Panel members' biographies
Shamshad Ali
Shamshad was appointed in September 2026 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist utility panel.
He is an Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Chartered Accountant. He is currently a Board Member of the University of Reading, where he sits on the Audit Committee; a Board Member of ICAEW, where he sits on the Risk and Investment Committees; and a member of the Advisory Board of Kana Earth.
He was a Partner in PwC’s Deals practice, advising institutional investors and their portfolio companies, and listed companies, on growth, financial strategy, and transformation.
He subsequently served as Chief Transformation and Strategy Officer and a member of the Group Executive Committee of Vanquis Banking Group plc, a FTSE-listed financial services business.
Jo Armstrong
Jo Armstrong
Jo was appointed in May 2020. She is also a member of the CMA’s specialist utility panel. She has operated as a business economist and corporate financier in financial services, oil and gas and government, and has worked extensively with regulatory bodies including Ofgem, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, and the Scottish Housing Regulator. Currently, she is the Chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland and Chair of the Wheatley Group.
Patrick Bartlett
Patrick was appointed in September 2026 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist payment systems panel.
He is a Chartered Accountant with more than 35 years’ experience in finance and audit. He was formerly Group Financial Controller for a major listed financial services company and held a number of Board roles including Chief Finance Officer for a regulated insurance company. He has extensive Audit Committee, risk, capital management and governance experience.
Patrick currently serves as a Non-Executive Director of Audit Scotland, where he Chairs the Audit Committee; and as a Non-Executive Director of Queen Margaret University, where he Chairs the Audit and Risk Committee. He also serves as a non-executive advisor to the Financial Reporting Council, where he is a member of the UK GAAP Technical Advisory Group.
Michael Bender
Michael will be appointed in October 2026 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist payment systems panel.
Michael is an experienced global business leader with a background in management consulting, technology management, and organizational leadership and governance. After earning degrees in economics from Harvard College and Oxford University (where he attended as a Marshall Scholar), he was a Senior Partner at McKinsey and Company until 2021. With McKinsey, he co-led the firm’s global Digital and Analytics practice and worked across multiple industries and companies around the world, often at the intersection of large company technology strategy and the technology providers.
He currently holds a series of non-executive roles as an investor, advisor, and board leader in the technology arena, focused on growth buyouts and venture capital. His most significant current role is as an Operating Partner and Board Leader with SilverTree Equity.
Vicky Boiten-Lee
Vicky was appointed in September 2026. An experienced energy sector and retail executive, she previously led global businesses across fuel retail, automotive lubricants and EV charging at Shell, with broad expertise in pricing, distribution, channel management, strategy and M&A.
Beyond her executive career, Vicky has served as an expert witness in commercial litigation in a California Superior Court and currently sits as a Non-Executive Director at Quadrise plc, an AIM-listed energy technology company.
Robin Cohen
Robin Cohen
Robin was appointed in October 2018. In June 2018, Robin retired as a Vice President of Charles River Associates where he worked across the energy and competition practices. He was previously a Partner at Deloitte from 2002 to 2013 where he led the Economic Consulting practice. He has also been a Partner at Arthur Andersen (Business Consulting, Strategy Finance and Economics) from 1999 to 2002. He has over 30 years of experience in economic consulting, providing advice to governments, regulators and corporates across multiple sectors including energy, water and financial services. He has acted as the independent expert in regulatory and commercial disputes in the context of regulatory proceedings, litigation and arbitration. Since retiring from CRA, he continues to consult to a range of clients outside of the UK. Robin has a PhD in Economics.
Maria Da Cunha
Maria was appointed in February 2019 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of NATS, Irwin Mitchell Holdings Ltd and London & Quadrant Housing Trust.
Maria was previously General Counsel and Director of People & Legal at British Airways plc, a Non-Executive Director of International Distribution Services Ltd and a Trustee of Community Integrated Care.
Dr Sarah Deasley
Sarah will be appointed in October 2026 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist utility panel.
She has over 35 years’ experience as an economist advising governments, regulators, businesses and investors on competition, regulation and public policy across energy and other infrastructure sectors. In September 2026, Sarah retired as an Executive Director of Frontier Economics and completed her term as a Non-Executive Director of the North Sea Transition Authority. She is an Independent Director at Brookfield Renewable Partners, a global investor in renewable power and infrastructure, and a Trustee of Sustainability First, an independent think tank and charity. She began her career in the Government Economic Service at the Office of Electricity Regulation and holds a PhD in Economics from Imperial College.
Anne Fletcher
Anne Fletcher
Anne was appointed in October 2017 and is a member of the CMA’s specialist utility panel. Anne is a lawyer who has spent most of her career in regulated industries, including as Group General Counsel for BT Group PLC, Compliance Director for Royal Mail PLC and Interim Director of Regulatory Compliance for Visa Europe. She has extensive UK and international legal, compliance, risk and governance experience.
