BIOA Chair - Peter Tyndall
Peter Tyndall became Public Services Ombudsman for Wales on 21 April 2008. The post came into being in 2006 by the amalgamation of three separate posts covering public administration, the health service and local government.
As Ombudsman, Peter investigates complaints made by members of the public who believe that they have suffered hardship or injustice as a consequence of maladministration or service failure by the Welsh Assembly Government, local government, the NHS, registered social landlords including housing associations and a range of other public bodies controlled or funded by the Welsh Assembly Government. The Ombudsman also undertakes investigations into allegations that a member of a local authority has failed to comply with the authority’s code of conduct.
The Ombudsman works to ensure that everyone in Wales has access to an independent, objective and professional service which safeguards the rights of ordinary people. He also seeks to play a part in developing better, fairer and more responsive public services for all of the people of Wales.
Peter is married with three children and lives in Sully, near Penarth. Originally from Dublin, he has lived and worked in Wales for more than 30 years. He was Chief Executive at the Arts Council of Wales from 2001 to 2008 and previous to that Head of Education and Cultural Affairs with the Welsh Local Government Association. His earlier career included leadership and management roles in both local government and the independent sector in housing and in services for disabled people.
Representing Members from United Kingdom
Christopher Hamer
Christopher Hamer took up his post as Ombudsman for Estate Agents in December 2006. His career prior to that has seen him as Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Commissioner, as Director of Services at the Insurance Ombudsman Bureau and General Manager at the Personal Investment Authority Ombudsman Bureau. Immediately before taking up his position as Ombudsman he was in a global compliance role with a major international bank. His current role is to resolve disputes between buyers, sellers, renters or landlords of residential property in the UK and Agents. He also has a responsibility to contribute towards establishing best practice in the property agency sector.
In March 2007 the scheme was the first redress scheme approved by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry under the Housing Act 2004 in relation to disputes arising from the distribution of Home Information Packs; and the first scheme to be authorised under the Consumer Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007, which requires all Estate Agents in the UK to be a member of an Approved Redress Scheme.
With effect from 1 May 2009, the scheme was renamed as The Property Ombudsman to reflect the broader jurisdiction of dealing with sales, lettings, commercial and UK based international agents.
Jane Hingston
Jane Hingston began her career in alternative dispute resolution with a move in 1991 from her previous career in the Building Societies movement, to the Office of the Banking Ombudsman, eventually becoming an Assistant Ombudsman.
When the United Kingdom financial ombudsman schemes were brought together in 2000 under the umbrella of the Financial Ombudsman Service, Jane was appointed to the ombudsman panel – and also served as joint Building Societies Ombudsman during the transitional period.
In 2005, Jane was appointed Lead Ombudsman for banking and credit – an area that covers a wide cross-section of financial businesses including all standard consumer credit licence holders in the United Kingdom.
Jane has taken an active interest in BIOA since its inception, and was elected to the Executive Committee in May 2009.
Tony King
Tony King was appointed Pensions Ombudsman with effect from 1 September 2007. From June 2003 until taking up his present post he was an ombudsman in the Financial Ombudsman Service - latterly Lead Ombudsman for Pensions and Securities. Before that he had been Casework Director in the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman, the office to which he has returned.
Tony has a grounding (now distant) in the pensions industry, having spent the first 18 years of his career in a variety of administration, trusteeship and consulting roles.
Dr Jane Martin
Jane Martin was appointed to the post of Local Government Ombudsman and Vice-Chair of the Commission for Local Administration in January 2010. She has extensive knowledge and experience of public service delivery. At The University of Birmingham and Warwick Business School she conducted research on public management and governance in the fields of education, health and local government. She has worked in local authorities across England as a consultant for The Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government (IDeA) and was the first executive director of The Centre for Public Scrutiny. Prior to joining the LGO she was Deputy Chief Executive at The Local Better Regulation Office and a non-executive director of Coventry PCT.
Bill Richardson
Bill joined the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s senior team as Deputy Chief Executive in July 2003 and is responsible for all Corporate Resources Services, including finance, human resources, IT and other internal service delivery. Previously, he was Director of Resources at the Charity Commission, where he held similar responsibilities.
Bill’s earlier career spanned a number of Civil Service departments including Trade and Industry, Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue. He has worked in a variety of areas including VAT, customs investigations, internal audit, tax policy, human resources and finance. He has also led a Cabinet Office Efficiency Scrutiny on tax collection systems. Bill is a professionally qualified internal auditor and has an accountancy qualification. He was previously an external member of Ofsted’s Audit Committee. He is a member of BIOA’s Governance Working Group which produced the Principles of Good Governance for Ombudsman schemes.
Representing Members from the Republic of Ireland
Carmel Foley
Carmel Foley was appointed one of three Commissioners of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission when that office was established.
Carmel began her career in the civil service, mostly spent with the Department of Foreign Affairs. During her 11 years with the Dept. she served in posts including the Irish Embassy Washington and Luxembourg. In 1989 she was appointed as Chief Executive of the Council for the Status of Women, which is the national representative body for women’s organizations in Ireland, now called the National Women’s Council of Ireland.
Between 1993 and 1998 Carmel was the Chief Executive of the Employment Equality Agency promoting equality in the workplace.
Prior to her appointment as a commissioner in GSOC she spent seven years as the Director of Consumer Affairs, a statutory position.
Ms Foley is qualified with an MSc in Management and has also served on the Law Society Complaints Committee and the Personal Injuries Assessment Board.
Paul Kenny
Paul Kenny was appointed as Ireland’s first Pensions Ombudsman in 2003 and reappointed in 2009. He has been involved in pensions for 42 years, almost 35 of which were spent with Irish Pensions Trust, later part of Mercer. He was a Director of the Retirement Planning Council of Ireland for ten years and its Chairman for three years. He is a Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute and was a founder Fellow of the Irish Institute of Pensions Management. He has served on the BIOA Executive Committee since 2008 and lately chaired its Governance working group. Married, with three grown-up children, a dog and a cat.
Representing Associate Members
Ros Gardner
Graduating from Southampton University, Ros Gardner joined a major retailer undertaking a variety of appointments divisionally and at Head Office. Ros went on to become Manager of the Customer Services Department, which included responsibility for a complaints department handling a quarter of a million customers per year.
Ros now runs her own successful consultancy, specialising in Customer Care Excellence/Complaint Handling. She continues to help a wide range of clients exploit the opportunities that customer care provides. She has also been employed as a Special Adviser to various Government Departments.
Suzanne McCarthy
Suzanne McCarthy was appointed Immigration Services Commissioner in 2005, having previously held a number of senior public sector positions including Chief Executive of both the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Before entering the public sector, Suzanne worked as a solicitor in private practice and was a lecturer in Law at the University of Manchester.
Suzanne is a Trustee of the University of London and the Royal Institute of British Architects. She is a member of the Executive Council of the British and Irish Ombudsman Association, the Public Guardian Board, The Pension Regulator’s Determination Panel and a Non-Executive Director of the Human Tissues Authority.
Suzanne studied in both America and the UK, and has an L.LM. degree from Cambridge University.
Secretary - Ian Pattison
Ian Pattison’s first career for 20 years was in the Army. On leaving in 1984, he took a number of managerial and administrative roles in the law and consulting, as well as 8 years with the Banking Ombudsman, moving briefly into the Financial Ombudsman Service on the merger of several separate Ombudsman schemes operating in the financial services industry.
He took up his present position as BIOA Secretary in 2005 on the retirement after 12 years of the first Secretary, Gordon Adams.