Meet the team

Currently heading up the HR & Payroll for Culina Group, a large logistics company, Clare has also worked for Wilkinson’s, Sherwood Forest NHS Trust, Mckesson, Bupa and Gist where she was a big influence on the changing face of the payrolls.

Clare loves to learn and her qualifications include the CIPP Diploma, MSc in Payroll and Business Management, CMI management certificates, Prince 11 Project Management and SWBL level 6 teaching qualification.

Working for the CIPP for the last 11 years as a tutor, Clare teaches on the Foundation Degree in Payroll Management as well as delivering module workshops.

Clare’s passion for payroll is evident to everyone around her and she likes to network with other payroll professionals whenever the opportunity arises.

Cliff Vidgeon is a Visiting Research Fellow at Aston University. Before becoming a CIPP Director Cliff served in an advisory capacity to the Institute’s magazine and has represented the Institute on several pensions related consultation bodies. He is a Chartered Governance Professional, and as Institute Secretary he has set about the task of modernising and improving the CIPP’s governance structures.

His literary endeavours have included articles for the Institute’s magazine and contributions to research papers. The annual Compact Payroll Reference Book was Cliff’s concept, which he co-wrote and first published in 1999.

Cliff’s main employment history has been entirely within the education sector. At various stages, in his career, he has been a Payroll Manager, a Pensions Manager and a Director of Human Resources before his reincarnation as Director of Corporate Management at Aston University. He is the Chair of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS)  Advisory Committee and a member of its Joint Negotiating Committee. USS is the largest pension fund in the UK.

A seasoned payroll and reward professional with many achievements to be proud of, Ana consistently grew her skill set and stepped out of her comfort zone to ensure her knowledge stays relevant to the challenges posed by the constant changes in the industry.

She is also committed to securing the future of the Payroll profession and has showcased this through her work as a CIPP Tutor, Global Payroll Association Mentor and involvement in various industry initiatives. She is hugely passionate about life long learning and aims to inspire her students and mentees to reach their maximum potential.

As a payroll leader of today, Ana feels responsible for shaping the future of the profession, pushing back against stereotypes and constantly challenging the status-quo.

Her clients are from all industries with a focus on leading detailed RFP’s, programme start-ups, divestures and acquisitions to recalibrating and re-baselining programmes and driving recovery plans. 

Using her global network of experienced consultants and vendors to deliver structured transformation and payroll change advisory; Lara is a member of several Payroll bodies globally and delivers an integral approach to delivery and quality.

Lara is a dynamic and engaging leader. She has spoken at many conferences, panels, on webinars and podcasts and is a regular contributor to global publications. 

Brian is an experienced Payroll leader and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP). He has over 20 years’ experience in Payroll, working with employers including Bosch, National Galleries of Scotland, Sky Television, JD Wetherspoon, TSB Bank, and delivering outsourced payroll services across EMEA with Dayforce.

Justine was brought up in Spain and worked as an interior designer in Marbella when she first left full time education. Her tax career began after she moved back to the UK and joined HMRC as a direct entrant. Having subsequently moved into private practice and then the OTS, Justine has worked in in tax policy at ICAS since 2016, where she is widely recognised as a tax and HR expert. Having managed several payroll teams over the years she is well versed in all aspects of payroll.

Justine is a trained opera singer and also enjoys hill walking.

She is renowned by her clients, colleagues and peers for her ability to communicate; her diplomacy and knowing how, what and when to communicate; also for her ability to empower individuals to collaborate, sharing knowledge and coaching, developing and mentoring team members to resolving complex issues. Lou has built up and maintained good relationships with government bodies, suppliers and also many of her clients across the globe which has given her the capability of learning and understanding the different cultures and ways of working and how best to adapt to communicating well with all individuals.  Lou is passionate about payroll and takes pride in maintaining her legislative knowledge; utilising and sharing her knowledge and experience by speaking publicly at conferences, in interviews and webinars, writing articles for industry press and delivering training courses on a variety of topical subjects.   

With over 35 years’ experience in payroll and HR sectors and a broad experience in sales, accounting and operations, he enjoys opportunities to pass on subject knowledge and help others develop.

He has experience of working at a strategic level, developing and implementing new concepts as well as understanding budgets and financial planning. From a payroll clerk, when he was a founder member of the BPMA, to CEO of a multimillion turnover company, his experience is broad as it is wide. Stuart achieved the Diploma in Payroll Management (2003), a further Diploma in Applied Management (2005) and graduated from Henley Business School, (University of Reading) with a Masters in Applied Management (2011).

He sees the CIPP playing an increasing role in helping, guiding and keeping payroll people updated and effectively trained for their roles, and engaging more in promoting the benefits of a career in payroll through programmes like apprenticeships. He believes passionately that ‘payroll’ can do much more in the strategic decision process within organisations and sees the CIPP helping to develop payroll into an influential role within businesses.

