USA community Area Networks for ICAS CAs

Jim Robertson was VP Tax Americas at Shell, and formerly based in Houston, Texas. He qualified with Price Waterhouse in 1981 and joined Shell the same year. Since then he has had nine different tax and finance roles in Shell and has lived in London, The Hague, Kuala Lumpur and Aberdeen.

In Shell Finance he has global responsibility for promoting professional qualifications and for communications in the area of diversity & inclusion.

Jim is chair of the academic board of the Advanced Diploma in International Tax of the UK Chartered Institute of Taxation, a director of the International Tax and Investment Center which is a nonprofit research & education foundation based in Washington, DC, a member of the Professional Development Curriculum Committee of the Tax Executives Institute and its Chief Tax Officer group, a member of the conference committee of the Norwegian Petroleum Association and a board member of the Houston branch of the International Fiscal Association.

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Graeme Cosh, CA is the Head of Global Accounting and Regulatory Policy at Liberty Mutual Investments in Boston.  The firm manages the $85b investment portfolio of its parent, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, a Fortune 100 company which has a significant global presence operating in the USA, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Graeme’s responsibilities include setting and implementing technical accounting and financial reporting guidance under US GAAP and IFRS, providing transactional advisory services to Liberty’s internal asset management team, and advisory services to senior management on regulatory issues in the insurance and asset management industries.

Graeme is a graduate of the University of Strathclyde and was admitted as a member of ICAS in 1989 having trained with Ernst and Young in Inverness, and worked with E&Y in the Cayman Islands after qualification before moving to the USA in 1993.  He has spent the majority of his career in various roles in audit and financial reporting in the financial services industry in the USA.

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Will Frame is the Americas leader for Deloitte Corporate Finance. Will has 20 years’ investment banking experience with Deloitte Corporate Finance (DCF), working and advising on transactions in the US, Europe and Asia.  He also leads the Industrials team for DCF and serves on the DCF Global Exco.

Will specializes in advising on mid-market M&A transactions in the $50 - $500m value range.  Beyond his sector focus, he has particular expertise in cross border transactions and corporate divestitures/carveouts.

Will joined Deloitte Corporate Finance in Scotland in 1995, and gained experience in the UK and across Europe.  In 2001, he transferred to California, spending 3 years each in San Francisco and LA before moving to Chicago in 2007, the year he became a principal in the firm. Will has substantial deal execution experience, advising on sale/divestiture transaction, acquisitions and financings.  His role typically includes winning new engagements, advising on the feasibility, then planning execution of transactions.

Deep industry focus is a key part of Will’s success.  He built the DCF Paper, Packaging and Plastics team from scratch into a market leader, and is recognized by the market and within the firm as the preeminent source for insight in this sector.  In his role as Industrials leader for DCF, he is bringing that same approach to a wider sector.

Will’s international background, experience and relationships mean he is often called into cross border M&A transactions and global leadership discussions.

Will has an MA (Honours) from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and is designated as a General Securities Principal (NASD/FINRA), Registered series 7,24,63.

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Graham Russell joined WPP Group, the world leader in advertising, public relations, branding and media services, in June 2011 as BPO Director, and leads Business Process Outsourcing globally and Shared Services for North America.

Graham has previous commercial experience in the Pharmaceutical, Telecommunications and High Tech industries together with audit/consulting experience from KPMG.

Graham was previously the Global Head of Shared Services at AstraZeneca and before that held the same role at Orange Business Services, where he was also the VP Financial Processes and Systems.

Previously, Graham was with NCR Corporation in mainly CFO roles including CFO Latin America and CFO Europe/Middle East /Africa and KPMG where he worked as a manager in both audit and consulting.

Graham who is a dual US/UK citizen, works in New York and lives in Connecticut. He is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen and a Chartered Accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland).

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Alan Semple is an experienced board director, currently serving on the boards of Teekay Corporation, a leading provider of international crude oil and gas marine transportation services and offshore oil production, storage and offloading services, Cobham PLC, a leading global technology services innovator focused on commercial, defense and security markets, and Cactus Wellhead, LLC, a leading provider of wellhead and pressure control products and services to the US onshore oil and gas sector.

Mr. Semple is Chairman of Cobham’s audit committee, and serves on the Teekay audit committee. Mr. Semple was formally chief financial officer and director at John Wood Group PLC from 2000 until his retirement in May 2015.

Mr. Semple has lived in Houston, Texas for 21 years, and travels extensively. Mr. Semple joined the Institute in 1982.

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