Our Director

Dr Ian Peters MBE
Dr Ian Peters MBE

Director

Ian Peters has been Director of the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) since May 2020. In addition to leading the IBE’s team of researchers and advisers, Ian works with company boards and senior leadership to support them in promoting an ethical culture.

Ian serves on a number of external bodies including: the IoD Commission to develop a Code of Conduct for Directors, the CBI’s Culture Advisory Committee, the Financial Reporting Council Stakeholder Insight Group, the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment Integrity Committee and the University College London Centre for Ethics and Law Advisory Panel.  He also chaired the Chartered Governance Institute’s Board Performance Review Working Group.

Previous appointments include Chair of the Independent Monitoring Panel of the UK Chartered Banker Professional Standards Board, member of the UK Regulatory Policy Committee and its predecessor, the Better Regulation Task Force, and member of the Court of the University of Lancaster. 

Ian’s previous executive roles include Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (UK and Ireland,) Director of External Affairs at the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF), Deputy Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, Head of SME Policy at the Confederation of British Industry, and a period in public relations for PR agency Burson-Marsteller.

He holds a PhD from Southampton University on the role of small businesses in economic growth and a BA in Geography from the University of Lancaster. 

In 2015 Ian was awarded an MBE for services to regulatory reform in the UK.

Read lessmore

The IBE Team

Rory Bramwell-Poole
Rory Bramwell-Poole

Senior Engagement Officer

As the Senior Engagement Officer, Rory acts as the first point of contact for the IBE's existing and potential supporters. He collaborates with the wider team on the planning and delivery of all engagement activities, and is also secretary to the IBE’s Networks (BEN, ProfBEN, USG & DPG). 

With a varied background of working in membership, business development, and customer service, Rory enjoys building strong relationships and working collaboratively to ensure successful, interesting projects are brought to fruition.

Read lessmore

Dora Carbonell
Dora Carbonell

Business Ethics Adviser

Dora plays a crucial role in the development and delivery of the IBE’s advisory work. Working collaboratively with business leaders and their teams, through training and participatory interventions, she supports businesses to follow best practice and hold the highest corporate ethical standards.   

Being a firm believer of the Doughnut Economics, Dora is an enthusiast of sustainability understood and practiced as a catalyst for systemic change and social transformation. For her, the bottom line of a successful business intersects purpose, culture and values, and ethical leadership. Her major interest is in leadership for sustainability and ethical business practices that go beyond compliance: public and corporate programmes for systemic transformation, stakeholder empowerment and engagement, cross-cutting collaboration, and the creation of synergies between sectors, are just some of Dora's biggest interests.

Holding an MSc in Environmental Science, Dora has extensive experience in leadership for sustainability and capacity-building programmes. Before joining the IBE, Dora supported organisations across the board to embed sustainable business practices into their strategies and operations, developed and delivered the flagship Training Better Leaders Programme at the University of Oxford, and supported local communities in the UK, Iceland, Portugal and Spain to be greener, healthier, and more inclusive, through various projects.

Dora is currently pursuing a Master's in CSR and Sustainable Leadership at the Open University of Catalonia.

Read lessmore

Professor Chris Cowton
Professor Chris Cowton

Associate

Chris served the IBE as part-time Associate Director from 2019 to 2023, having previously been a Trustee. He continues to contribute to our work from time to time as an Associate.

Chris originally joined the IBE staff following a long career of leadership, research and teaching in the higher education sector. He is Emeritus Professor at the University of Huddersfield, where he served as Professor of Accounting (1996-2016), Professor of Financial Ethics (2016-2019) and Dean of the Business School (2008-2016). He moved to Huddersfield after ten years lecturing at the University of Oxford. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Leeds University’s Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied Centre, the University of Bergamo (Italy) and the University of the Basque Country, Bilbao (Spain).

He is internationally recognised for his contributions to business ethics, especially his pioneering work on financial ethics. In 2013 he was awarded the University of Huddersfield’s first DLitt (Doctor of Letters, a higher doctorate) in recognition of his contribution to the advancement of knowledge in business and financial ethics.

He is the author of more than 70 journal papers, has edited three books and has written many book chapters and other publications. He served 10-year terms as Editor of the journal Business Ethics: A European Review (2004-2013) and as a member of the Ethics Standards Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (2009-2018). He continues to write extensively and to speak to both academic and practitioner audiences. 

Read lessmore

Emma Darlow
Emma Darlow

Administration Assistant to the Head of Operations and Finance

Emma is responsible for the administration of IBE’s supporter base. This includes annual donations from organisations and individuals, processing of publications orders, and financial & general administration.

She also assists the Head of Operations and Finance to ensure an effective and efficiently run internal office.

Emma has obtained a strong customer service and administration background from extensive retail experience. Prior to joining the IBE she worked at Burberry’s Flagship Store.

Read lessmore

Corinne Fenech
Corinne Fenech

Associate

Corinne is an Associate with the IBE and brings with her over 20 years of industry experience. She is a corporate consultant and trainer with experience in operations and strategic management. With pride, she says that the fact that she has moved up the ranks step by step made her appreciate all types of work and the efforts of all team members at whichever rank. She is also a Design Thinking facilitator and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt practitioner. 

A firm believer in life-long development and passionate about people development as well as ethical business practices. Corinne holds an Executive MBA and MA in Business Ethics from the University of Malta. She is also researching for her PhD in Management with the University of Glasgow and her area of focus is Ethical Blindness in Organisations. Corinne is definitely not all work! In her free time, she loves trekking, travelling, learning about cultures and photography..

