An international, cross-industry career that has moved from corporate management to extensive research, advisory and capability development services to public, private and third sector organisations. Tim has lived and worked in the UK, France (3 years) and United States (20 years), building an impressive research and entrepreneurial record, with demonstrated commitment to delivering social benefit.

As Founder and President, World Commerce & Contracting (formerly International Association for Contract & Commercial Management), Tim has built a 72,000 member worldwide non-profit association which increasingly influences commercial policies and contracting practices in major corporations and governments. In September 2019, he was presented with the Financial Times ‘Market Shaper of the Year’ Award.

Tim was until recently Professor and Chair, International Commercial & Contract Management, University of Leeds, School of Law, where he taught and led development of inter-disciplinary commercial programs.

Prior to founding World Commerce & Contracting, Tim was on the Chairman’s staff at IBM Corporation and led the development of worldwide commercial processes and skills. His early career included management roles in banking, automotive and aerospace industries, where he led negotiations up to $1.5 billion in value. He has served in advisory roles for government departments in various countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan.

Iain Forrester is the NAO commercial hub lead for procurement and contracting. He has over 15 years’ experience of working across a range of the NAO’s work in this area, including cross-government work on the response to COVID-19, government grants, EU Exit and shared services.

Matthew Rees is Director of Commercial Insights at the NAO and a Council Member of the ICAEW. He delivers a programme of value for money studies and provides advice to other NAO study teams across the fields of public procurement, contract management, corporate finance and regulation. Recent studies he directed include: ‘competition in public procurement’, ‘investigation into Bulb Energy’, ‘supply chain finance in the NHS’. Matthew’s career history spans a range of professional services, financial institutions, competition authorities and regulators including executive and non-executive appointments in various organisations.

Matthew qualified as an ICAEW member at KPMG and has experience of NHS and local authority audit. Post-qualification, he then worked in global investment banking before returning to focus on public sector issues. From his varied career in the public sector, Matthew has extensive regulatory experience in competition and markets. Matthew is a corporate member of the World CC, and in addition to membership of the ICAEW, he is a member of CIPFA and a Fellow of the ICAEW and CISI.