Spokespeople

Christopher Kinsella BA MA FCMA FCMI, Acting Chief Executive
Christopher is acting Chief Executive of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), having served for four years on the Board as a Trustee and Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee.

He is a seasoned Finance Director and Chief Financial Officer with a pedigree of operational, corporate and international finance roles in blue-chip UK and USA organisations; TI Plc, GE (USA), GEC Marconi, Meggitt Plc, Burton Group and Coopers & Lybrand.

As Group Finance Director and Chief Financial Officer of TI Automotive, he led the £1billion management buy out of the business in 2000. This was a 22,000 people organisation operating in 28 countries and Chris was responsible for all aspects of finance, IT, Treasury, investor relations, funding, acquisitions and served as a main Board Director. In 2008 he led the sale of the Group to a consortium of investors.

He was also the Group Finance Director for Dyson Group Plc, successfully restructuring and repositioning the business and has also served in non executive and advisory roles for a variety of other organisations.

Chris is a Chartered Management Accountant with business degrees at Bachelor and Masters level, and has been FCMI since 1985.

To arrange an interview with Chris, please contact the press office. 

Petra Wilton, Director of Policy & Research

At the CMI, Petra Wilton takes a lead role in building partnerships in the public policy arena and promoting the needs of practising managers through engaging with and accessing the views of the CMI’s 90,000 members.  Through a bespoke research programme and policy initiatives, these views are shared with those in Government, business, education and the media.

Petra has co-authored many CMI reports including "Leading Change in the Public Sector: Making the Difference" (2003), “Measures of workforce capability for future performance: identifying the measures that matter most” (2006) and “Leading with Political Awareness” (2007).

She manages the All Party Parliamentary Group on Management and represents the Institute on various external groups including the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Management and Leadership Network Group and Professions for Good.

Before joining the CMI, Petra was previously a director of a specialist public affairs consultancy advising on public policy issues. She has an MA (Hons) in History from Cambridge University and is a Fellow of the RSA.  Petra enjoys sailing and walking on the East Coast, spotting Little Egrets and spending time with her young family.

To arrange an interview with Petra, please contact the press office.

Huw Hilditch-Roberts, Director of Membership Development

As Director of Membership & Business Development at the Chartered Management Institute and Director in charge of the Institute of Consulting, Huw is responsible for raising the profile of the both Institutes and developing our membership offer.  He also helps to communicate a clear vision of the CMI both internally and externally.

With the focus on increasing the number of Institute members over the next five years, Huw is playing a key role in strengthening and driving the Institute’s membership recruitment and retention performance.  He is playing a key role improving the membership proposition.  Externally, Huw address’ conferences, roundtables and the media tackling issues around employee engagement and retention. 

Before joining the Institute, Huw held various roles at the National Farmers Union (NFU) including Head of Membership and Business Development Manager, during which he successfully reversed the decline in membership and sustained NFU Cymru as the largest farming organisation in Wales.

Huw is originally from Ruthin, and was educated at Ysgol Brynhyfryd.  He graduated from the University of Wales, Cardiff.  He is interested in rugby and is an active member of Ruthin Rugby and Cricket Club. 

To arrange an interview with Huw, please contact the press office.

Simon Dolph, Director of Marketing & Communications

Simon Dolph is director of marketing and communications for the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) where he is responsible for leading and developing their marketing and communications strategy and positioning CMI as the first port of call on management and leadership issues. Prior to joining CMI in April 2009 Simon was director of marketing and communications for TNT Post in the UK. He joined TNT Post in January 2004 and was one of the original team that launched the new company into the market in August of that year. He also had overall responsibility for its CSR activity including the introduction of activities to measure and reduce its carbon footprint.

Prior to joining TNT Post Simon worked as a consultant and interim marketing director with a number of organisations including Citibank, British American Tobacco, Britannia Building Society and The Children’s Mutual. He specialised in helping these organisations devise market entry branding, marketing and communications strategies for subsidiary companies and new ventures.

Prior to this Simon was with HSBC for fifteen years, where he held a variety of senior, global, marketing positions based out of Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. These roles covered marketing and sales management, branding, sponsorship, e-commerce and electronic banking. During this period he carried out assignments throughout Asia, the Middle East, North America and Europe.

Simon’s early career was spent working for Marketing Improvements, a specialist London based marketing consultancy, and, before this, a leasing subsidiary of Lloyds Bank.

Simon gained an honours degree in humanities from Coventry University, a post graduate certificate in education from Birmingham University and a diploma in training management from the Coventry Management Training Centre.

To arrange an interview with Simon, please contact the press office.

Jo Whitbourn, Deputy Director of Marketing & Communications

Recently appointed as Deputy Director of Marketing and Communications, Jo Whitbourn is responsible for customer communication, acquisition, development and retention, as well as the production of CMI’s National Conference. 

Before becoming Deputy Director, Jo was Employer Marketing Manager and in this role she was responsible for introducing a lead generation programme, developing relationships to integrate membership, employer and corporate marketing and leading on a research led communications programme to launch ManagementDirect. 

Jo has fifteen years experience of working at a senior level within Marketing and Communications, dealing with key stakeholders, opinion formers and the media.  Prior to joining the Institute, Jo worked at csma, Smile Communications and the Definitive Group Plc.

In her spare time Jo enjoys the theatre, music, good food and red wine and has a love of the Norfolk Coast and Italy. 

To arrange an interview with Jo, please contact the press office.