Robin Foster
Robin Foster
Robin was appointed in February 2019. He is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications, news and media panels. He is an economist and expert adviser in media policy, strategy and regulation. Until January 2022, he was a Non-Executive Member of the Content Board at media regulator Ofcom and a member of the Advertising Advisory Committee at the Advertising Standards Authority. He was previously Strategy Partner at Ofcom, Strategy Director at the BBC, and a Director at National Economic Research Associates. He was also a Founder Director of consultants Communications Chambers, in which capacity he advised clients, including regulatory authorities in Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, on economic and regulatory matters.
Martina Garcia
Martina was appointed in September 2026 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist payment systems panel.
She is currently an independent Non-Executive Director of Haitong Bank and an independent member of the Cost Benefit Analysis Panel of the Bank of England and Prudential Regulation Authority. She has over 15 years’ senior experience in financial services including as Director of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, Director at the London Stock Exchange Group where she led the International Markets team and at HM Treasury where she was deputy-director for Banking and Financial Sector Analysis. Martina has a PhD in economics.
Roland Green
Roland Green
Roland was appointed in July 2018. He is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels. From 2010 until March 2018, Roland acted as a legal and policy adviser to the CMA and the Competition Commission. Before that he advised a series of government departments on public and commercial matters as a member of the UK Government Legal Service, having qualified as a solicitor at Russell-Cooke in 1981, and worked in private practice for them and Linklaters until 1986.
Ashleye Gunn
Ashleye was appointed in April 2020. She is also a member of the CMA’s specialist payment systems and utility panels. She is an independent consumer policy consultant specialising in competition, customer satisfaction and stakeholder engagement in regulated sectors. She is Customer Chair of the Independent Net Zero Advisory Council for Scottish Power Energy Networks and a member of Cadent’s Customer Challenge Group. Ashleye was previously Policy Programme Director at Which? and before this had an award-winning career as an advertising strategist.
Susan Hankey
Susan Hankey
Susan was appointed in October 2017 and is a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels. She was a partner in law firm CMS Cameron McKenna LLP (now CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP) from 1998 to 2015, having spent 3 years in the 1990s in the Brussels office of predecessor firm Cameron Markby Hewitt. Susan led the firm’s competition practice in the UK and Central Europe for several years and was a member of the management team of the wider CMS international competition group.
Paul Hughes
Paul Hughes
Paul was appointed in February 2019. He is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels. He is a former partner of international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, and has specialised in competition law and regulation for almost 40 years.
Colleen Keck
Colleen Keck
Colleen was appointed in February 2019 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels. She is currently Deputy Chair of the Copyright Tribunal. Before that she was a partner at international law firm Allen & Overy LLP for over 20 years and more recently General Counsel and Company Secretary at Parkinson’s UK.
Professor Ioannis Kokkoris
Ioannis will be appointed in October 2026 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels.
He is a Professor of Competition Law and Economics and the Head of School at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London. His previous work experience includes the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Office of Fair Trading (and briefly the European Commission and US Federal Trade Commission). He has been involved in numerous capacity building and law reform projects funded by the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, the OECD, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other international institutions. He has more than 100 publications and his main research interests span all areas of competition law/economics and policy including FSR as well as national security and FDI.
Juliet Lazarus
Juliet Lazarus
Juliet was appointed in September 2021. She was General Counsel and Director of Competition at the Office of Rail and Road and before that worked for Linklaters as a solicitor in the competition and regulation department. She is currently an Independent Member of the Provider Risk Committee at the Office for Students.
Frances McLeman
Frances McLeman
Frances was appointed in May 2020. She is also a member of the CMA’s specialist payment systems panel and of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee. She is an experienced Corporate and Regulatory lawyer. A former Corporate Partner at City law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (BLP) (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP), she was subsequently Head of Corporate and M&A Legal at Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) and then LBG’s Head of Ring Fencing Legal delivering a major regulatory reform programme. Her broad range of legal and regulatory experience includes financial services regulatory reform, mergers, acquisitions, divestments, flotations and public fund-raisings, restructurings, real estate investment funds, international projects, investigations, litigation and public sector procurement. Whilst a partner at BLP, she undertook executive level secondments to Tesco and two public sector bodies to deal with high profile events including plans for the London 2012 Olympics.
Paul Muysert
Paul Muysert
Paul was appointed in April 2018. He is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications, payment systems and utility panels. He was a senior consultant at Competition Economists Group (CEG) and was one of the founding partners of the firm. He has extensive experience in the economics of competition policy and regulation covering several jurisdictions, including the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa. He has provided expert economic evidence to the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, UK High Court, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. He has also acted as a testifying expert in several International Arbitrations. Paul previously worked for Charles River Associates (CRA) as an economic consultant based in London. Previous regulatory appointments include positions at Ofcom and the New Zealand Commerce Commission.
Aodhan O’Donnell
Aodhan was appointed in September 2026 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and utility panels.
He is an experienced leader in consumer protection, regulation and market analysis, with 20 years’ experience working across complex and regulated sectors. He has held senior roles at the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), where he led Ireland’s cooperation on EU and international consumer enforcement and digital markets.
As Founder of Power to Switch, Aodhan has developed a leading independent platform supporting consumers to engage with energy markets, promoting transparency, competition and informed decision-making.
