Judges

Stephen Baister was admitted as a solicitor in 1981 and became a licensed insolvency practitioner in 1985. He was appointed as a bankruptcy registrar of the High Court in 1996 and as chief bankruptcy registrar in 2004. He retired in 2017 and now works as a strategic adviser for Manolete Partners LLP and as a consultant for Moon Beever. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, an honorary member of the Insolvency Lawyers Association and an honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management of which he is also the President.

Fellow, Chartered Institute of Credit Management
Vice President, CICM
Executive Board, CICM
Treasurer, CICM
Chair, Technical Committee, CICM
Member, Education Committee, CICM
Immediate Past President, Federation of European Credit Management Associations
Twice Chairman of Institute of Credit Management (ICM - prior to Royal Charter)
Editor/Author - Credit Management Handbook
Career of over 45 years in the credit profession, from early days as a debt collector, through to European Credit Manager for multi-national companies
Tutor and Lecturer in credit management (UK and Germany)
Public speaker at conferences and seminars, UK and Europe
Member of FECMA Council (the CICM permanent representative)

Karen is a Partner in Shoosmiths and leads the Commercial Recoveries Team Nationally.

Karen is a litigator with more than two decades' experience in commercial recoveries and insolvency litigation. She acts for UK and international clients in a broad range of sectors including construction, distribution, financial services, fintech, utilities, debt purchase, trade credit and credit insurance. Karen regularly supports clients in designing and implementing collection strategies - including credit control, data cleansing, collections, legal recoveries, insolvency and complex litigation. She often works closely with FD's and Credit Managers to help them achieve their financial strategic aims and regularly provides training to credit teams and contributes to credit management publications.

UK Finance represents nearly 300 of the leading firms providing finance, banking, markets and payments-related services in or from the UK. UK Finance was formed in July 2017, bringing together most of the activities of the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA), the British Bankers' Association, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Financial Fraud Action UK, Payments UK and the UK Cards Association.

Matthew is Director in the Invoice Finance and Asset Based Lending division of UK Finance. At any one time, the invoice finance and asset based lending industry represented by UK Finance will be providing around £19 billion of funding to around 42,000 businesses in the real economy. The industry supports businesses of all sizes and has particular expertise in supporting small and mid-sized businesses. Prior to the formation of UK Finance Matthew was at the ABFA which he joined in 2011 as Head of Government Affairs and was appointed Deputy Chief Executive in 2015. He joined the association from the specialist Westminster law firm Bircham Dyson Bell, where he was joint-head of public affairs, advising clients in the financial services, healthcare, transport, retail and infrastructure sectors. Before joining Bircham Dyson Bell he was a director at DLA Piper's Global Government Relations practice (formerly known as DLA Upstream) where his clients ranged widely from financial services businesses to overseas governments. Matthew sits on the CICM's Technical Committee.

Philip has been the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM), the largest recognised professional body in the world for the credit management community, since 2006. Prior to that, he had 26 years practical experience in trade, consumer, and international credit management.

He is widely recognised in the UK and internationally as an expert and speaker on good business practice and, in particular cash-flow and credit management for businesses of all sizes. Philip is the author of the Managing Cashflow Guides which were produced for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and of which there have now been over 580,000 downloads.

In addition to leading the Chartered Institute of Credit Management in its work to raise the profile and professionalism of credit management, Philip sits on a number of industry and UK government-led bodies including co-chairing the Prompt Payment Code Advisory Board.

The Chartered Institute of Credit Management is at the forefront of developing its members in all roles that sit within the credit management lifecycle providing ongoing support, qualifications, and access to a wide range of resources. CICM also administers the Prompt Payment Code for BEIS, and works closely with it in supporting the development of late payment and enterprise policy.

Debbie worked in the credit and collections industry for over 30 years in operational and business development roles at DSG Retail, Wescot Credit Services, Transcom Worldwide and Arvato Financial Solutions .

Debbie has extensive experience of consumer and commercial collections across a wide range of service industries including financial services, utilities, telecoms and retail.

An active member of the CICM, Debbie has just started her second term on the Advisory Council and was recently appointed Vice Chair on the Executive Board.

