UK Supreme Court appoints new Non-Executive Directors
Thursday 5 January 2023
Two new Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) have been appointed to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Iain Lanaghan has been appointed as the Lead NED. His appointment comes as Kathryn Cearns stands down after five years as a NED and Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.
Julie Nerney has been appointed into a new NED Change role, which will support the Supreme Court as it undertakes an extensive change programme which will modernise the Court, focussing on people, culture and processes, putting user needs at the heart of everything the Court does.
Tim Slater continues in post as a NED.
Vicky Fox, Chief Executive of the Supreme Court said,
“I am very pleased to welcome Iain and Julie to the Court. Each brings a great deal of experience and insight from their broad careers. They arrive at a critical time in the Court's history as we embark on an ambitious change programme which will modernise how we operate and make a real difference to the experience of those using the Court.
“I also wish to express profound thanks to Kathryn. She has been a huge support to the Court for five years and has helped get us to a position where we can embark on a transformative programme of change.”
Iain Lanaghan
Iain Lanaghan is an experienced chair, audit chair and non-executive director, and was a former Main Board finance director. He is currently a non-executive director and chair of the Audit & Risk Committee of DE&S (Defence Equipment & Support, an agency of the Ministry of Defence), the North Sea Transition Authority (formerly the Oil & Gas Authority) and of Scottish Government-owned Scottish Water.
Previously he held these positions at the National Nuclear Laboratory. Prior to this he held a number of international private sector finance director roles, including as Group Finance Director of FirstGroup plc and Faroe Petroleum plc, and Finance Director of PowerGen International and Atlantic Petroleum. He is a Chartered Accountant, having qualified with KPMG in London.
Iain said:
“I am delighted to be joining the Supreme Court as the Lead Non-Executive Director. The Court holds a hugely important constitutional role in our society and I am honoured to able to play a role in shaping its future and its service to the public.”
Julie Nerney
Julie started her career as an accidental serial entrepreneur, starting, running and selling 14 businesses in the UK and overseas. She has since had a successful interim career as a business transformation expert, spanning the private, public and not for profit sectors. This ranged from complex change programmes to whole organisation turnarounds and high profile projects including a leadership role in the delivery of the transport operation for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
She has experience of every stage of the organisational life cycle and has worked in dozens of Executive and CEO roles. Her transformation work is complemented by a varied portfolio of Chair and NED roles for organisations whose values closely match her own. She is also a published author, public speaker and supports the Oxford Said Business School leadership development programme.
Julie said:
“I am thrilled to be accepting this role at the Supreme Court. The Courts' Service was a significant part of my transformation career. It is such an exciting opportunity to be joining the Supreme Court as Non-Executive Director leading on change as the Court begins its journey towards modernised and digitised processes and a better user-experience.”
Notes to editors
- In 2022 the Court started a wide-ranging administrative Change Programme. The Programme will focus on our people, culture and processes, putting user needs at the heart of everything we do. Technology and online services will be the enabler for building an excellent customer journey, delivering online services that our users rightly expect and need. This will greatly improve our efficiency and effectiveness and we will continue to build on the flexibility and resilience of our workforce providing them with the skills and tools that they need to deliver excellence as part of the Skilled Civil Service. The Programme is also about transparency and outreach so that we can serve the public by ensuring that our work is visible and accessible and trusted.
- Iain's term will be 3 years from 1 Jan 2023.
- Julie's term will be 3 years from 1 Feb 2023.
- For press enquiries, contact Scot Marchbank – Head of Communications – scot.marchbank@supremecourt.uk – (+44)(0)7760 991037 or Cloe Ofori – Media and Communications Manager – cloe.ofori@supremecourt.uk – (+44)(0)7909 686 541