CAP Committees, Panels and Executive

Admired around the world for its creativity, the UK advertising industry sets the standard in successful self-regulation. Our industry is governed by Advertising Codes that are designed to protect consumers and create a level playing field for advertisers. 

The Codes are the responsibility of two industry Committees - the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) and are independently administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). 

Here you can find out more about the Committees, Executive and Panels that support their work:

Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP)

Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP)

Industry Advisory Panel

Promotional Marketing and Direct Response Panel

Advertising Advisory Committee

Online Publications Media Panel

Our Executive

Our Committees

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) are responsible for writing and updating the UK Advertising Codes. Chaired by James Best, the Committees are made up of representatives of advertisers, agencies, media owners and other industry groups, all of which are committed to upholding the highest standards in non-broadcast and broadcast advertising. 
 

• 

  James Best

  CAP Chairman

  James was appointed Chair of CAP and BCAP in April 2011, after serving four years as an Industry Member on the ASA Council. 

  He worked for over 30 years in advertising, after joining BMP as a trainee in 1975. He was Chairman of the agency – then BMP DDB - from 1989 to 2000 and Chief People & Strategy Officer of DDB Worldwide before his retirement from the network in 2006. 
  
  James was Chairman of the UK Advertising Association from 1997 until 2002 and President of the European Association of Communication Agencies 2003-05, as well as a long-serving member of IPA Council.  

Committee of Advertising Practice

CAP writes the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) and helps enforce ASA rulings. 

Established in 1961, the Committee and the Code marked their 50th anniversary in 2011. The existing CAP membership consists of representatives from:
 

• Advertising Association
• Cinema Advertising Association 
• Data & Marketing Association 
• Direct Selling Association 
• Incorporated Society of British Advertisers 
• Influencer Marketing Trade Body
• Institute of Practitioners in Advertising 
• Institute of Promotional Marketing 
• Internet Advertising Bureau 
• News Media Association
• Newsbrands Scotland
• Outsmart Out of Home
• Professional Publishers Association 
• Proprietary Association of Great Britain 
• Royal Mail 
• Television on Demand Industry Forum

Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice

The success of CAP’s regulation of non-broadcast ads encouraged Ofcom to contract-out the regulation of broadcast advertising to the ASA system. This led to the formation of a co-regulatory partnership and BCAP. BCAP writes the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising. The existing BCAP membership consists of representatives from:
 

• Advertising Association 
• Association for Commercial Broadcasters and On-Demand Services 
• Channel 4 Television Corporation
• Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd
• Data & Marketing Association 
• Electronic Retailing Association UK 
• Incorporated Society of British Advertisers 
• Institute of Practitioners in Advertising 
• ITV plc
• Radiocentre 
• S4C 
• Sky UK Ltd
• STV

Our panels

• a recommendation before the ASA Executive gives it to Council, either at the request of the Executive or any party to the complaint. The Panels’ opinion will not be included in the recommendation but will be reported to Council.
• specific copy advice
• the application of a Code rule
• common industry practice or,
• other general regulatory subjects.

Industry Advisory Panel

The Industry Advisory Panel (IAP) brings together marketing and media practitioners, others with expert knowledge of the UK marketing industry and one ASA Council member. The Panel advises both CAP and BCAP on non-broadcast and broadcast matters and meets approximately six times every year.

Read about the IAP's activities below. You can find out about the Panel’s activities prior to 2023 in our archive of annual reports.

• 

  Tim Duffy

  Chairman

  Tim joined Saatchi & Saatchi in 1986 as a Strategic Planner and became one of the founders of M&C Saatchi which he helped build into a top 10 agency. He was appointed Chief Executive in 2004 and Chairman of the UK Group in 2009.

  Tim has worked for a range of clients including; the launch of the National Lottery, the London Olympics, British Airways, GlaxoSmithKline, NatWest, Procter & Gamble, and various government behaviour change campaigns, including Change4Life. 

• 

  Shahriar Coupal

  Director of Advertising Policy and Practice

  As Director of Advertising Policy and Practice, Shahriar oversees the organisation’s Regulatory Policy, Copy Advice and Compliance functions.

  As Director for the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP), Shahriar is responsible for the effective running of committee business, which includes updating the UK Advertising Codes and associated guidance. He also oversees the effective running of the various CAP Panels and the independent Advertising Advisory Committee.

  Shahriar previously worked at Ofcom. He studied Politics at the University of Kent at Canterbury and Economics at Birkbeck.

