Who are the people behind the presentations?
This year’s Annual Fraud Conference is being held at Oxford’s Town Hall. During the event there will be live presentations, breakout sessions & case studies brought to you by industry leading experts.
But who are they?
Headline & Keynote Speakers
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Investigative Journalist
Nick Wallis is an award-winning freelance journalist and broadcaster. He is also THE leading authority on the Post Office Horizon scandal having been instrumental in bringing it into the public eye.
He recorded interviews with dozens of victims, insiders and experts, uncovering hundreds of documents to build up an unparalleled understanding of the story.
Nick wrote the book, The Great Post Office Scandal which was the first definitive account of the scandal, published in 2021. He presented, produced and consulted on three BBC Panoramas about the Post Office scandal, wrote about it for Private Eye and was series consultant on the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
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Counter-Fraud Expert and PhD Researcher, University of Portsmouth
Claire is a multi-award-winning counter-fraud expert with a decade of experience in financial crime prevention within financial services. She has worked for an array of firms including small start-ups and global retail giants, across several product types such as cryptocurrency, asset management, credit cards and foreign exchange. Having progressed from Analyst to Director level in 4 years, Claire is currently the Fraud Product Owner for Europe, at Vanguard.
In her spare time, Claire undertakes a PhD in Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth, looking at internal fraud within FinTechs, which she is due to complete in 2026.
Claire also directs a voluntary and award-winning initiative by the name of ‘STUC’ (Stammerers Through University Consultancy), which she founded in 2014 after facing penalisation and discrimination owing to her stammer during her undergraduate degree. Through STUC, Claire delivers focus groups and talks at universities nationwide to understand their strengths and weaknesses regarding supporting students and staff who stammer. From these, she examines the outputs, creating and advising on long-term resolutions, to ensure no one is mistreated during higher education because of the disability.
Last year, Claire was awarded Director of the Year at the UK FinTech Awards and shortlisted for several other accolades including Woman of the Year and Head of Financial Crime of the Year.
Claire is a seasoned national and international public speaker, speaking about internal and external fraud as well as disability and inclusion - as she is a person who stammers. Having presented in Japan, Canada and Mauritius, to name a few, Claire has rapidly become one of the most sought-after counter-fraud and disability keynote speakers.
In January 2024, Claire launched ‘fraudible’ - a video podcast combining fraud practitioner experience and academic fraud theory. In May 2024, Claire launched a series of webinars exploring imposter syndrome and mental wellbeing in the counter-fraud industry, entitled ‘Fight the Fraud – Feel a Fraud’, which was awarded Surrey’s Regional Mental Health Initiative of the Year 2024.
This Autumn, Claire will debut her latest keynote subject; the impact of stammering on fraud detection controls, offering her unique insights on how having a speech impediment can impact the customer experience in the world of fraud detection, based on her own experience as a counter-fraud professional (and customer) who stammers.
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Alex Wood
Alex's early career was in the music industry. Aged 13 he began to tour the world as a violin soloist and performed under the greatest conductors of the modern era. He was awarded prestigious scholarships to attend the Purcell School, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, won an array of prizes along the way and became a regular guest at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
Aged 24 his career was abruptly halted by the onset of repetitive strain injury (RSI) in his right hand and faced with mounting debts and no source of income, his criminal career began. His life spiralled out of control, culminating in several years spent in prison for a number of dishonesty offences - everything from impersonating the 13th Duke of Marlborough to committing multi-million pound cyber-crime.
Since his release from jail in early 2022 Alex has turned his life around and become an immensely powerful force in the Counter Fraud profession.
Since making his speaking debut February 2023 (where he delivered a Keynote Speech at Counter Fraud 2023, organised by the Cabinet Office, the Public Sector Fraud Authority and GovNet) Alex has become a prominent public and motivational speaker, delivering dozens of speeches across the UK and (remotely) throughout the rest of the world.
Alex is a regular guest on mainstream television and radio. In October 2023 Alex was featured on BBC Radio 4 (File on 4) and is a frequent contributor to the Vanessa Feltz show on Talk TV.
In addition to Public Sector speaking, Alex consults for leading global financial institutions (including Tier 1 banks, insurance providers, law firms and risk experts) so as to enable a deep understanding of the ‘Fraud Mindset’ as well as sophisticated ‘Social Engineering’ techniques and the threat of emerging technology (including Generative AI).
Alex is working on a national strategy, in partnership with banks, lawyers, Police forces and Government in order to educate children about the risks of involvement in mule activity.
While in prison, Alex was signed by the world-leading literary agent Andrew Lownie. His story is now the subject of a major documentary (in production) by the renowned film makers Chris Atkins and Louis Theroux (Mindhouse Productions).
In March 2024 Alex was appointed as a Board Advisor by Appella AI and is helping them to create revolutionary disruptive technology to enable the interception of fraudulent telephone calls before they can be connected to a potential victim.
Alex is exclusively represented by Sara Butler at SCAMP Speakers. -
Ron is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a member of the ACi (Association of Corporate investigators).
As Global Head of Banking Investigations at Citibank, directing over 100 investigators dealing with cases in over 100 countries, and as its Head of Security for EMEA, Ron has dealt with every type of fraud and every other form of corporate embarrassment and loss. Under his leadership, Citibank’s fraud-related asset recoveries routinely exceeded USD 100 million p.a.
