Carrie James, Immediate Past President

Other articles (Insolvency Practitioner, May 2020):

• Michelle Thorp, CEO
• Interested in a secondment at the IPA?
• A reminder on the Statements of Insolvency Practice consultation
• An overview of the 5th Money Laundering Directive
• A reminder on Insolvency Practitioner exclusion from Financial Conduct Authority regulation
• Five minutes with… Anna Dickinson, Senior Regulation Officer at the IPA
• Staff changes at the IPA

Hello everyone. I hope that all is well with you and that you haven’t seen too much disruption in light of current events. I also hope that the weekly updates that we have been sending out, and the information on the IPA website, have been useful to you.

Finishing my Presidency amid the Covid-19 response situation was certainly not how I foresaw the end of my term, but I wanted to write a final regular article for the newsletter, now in my capacity as Immediate Past President. On that note, and to echo my comments in last month’s AGM, in which I formally handed over the Presidency, congratulations to Kevin Hellard, Insolvency and Asset Recovery Practice Leader at Grant Thornton UK LLP, on his new role as IPA President 2020/2021. Congratulations also to Samantha Keen, Insolvency Practitioner at EY and COO of EY’s UK & Ireland Transaction Advisory Services business, and Paul Davis, Partner at Macintyre Hudson, respective new Vice-President and Deputy Vice President. I’ve no doubt that all three will do a fantastic job.

In what was the final engagement of my Presidency prior to the AGM, I was on BBC Radio 5 Live on Wednesday 14^th April, discussing the Covid-19 business support measures. You can listen to the programme here.

What a year we’ve had at the IPA. I’m so pleased by the progress we’ve made in streamlining and modernising how we operate. I was particularly pleased with the publication of the first benchmark report on our industry-first Volume Provider Regulation scheme, as well as the collective efforts from people across our organisation in engaging with our members and producing the IPA’s response to the call for evidence on insolvency regulation.

I was delighted to introduce our Charity of the Year initiative and encourage IPA personnel and members to raise funds for the excellent Trussell Trust nationwide network of food banks. A special mention goes to Patrick Brazzill, recently stepping down from his Board and Committee positions, who managed an incredible 500,639 steps in September last year for the charity’s Step Up September challenge.

I am delighted that the new President Kevin Hellard has continued this initiative and has selected the homelessness charity Crisis for the year. I look forward to our fundraising efforts over the coming year.

That’s all from me. I have really enjoyed contributing articles for the monthly newsletter and keeping you all updated on my Presidential engagements. It has of course been an honour to serve as IPA President 2019/20!

My best wishes to you all.