• 

  Emma Humber-Smith

  Copy Advice Manager

  Emma took over as Operations Manager for Copy Advice in 2017. Her team provides advertisers, agencies and media owners with free and confidential advice, giving an informed view of the likely acceptability of non-broadcast marketing communications under the CAP Code.

  Emma studied Law, specialising in Entertainment Law, at the University of Westminster before joining the ASA in 2011 as a Complaints Executive and becoming a Senior Complaints Executive in 2014.  She moved to Copy Advice in 2015.

• 

  Jonathan Allan

  Panel member

  Jonathan Allan is Channel 4’s Chief Operating Officer and is responsible for overseeing key operational functions.

  He led Channel 4’s successful public policy response to the proposed privatisation of Channel 4 – devising 4:The Next Episode as an alternative strategy under continued public ownership. He was also a key contributor to Channel 4 successfully navigating the Covid crisis, launched the five-year Future4 strategy underpinning the broadcaster’s digital transformation, significantly increasing the streaming of Channel 4 content and new revenues and also led its landmark 4 All The UK Nations & Regions strategy.

  In his previous role as Chief Commercial Officer At Channel 4, Jonathan has transformed Channel 4 Sales into an industry leader in delivering commercial innovation by working with brands and agencies to adapt and evolve in the face of unprecedented technological advances. Now in its fifth year, Jonathan established Channel 4’s Diversity in Advertising Award in which the broadcaster committed to give away £1million of commercial airtime every year to improve diverse and inclusive representation in TV advertising.

  Prior to joining Channel 4, Jonathan worked at major London media agency OMD UK, progressing from a graduate trainee position to Managing Director in January 2007.

• 

  Nathan Ansell

  Panel member

  Nathan is Director of Customer for Waitrose and joined the John Lewis Partnership in December 2022. He is accountable for leading the development of the Brand, all Customer communication, Marketing, CX, Store Development, Customer, Design and Content.  

  He is an accomplished commercial leader with over 20 years of experience across CPG and retail. Prior to Waitrose, he was Executive Director, Ethical Consulting at House 337 (a top 10 UK consumer agency formed from the merger of Engine Creative and ODD London). He worked with some of the worlds most ambitious consumer brands and specialised in sustainability, leveraging technology to drive commercial performance, brand positioning and creating winning customer experiences.

  Nathan’s prior retail experience spans 10 years at M&S, most recently as Marketing Director where he was credited with transforming the marketing function into one of the most modern and technically capable functions in UK retail; building strategic partnerships with Google and Facebook to deliver breakthrough innovation and record online growth. Nathan also led a talented M&S Food team to deliver 36 consecutive periods of like-for-like growth under the successful ‘Adventures in…’ integrated campaign, which received many accolades. He has won a number of prestigious awards, including Data Professional of the Year and Marketing Society awards for excellence and capability building.

  Nathan previously held a number of FMCG marketing roles growing brands such as Heinz, Birds Eye and Red Bull. He holds a first-class (hons) degree in Neurological Psychology from UWS. He lives in Berkshire with his wife Alicja and children Jan (6) and Maja (4), and loves long walks with the dogs, rugby, travel and SCUBA diving.
   

• 

  Nick Baughan

  Panel member

  Nick Baughan is Meta’s Head of Global Agencies leading their partnerships with the worldwide agency community. Prior to this Nick led Meta’s agency teams in the UK. 

  Before joining Facebook in 2019, Nick spent 13 years at WPP Plc, latterly as CEO of Essence across EMEA.

  Nick sits on a range of industry trade bodies and committees including the Effies Council, the Advertising Association Council, the Adweek Europe Advisory Board and the IAB Board. Previously Nick also sat on the World Economic Forum’s Global Council for Information. Nick mentors widely and is a Trustee for SSAFA, the Armed Forces Charity. 

  Nick lives in North London with his wife and two children.

• 

  Jenny Biggam

  Panel member

  Jenny set up the7stars in 2005 after a career in media agencies including Zenith and Carat. In the last 18 years the7stars has grown to be the UK’s largest media independent agency with billings of over £425million and over 300 people.

  the7stars has been named Agency of the Year by Campaign Magazine (2015 and 2017), Media Week (2015), The Drum (2018) and Mediatel (2018) and most recently, Campaign’s Independent Media Agency of the Year (2022). They have won numerous awards including golds at Media Week and an IPA Effectiveness Award.

