Meet the Judges

David is the Director, Business Assurance, Quality and Systems for BAM UK&I. He has over 30 years' experience delivering complex construction projects across all industry sectors. He is a Trustee and Fellow of the Chartered Quality Institute, a Chartered Waste Manager, Fellow of the Institute of Collaborative Working, a Chartered Environmentalist and a Director of the Lean Construction Institute UK. He sits on a number of industry committees and has spoken at numerous events on subjects such as Lean construction, error avoidance, the future of quality management, competency and collaboration. He won International Quality Professional of the year in 2020.

Kate is the founder of Capella and Managing Partner at PMI, a multi-award-winning provider specialising in performance improvement consultancy, training and apprenticeships. Underpinned by a background in supply chain development for the automotive industry, she has experience across a broad range of public, private and voluntary sectors as a trainer, coach and consultant. Kate provided technical input for the Trailblazer Groups responsible for authoring the suite of Apprenticeship standards for Quality and Improvement. She led the implementation of ISO 9001:2015 and Cyber Essentials Plus certification for Capella and a successful Ofsted inspection. She is now leading a range of group integration projects.

Kate is passionate about learning and driving excellence, always seeking opportunities to improve and promote quality. She supports the CQI through sharing experience and best practice, including judging the International Quality Awards and mentoring others through the CQI platform.

Lilly’s career in quality began as a Technical Apprentice with Leonardo UK. Over the 6.5 years she spent with Leonardo, her career went from strength to strength as she progressed to a Project Assurance Engineer. Aside from her day-to-day role, Lilly is a passionate advocate for the profession - encouraging and inspiring the next generation to actively choose a career in quality. Lilly recently joined Red Bull Advanced Technologies as a Supplier Quality Engineer and won the International Quality Award for Emerging Talent in 2024.

Victoria is the Head of Change & Transformation with leading temporary works specialist Mabey Hire. A Chartered Quality Professional, Fellow of the CQI and Lean Practitioner with over 16 years of experience in construction and engineering, Victoria works alongside all levels of leadership to help make change happen, resulting in better business performance. She uses quality tools to define, ideate, plan, engage, implement and communicate transformation projects, coaching managers through each stage of the project to achieve business improvement goals.

Victoria has experience in process optimisation, digitisation and automation in the construction environment and at organisational level.

Yasser has more than 18 years of experience in the world of project, engineering, and quality management operations, and he is currently the head of inspection technical support overseeing inspection, UAV and robotic technology programs at Saudi Aramco. Yasser is an IRCA Principal Auditor and has acquired over ten internationally recognised certifications, such as Project Management Professional (PMP), ASQ Certified Supplier Quality, Black Belt Six Sigma, and others. Academically, he holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and a master's degree in Metallurgical and Materials Science from the University of Manchester. He has also attended executive management courses at Harvard Business School and a Leadership Simulation programme offered by the University of Pennsylvania.

Disruptor. Technologist. Innovator. Kevin Newey (CQP FCQI) is an experienced business transformation, reliability engineering, governance, and assurance professional. Kevin has over 25 years' experience in Artificial Intelligence, deep tech, software, semiconductor, biotech, and the pharmaceutical industries. He is passionate about the potential for technology to make the world a better, fairer place for everyone.

Kevin collaborates with, and builds, brilliant teams that blast through bureaucracy, harness values and strengths, and make the impossible possible.

Professionally he is Global Head of Quality at Graphcore, a state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence organisation, and Chair of the Greater Peterborough and Cambridge CQI Branch. In his spare time, he enjoys running, spending time with his dogs and running with his dogs.

As one of PMI & Capella's Managing Partners, Susannah works closely with clients to plan, design, and develop events and programmes to transform their process performance, whilst building the skills and capabilities of their teams. Susannah has worked extensively in the learning and development sector. Prior to joining PMI, she was EMEA Partner Director for Oracle Corporation, an active member of the Oracle Women's Leadership Team and part of the Oracle High Performer programme.

In addition to her love of technology and learning, she is passionate about the development of leaders, and partnering with them to help sharpen their performance and realise their full potential. As an Executive Coach, she works with clients to achieve tangible results for themselves and their organisation.

Zoi Kontodimou is a PhD candidate in Corporate Sustainability Management Systems. She is a certified Principal auditor with 20 years of experience in Quality, Sustainability, Risk Management, and non-financial Reporting, an IEMA Fellow member, and an IRM technical specialist. She acts as a corporate advisor in various corporate transformation initiatives related to sustainability, ESG, and Risk Management, is a member of the UN Roster of Experts for Crediting Mechanism of the Paris Agreement on Accreditation Issues, and an adjunct lecturer in sustainability and Risk Management.