Ron’s team at GE Capital developed a Global Fraud Management Programme that materially increased Corporate profits by slashing fraud-related (and credit-related) losses. Exceptional Returns on Investment were achieved by designing and deploying highly effective / efficient preventive and detective measures. In 2006, Ron flagged up the impending sub-prime / CDO crisis and predicted the Global Financial melt-down.
With extensive experience in Internal Audit; Banking; Systems Design; Process Repair and Business Management (including 8 years as CFO of Citibank’s Global Asset Management Business) and a highly successful period as a CFD Trader, Ron has consistently shown that he has the skills, the personality and the drive to deal with the most challenging situations.
Between 2012 and 2015, Ron’s company ‘Second Sight’ established the causes of mysterious shortfalls in branches of the Post Office, revealing what has been described as the country’s worst ever miscarriage of justice
Breakout Session Speakers
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Andy Lane
Barrister,
Cornerstone Barristers
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Mike Neumann
Chairman,
National Investigation Officers Group
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Andy is a Social Housing and Public Law barrister at Cornerstone Barristers. Prior to coming to the Bar, he worked for the Oxfordshire Money Advice Project and spent 4 years as a councillor on Oxford City Council, including time as chair of the Housing Committee. He is the author of 'Cornerstone on Social Housing Fraud', the 3rd edition of which will be published by Bloomsbury Professional in 2025 and has appeared in many of the leading housing cases during his 25 years at the Bar.
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More to follow
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Laura is the Local Taxation and Benefits Service Delivery Manager for Oxford City Council. She has worked for Oxford City Council for 8 years. Prior to that Laura worked for Northampton Borough Council and Bedford Borough Council as Fraud Investigator and Benefits Manager. Laura is IRRV qualified and an Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist.
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Chris has a strong investigation and management background, having worked with organisations including the DWP, Serious Fraud Office, Financial Conduct Authority, and the Metropolitan Police Service. With a career spanning central and local government, policing, and financial regulation, Chris now focusses on Disclosure, exhibits management, and prosecution case quality standards.
Chris joined ITS in 2015. He delivers training across many areas and specialises in Disclosure and the National File Standard.
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Duncan has been an officer with TVP for over 32 years and most of that has been spent as a specialist Detective within Serious Organised Crime, High Tech Crime and Economic Crime.
His current role includes management of Thames Valley Police fraud investigations, fraud victim safeguarding and partnerships. He is also a Senior Investigating Officer and part of the covert operations cadre.
In 2022, Duncan set up the new Central Fraud Unit (CFU), which went fully operational in April 2023, and consists of 40 staff (mix of officers and support staff).
The role of CFU is to conduct investigations into all types of fraud across the whole of the Thames Valley Police area.
The CFU identify and protect vulnerable people from financial abuse and exploitation using financial intelligence research, the banking protocol and Operation Signature.
The CFU aim to contribute to the dismantling of organised crime groups by conducting and overseeing High Harm Fraud investigations.
Duncan is very passionate about the merits of effective use of POCA powers and has a self-confessed obsession with taking ill-gotten gains off criminals.
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Dawn has been with us since August 2019, and has joined from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) where she was as an investigator. Dawn transferred to DWP from a Local Authority as part of the Single Fraud Service Project in 2015.
She has been working as an investigator within Local Authorities and the DWP (and its previous incarnations) since 1992, the majority of that time focusing on benefit fraud.
Dawn has a particular interest in Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act investigations and Procurement Fraud.
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Nat started work with Oxford City Council in 2016 after completing a Diploma at Law School. With an array of academic qualifications and previous experience of working overseas on human rights and educational programmes, Nat is an asset to the intelligence capability of the team.
Since joining the team, Nat has qualified as an Accredited Counter-Fraud Technician and is an expert in open source investigation techniques.
Sponsor Session Speakers
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Mark has worked closely with public sector fraud professionals for over 22 years now. Delivering training, consultancy, and support on all of the systems provided by INTEC for Business. He has now worked with over 120 different local authorities around the country and supported projects ranging from simple advice and guidance, to detailed data matching projects aimed at returning cashable savings to INTEC’s extensive customer base. Building on his industry knowledge Mark has recently qualified as a fraud investigator/manager after undertaking a Diploma course with ITS Training.
Working first hand with onboarding new customers as well as continually supporting INTEC’s existing customer base has given Mark and the team at INTEC an extensive knowledge on the challenges that face investigators today. When asked why this event is so important Mark replied “This is a key event for INTEC to attend every year, its great event to catch up with our customers and meet a range of potential new ones. Me, Steve, Theo and the Customer Care team at INTEC pride ourselves on delivering a service and solutions that meet the challenges investigators face on a daily basis, and networking events like this are a vital tool in that process.
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Intelligencia Training are the UK’s largest provider of award winning Intelligence Analysis and Counter Fraud Investigator Apprenticeship programmes. Working across numerous Government agencies, public sector departments, the law enforcement community, banking & insurance sectors delivering high quality training for those operating across the counter fraud and intelligence communities. Widely utilised to standardise and professionalise cross sector working their programmes align with Government industry professional standards including the Government Counter Fraud Profession. You can read more about Intelligencia Training at