ALARM South Conference 2025

Peter Andrews

Head of Risk and Information Governance, Hampshire County Council

Peter Andrews is Head of Information Governance at Hampshire County Council and has been working in the Data Protection, risk and insurance field for over 30 years.

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Caspar Berry

Caspar started his working life at the age of 16 as an actor in the first two series of BBC drama Byker Grove with “Ant and Dec”. They went on to become two of the most famous people in the UK and Caspar went on to study economics at Cambridge where he had early commercial success directing award-winning short films and TV commercials from the age of 18. He went on to write two feature films which were produced by Film Four and Columbia Tri Star before he had graduated. He did not get a very good degree.

He went on to write and direct in the film and television industry for much of the next four years before deciding that he was heading towards the age of 30 without having lived much of life outside of that crazy and unreal world. So aged 26, he decided to take a risk and move to Las Vegas with his life savings in his pocket.

Playing poker was disciplining, testing and demanding but also incredibly emotionally rewarding as he conquered the challenges it posed and made a living as a professional poker player at the tables of Las Vegas.

After three years, however, he decided that his future lay away from the poker table and he returned to the UK and set up Twenty First Century Media which he built to a team of 40 before selling to Bob Geldof’s Ten Alps plc.

At around this time, in 2005, the poker boom happened, and Caspar had already started speaking professionally so he moved to London to create a portfolio career as a trainer for the Mind Gym by day (delivering over 400 sessions to 100 companies) and a TV poker commentator by night (doing over 2000 hours of live broadcasting on poker channels and Sky Sports). In 2006 he was asked to be one of the two poker advisors on the James Bond movie 'Casino Royale', tasked with training the actors up to look like professional poker players for the key scenes.

In the last 14 years Caspar has delivered over 2,000 speeches and training sessions in more than 30 countries for nearly 500 organisations including the biggest companies in the world.

He now mentors young speakers and brings together all the otherwise disparate skills he’s learnt over his career – writing, directing, training, economics – to help young speakers craft messages culled from their own life that are focused on helping people and businesses make profound changes in all manner of ways.

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Ray Chitty

Head of Tri-Borough Insurance Service, Tri-Borough Insurance Service

Ray has been working in UK Local Government for 22 years and was the recipient of the ALARM Risk Professional of the Year 2024.

Placing coverage for liabilities to £200M, assets of £21 billion, including bridges, schools, housing, landmark statues such as Eros, Boudicca and even a Banksy.

Self-handling liability claims including responding to high-profile cases such as the tragic and avoidable Grenfell Tower fire

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Connie Dale

Insurance and Risk Manager, City of London Corporation

No bio provided

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Paul Dossett

Engagement Lead and Head of Local Government Partner, Grant Thornton UK LLP

Paul has worked with public sector and not for profit clients for more than 35 years including some of the largest London Boroughs, County Councils and NHS trusts in the UK.

His knowledge and experience is wide ranging, having dealt with different types of public and NFP bodies with financial, governance and performance issues. This experience helps him to ensure proper stewardship of stakeholder funds as well as promote strong financial management and proper governance in public bodies.

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Ashley Easen

Director – Risk Consulting , Risk Management Partners

Ashley has worked in the field of risk management and insurance for the last 20 years in a number of leadership roles within the public sector and is experienced in designing and embedding risk management frameworks. Prior to joining Risk Management Partners, she was responsible for all risk related services for a large county council. Ashley has a degree in risk management and regularly presents at ALARM conferences and events.

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Phil Farrar

National Development Director, Risk Management Partners

Phil began his career in 1986 with Municipal Mutual and worked at two of their branches where he stayed for 12 years, working as part of their National Public Sector Team. He joined RMP in 2004, where he was responsible for service delivery in the North of England and Scotland, as well as managing his own accounts.

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Joaquim Freitas

Policy and Projects Officer, City of London Corporation

No bio provided

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Jesper Glasius

Risk Consultant, Zurich Municipal

Jesper has more than ten years’ experience in risk management and crisis response, developing conceptual risk management frameworks and assisting with practical application and implementation of those frameworks. Since joining Zurich as a Risk Consultant, Jesper has worked with customers to improve their risk management frameworks, embed existing frameworks through training and workshops as well as reviewing and testing business continuity plans. Previously, Jesper worked with global traveller security and emergency response processes in business travel.

