Opening Speaker: Abigail Marshall Katung, former Lord Mayor of Leeds
Abigail Marshall Katung is an accomplished leader in governance, sustainable development, and diaspora engagement, with over two decades of experience spanning public policy, civic leadership, and entrepreneurship. She served as the 130th Lord Mayor of Leeds (2024–2025), becoming the first African to hold this prestigious role in one of the UK’s largest and most diverse cities. In this capacity, she represented Leeds on the international stage, hosted global dignitaries, and led initiatives that raised over £100,000 to support community inclusion and address inequalities.
Elected to Leeds City Council in 2019 and re-elected in 2023, Abigail has held senior leadership positions across infrastructure, health, social care, education, and equality. She chaired the city’s Hate Crime Strategic Board, strengthening anti-discrimination frameworks, and served as Lead Member for Faith and Belief, championing interfaith dialogue and
multicultural integration.
Keynote Speaker: Lee Healey, IncomeMAX
(Sponsored by Bristow & Sutor)
Lee Healey is the founder and CEO of IncomeMax, the award-winning social enterprise helping people across the UK access the financial support they’re entitled to. Since 2009, IncomeMax has supported over 150,000 households and unlocked more than £50 million in confirmed income, combining compassionate human advice with innovative technology.
A former DWP decision maker turned social entrepreneur, Lee is recognised nationally for his leadership in income maximisation, vulnerability strategy, and ethical AI in welfare support. He serves on the advisory board of Martin Lewis’ Money & Mental Health Policy Institute and regularly appears in national media as a welfare expert.
Lee’s mission is simple: to build systems of knowledge, compassion, and fairness that help people live with dignity and security.
He recently appeared as the guest on a special edition of the MALG Podcast entitled: ‘Hearts and Minds – Championing Financial Fairness through Leadership, Lived Experience and Human-Centred AI.’
Regulatory Keynote: Alison Walters, Financial Conduct Authority
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Breakout 1a: The Changing Nature of Public Sector Debt Collection: Considering Ability to Pay
Chair: Kevin Shaw, Money and Pensions Service
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Speakers:Chris Nichols, Enforcement Conduct Board
Chris Nichols is Chief Executive of the Enforcement Conduct Board, the independent oversight body for the enforcement sector in England and Wales. He began his career at the Ministry of Justice where he helped to bring in a pioneering new regulatory framework for legal services.
He then moved to the Bar Standards Board where he set up new approaches to barrister regulation as well as delivering a supervision function and leading the first ever round of on-site audits of barristers’ chambers.
Before taking up his current role in March 2023, Chris spent eight years at the Legal Services Board where he held a number of senior roles including Director of Policy and Oversight.
Kiri Adams, Christians Against Poverty
Kiri is Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Christians Against Poverty. She has worked in the debt advice sector for nine years, working with financial services, enforcement, utilities and government departments to help secure better outcomes for customers in debt. She currently works as CAP’s Head of Policy & Public Affairs; feeding insights from CAP clients into policy decisions, leading on CAP’s Public Affairs work and advocating for those in debt and on low incomes.
Kiri also chairs the Communications Subgroup, a subsidiary of the Government Debt Management Function’s (GDMF) Fairness Group. The Fairness Group was set up in 2016 to recommend improvements to the government’s debt-management practices. It includes representatives from central government, local government, the debt advice sector and industry experts.
Adam Butler, StepChange
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Mike Bond, Department for Work & Pensions
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Breakout 1b: Fintech Showcase: Innovative and Cutting-Edge Solutions for Supporting Financial Resilience and Financial Capability
Compere: Kirsty McKenna, Fintech Scotland
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Speakers:Ren Yi Hooi, Lightning Reach
Ren Yi Hooi is the Founder and CEO of Lightning Reach, an award-winning Fintech for good startup which streamlines access to financial support. Passionate about using technology to drive social impact and financial inclusion, she was previously the Product Director at FinTech scaleup Railsr and has worked in international teams supporting financially underserved communities globally.
Ren was recognised as one of the WISE100 top women in social enterprise, Big Issue 100 Changemakers and Women in FinTech Powerlist. She has served as a mentor for the FCA and a Senior Visiting Practitioner at the University of York’s Administrative Fairness Lab. Ren holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Rob Tyrell, Haboo Money
Rob has spent the last decade designing and building digital propositions for leading Financial Services firms globally. In 2023, Rob then co-founded haboo money, with the mission of helping millions of borrowers get back on track while powering responsible growth for lenders across the UK and Europe.
Cat Divers, National Support Network
Cat Divers is the award-winning Founder and CEO of National Support Network (NSN), inspired by her own experience and a passion for ensuring people can access help as early as possible.
