Chris was appointed President of the Institute in July 2011. He has been Chamberlain of the Corporate of London since February 2007.

Chris joined local government in 1972 at Doncaster and qualified as a CIPFA accountant in 1976. After working at Derby as Chief Auditor he then joined Deloitte, Haskins and Sells in 1982.

He rejoined local government in 1987 at Hampshire County Council with a particular brief on business planning. That position also led to some interesting assignments, including being appointed as an Adviser to the States of Guernsey.

Chris was appointed County Treasurer at Somerset in 1991 and held that post until it was abolished in 2004 and he was reappointed as Corporate Director of Resources with responsibilities including Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Property, Customer Services and Contract Services.

In that time he led some particularly important corporate projects, including the Somerset Waste Project – the first flexible public: private partnership in the waste sector.

As the County Council’s Equality Champion, he led the County Council to Level 3 of the Equality Standard.

He has previously been a lead financial adviser to the Local Government Association, representing County Council interests, and is a past President of the Society of County Treasurers.

Chris has always been active on professional matters, initially from being a CIPFA examiner, and has now been an elected member of CIPFA Council for the last 11 years.