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Karen Gooch

Risk & Insurance Manager, Essex County Council

Karen has been a risk and insurance professional for 20 years, working the majority of this time in the public sector. In her role as Risk & Insurance Manager she is responsible for ensuring the council has adequate insurance and claims handling arrangements in place. Karen also leads on strategic risk management for the Council.

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Nichola Johnston

Senior Associate, Kennedys

Nichola defends sensitive and complex claims for clients working in the public sector.

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Karen Locke

Risk Manager, Renfrewshire Council

Karen has over 20 years’ experience working in risk management; the first 5 years with the NHS and thereafter in local government. She is currently the Risk Manager at Renfrewshire Council. Karen enjoys building lasting relationships with other risk and insurance professionals and finds great value in learning and sharing best practice together. Karen is currently the President of ALARM and leads the Leadership & Influence portfolio.

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Sandra McGinnis

Customer Care Analyst, JCAD Ltd

Sandra is a seasoned professional with a proven track record in local authority digitisation, lean reviews, and software rollouts. Her experience as a Risk and Governance Officer with Internal Audit has equipped her to excel as a risk management consultant at JCAD.

In her current role, Sandra leverages her expertise to assist clients in optimising their risk management processes and frameworks on their RMIS. Her responsibilities extend beyond technical know-how, encompassing strong client relationship building and the delivery of comprehensive training and support. With a strong foundation in lean methodologies and digital transformation, she brings a holistic approach to risk management.

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Sarah Prager KC

Counsel, Deka Chambers

Sarah was called to the Bar in 1997 and took silk in 2023. She specialises in personal injury work, acting for both claimants and defendants. She has appeared in a number of cases turning on the nature and extent of the duty to warn of obvious risks.

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Jonathan Robinshaw

Head of Specialist Advocacy Services, 8 DAC Beachcroft Buildings (8DB), DAC Beachcroft

Jonathan is the head of our specialist advocacy service, 8 DAC Beachcroft Buildings (8DB).

Jonathan specialises in personal injury, inquests and costs litigation. Having undertaken pupillage at Chambers in Manchester he practised as a self-employed barrister until joining an international law firm in May 2013 as an employed barrister to create and head up an in-house advocacy team. He successfully built and grew a national team of barristers, advocates and clerks in the first model of its size and scale in England & Wales.

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Andrew Spencer

Counsel, Deka Chambers

Andrew was called to the Bar in 2004 and is ranked as a leading junior in the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. He specialises in personal injury claims and has a wealth of experience in these types of cases. He recently acted for the defendant in a case brought by a member of the public who fell from a seaside pier and sustained a serious head injury as a result.

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Vicky Strathern

Senior Associate, Kennedys

Vicky is a Senior Associate in Kennedys’ Chelmsford office. She completed her training contract with Kennedys and was promoted to Senior Associate in 2015.

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Lizzie Whittingham

Partner, Clyde & Co

Lizzie has worked in insurance law and property damage since 2001, handling a wide range of high value claims mainly for global insurers and UK transport infrastructure providers. Lizzie manages two sub-teams within Clyde & Co's Property Damage Departments in London and Liverpool, which deal with liability and recovery claims arising from perils such as fires, floods and explosions and connected with transport infrastructure assets. Lizzie has acted in a number of well known reported property damage cases including Scottish & Newcastle v GD Construction and Aldgate v Unibar Heating & Plumbing. Lizzie is also a specialist in the evolving area of law concerning Japanese Knotweed having been the supervising partner for the significant 2018 case of Williams & Waistell v Network Rail.

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Nick Wilson

Associate Director, Gallagher

Nick is a fully qualified solicitor by training and an Insurance Risk Manager. He provides bespoke technical advice and training exclusively for Gallagher’s Public Sector clients. Nick has extensive experience in the claims consulting sector including, independent audits of insurers, TPA’s and in-house claims functions.

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