Our Executive Team

Alan Vallance

Chief Executive Officer

Alan joined the CII on 30 August 2022. He was previously the Chief Executive of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Group Chief Operating Officer at the Law Society.

Prior to this Alan was the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Head of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the national weather agency based in Melbourne, Australia. This followed a variety of executive roles within Australia Post.

Alan qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Whinney (now EY) in the London office. He is a Fellow of three Institutes – the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors – and an Honorary Fellow of the Korean Institute of Architects. 

Alan announced his resignation from the CII on 26 October 2023. He will remain in post until Spring 2024.

John Bissell

Chief Operating Officer to April 2023

John retired from his role as COO and CII Board member in early April 2023 after more than six years with the organisation.

John had more than 35 years’ experience in the insurance profession including strategy, underwriting, marketing, development and operations leadership, often with an international component. During his career he has worked at a senior level at an insurer, intermediary, service provider and standards body.

He was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the organisation; the creation and delivery of the operations strategy and policies; aligning workforce capabilities with the operating model; and ensuring effective financial management, budgeting and planning processes.

Melissa Collett

Professional Standards Director to May 2023

Melissa left the CII on 25 May 2023.

Melissa had more than 25 years’ experience in consumer insurance and legal issues. She spent more than a decade at the Financial Ombudsman Service, was a director at Fairer Finance and sat as a Tribunal Judge. She is also a qualified solicitor and specialised in insurance law at Hogan Lovells. Melissa joined the CII in September 2017 to lead its professional standards, ethics and conduct activity. She was also responsible for legal affairs, risk management, disciplinary matters, governance, policy and Chartered standards.

Gill White

Chief customer officer

Gill joined the CII in January 2020, initially as Learning and Assessment Director. Her role has grown to include the CII’s marketing functions as well as being responsible for taking the CII’s learning content forward to meet the profession’s needs in an ever-changing world of work. Previously, Gill was Business and Markets Development Director for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). She has held a variety of Head of Learning & Development roles at Vodafone, Xchanging and SSP and operational roles for Whitbread and Greenall’s. Gill holds the prestigious Chartered Director status and is also a Fellow of both the Institute of Directors and CIPD.

Caren Thomas

Executive Director of Human Resources to August 2023

Caren joined the CII in January 2020. She has more than 20 years’ experience across a broad range of industries including media, sports, manufacturing, professional services, property, gaming and consumer durables. She is experienced in supporting organisations through all stages of the employee life cycle including the development of best-in-class recruitment teams, developing the next generation of leaders, organisational redesign, complex employee relations cases plus compensation and benefit restructure. Caren is an HR employment law specialist, coach and learning and development practitioner.

Azlina Kamarulzaman

Membership and Engagement Director

Azlina Kamarulzaman joined the CII in October 2022, having previously worked as Director of International at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). She joined RIBA in January 2016 as Head of Operations, Nations & Regions. In 2019 she set up the RIBA’s first international directorate and successfully delivered the Institute’s international growth plan ahead of time and budget.

Azlina’s early career was in law before moving into economic and community development roles at local authorities. This was followed by 7 years working at a social investment bank before joining RIBA. She is currently a Non-Executive Director for Harrogate NHS Foundation Trust and has also held a number of non-executive director roles previously including as Chair of Finance & Estate Committee at University College of Osteopathy and Chair of The Works UK, a Special Educational Needs School in Leeds.

Mathew Mallett

Chief Digital & Information Officer

Mat joined the CII in November 2022 as Chief Digital & Information Officer and runs the newly formed digital and technology transformation directorate, encompassing information services, enterprise project management, business transformation and IT infrastructure.

Mat is a multi-award-winning technology executive, board adviser and speaker with international experience in successfully delivering digital and technology strategy and transformations. His background is across oil & gas, retail, central government, law enforcement, and the space sector, leveraging skills in building digital and technology strategies that align with business outcomes, whilst addressing technological debt.

He supported NHS Scotland’s 111 service during peak demand in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, by spearheading the design and delivery of an AI Chatbot solution in just one month, which has dealt with over a million Covid-19 enquiries to date.