Hanif has extensive experience of board and committee reviews.  He also brings considerable expertise in risk and assurance.  He has worked with a wide range of clients including plcs, private companies, subsidiaries, industry regulators and not-for-profit organisations.  He brings an excellent understanding of board culture and dynamics, risk, board information and board processes.  Hanif's work with audit and risk functions means he brings an effective working knowledge of assurance to boards.  His work with boards and committees means he brings insight to risk and audit functions of their key stakeholders' needs and expectations.

Hanif founded Board Alchemy in 2017 to deliver a broad range of value-adding governance services to his clients.  Previously, for thirteen years, he was a founder partner at Independent Audit and prior to this was a director at PwC.  He is a Chartered Accountant and has an MBA from London Business School.

Hanif co-founded the Risk Coalition in 2018. The Risk Coalition is a network of not-for-profit professional bodies and membership organisations committed to raising the standards of risk management in the UK. The Risk Coalition launched the Risk Guidance Initiative in 2018 to meet the need for coherent, principles-based good practice guidance for board risk committees and risk functions within the UK financial services sector. The outcome of this work is Raising The Bar, published in December 2019.

He is a board member at Coram Beanstalk and Southwark Cathedral Enterprises. Hanif is also a member of the Audit & Risk Assurance Committee at the Department for International Trade and a member of the Audit Committee at the London Institute of Banking and Finance. Hanif was previously Chair of St Christopher’s Fellowship, a leading specialist charity for children and young people in care and on the edge of care, and a member of the Audit & Risk Committee at City, University of London.  These pro-bono roles have given him practical experience of dealing with ‘live’ governance issues and have helped him ensure the advice he gives his clients is practical, relevant and fit-for-purpose. 

He is also an Honorary Visiting Fellow and visiting lecturer on corporate governance at City, University of London’s business school. He was a member of the Working Group of the Financial Reporting Council's Audit & Assurance Lab.

David brings extensive experience to his role as adviser to Board Alchemy.  He is an experienced audit and risk committee chair with particular knowledge of the regulated financial services industry.  He sits on the boards of several public and private equity-backed companies, regulated by both the FCA and PRA as well as the FRC.

He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at the London office of Arthur Andersen (now Deloitte).  Following seven years in investment banking, he became finance director of a London Stock Exchange premium-listed company before embarking on a portfolio career in 1999.  He is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.  He was deputy chairman of the ICAEW’s NED Group.

Having been both a finance director and non-executive director of companies gives David a special insight into the workings of company boards and the requirements of regulators.  As a purchaser of external and internal audit, risk and other assurance services, he understands how strong and constructive relationships can be formed which add value to strong governance and do not simply tick the right box.

Alex is a Business Psychologist, board consultant and Non-Executive Director with a background in HR and customer operations. She has a proven track record in creating behavioural and cultural change for tangible business benefits, having worked with brands including Mandara, NHS, NHBC, Open University, Sedex and Miele. Early in her career, Alex worked for both Virgin Mobile in Australia and GE Healthcare to support their cultural due diligence and harmonisation for a major acquisition.

She is founder of Flint Change Ltd, a consultancy working with businesses to help them translate their strategy for their people to ensure they understand the part they play, enabling them to deliver at pace. Her work focus on culture transformation, creating a value-driven and purpose-focused environment, that results in increased employee engagement and improved customer experience in a high-performance environment.

Alex brings extensive experience of working with leadership teams and boards to align the strategy, purpose, values and behaviours of organisations. She has recently completed her Psychology masters.

David Alexander is a chartered accountant with extensive experience of risk management and internal audit gained from over 30 years in executive assurance or consulting roles. 

David is a former global head of internal audit for three major financial services groups (Coutts NatWest, Benfield and Catlin) and has also undertaken interim head of internal audit roles for companies such as Premier Foods, Kleinwort Benson and Henderson Global Investors.  David has a detailed understanding of financial services regulation and regulatory expectations of internal audit, as well as an in-depth working knowledge of the practical operation and challenges of operating in a three lines of defence framework.

David now acts as a consultant and trainer on various aspects of assurance, including external quality assessments of internal audit teams and running training courses for heads of internal audit and audit committee members.