Read lessmore

Helen Firth
Helen Firth

Personal Assistant to the Director and PaC Training Programme Coordinator

Helen provides secretarial and administrative support to the Director of the IBE and is secretary to the Professionals against Corruption steering group. She helps to co-ordinate and organise the training sessions and events for PaC.

Prior to joining the IBE, Helen worked in various Executive and Personal Assistant roles for members of senior management at the University of Huddersfield.

Helen holds a BA(Hons) in Computing and Business and a Masters with distinction in Business Administration from the University of Huddersfield.

Read lessmore

Georgia Garrod
Georgia Garrod

Taskforce Researcher

Katy Gibson
Katy Gibson

Marketing & Events Officer

Katy organises IBE’s public events and is the first point of contact for any event-related queries.

Before joining IBE, Katy worked in membership, charity, academic and consultancy sectors.

Read lessmore

Richard Hardyment
Richard Hardyment

Head of Business Engagement

As Head of Business Engagement, Richard is responsible for new business opportunities and strategic partnerships at the IBE. He has spent over 15 years advising and assessing multinational companies on responsible and sustainable business practices.

He is an independent member of B Lab’s Multinational Company Standards Advisory Council and guest lectures on materiality and measurement at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Imperial College in London.

He is the author of The Wellbeing Purpose and Measuring Good Business. 

Read lessmore

Alexandra Johnson
Alexandra Johnson

Head of Marketing and Communications

As the Head of Marketing and Communications Alex is responsible for the development and implementation of marketing plans for all IBE activities. Alex is also responsible for the management and coordination of all IBE events.

Prior to joining the IBE Alex worked with the aviation regulator, Civil Aviation Authority; a consultancy, Sovereign Strategy and barristers chambers, Cloisters. All roles were in an Events and Administration capacity. The variety of industries provided an experience of different ways of working.

Read lessmore

Jennifer Lashley
Jennifer Lashley

Financial Accountant

Jennifer processes all the financial information for the IBE and completes the financial year-end statements.

She has extensive experience in the accounting field, mainly in small and medium sized not-for- profit organisations.  She is a member of the AAT and has passed the CIMA Advanced Management Diploma and undertakes regular CPD to enhance her knowledge.

Read lessmore

Dr Samuel Tosin Lawal
Dr Samuel Tosin Lawal

Researcher

As a Researcher at IBE, Sam plays a crucial role in supporting the development, delivery, and dissemination of both internal and external research and advisory projects. Sam's passion lies in harnessing the potential of both quantitative and qualitative data to foster a culture of ethical considerations within business practices and policies, ultimately contributing to a broader societal impact.

Before joining IBE, Sam held the position of Research Officer for the University of Reading's Research Culture Project. In this role, he led research initiatives aimed at enhancing the research environment within the university. Additionally, Sam worked part-time as an Associate Lecturer at Henley Business School, where he delivered Undergraduate Business modules and supervised Master's dissertations in Marketing.

Sam holds a degree in Accounting from Babcock University, Nigeria, and an MSc in Business Analytics and Management Science from the University of Southampton. Notably, in 2018, he secured the prestigious Henley Business School Marketing and Reputation PhD Scholarship. This accomplishment led to the successful completion of his PhD in Marketing and Reputation from the University of Reading, where his thesis investigated the malleability of public attitudes and behaviours to organisational stories incorporating stakeholders' perspective.

Read lessmore

Rachael Saunders
Rachael Saunders

Deputy Director

Rachael is Deputy Director of the Institute and is responsible for our research programme, and our advisory and training services. She is most interested in how research can generate insights that inspire action. 

Rachael has collaborated with senior leaders across business, charities, communities, local and central government. After gaining her first degree in Politics and History from the University of Durham, and a Masters in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics, Rachael worked in Westminster, then for Carers UK, for UNISON, the public sector trade union, and for the TUC, on skills policy. She was at Business in the Community for over ten years, as an expert in workplace diversity and then in education business partnerships. As a Director at BITC, she worked closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, the then Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and business leaders from Aviva, Barclays, Nationwide, UBS, McKinsey and many more.  Her most recent role was on the SLT of Speakers for Schools as it scaled its delivery of opportunities for young people. 

She has held a number of trustee roles including on the board of the Rich Mix Cultural Foundation, the Bromley by Bow Centre and East End Homes. She is currently chair of a charity called Sister System.  She was an elected local councillor for ten years and served as leader of the Labour Group on Tower Hamlets Council. In 2019 Rachael gained an MSc from Birkbeck, University of London, in Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, with a dissertation focussed on how boards communicate their community engagement. 

Read lessmore

Judi Wright
Judi Wright

Head of Operations and Finance

Judi is responsible for IBE’s Engagement, Finance, HR & Payroll, Office & Facilities, and is Secretary to the Board of Trustees and the IBE's International Advisory Council. Her role comprises of strentgthening IBE's relationship with all our supporters and to help build new relationships to add to our supporter base. It is also to ensure business operations are efficient in terms of using as few resources as needed, and effective in terms of meeting customer requirements, overseeing planning, organising and supervising in the contexts of production and the provision of services.

Judi has a strong client relationship management and operational management background in the charity sector, having previously worked at the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) and at the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

She also has an exceptional customer service background in addition to a wealth of experience in Fundraising, Event Management, Account Management, Training, HR and Finance.

Read lessmore