Karen is Director and recruiting expert at Hays Accountancy & Finance. She provides strategic leadership to a team of 400 accountancy and finance recruitment professionals across a network of 100 UK offices including the specialist team of dedicated Hays Credit Management recruiters.
With over 20 years of finance recruitment experience, working for this market leading global recruitment firm, Karen has a track record of recruiting top finance talent for business' across a range of industry sectors. Extremely passionate about helping people to find the right job, she is also a trusted industry voice on career planning and recruitment and job market insights.

Amir has worked in Private Practice for 21 years for several leading firms of Solicitors who specialised in Debt Recovery & Insolvency at senior management level. He was also Head of Litigation for a Midlands based National Leasing Plc.

Amir was invited to join the High Court Enforcement Officers Association (formally known as the High Court Sheriff`s Association) firstly at John Marston & Co (now Marston Group) where he was Client Relationship Manager for over three years before taking up my current role as Director of Client Services and Business Development at High Court Enforcement Group. Amir has over 32 years' experience in both the Legal and Enforcement Sectors.

Additionally, Amir was elected to the post of Vice Chairman of the CCUA (Civil Court Users Association) in September 2009, (Acting Chairman from February 2015 to October 2015) and serve as Chairman of both the Lobbying and Events Steering Committees. The Association is charged with airing and addressing the concerns of all Civil Court Users in England and Wales at the very highest levels of Government, MOJ, and Her Majesty's Court & Tribunal Service (HMCTS) to include all other Stakeholders concerned with Policy Change in the Civil Realm.

Amir is currently Chairman of the CCUA, a position he was elected to at the CCUA AGM in October 2015.

Sean Feast FCICM, MCIPR, MPRCA has enjoyed a career in journalism and PR since the early 1980s and is today a Director and co-owner of Gravity, a global Advertising, PR and Digital group. Current clients span a broad range of industries, from credit services to military weapons systems. He has supported the CICM in its internal/external communications since 2007, and is Managing Editor of the Credit Management journal.

Away from work he is a qualified football referee and the author/co-author of more than 20 books on military aviation, primarily focusing on RAF Bomber Command.

I am a Fellow of the CICM, and the Credit Manager for Exclusive Networks based in Alton Hampshire. I have worked in the IT Distribution for almost 20 years, and the changes in that time have been significant, but still enjoy thoroughly.

I have been married to my Husband Paul for 17 years, who has an extraordinary passion for Land Rovers, to the extent he has build a camper from an ex military ambulance, very decadent and comfortable, that we escape in for weekends away, or into Europe to the Italian mountains. I love cake decorating, spending time with my young nieces and nephews, who remind you that life is for living and not worrying.

Glenn Collins is Head of Technical Advisory at ACCA. He is responsible for advice and support to ACCA members on a range of issues, including audit, financial reporting, business and credit advice, taxation, company and business law, ethics, export and access to finance.

A Fellow of ACCA, Glenn Collins spent 16 years in public practice, specialising in audit and business advice, before joining ACCA where he has worked for over 19 years.

Alongside providing advice to finance professionals, Glenn Collins also liaises closely with UK government departments, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs, BEIS, Department for International trade and also agencies like the Charity Commission and Pensions Regulator. He also leads ACCA's support for small and medium practitioners and is a member of numerous small business, tax and charity groups.

Brenda Linger FCICM, Cert Ed. Honorary Vice President of the CICM; a credit management consultant, teacher and trainer. With many years' credit management experience across a range of industries. After qualifying as a teacher now mainly focuses on teaching the CICM's professional courses for Level 3 and Level 5, through both virtual classroom and face to face.

Stuart is a Solicitor and Licensed Insolvency Practitioner and partner in the restructuring and insolvency group of Stephenson Harwood LLP based in London. He advises clients on all aspects of restructuring and insolvency issues of a contentious nature. He has been involved in this area since 1984 and was President of the Insolvency Lawyers Association in 2001/2002. In 2007, He was appointed a Deputy Insolvency and Companies Court Judge sitting in the Business and Property Courts located in the Rolls Building of the Royal Courts of Justice. He is the current President of the Association of Business Recovery Professionals (R3).

I am a member of the CICM and a MCICM (Grad). I have worked in credit for over twenty years predominantly in the motor industry, of which the last 15 years have been for Ford Retail dealing with B2B customers. In that time I have centralised the credit department and built a fantastic team. I really enjoy developing the team and helping them achieve their goals. In 2014 Ford Retail became CICM Q accredited which has allowed us access to some fantastic resources and the ability to swap best practice with other companies.