BSI Executive

Howard Kerr was appointed to the Board in November 2008 and assumed the position of Chief Executive in January 2009. After a period at Associated British Ports, his early career was spent in business development roles in the fields of shipping, logistics and B2B marketing with Inchcape PLC in the UK, Japan, China and the Middle East.  Subsequently he joined SHV Holdings NV, where he held general management positions in the energy division, including Chief Executive of Calor Group Ltd, UK, and Senior Vice-President on the International Management Board of SHV Gas in the Netherlands.

Craig Smith joined the Board as Group Finance Director in August 2011. A Chartered Certified Accountant, he began his career in 1985 with Coats Viyella PLC, undertaking finance roles in Australia, Spain, the UK, Morocco, Hungary and Finland. Following his return to the UK in 1997 he worked as European Finance Director for two large American corporations and, immediately prior to joining BSI, he was Group Finance Director of two UK-listed companies, Huntleigh Technology PLC from 2003 to 2007 and Management Consulting Group PLC from 2007 onwards.

Scott Steedman joined the Group in January 2012 and was appointed to the Board in October 2012. An engineer by background, he started his career at the University of Cambridge before moving to industry where he spent over 20 years as a consultant working in the Built Environment sector. He was a Non-Executive Board Member of the Port of London Authority from 2009 to 2015 and served as Vice-President (Policy) for the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) from 2013 to 2017. He is currently Vice-President (Policy) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Shirley Bailey-Wood was appointed as Director, BSI Information Solutions in December 2014, having been BSI’s Director of Publishing since 2011.  Shirley is responsible for the leadership and strategic development of BSI Standards Limited.  Shirley joined BSI in 2004 as Operations Director for the Standards Division, with responsibility for the standards portfolio development and the delivery of market relevant content. Shirley has extensive experience of the publishing and information sector, with previous positions as the Executive VP of the Life Science and Chemistry Division of Thomson Scientific; European Sales and Marketing Director for Maxwell Communications (The Thomson Corporation) and Information Scientist at the Glaxo Group.  Shirley was awarded an MBE in 2012 for Services to the Knowledge Economy.

Grainne Brankin joined the Group in June 2017 as General Counsel and Company Secretary. Grainne qualified at Clifford Chance and has experience of a wide range of international corporate and commercial transactions, in particular in technology and media. She has held General Counsel and executive committee positions at Yahoo!, CBS Outdoor, Exterion Media and Centaur Media PLC.

Responsible for strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, David has held senior appointments in both the US and the UK, with specific responsibility for strategy and M&A in KPMG, Arthur D Little, Morgan Crucible, TRW/Lucas Varity and Rolls Royce.

Pietro Foschi is in charge of the BSI Assurance Services, including Management System Certification, Product Certification and Training global businesses, operating in over 190 countries. He joined BSI in 2014 as Strategic Delivery Director, responsible for the BSI’s strategic plan and the development of the global Systems Certification & Training streams. Before joining BSI, Pietro spent 14 years at Bureau Veritas in senior strategic and international operational roles. Prior to that he worked at Oliver Wyman, formerly Mercer Management Consulting, becoming a partner in their Paris office.

David Horlock has a Bachelor of Business Degree in Agribusiness and 35 years’ business experience in the Agri-Food, Life Science, Commodities, Consumer Products and International Standards and Certification sectors. His experience includes international management roles as a CEO, Country Manager, Global Product Manager and Global Vice President for internationally recognized Systems Certification, Business Standards and Compliance companies, gained from postings in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia and the UAE. He has dual UK and Australian citizenship, was born and raised in Thailand, lived and educated in Australia and has been based in Hong Kong for the last 14 years.  He joined BSI in 2012 and is the Managing Director of BSI’s Asia Pacific region and is also responsible for the BSI’s Global Agri-Food strategy.

Angela Paradise joined BSI in May 2017 as Group Human Resources Director. She works closely with the business and its employees to develop further BSI’s People, Leadership and Resourcing agenda.  She has extensive experience of senior HR Director roles in organisations operating both within the UK and internationally, including Diageo, Value Retail, Cambridge University, General Healthcare Group and Deutsche Bank.