Aodhan has extensive experience assessing market behaviour, contributing to regulatory and enforcement actions, and working across national and international networks including the European Commission CPC Network and ICPEN.
Sir Kenneth Parker
Sir Kenneth was appointed in May 2020. Initially a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and a University Lecturer in Law, he was called to the bar in 1975, became a QC in 1992 and was joint head of Monckton Chambers from 2000 to 2006. His practice was primarily in competition and regulatory law, with cases in the UK, Brussels and Luxembourg. He was a Special Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee for two competition enquiries. He was a Law Commissioner from 2006 until 2009, when he became a Judge of the High Court until 2015. He is currently a Judicial Commissioner under the IPA 2016, and a legal chair for the Financial Reporting Council.
Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith is a barrister and CEDR-accredited mediator specialising in equalities and consumer rights and has served as an independent member and non-exec director on bodies in the public, private and third sectors in a variety of industries and professions delivering challenge and specialist expertise on consumer advocacy, equality and inclusion, dispute resolution and redress. He set up the first Consumer Panel at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and served as its Chair for six years until 2017. In February 2023 he completed a nine year term as Chair of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) at the DfT. He served as a Member of the Air Travel Insolvency Protection Advisory Committee (ATIPAC), a Member of the Financial Services Consumer Panel at the FCA, and as a Non-Executive Director at ECPAT UK, a charity with targeted policy and advocacy around child trafficking, prostitution and pornography.
He is a non-executive on the Boards of Transport for London (TfL), Transport Focus, Co-Chair of the Heathrow Access Advisory Group (HAAG) and Chair of the Board at the National Centre for Accessible Transport (ncat). He also serves as a Board member of the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), an Independent Member of the General Chiropractic Council, Chair of the Renewable Energy Consumer Codes (RECC) Non-Compliance panel, a Member of the PAY.UK End User Advisory Council and a Member of the MOSL Performance Assurance Committee (PAC) for Non-Household Water Market.
Keith was awarded an OBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours list for services to access and inclusion in the transport sector.
Stephen Rose
Stephen Rose
Stephen was appointed in April 2020. He was a partner in international law firm Eversheds Sutherland from 1997 to 2018 and before that worked for Slaughter and May in London and Brussels. Stephen was a senior partner in the Eversheds Sutherland, Competition, EU and Trade team for over 20 years.
Professor Helen Simpson
Helen was appointed in September 2026 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist utility panel.
She is Associate Pro Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation for the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences, and Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol. She is a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics and a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. She has given policy presentations and advice at multiple UK Government Departments, the European Commission and the OECD.
Helen was previously Director of Productivity and Innovation Research at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and an Editor of the IFS Green Budget. Her research has covered urban economics and the effects of place-based policies, productivity, foreign direct investment and innovation.
Karthik Subramanya
Karthik Subramanya
Karthik was appointed in February 2019. He is also a member of the CMA’s specialist utility panel. He is currently Senior Advisor with Boston Consulting Group. He previously held senior executive roles in the Utilities and Banking industries.
Patricia Treacy
Pat will be appointed in October 2026. She is a former Head of the EU and Competition team at Bristows LLP. During her 30 years with the firm, she also served as Managing Partner and Senior Partner before retiring as a Partner in 2022, continuing to work in a consultancy capacity until May 2024. Pat was appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2018, sitting in the Chancery Division for a term of 6 years. Her book analysing the relationship between EU Competition Law and Intellectual Property was published by Edward Elgar in 2024.
Stephen Unger
Steve will be appointed in October 2026 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist communications and news media panels.
His last full-time role was as an executive Board member of Ofcom, where he served as CTO, CSO and Acting CEO. Alongside his work to develop the UK’s regulatory framework, he represented Ofcom internationally, and was elected vice-chair of the EU body responsible for telecoms regulation. Before becoming a regulator, he spent several years in the private sector, working for high-tech start-ups developing new wireless communications technologies. He started his career working in astrophysics research, including a spell running what was then the most powerful astronomical telescope in the world. Over the last few years he has taken on a variety of advisory roles in the technology sector, a common theme being the perennial question of how best to harness the transformative power of technology for the public good.
Frances Warburton
Frances will be appointed in October 2026 and is also a member of the CMA’s specialist utility panel.
She has over 30 years’ experience in regulatory, competition and business strategy matters, working across the public and private sectors. Her public sector experience includes working as a competition investigation director at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and as a director at the Office for Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). At the OFT, she was responsible for Competition Act investigations and for directing market studies. At Ofgem, she was responsible for major decisions valued at over £15 billion, which relied on economic analysis including major impact assessments, with several of these decisions successfully upheld upon legal challenge. Her private sector experience includes working as a partner in the economic advisory practice at Ernst & Young, where she advised governments and firms on economic analysis underpinning major regulatory and policy decisions. She has been an expert witness in several high profile regulatory decisions and market enquiries, and has advised on a wide range of regulatory matters.
Crispin Wright
Crispin was appointed in April 2020. From 2015 to 2018 he was Director General of the Takeover Panel. Before that he spent 33 years as an investment banker specialising in mergers and acquisitions at Rothschild, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Grenfell. He is a member of the Investment Committee of Merton College.