Biography

Heather was appointed as Chair of the SIA on 7 June 2021. Career Heather has spent the majority of her professional career in policing, initially with the Metropolitan Police Service and later with Hertfordshire Constabulary where she served as an Assistant Chief Constable with responsibility for major crime, counter terrorism and safeguarding. She was the East of England lead for serious and organised crime and led the Constabulary’s response to collaboration with Bedfordshire and later Cambridgeshire police services. As Deputy Chief Constable, she continued to lead on wider collaboration in addition to corporate and legal services and HR.

On leaving policing, Heather took up a role with the Garda Inspectorate in Ireland, inspecting policing services. Since then, she has held posts as a Board member with the NCA and Police Remuneration Review Body and as a Non-Executive Director with the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland.

Heather is a Non-Executive Director with Dorset Healthcare University NHS Trust and Deputy Chair of the Trust.

Chair, SIA

The SIA Chair is responsible for leading the Board in carrying out its responsibilities to deliver ministerial expectations and the strategic objectives of the SIA. As such, the SIA Chair is generally responsible to the Home Secretary for the governance and performance of the SIA.

Biography

Michelle was appointed as the acting Chief Executive of the SIA on 19 October 2020.

Michelle joined the SIA as Director of Partnership and Interventions in January 2020, leading the criminal enforcement and regulatory inspection functions. She has over 25 years’ experience of working in regulation and regulatory environments in both the public and private sectors.

She joined the SIA from the Charity Commission where she was the Director of Investigations, Monitoring and Enforcement for over 5 years. She was accountable for its high-risk investigations and compliance work and specialist monitoring, outreach and accountancy functions. Michelle developed national strategies on counter-terrorism, fraud and financial abuse, and safeguarding and sat on a number of cross government and industry groups, particularly on terrorism and serious crime issues.

Before that she held various other operational and compliance roles, and started her career as a qualified solicitor in the private and then public sector.

Biography

Stephen originally joined the SIA in January 2009 as interim Director of Service Delivery.

Career

Stephen was previously the Director of Strategy and Business Development for Shared Services at the Home Office. He led the design and creation of the new shared services organisation enabling the deployment of a portfolio of service to the core department and its agencies.

Stephen joined the Home Office in December 2003 and led on the creation of the Corporate Change and Reform Programme working for the Permanent Secretary. He also led the work to develop the Home Office and Justice Sector plan in response to the Gershon review to maximise the potential and impact of shared services development across multiple organisations totalling approximately 350,000 people.

Stephen has extensive experience of working in the UK and European Telecommunications Industry. Prior to joining the Home Office he was CEO of an emerging technology company based in Brussels, developing innovative solutions to enable open and distance learning and has also been Director of Channel Development & Customer Care for BT Belgium and a Senior Operations Manager in BTUK.

Biography

Paul was appointed as the interim Director for Inspections and Enforcement of the SIA on 17th May 2021.

Career

Paul joined the SIA after a 33-year career with the Police Service and previously HM Armed Forces. Paul retired from policing in 2020 as Assistant Chief Constable for Bedfordshire Police, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Constabularies with responsibility for major crime, armed policing, counter terrorism, roads policing, scientific services, civil contingencies, dogs and public order specialist services.

Paul was the national policing lead for the strategic investigation of complex, sensitive and serious crime, advising on policy, mentoring and developing future senior law enforcement leaders and senior detectives. Paul has been a detective at every rank and has served previously with Sussex Police, National Crime Squad and Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

Paul continues to provide support across UK law enforcement as a College of Policing Associate and advisor. This also includes ongoing oversight of a high-profile child homicide enquiry and recently leading on sensitive national thematic/homicide reviews on behalf of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) across the United Kingdom.

Biography

Ex RN Submariner LWEM (O). Qualified Secondary PE and Maths teacher (Head of House). Currently working as Operations Manager for UK Parliament within the Houses Parliamentary Security Department (PSD). My post is the strategic and operational lead for learning and development, testing and exercise and recruitment. Additionally, I am one of a cadre of security Operations managers with overall responsibility for maintaining the security and safety of the entire Parliamentary estate and all of those working in its environs. An expert in understanding threat, risk and resilience working closely and collaboratively with partners such as the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). Professional, Calm and assured under pressure. I manage the operation striving to strike the right balance of good stakeholder management in managing expectations without any compromise on security. In a fast paced and changing operation good recruitment is essential to deliver an effective and efficient workforce. I have developed an off the shelf product to be able to recruit quickly and effectively. Over the past 12 months I have recruited a high number of security officers, all of which have been trained and successfully deployed. I have grown and professionally developed the Learning and Development Team, from a small and restricted area in terms of delivery to one that has increased capability and is now able to train and deploy large numbers of security officers and provide an extensive annual training programme, ensuring continued professional development across the workforce.