Peter is a Chartered Building Services Engineer and Managing Partner of Troup, Bywaters + Anders, an award-winning consultancy which produces high performing buildings through creative and sustainable building services designs and knowledge management.

Peter is a member of the UKGBC Leaders network, Fellow, Board member and Trustee of the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineering and a Board member of the Camden Climate Alliance. Over recent years, he has been a judge for the Sustainable City Awards. He cares deeply about the environment and the legacy we leave for future generations and seeks to make a positive difference by contributing and engaging at all levels.

Alan joined Nuclear Waste Services in October 2023 as Head of Quality. He previously worked in quality roles for companies such as Wabtec, Nuvia, BAE Systems, Ultra Electronics, Philips Components, De La Rue Security Threads and Carnaud Metalbox.

Alan pursued his Bachelor of Science degree in Quality Management at Salford University and is a Six Sigma Black Belt and a Chartered Quality Professional. With experience in many industries (including nuclear, aerospace, rail, semi-conductors), Alan believes that although quality challenges are often the same, learning from others means that the tools at your disposal increase, and you can start thinking flexibly about how you meet these challenges. To become the Quality Professional of the Year, Alan believes that an individual will need to understand the challenges, identify ground-breaking (even revolutionary) solutions, and bring together a team to implement them successfully

Professional Head Quality and Assurance – Transport for London

Accountable for the quality and assurance strategy framework, overall management of the quality and the delivery of quality activities across the TFL Capital delivery portfolios.

A strategic thinker and leader, versatile, pragmatic and passionate Civil Engineer with expertise in Quality management, Concrete technology, business improvement, Total quality management in academia, Rail and Construction Engineering management. Projects includes Euro-tunnel repair shed, Southeast London Combined Heat and Power plant, Rerailing of LU Northern line, 120 LU station modernisation projects. Baker Street to Bond Street tunnel lining and Northern Line Extension.

MSc in civil Engineering design and construction of Industrial structures.

Chartered Quality Professional – Fellow (CQP FCQI), IRCA Lead Auditor, Institute of Concrete Technology (member of Technical and Educational committee and Chief Examiner Aggregates in Construction)

Judith is a Programme Director with over 25 years’ experience in various industry sectors including infrastructure, defence, nuclear, heavy and light rail, highways, transportation, construction, utilities, local authority, and consultancy. She was awarded Quality Professional of the Year 2024. Having sat on several steering groups, Judith has provided industry improvements and advice to central government policy. She also has a proven track record in QHSE management both as stand-alone and integrated disciplines. Judith is an EFQM Master Practitioner and has led assessment teams through the BQF awards. As a registered lead auditor across QHSE disciplines, Judith was also a technical reviewer whilst at LRQA, providing assurance for quality of service provision to UKAS as well as a registered team member for high risk projects for Infrastructure Projects Authority.

Natalie is Head of Quality for a Facilities Management company working on the biggest Ministry of Defence private finance initiative (MOD PFI) within the UK. She has over fifteen years’ experience in the quality profession, including time spent on a government project working for a leading telecoms company where she implemented a management system and embedded the culture of quality within the organisation. Natalie has had a number of volunteer roles with the CQI including Chair of the Next Generation Network and Thames Valley Branch and is aformer member of the Board of Trustees. Natalie was a judge for the Emerging Talent category since the awards inception, and this year assumes the role of Head Judge for the Developing Quality Talent category. Natalie remains a strong advocate for the profession's future.

Howard Cooper graduated from the University of Bath with a Degree in Applied Physics in 1987.

Since then, he has spent 38 years in the UK nuclear industry covering construction, commissioning, operations and decommissioning activities. Howard’s experience includes nuclear fuel manufacture, nuclear power plant construction, spent nuclear fuel handling and nuclear fuel reprocessing operations. He has undertaken assignments in commissioning, operations, technical support and functional / business management roles.

From the year 2000, Howard has undertaken a range of assignments in nuclear quality management encompassing design, construction, commissioning, operations and project management activities. These roles have included various senior appointments, including the Head of Quality for Sellafield Ltd from 2008 to 2013, and Director of Quality for the Nuclear and Defence business of Jacobs from 2018 to 2024.

Howard retired from full time work in February 2024, but continues his work as a Trustee of the Chartered Quality Institute(CQI), and as a mentor and volunteer for the CQI.