  Jenny is particularly passionate about workplace culture and personally leads a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives at the agency. She is particularly proud that the agency has been listed in the Best Companies to Work For consistently for the last ten years and in 2023 the7stars were crowned Campaign’s Best Places To Work: Top 5 Large Companies Winner. In 2016 Jenny launched the7stars Foundation to support under-privileged young people in the UK and the7stars donates 5% of profits to good causes via the Foundation. Jenny is a member of the IPA Media Futures Group, the ASA’s Industry Advisory Panel and the British Heart Foundation’s Marketing Committee.

• 

  Leonie Blakeway

  Panel member

  Leonie is the Deputy Director for Strategy and Campaigns in the Government Communication Service, overseeing all government campaigns and delivering priority campaigns for No10, most recently on cost of living schemes and energy reduction advice for vulnerable audiences.

  Before this, Leonie led on climate change campaigns for government in advance of COP26, championing positive behaviours the public could take to help tackle carbon emissions. 

  Leonie has worked across the communications landscape in the public and private sector. She started her career as a journalist at the International New York Times before working as a lobbyist where she championed a number of social causes including improving conditions for women in work with Jess Phillips MP.  

• 

  Matt Bush

  Panel member

  Matt is Senior Vice President of Global Agency Partnerships at Smartly.io, the AI-powered Adtech company transforming advertising experiences for brands and their consumers.

  Prior to this, he was Managing Director of Agencies, Partners and Creative at Google where he worked with leading advertisers and agencies to help them get the most from the digital opportunity. Matt joined Google in 2010 from the digital publishing industry and before that he worked in National and Local press.

  Matt is a regular public speaker on many topics around digital, technology and media and is also a Trustee of NABS. Matt loves running, especially to music that reminds him of his youth, and doing his best to be a great Dad to 3 daughters.

• 

  Dominic Carter

  Panel member

  Dominic was named EVP, Publisher, The Sun in 2022. He oversees all aspects of The Sun’s business: on digital platforms, in print, and across an array of highly successful brand extensions: from Fabulous, the biggest women’s lifestyle brand in UK media to fantasy football brand Dream Team and gaming brands including Sun Bingo.

  The Sun reaches more than 30 million readers each month across all its digital and print platforms. It is also growing audiences fast in the US via the-sun.com. The Sun is famous for its campaigning journalism, celebrating heroes across society and giving voice to the voiceless. Working with editor Victoria Newton and his senior leadership team, Dominic is focused on developing The Sun’s audience, products and revenues to their full potential.

  Dominic joined News in 1991 and held various roles across The Sun and The Times before leaving the business in 1999 to launch a digital arm for a major publisher and subsequently joining Mirror Group Newspapers as Group Advertising Director.

  In 2006 he returned to News and since then has held a number of senior commercial roles across the business. In 2018 Dominic was appointed Group Chief Commercial Officer for News UK, overseeing all national commercial operations across print, digital, video and radio.

  Dominic is News UK’s Diversity Board chair. In 2021, Dominic was recognised as Commercial Leader of the Year by Campaign, as a top 20 Global Ethnic Minority Executive Role Model by EMpower, and Social Mobility Champion of the Year by the Social Mobility Awards.

• 

  Bhavit Chandrani

  Panel member

  Bhav Chandrani is Director of BE Studio, ITV's full service branded entertainment studio. BE Studio covers sponsorship, ad funded entertainment, creative partnerships, social and digital for ITV’s Commercial team. 

  With over 20 years in the industry, Bhav's passion is in bridging two incredible creative industries (programme making and advertising) to make meaningful campaigns for brands. Bhav leads ITV's commercial relationships with other media brands such as X, TikTok and Global Radio; as well as ITV's first brand funded steps into the Metaverse.

  Bhav is a founding member of the diversity network, MeFA (Media For All), and Board Director of Metavision.

• 

  Alexia Clifford

  Panel member

  Alexia is Chief Communications Officer at GambleAware, the leading charity working to keep people safe from gambling harms.

  Before joining GambleAware, Alexia was Director of Marketing at Public Health England (PHE), where she led a number of highly successful, flagship social marketing campaigns including:

  • Change4Life, which encouraged millions of families in England to ‘eat well, move more, live longer’
  • Stoptober, which helped more than a million people to quit smoking
  • Every Mind Matters, England’s first national mental health literacy campaign.

  Alexia has also delivered a suite of award-winning digital products that have changed behaviour at scale, from the ‘Couch to 5K’ running app to government’s first ‘voice skill’, the Breastfeeding Friend.