He was the Chief Pensions and External Affairs Officer at Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) Limited from 2001 to 2016; he is currently employed by Universities UK, the employer representative body in USS, as Senior Pensions Officer.  He also provides pensions advisory support for a small number of other universities in the higher education sector.

Brendan has a good understanding of the issues and challenges involved in running workplace pension schemes in an environment of continual change and increasing complexity (not least in areas such as changes to scheme design and/or contributions, the development of workforce pensions strategies, and in stakeholder and member engagement).  He is an enthusiastic advocate for the importance of payroll and pensions services, and for the professionals who manage and administer pension schemes, and shape their future strategy, on behalf of members and employers.

In 2022, Dianne decided to look for a new challenge and joined TFG (Brands London) as the Head of Group. TFG London is part of The Foschini Group Limited (TFG), a leading South African retail business. TFG entered the UK market in 2015 with the acquisition of Phase Eight and have now added Whistles, Hobbs and Damsel in a Dress to their impressive portfolio.

Dianne is always looking for the next challenge and as we move further into the digital age and Artificial Intelligence hopes this will provide that challenge and there are exciting times ahead for us all.

Sohail qualified with KPMG Birmingham as a Chartered Certified Accountant and worked in a number of roles before and after qualifying . He was involved in the audit of a number of publicly-listed companies, primarily in the United Kingdom.  He was also involved with organisations such as the Shakespeares Birthplace Trust in the preparation of their financial statements and a number of private limited companies.

After leaving KPMG he set up his own accountancy practice, primarily assisting owner managers set up their own companies and developing them.  This work included looking at all aspects of company taxation and accounting matters, as they affected individual companies, and considering acquisitions where appropriate.

In recent years he has also offered tax and accounting advice on specific projects.

Before joining the CIPP Jason was MD of Calendar Consulting Ltd, and prior to that COO of Capita’s HR Division. Jason has supported the international growth of payroll services businesses such as NorthgateArinso, and LogicaCMG where he worked in global delivery. Jason has always worked in payroll – beginning his working career in the construction sector.

Jason is also a 'Be The Business Mentor', which is a central government initiative to support the SME sector, and designed to help improve productivity. He has recently supported an MD of a marketing business, an MD of a talent acquisition business and a CTO working for a sports data analysis business. Mentoring is incredibly rewarding and Jason finds it a positive challenge to support individuals from all different business backgrounds.

Outside of work, Jason is a L2 England Union Rugby Coach, and trains under 16’s. He started that development as his son is a hooker for his school and club. Jason also has a UK powerboat licence and the International equivalent, as he owns a sports cruiser and has her berthed in the Mediterranean.

Vickie was appointed Business Development Director at the CIPP in 2019. In this role, Vickie is responsible for setting the strategic objectives and direction of the CIPP alongside the CEO, Senior Leadership Team and Board.

Prior to this appointment, Vickie has worked within the CIPP for nearly 20 years, during which time she has had responsibility for marketing and sales, events and policy, consultancy and the CIPPs best practice standard accreditation, the Payroll Assurance Scheme. Vickie has worked with a number of organisations, both in-house payroll teams and payroll service providers, to help influence product and service developments within the CIPP. Her role also leads to a number of speaking engagements and representation of the payroll industry within the media to support the CIPP in raising the profile of the strategic role of payroll, and its importance within businesses and the UK economy overall.

Outside of her work commitments, Vickie is a Mum and enjoys running to keep fit.

Sue has over twenty years’ commercial experience built from practical managerial experience in the private sector, and development experience in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Having worked in many house-hold brand name organisations such as Accenture, Punch Retail, Tarmac, Stagecoach, and Granada, she joins the CIPP with a proven track record of success in operational management and learning and development positions. She has also ran her own private development company for 14 years.

Sue has extensive experience in the Higher Education sector, having lectured at De Montfort University in Leicester and at the University of Derby. Having completed a Doctorate of Education in Business Coaching, she has continued to coach practitioners and business leaders both through the university and through her own private business. As a Senior Lecturer, Sue has taught and programme managed programmes from level 5 through to level 8, including the CIPP’s MSc in Business and Reward Management and the BA (Hons) in Applied Business and management. She is also a trained supervisor for doctoral students. Sue has authored a book, published a number of articles on business coaching in educational journals and presented papers at several conferences.

Prior to joining the CIPP, Jill worked in local Government for 25 years.

Due to the restructuring of the authority, Jill began working for East Riding of Yorkshire Council in 1996 and transferred to the payroll section in January 1997 as a payroll supervisor. Jill has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience in both local government and end-user clients which include fire Service, educational sector and the probation service.

In 2005 the payroll was outsourced to Arvato and Jill was promoted to senior payroll officer. This role involved implementing new clients onto the database, ensuring payments were made to HMRC, teachers pensions third parties every month and the reconciliation of year-end payrolls.

