Meet The Team

Buff Cooper FCCA, FCPA, AFPC

Buff has a long and diverse career in strategy, risk, accounting and finance, having held senior roles in practice, financial services, education and industry.

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Buff has tutored multiple CGI prize winners in Development of Strategy & Risk Management, with three prize winners in the 2024 sittings. To date, Buff's students have a 97% pass rate in Development of Strategy compared to the national average of 88% and a 74% pass rate in Risk Management compared to the national average of 55%. 

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For many years Buff has written and presented on ACCA & CIMA examination courses with a pass rate of 75% compared to the national average of 55%. In addition he has tailored financial, risk & strategy courses for businesses such as Renault Cars, Anglo Technology and Kyocera.

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​As well as being a Chartered Certified Accountant, Buff also holds Chartered Financial Planner status of the Chartered Insurance Institute. During his time in financial services, he specialised in risk management of large and diverse investment portfolios holding the Institutes Advanced Diploma in Investment Planning.​

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Seetal Anand GradCG

Seetal is a Chartered Governance professional with a strong track record in board support within the manufacturing sector.

Working at the heart of a privately owned business, she supports the Board and senior leadership team across a range of functions, ensuring effective decision-making, clear accountability and alignment with best practice.

Seetal brings particular strength and experience in navigating complex boardroom dynamics and balancing commercial goals with governance responsibilities.

Seetal is known for her structured, thoughtful approach and ability to translate governance into meaningful real-world impact.

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Seetal is passionate about governance as a tool for ethical leadership and sustainable growth. She brings this mindset to her Boardroom Dynamics sessions, where she helps students build the confidence and insight needed to thrive in the board environment.

Jess Riches LLB, GradCG

Jess Riches is a qualified solicitor with a decade of post-qualified experience specialising in corporate and commercial law.

Jess is also a Chartered Governance Professional and the proud recent recipient of both the Sir Ernest Clark prize for the best paper in Risk Management and the Ralph Bell prize for the best overall qualifying exam results. 

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Jess has a breadth of experience developed within the legal and governance functions of both the private and public sectors and regularly advises on corporate transactions, commercial agreements, risk management  and compliance with governance codes.  She has also led governance reviews and advises Board members on compliance with statutory duties.

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Jess currently works inhouse for a local authority trading company and advises on company and commercial law and corporate governance.​​

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In her sessions Jess' approach brings clarity and confidence to what can be a daunting and complex area of study. 

Fiona Bywaters LLB, MA, GradCG

Fiona is an experienced governance professional with deep expertise in public sector compliance, Board operations, and stakeholder engagement. She has led secretariat functions at both national and local levels, most recently as Board Secretary at a government regulator.

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Throughout her career, Fiona has overseen strategic board operations, executive decision-making, and governance best practice. She has designed development programmes, led effectiveness reviews, and improved transparency through work on freedom of information and whistleblowing. 

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With a background in legal and democratic systems in both the UK and internationally, she brings a unique and practical perspective to corporate accountability.

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Fiona’s teaching is clear, practical and grounded in real-world experience. She focuses on demystifying governance structures, where sessions are designed to equip future professionals with a strong foundation in what good governance looks like in practice.

Laura Fox

Laura is a senior risk professional with a background in enterprise risk, operational risk, data governance and ISO 27001 in financial services.

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Laura has worked across the financial services sector, embedding operational resilience, business continuity plans and enterprise-wide frameworks.

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When running her own consultancy, she supported boards through complex transformations. creating space for challenge, and championing the importance of human-centric risk management.

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Laura is a trained Neuro-Linguistic Programming practitioner and therapist and cares as much about mindset and behaviour as she does about metrics.

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​Laura's approach is simple but powerful. Empower people to make better decisions. Whether it's building a resilient risk framework or coaching someone through a tough crossroads.

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Laura philosophy is clarity and calm which she brings to her Risk Management sessions.

Paul Stark

Paul is a leading thinker and practitioner at the forefront of boardroom transformation, where artificial intelligence meets board effectiveness.

As the founder of Agentia Boardroom and the Centre for AI in Board Effectiveness (CAIBE), Paul has dedicated his career to helping boards and governance professionals adapt to the demands of the digital era without losing sight of the judgment, accountability, and human insight that define effective leadership.

Drawing on deep experience across governance, technology strategy and organisational change, Paul works with directors, board secretaries and governance professionals to rethink how board operations and decisions are supported. His work is grounded in the belief that AI, used well, can empower, not replace, those at the heart of boardroom decision-making.

Through CAIBE, Paul leads pioneering research on how AI is changing the role of the board secretary and reshaping the effectiveness of board members. At Agentia Boardroom, he is building new technologies and methodologies that embed AI within the secure environments of regulated organisations, ensuring data sovereignty, governance assurance and trust.

Sally Percy

Sally is an experienced business journalist and editor and a leadership contributor to Forbes.com.

During her career, Sally has written for numerous publications, including ‘The Telegraph’, ‘Professional Manager’, ‘Accounting and Business’, ‘CFO World’, ‘Financial Risks Today’ and ‘STEP Journal’. She has also contributed to special reports in ‘The Times’. She is a former editor of ‘Accountancy’ magazine, ‘Project’ magazine, ‘The Treasurer’ magazine and ‘Edge’, the official journal of the UK’s Institute of Leadership. Her first job in journalism was working as a reporter on the ‘Wairarapa Times-Age’, a daily newspaper in New Zealand.

Sally has spoken on webcasts and chaired roundtable discussions and conference panels. She has interviewed numerous senior leaders and decision-makers from around the world, including several CEOs and CFOs of FTSE 100 companies, as well as Members of Parliament. She writes on a wide range of business-related subjects.

Sally also works as a commercial copywriter, speechwriter and ghostwriter, creating thought leadership content for well-known business leaders. Over the years, she has produced numerous blogs, articles, newsletters and white papers. In addition, she helps organisations to develop their content strategies.

Sally is author of The Disruptors: How 15 Successful Businesses Defied the Norm (Kogan Page), 21st Century Business Icons: The Leaders Who Are Changing our World (Kogan Page) and Reach the Top in Finance: The Ambitious Accountant's Guide to Career Success (Bloomsbury).

Prior to becoming a journalist, Sally worked as a management consultant for Accenture and for a London marketing agency. She has a degree in modern history from the University of Oxford.

Andy Meehan

For decades, Andy's leadership experience and dynamic forward-thinking has informed modern retail strategies that have helped small, medium and large creators and owners revitalise and grow their businesses.

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Based in the USA, Andy has created and sold over 350 million greeting cards and stationery products, sourcing from Asia and locally, distributing globally, and earning multiple awards for innovation.

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His tough-love alter ego, Mr Margin, has revitalised numerous creative brands that are busy but broke through his "teardown" approach.

As President of the Greeting Card Association (2023-2025), Andy created and spearheaded initiatives in major retailers such as Barnes & Noble and Paper Source driving revenue, engagement, and member benefits. ​Andy has founded and run the largest global network for the stationery industry with over 14,000 members. 

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Andy's expertise in strategy development covers sales, customer acquisition, channel expansion, and talent development.