15 November 2021 
Nkechi Ijeomah, CHEIA Administrator
Message from the Chair
I am writing this less than a week after taking on the role of Chair and as delegates meet a few miles away for COP26 in Glasgow. As set out in the Special Thanks below, CHEIA has been through a period of significant change over recent years, the environment in which we are all working is driving substantial change, and our ways of working have changed over the last two years as we have grappled with the effects of the pandemic. One of the few constants in life is that change happens and that if we don’t adapt and change ourselves, we risk becoming irrelevant.
When we joined PHES, we set out a development plan which we must now refresh to reflect what has been achieved, what still needs to be done, and perhaps a few things that we could not have anticipated needing to be done when we first set off on our current development journey. If you have any thoughts that might be useful for this refresh exercise, please let me know – my email details are below.
It’s a great honour to be entrusted in this role and to help CHEIA to navigate the changes that will lie ahead. While many of you will know me, I thought that it might be helpful to share a few words about myself. Professionally, I’ve been in my current role for over 7 years and before that headed up the group internal audit function of a Scottish based but global manufacturing and distribution business for 11 years. Prior to that I spent 15 years with a Big 4 firm, focused on risk management, business transformation, and process control and assurance services across a range of sectors. I was co-opted to the CHEIA executive in 2016. On a personal level, I’m married to Dawn with two (adult) children. I enjoy spending time in the outdoors and am a keen photographer.
David Williamson, Chair of CHEIA
Head of Internal Audit Service
University of West of Scotland
David.Williamson@uws.ac.uk
News from the CHEIA Annual General Meeting 2021
Special thanks to everyone who joined us for the virtual CHEIA AGM which took place on 4 November 2021. Here are some headlines from the meeting:
- The Minutes from the 2020 AGM were approved
- The Chair’s Annual Report, CHEIA Annual Accounts to 31 July 2021 and Treasurer’s reports were approved
- The CHEIA Executive for 2021/22 is:
David Williamson, Head of Internal Audit Service, University of West of Scotland
was elected as Chair
Barry Frankham (University of Brighton) was elected as Treasurer
Ben Wood (University of Edinburgh) and Bridget Bishop (University of Hertfordshire) were elected as
Northern and Southern Representatives to the Executive respectively.
- The change of name from Council of Higher Education Internal Auditors to Council for Higher
Education Internal Audit was approved; a copy of the Constitution is available on the CHEIA
website.
Further details of new co-optees to the Executive will be available after the first meeting of the new Executive.
Special Thanks to Former Members of the CHEIA Executive
Following many years of service to CHEIA on the Executive, Juliet Simpson (University of Newcastle), Steve Stanbury (City, University of London) and Myroulla West (University of Essex) stepped down at the last AGM. Both Juliet Simpson and Steve Stanbury served as Chair of the Executive at different times, and Myroulla West served as Treasurer, and also hosted the CHEIA Administration at her University for some years.
All three helped to steer CHEIA during a period of significant challenges, but also successfully led in CHEIA becoming a Special Interest Group (SIO) within Professional HE Services Ltd, a move that has provided the security and stability our organisation needs in order to keep growing.
The Executive hope that all CHEIA members will join them in extending appreciation.
CHEIA Bitesize Events
We have another Bitesize Session for you, by 11 am on 9 December 2021. James Whybrow, Associate Director, RSM UK Risk Assurance Services LLP will lead the session on Internal Apprenticeship Levy Risks and will focus on matters associated with running apprenticeship programmes for your own staff and maximising the opportunities from the apprenticeship levy; and explore internal processes, key performance metrics, value for money and impact.
Please register on the website if you wish to join this session.
Practitioners’ Group
The Practitioners’ Group currently meets – virtually - on the first Wednesday of each month and the next one is on 1 December 2021. Anyone who is not the Head of Internal Audit is welcome to join. You can reach out to the conveners via the CHEIA discussion Board or send a message to the CHEIA Administrator on contact@cheia.ac.uk and it will be forwarded to them.
Opportunities to Support CHEIA
You are reading this Update because you are a member of CHEIA and have signed up on our website and for that we thank you very much. But we want you to consider getting more involved with CHEIA and you can do so in any of the ways listed
Contact Us
contact@cheia.ac.uk
