can achieve their potential. The SMF supports an annual cohort of over 2000 young people on its student programme, and influences and advocates for social mobility through the Social Mobility Employer Index and its campaigns arm, the Department for Opportunities. She is a member of the City of London taskforce on socio-economic diversity in UK financial and professional services.
Sarah’s non-executive experience includes board roles at Endometriosis UK, the Professional Association of Childcare and Early Years, and Womankind Worldwide. She is a Leadership Fellow at St George’s House, Windsor and a mentor on the Leaders Plus fellowship programme.
Previously, Sarah worked for thirteen years at the Charity Commission, most recently as director for strategy, policy and communications. Her background is in corporate communications and policy, and before joining the Commission she worked in the private sector, including roles with Nationwide Building Society and in public affairs consultancy.
Suzanne Peck
Suzanne’s internal communications experience spans strategy and delivery for blue-chip organisations for more than 25 years.
An award-winning writer and NCTJ-trained journalist, Suzanne worked in daily newspapers, has worked in communications roles in-house with Marks & Spencer, McAlpine, Shell and GSK.
Suzanne is managing director of leading employee experience agency, Sequel Group, delivering strategic consultancy and content for clients and day-to day operations for the 30-strong team.
She is also President of the UK’s Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC), and President of the European Association of Internal Communication (FEIEA) – a pan-European association that’s raising IC standards and best practice within Europe.
Tara Chittenden
Dr. Tara Chittenden is Foresight Manager in the Futures & Insight Directorate of the Law Society in London. Her Ph.D. examined perceptual experiences of virtual reality technologies. Prior to her current employment she worked at the British Museum. Her research interests include practices of interpretation, motion technologies, spatial narratives and technological interventions at museums and heritage sites. She publishes in all of these areas. Tara’s research at the Law Society focuses on technology and process innovation, futures and horizon scanning, and she is the author of the Law Society’s reports on the Future of Legal Services (2016) and Capturing Technological Innovation in Legal Services (2017), as well as numerous horizon scanning reports. Tara was the lead on the Law Society’s Future Worlds 2050 project, findings to be published throughout 2021. Since becoming Foresight Manager in 2019, she is expanding the use of Futures tools and working to increase cultural engagement with foresight information across the Society and its membership.
Tony Danker
Tony is the CBI Director-General. Tony joined the CBI as Director-General in November 2020. His career spans a range of roles in business, media and government. Before the CBI, Tony was the first CEO of Be the Business, a business-led movement created to transform UK’s productivity founded by a group of FTSE-100 Chairmen and the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. From 2010-2017 Tony was International Director, then Chief Strategy Officer, at Guardian News & Media. For two years before that, he was a Policy Advisor HM Government (2008-10), joining the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. Tony’s early career was at McKinsey & Company (1998-2008) in London and Washington DC where he worked for 10 years.
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