9 new appointments to the CMA panel

Business Secretary Alok Sharma yesterday (14th May 2020) confirmed 9 appointments to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) panel. Panel members are tasked with running merger and market inquiries that have been referred for a thorough (phase 2) investigation. Panel members also make decisions on regulatory appeals on price controls or terms of licences.

The new CMA Panel members are:

Jo Armstrong

Jo Armstrong is a business economist and corporate financier having worked in financial services, oil and gas and government, and has also worked extensively with regulatory bodies including Ofgem and the Scottish Housing Regulator. Her appointment as a panel member commenced in May 2020. Currently, she is the Independent Chair of the Hub West Scotland PPP, a Non-executive director of the Wheatley Housing Group and is a Member of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS).

Margot Daly

Margot Daly is an executive director of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI), a trustee of GamCare and an independent business consultant. Previously she was a panel member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Previously she held Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer positions in FTSE listed and privately held companies, served as a non-executive director at Sport Resolutions UK and most recently as a panel member at the Competition Appeal Tribunal. She holds a master’s in competition economics from King’s College London with a focus on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. Her appointment as a panel member commenced in May 2020.

Ashleye Gunn

Ashleye Gunn is an independent consumer policy consultant. She is a panel member for Ofgem’s RIIO Stakeholder Engagement and Consumer Vulnerability incentive and for UK Power Networks London Customer Engagement Group for RIIO-2. She was previously Policy Programme Director at Which? Her appointment as a panel member commenced in April 2020.

Jennie Holloway

Jennie Holloway is co-founder of The Growth Stage and co-founder and Director of Ekta Partners Limited. Prior to launching these businesses, Jennie worked in investment banking for 15 years, latterly as a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where she ran Alternative Equity Capital Markets. Her appointment as a panel member commenced in May 2020.

Frances McLeman

Frances McLeman is an experienced corporate and regulatory lawyer. A former Corporate Partner at City law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP), she was recently Head of Ring Fencing Legal at Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) delivering a major regulatory reform programme, and before that LBG’s Head of Corporate and M&A Legal. Her appointment as a panel member commenced in May 2020.

Cyrus Mehta

Cyrus Mehta was a Partner and Head of the EU and Competition team at law firm CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP. He has over 30 years’ experience in the field of UK and EU competition law, state aid, trade law and regulation. His appointment as a panel member commenced in April 2020.

Sir Kenneth Parker

Sir Kenneth Parker was formerly a QC, joint head of Monckton Chambers, a Law Commissioner and Judge of the High Court. He is currently a Judicial Commissioner in the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office, and a legal chair for the Financial Reporting Council. His appointment as a panel member commenced in May 2020.

Stephen Rose

Stephen Rose was a consultant to international law firm, Eversheds-Sutherland (International) LLP, having formally been a senior partner in the firm’s Competition, EU and Trade group for over 20 years. His appointment as a panel member commenced in April 2020.

Crispin Wright

Crispin Wright was Director General of the Takeover Panel from 2015-2018. Prior to that he was an investment banker for over 30 years specialising in mergers and acquisitions at Rothschild and Co, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Grenfell. His appointment as a panel member commenced in April 2020.

The CMA

The CMA is a non-ministerial department and the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority. It has responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries, and enforcing competition and consumer law.