Howard is a member of a Chartered Quality Professional (CQP), Fellow of the CQI, and also a Chartered Physicist (CPhys) and Member of the Institute of Physics (IoP)

Louise focuses on enabling projects, individuals, and teams to do the things they are passionate about – over the years that’s come in different combinations of mentoring, coaching, facilitation, training, fixing processes, establishing governance, providing apps, data and tools, running a service and taking the time to really listen. She takes the same approach to quality as she does to safety and doesn’t walk past physical or process holes which others could fall into. She loves solving problems which everyone moans about and no one else does anything about. You are as likely to find her talking to people over a cup of tea to understand what stops them being effective as you are to find her doing the business and reporting side – and she translates between the two – helping leaders, managers and people in the business understand each other’s perspective. Her person-centred approach to quality led to her being awarded Quality Professional of the Year 2022.

Angelique is a quality professional with more than 20 years’ experience delivering business improvement and transformation while fostering culture change with infectious drive and enthusiasm. She advocates a Gemba Walks approach to implementing quality improvement across business. In this way, she successfully makes people at all levels work closely and collaboratively to improve processes, create novel visual solutions, and ultimately shift mindsets on how to approach quality: “doing the right work, and doing the work right”. Angelique was the winner of the CQI Quality Professional of the Year Award in 2019 and she is excited to be a returning judge for the 2025 International Quality Awards.

Sherif Nasser is an engineer, Organisation Doctor, and globally recognised quality management expert with 23+ years driving operational excellence internationally. A CQI Fellow and ASQ-Certified Manager for Organisational Excellence, he has led roles from Quality Engineer to Business Risk Director and consulted multinational firms on operational excellence.

An international speaker (USA, UAE, KSA) and CQI Quality Team Award judge, Sherif has trained professionals globally and launched free study platforms aiding hundreds in quality management accreditation. Recognized as an ASQ Quality Expert at CONNEX and Certified EFQM Assessor.

Colin is a vastly experienced leader with over 30 year’s international experience in predominantly Quality and HSE senior Management roles across many market sectors including energy, oil and gas, electronics and automotive.

He is a Fellow of the CQI and is the current chair of our North of Scotland network and Scottish Regional Steering Committee. He is a champion for both quality and the CQI and has a passion for improvement and mentoring.

Martin is Executive Chair at Catalyst Consulting. He has worked with organisations of all sizes and sectors in quality and change management. He is co-author of the popular books Lean Six Sigma for Dummies and Lean Six Sigma for Leaders, and is an active practitioner, trainer and coach. Past roles include Head of Quality at BT, a member of LRQA's General Technical Committee; a Trustee of Lloyd's Register; and a member of BQF's Executive Committee. In his earlier career, he held senior management roles in communications systems, software and systems development. Martin is passionate about quality, believing these awards are an ideal way to spread the word about the application of quality methods more widely and recognise the success of professionals in the field.

Amanda works for Nuclear Waste Services where she is the Quality lead for the UK geological disposal facility (GDF), she is currently seconded to Great British Nuclear as Quality Manger. She has over 35 years of experience in quality and assurance roles, working in the construction and major infrastructure projects sector for most of her career, with spells in government and client-level organisations. In her previous role, she developed several training schemes for quality, particularly in the nuclear sector. Her current team includes apprentices, trainees and graduates, and a lot of time is spent mentoring and coaching emerging talent within the nuclear quality sector. Amanda is a former Chair of the CQI Board of Trustees and was a trustee for 10 years. She has held previous CQI roles at the Branch and Special Interest Group (SIG) level, notably as Chair of the Nuclear SIG. She is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, speaking at numerous events to promote LGBT+ equality. She is also an executive member of Building Equality and the current Chair of the Scotland branch of Building Equality , Operations Exec for Women in Nuclear and a Trustee of Leap Sports Scotland.

Jade Wilcox is the third-generation family member spear heading Wilcox Limousines, Europe's leading manufacturer of Hearses and Limousines. Since taking over as Managing Director, Jade has brought about a transformational shift in the company's culture by implementing Lean manufacturing principles to establish stability and ensure future growth.

Jade's diverse professional background includes an MBA from Warwick Business School, a degree in Nursing and a Diploma in Funeral Arranging and Administration (DIPFAA) from the NAFD where she won an award for the highest marks. Prior to joining Wilcox, she worked as a Funeral Director, coordinating all aspects of a funeral with precision and empathy.

At Wilcox, Jade has played an integral role in implementing and updating customer management software, project managing the transition to a cloud-based IT system, obtaining ISO 9001 certification, and initiating the move to an updated accountancy system. She is a hands-on leader who works across all aspects of the business, from customer service to manufacturing.

Jade is committed to continuous learning and skills development. In her previous role as a nurse, she played a crucial role in the development of policies, procedures, and staffing for a private hospital's specialist department. Jade has a passion for discussing the practical implementation of process improvement and quality improvement theories whilst honestly debating the difficulties of implementing quality management.