Ami Copeland is CEO of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers in the UK. Ami stepped in to the role of CEO in 2023 after many years successfully overseeing the marketing and communications arm of the organisation. This background gives Ami an in-depth knowledge of the bookkeeping profession which combines with a natural empathy and enthusiasm to place Ami as a champion for bookkeepers across the world.

Craig Ogilvie is HMRC’s Director of Making Tax Digital. Having worked on various transformation projects with HMRC over the last 20 years Craig is passionate about building a modern tax infrastructure for self-assessment through Making Tax Digital, which not only aims to address the tax gap, but helps make tax simpler, easier, and closer to real time.

In 2020, Craig led the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme as Project Director, earning the APM’s Programme of the Year 2020. In October 2020, he joined the Cabinet Office, overseeing ‘End of EU Transition Services’. In April 2021, Craig became Senior Responsible Officer for HMRC’s Pensions, Payments, and Debt Transformation Programmes before leading HMRCs Data Transformation as SRO. Craig has led Making Tax Digital since October 2023. He shares a love of hiking with his wife Lorna and two sons Finlay and Everly.

Garry Carter founded the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers in 1996 with his wife June Carter. Since then, he has remained a passionate advocate for bookkeepers and their role in the success of small businesses. In his current role at ICB, Garry oversees the professional standards team and is responsible for overseeing, inspecting and maintaining the high standards expected of ICB bookkeepers.  A key part of this role is liaising with government bodies to ensure that the interests of bookkeepers are represented at a policy level. Garry is also responsible for keeping members up to date with the latest MLR regulations.

As the founder of Adder Bookkeeping Helen has over 20 years experience running both a sole practitioner, part-time practice around her family,  expanding to a Ltd company with a team and an office. This success led to a successful acquisition by the Fresh Financials Group in 2025. Helen also services on the ICB Advisory Council. 

Jo Wood is an award-winning entrepreneur and former practice owner who built and sold a multi–six-figure bookkeeping business, Jo Wood Virtual FD. With over two decades in the accounting industry, Jo has been recognised for her leadership, innovation, and her ability to help bookkeepers and accountants transform their pricing strategies. Her experience of growing (and exiting) her own firm gives her a unique perspective on what it takes to build a business that works for you, not against you. Today, as co-founder of The 6 Figure Bookkeeper, Jo shares the tools, strategies, and mindset shifts that empower bookkeepers to price confidently, scale sustainably, and create businesses they truly love.

Zoe Whitman co-founded The 6 Figure Bookkeeper to support bookkeepers in achieving financial success and freedom, with a broader mission to help 1 million children escape poverty by training their parents in business ownership. Zoe has authored books like The Bookkeepers Rises and co-hosts industry-leading podcasts, using her personal journey and expertise to provide guidance on goal setting, accountability, and personal development

Chi Yun (Sam) Wai MICB is a Certified Bookkeeper who serves on the ICB Advisory Council, helping to shape the future of the profession. With more than a decade of entrepreneurial experience running several businesses, Sam understands the real challenges business owners face in managing their finances.

As founder of Immersif, his mission is to help immersive businesses earn more by uncovering the many ways to unlock profit, including pricing strategies, financial analysis, and profitability planning. 

Dave runs an accounting practice called Sidgrove, working hands-on across every part of the business.  He’s on a mission to promote a more human-centric future for accounting and bookkeeping - one where the right tech drives inspiring, high-quality workflows rather than noise.  Dave’s known for sharing unfiltered, practical truths and cutting through the hype - freely giving away the tools, systems and ideas he’s built both on and off stage to help others reimagine what’s possible.

A regular feature of many past ICB conferences, Gary Turner established and led Xero UK for over 12 years until 2022, and he has been in the accounting technology industry for more than 30 years. He remains active as an investor in promising new technology companies and sits on two boards as a non-executive director.

Helen is the founder of Matix, a people-first bookkeeping and management accounts practice dedicated to supporting businesses. With a passion for compassionate leadership, Helen & her fellow Director Rebecca champion the idea that success comes from developing people as much as balancing numbers. With her deep technical expertise in bookkeeping and her role as a mentor, Helen is going to speak at the summit, inspiring others in the profession to grow with confidence. As a member of the ICB Advisory Council, Helen is committed to raising standards and shaping the future of bookkeeping, while sharing her insights on pricing, workflows, and creating emotionally safe and happy workplaces.

Rebecca is well known as a lecturer, writer and commentator on tax issues. She is a chartered accountant with 40 years' experience in practice and serves on a number of HMRC boards, including the MTD Programme Board. She was awarded an MBE in 2012 for services to the tax profession.

Clare is the owner of CEM Bookkeeping & Consultancy Ltd. Clare originally trained in hospitality and after a career in finance in industry, followed by a career in teaching finance, decided it was time to set up her own company 11 years ago.

Following a degree in Law and Japanese, Emma joined international accounting firm Arthur Andersen, where she worked in London, Leeds and Manchester offices and set up the firm’s Inward Investment practice that attracted overseas companies to locate in the UK.

In 2000, bitten by the dot.com bug, Emma left the firm to start her first business, Techlocate. After 15 months, the company was successfully sold to Tenon plc when Emma was 27. The experience of starting, growing and selling a business from a home base gave Emma the idea for Enterprise Nation which was launched in 2005 to support the flourishing number of start-ups and SMEs.

Enterprise Nation expanded to become an active small business membership community, reaching more than 800,000 businesses each year with its powerful digital business support platform. Whilst leading Enterprise Nation, Emma presented a positive campaigning voice to government and the media on behalf of partners and members.

In 2011, Emma co-founded enterprise campaign, StartUp Britain, that she ran until 2014.

Emma served as SME Representative for Crown Commercial Service from July 2016, working to encourage more small businesses to sell to the public sector and its major suppliers.

In June 2012 Emma was awarded an MBE for Services to Enterprise. Emma was awarded the rank Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2021.

Emma started as the Small Business Commissioner in June 2025.

Gem is Junior Product Manager at award-winning cloud accounting software provider FreeAgent, where she leads key projects to make FreeAgent the software of choice for accounting practices and their small business clients. She joins the Practice Growth team from her role as Practice Partnerships Consultant, where she managed relationships with software partners and developed the accountant and bookkeeper product ecosystem.

Ian Holloway is a respected payroll practitioner, writer, advisor and trainer, ICB’s payroll policy advisor and host of the monthly Wages Wednesday webinars. With hands-on experience processing payrolls from all sectors, he focuses on the issues experienced by bookkeepers, agents and accountants, recognising they have an invaluable role to play in making sure UK plc is paid accurately, on time and compliantly.

2026 (and beyond) promises more issues with which to comply and Ian’s experience and up-to-date knowledge allows him to publish insights to UK professionals on various ways, always focusing on what you need to know and the practical implications.

Steve Hardwick served over 26 years with West Yorkshire Police, finishing as Detective Inspector leading the Economic Crime Unit, where he investigated major fraud and money laundering and oversaw asset recovery. He then joined the UKFIU (now part of the NCA), working with reporters, end users and AML supervisors to strengthen the use of SARs in tackling financial crime. In 2018, Steve became ICB’s Director of AML Compliance, ensuring members met their legal obligations. Since retiring in 2021, he has continued to support ICB by carrying out AML reviews.