In 2013 the section transferred back to ERYC and Jill progressed to payroll team leader assuming responsibility for 6 staff, managing the day to day running of the department and ensuring that all legislation was implemented and staff were trained in both statutory and government policies.

A diploma graduate and holding the certificate in Training Practice (CIPD) qualification Jill became a freelance trainer for CIPP Education in April 2015 delivering bespoke in-house courses as well as introduction to payroll, shared parental leave, holiday pay and legislation updates.

Sam is a self-confessed payroll enthusiast who is passionate about everything related to payroll. Sam has worked as a payroll manager in both an in-house and a bureau environment and has 14 years' worth of payroll experience. Directly before joining the CIPP, Sam worked as an employment tax advisor at Croner-i. The CIPP has been a large part of Sam's career, from studying the Foundation Degree, to the training courses allowing her to refresh her knowledge on certain topics, the amazing annual conference, and the fantastic benefit of the advisory service. Now in the role of Policy Lead, she is so pleased to be able to give something back!

Sam completed the CIPP Foundation Degree in Payroll Management in 2015, and also received the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Certificate in Human Resource Management in 2016.

On a more personal level, Sam loves spending her spare time with her husband and two sons, and her friends, and loves getting outdoors. She is also a huge fan of cooking and baking.

Mathew gets involved with publishing payroll news, producing technical articles and presenting on events, amongst many other things. He is committed to educating the payroll profession to ensure compliance and understanding, particularly in smaller businesses.

Mathew began his career in finance as an accounts assistant, eventually moving across to Liaison Group, where he initially worked as a payroll administrator, processing weekly payroll for the NHS. He has worked for Liaison Group for the last five years and, in 2019 became a team leader. During this time, Mat was involved in the implementation of new systems, including new payroll software and workforce management solutions. He has extensive knowledge of temporary workers and understands how complex legislation can be. He also enjoys using his problem-solving skills.

Outside of payroll and work, Mathew's hobbies include playing various video games and going for walks with his wife, Laura, and dog, Misty.

Sarah started working in payroll 15 years ago and has remained there (other than taking a short break to work overseas as a holiday rep in 2015). She couldn't imagine doing anything else now.

She completed her Foundation Degree in Payroll Management with the CIPP in 2022 and enjoyed the challenge of studying to help strengthen her knowledge and progress in her career. She felt it was an amazing achievement to graduate after studying for three years during the pandemic, working from home and having two children.

Sarah is originally from South Wales but relocated to the Midlands in 2016 after meeting her husband. She now lives in Tamworth with her three-year-old daughter and two-year-old son. Sarah has said it's an honour to be the newest member of the policy team at the CIPP and is looking forward to sharing her passion for payroll. 

Lora has a wealth of knowledge and experience gained over ten years of working within the payroll profession. She has experience of delivering payroll solutions, to colleagues in-house and also to clients using bureaux services and has worked across a wide range of sectors.

Lora brings passion and enthusiasm, for the payroll profession, to her role as Policy and Research officer and joined the CIPP in order to serve members and the wider profession by providing support, to ensure compliance with the increasingly complex range of rapidly changing legislation.

Her role also promotes the importance of education, training and continued professional development for a profession whose value is often overlooked but Is vital to ensure that employees and workers get paid accurately, first time. Lora is eager to promote and raise the profile of payroll so that it gets the recognition that it deserves.

During his 6 years at Wiley, an educational publisher, Sam was exposed to EMEA payroll, along with RSUs and year end activities, completing the FD in payroll management in 2019, Sam moved into training roles, tutoring apprentices in payroll for 3 years for MBKB training. 

Sam enjoys the challenge of working in the payroll industry and believes every day is a learning day! 

With a background in mainly FTSE100 corporate pensions administration and consulting Jess, as with so many in payroll, found herself by accident in a payroll role. Pleasantly surprised by the challenges of this ever-changing and expanding industry she has embraced it and is excited about her new role at the CIPP in the role of Advisor.

Jess brings to the team a good working knowledge of the end-to-end payroll function and is particularly interested in statutory payments and interpreting legislation.

Promotion followed which went on to expand her skills and experiences and following nine years with Birmingham City Council she relocated and re-joined Solihull MBC as a Shared Services Administrator incorporating a wide range of duties. Angela recently concluded a two year course of study and gained the Foundation Degree in Payroll Management in November 2013.

Chevonne started her career assisting the Human Resources department with the Time and Attendance reports and then moved on to process Irish Payroll. After this, Chevonne knew Payroll was her passion and loves manual calculations. In 2017, it was the opportune time for her to start the Foundation Degree in Payroll Management, which she completed in November 2019. She enjoys her role as she finds the complexities with legislation interesting and there is always more to learn.

During her career Lisa later managed a team of payroll and expenses administrators, as well as being involved in the implementation of two new cloud-based solutions in the team - a HCM payroll software system and a new employee expenses portal. 

Lisa enjoys the complexities of payroll and expenses and understands that HMRC compliancy and legislation can be quite daunting.