Biography

I have worked as an L&D professional for over 20 years. I started off my L&D career after transitioning from retail loss prevention where I worked for brands such as Selfridges, Debenhams & HMV. I’m about to start my learning again and have enrolled on a strategic leader L7 apprenticeship with Mitie.

Biography

Tracey joined the SIA in 2017 as a Quality & Risk Manager working with awarding organisations to deliver a Quality Improvement plan designed to strengthen quality assurance within the licence-linked qualifications. She later became Senior Manager within Quality & Standards leading a team of 6 Quality & Risk Managers with split responsibilities around quality assurance across licence linked qualifications, managing training malpractice and working with assessing bodies, approved contractors and partners to deliver the approved contractor scheme. Tracey is now Head of Business Standards. This is a newly formed team who are responsible for the delivery of effective assurance of the current Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS). In addition Tracey is leading on a full review of the current Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) as well as developing stronger industry relationships in order to improve standards in the industry.

Biography

Ronnie is currently Head of Compliance and Inspections in the Security Industry Authority (SIA). He joined the SIA in 2019 as the Regional Manager for Scotland & Northern Ireland and was promoted to his current position in October 2020. Ronnie has responsibility for the management and leadership of an efficient and effective compliance, investigation, and inspection function, including leading a team of remote based workers across the UK. Ronnie is also heavily involved in the SIA’s ongoing collaboration with external partners and government departments in relation to the recommendations of the Manchester Arena Inquiry and the proposed Protect Duty.

Prior to joining the SIA, Ronnie served for 30 years in policing in the Scotland including a 5 year term with the Scottish Crime & Drug Enforcement Agency. He retired from Police Scotland in 2019 having attained the rank of Superintendent.

Away from work Ronnie is an avid cyclist, skier and improving golfer.

Biography

Lawrence joined the SIA in 2014 as a Compliance Officer working with businesses to dispatch the SIA’s ‘light-touch’ enforcement approach against low-level business non-compliance. He later became Compliance Manager in our Operations department in 2016, leading 10 Compliance Officers in their desk-based enforcement activity of the PSIA 2001. In 2018, Lawrence was appointed as Quality and Risk Manager in our Standards department, working with our assessing bodies, approved contractors and partners to deliver quality strategies designed to improve standards in order to protect the public, including the ‘regional networks’. Lawrence is now Senior Manager of our Business Standards Assurance and Delivery team, leading a team of managers, specialists and officers in the delivery of effective assurance of the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) and strategic delivery of our business plan.

Biography

Rachel Fleri started her security company in 2001. She entered the industry from a background of teaching and the pharmaceutical sales; bringing with her alternative perspectives. She has continued as the owner/managing director of Specialist Security Co since its’ inception 20yrs ago. The company has grown to become the leading privately owned suppliers of quality security services in Wales. Rachel drives a strong, inclusive culture and a desire to raise standards within the Security Industry.

Specialist Security Co Ltd has been a member of the BSIA for over 10years and Rachel currently sits as Vice Chair of the Association’s SOS Committee.

Rachel is a strong supporter of the SIA and currently leads their regional network forum for ACS companies.

Biography

Steve Gardner started his security career in 1991 when he joined a firm of implementive consultants. Already with an interest in security, Steve developed a strategy for providing realistic advice to security companies large and small and enabling them to focus on operational compliance. His work with SME’s in particular gave them the platform to deliver excellence whilst complying with the demands of the industry. By 1998, Steve was delivering security consultancy to companies across Europe and particularly to Oil and Gas installations across Europe and the Far East. Steve joined OCS Group UK Limited in 2007 and developed the company security protocols and strategies until he was appointed Head of Standards & Compliance for the Group in 2010. In 2015, Steve became Head of Security and more recently was promoted to Global Head of Security for OCS Group Limited. Steve represents OCS on all the major security boards and committees including BSA, BSIA, BSI, PRCI and Revo and is a regular contributor to Thought Leadership articles on the industry. As a strong supporter of the SIA, Steve leads the regional network as the northern chair for ACS.

Biography

Claudia is an experienced learning and development professional with over 15 years of building learning programmes aligned with strategic goals. She initially joined the SIA in 2017 to develop frameworks to support internal business needs before working on the industry skills strategy. Claudia has evaluated counter-terrorism training and virtual classroom for licence-linked qualifications as well as worked on apprenticeships, career pathways and CPD for the industry.

Biography

Tony’s responsibilities as Head of Individual Standards include setting standards for licence-linked training. Tony is responsible for delivery of the SIA’s skills strategy, which sets out the SIA’s ambition to work with the sector to drive skills and standards for individuals. Tony has been with the SIA since 2007, before which he held senior roles in standard setting organisations.