NSN makes it simple for brands to support customers facing life challenges beyond their control by signposting them to trusted external services. Home to the UK’s largest human-vetted directory of support providers, NSN creates co-branded and fully customisable “one-stop-shop” support websites that enable organisations to:
✅ Signpost customers to the right help when issues fall outside their own expertise
✅ Showcase their own initiatives and partnerships that strengthen customer support
✅ Gain valuable insight into customer support needs, outcomes and preferences
MALG Podcast LIVE: Liz Barclay, Institute of Directors
Former MALG Chair Liz Barclay is an entrepreneur, broadcaster, journalist, writer and author specialising in small business, personal finance and consumer affairs. She is currently working with the Institute of Directors as Small Business and Entrepreneurship Lead, with technology firms on the adoption and effective use of technology for small and micro businesses, and with businesses of all sizes on strategy, governance, employee engagement, inclusivity and communications. This follows a four-year role as the UK’s Small Business Commissioner with the remit of resolving payment disputes and improving practices.
Liz is an experienced Chair and NED with Boards in the private and third sectors, is Chair of the Fair by Design Campaign (to tackle the poverty premium) and a NED at Trustmark. She also speaks at and chairs UK and international conferences and panel sessions. She has started and run several businesses.
Breakout 2a: Financial Inclusion: Rebuilding Creditworthiness after Economic Abuse and other Financial Difficulties
Chair: Genevieve Richardson, StepChange Debt Charity
Genevieve joined StepChange in the Policy Team in 2022. She leads on research and influencing work related to housing and vulnerabilities. She authored the 2023 report Trapped in rent, which explored the experiences of StepChange’s clients living in the Private Rented Sector. Before joining the charity, she worked on select committees in the House of Lords and as Parliamentary Assistant to a Member of Parliament. She holds an undergraduate degree in French and Spanish from the University of Leeds and an MPhil in International Development from the University of Oxford.
Speakers:Sam Smethers, Surviving Economic Abuse
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Karen Perrier, Money Advice Plus
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
John Webb, Experian
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Other tbc
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Breakout 2b: MALG Members Friday Forum LIVE: The Future of Consumer Protection
Jason Wassell, Consumer Credit Trade Association
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Speakers:Mick McAteer, Economic and Social Justice Advocate
Mick McAteer is an experienced economic and social justice advocate working on: economic and social justice; financial market reform, regulation, and sustainable finance; and the impact of the intersection of finance, technology, and data on society.
He is: Co-Director of The Financial Inclusion and Markets Centre; Chair of Registry Trust; on the boards of the Irish Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman and Consumer Council of Northern Ireland; and a member of the Bank of England’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Engagement Forum.
Previously, he was on the boards of the Financial Conduct Authority (Chair of the FCA’s External Risk and Strategy Committee), Financial Reporting Council Oversight Board, and Chair of the European Commission’s Financial Services User Group. He was with Which? for 13 years where he led policy development on financial services and led the work exposing the scale of the major mis-selling scandals. Prior to this he worked for two major fund management houses in the City of London.
Meg van Rooyen, Money Advice Trust
Meg works as policy lead for the Money Advice Trust, and has been working on policy and influencing at the Trust for the last 15 years. Meg leads the Trust’s work on improving insolvency and debt options, bailiff reform, energy debt and consumer credit. Meg is also responsible for responding to consultations for the Trust on a wide range of topics, and engages regularly with government and regulators. Meg is on the Quarterly Account editorial board and represents the Trust at national MALG. She is an active member of the Taking control bailiff campaign, the IVA Standing Committee, the FCA consumer network and a range of other forums. Previous roles in over 30 years at the Trust include money adviser, a team manager, and information officer.
Isobel Crosse, Santander UK
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Graham O’Malley, Citizens Advice
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Better Together: Artificial Intelligence – Technology in Tandem with Humans
Chair: Mackenzie Howe, Atheni.ai
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Speakers:Mark Pearce, Wyser
Mark Pearce is the CEO and founder of Wyser, which he set up in 2020. Wyser’s mission is the development and improvement of AI language models, which power digital services that help users and advisers, so that everyone across the UK can access the advice they need when they need it most. Wyser works with Citizens Advice, AdviceUK, the Ministry of Justice, Ombudsmen and more. The latest version of their product ASSIST launches in January. It:
Mark has over two decades of expertise in artificial intelligence, data analytics, and innovation.
Victoria Oliver, Inicio AI
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
Stuart Pearson, Citizens Advice
Stuart Pearson is the Head of Innovation at Citizens Advice SORT, where he leads the development of AI tools to transform advice delivery. As an experienced leader in the non-profit sector, he is passionate about using collaboration and technology to find solutions to complex problems.
Savannah Price, Serene
Speaker bio and photo coming soon.