• 

  Ed Couchman

  Panel member

  Ed Couchman is an experienced business leader with over two decades of experience in the media and advertising industry at the heart of the digital transformation. He is currently the Head of Sales, UK & Northern Europe at Spotify, where he leads the company's advertising sales operations across the region.

  Prior to joining Spotify, Ed was the General Manager of Snap in the UK, where he led the camera company's largest European sales office. During his tenure, he worked hand in hand with advertisers, helping them to best leverage Snapchat's innovative ad formats, as well as unpacking the tangible business impact and ROI they provide.

  Before joining Snap, Ed served as Director of Agency Partnerships at Facebook, where he worked for over six years. Prior to this, he was Head of Digital and Future Media at Channel 4 and led the display team at Associated New Media.
  
  In addition to his work in the industry, Ed is actively involved in several charitable organizations. He serves as a trustee of the MediaTrust, a national charity that uses the power of media to give charities a voice and change lives. He is also a member of several industry bodies, including the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Industry Advisory Panel to the Advertising Association.
  
  Ed is highly respected by his peers and colleagues for his strategic thinking, business acumen, and leadership skills. He is a sought-after speaker and has spoken at several industry events, sharing his insights on the evolving media and advertising landscape.

• 

  Matthew Dearden

  Panel member

  Matthew is the leader of a media business on a mission to build positive connections with communities out-of-home. Alight Media offers advertisers opportunities to engage audiences in every region across the UK, through its national portfolio of digital billboards, digital and classic 6 sheet posters and the MiXR digital retail media network. 

  Under Matthew’s leadership, since its launch four years ago, Alight has become the top media owner listed in Campaign’s top 100 Best Places to work. Alight was also recognised by the Best Companies scheme in 2023 as a Best Mid-sized company to work for in the UK, a Top 30 Best Mid-sized Company to work for in London and a Top 30 Media and marketing business.  

  In 2023, Matthew was recognised as Media Leader of the Year at the prestigious Media Week Awards for his leadership of Alight and his contribution to the wider media industry.

  Prior to founding Alight, Matthew was President of Clear Channel Europe, having joined as CEO of Clear Channel UK in 2010. As well as continued UK responsibilities including major digitisation projects and contract wins, Matthew was responsible for Clear Channel’s business in 18 European countries, and had global responsibilities across Sales, Marketing, IT and HR.

  Before Clear Channel, Matthew worked client-side in senior marketing and commercial roles at British Telecom, Telewest Broadband and Procter & Gamble. During his most recent client role as Marketing Director at BT, he was responsible for acquiring, keeping and in-life marketing to over 10m customers. This involved overseeing overall marketing strategy, agency relationships, campaign development and through-the-line execution, media buying and responsibility for a nine-figure marketing budget.

  As a business leader with extensive experience across sectors, as well as his work with the Advertising Standards Authority, Matthew has previously been a board member and President of various industry bodies.

  Matthew is also the father of two children, a fan of the colour purple, beekeeping, folk music and climbing mountains.

• 

  Alison Hastings

  Independent Member

  Alison is a former daily newspaper editor who has sat on the Boards of a range of regulators including the BBC Trust, the British Board of Film Classification, the Gambling Commission and the Press Complaints Commission.

  She is currently a member of the Press Association Trust and a non-exec at Motability Operations PLC. Alison sits on the ASA Council as an independent member.

• 

  Vicki Holgate

  Panel member

  Vicki is an independent strategy consultant. She has spent nearly 30 years as a strategist in the advertising industry with some of the industry’s most influential agencies including Grey, JWT and BMP DDB. She has also worked client-side for Diageo as Effective Creative Excellence Director. 

  Her experience covers a range of different sectors including FMCG, sport, government, food, health, beauty, finance & tech. As Chief Strategy Officer, Vicki led the creation of This Girl Can which redefined many of the conventions of how women are portrayed in advertising.  It picked up over 50 industry awards, including 11 Cannes Lions, an IPA Effectiveness Award and the APG Creative Strategy Grand Prix.  Vicki is the only person in the world to have won the APG Creative Strategy Grand Prix twice. 

  Vicki was Chair of the Account Planning Group throughout the Covid pandemic and co-led the launch of the APG’s mental health initiative for the advertising industry – The Right to Disconnect.  And she is also an active member of the IPA’s Talent Leadership Group, helping to drive more inclusivity across the advertising industry with the launch of the renowned IPA iList.

• 

  Chris Macleod

  Panel Member

  Chris has wide-ranging experience in Marketing and Communications, and general management, having spent time in senior roles with both advertising agencies and clients.

  Most recently, he was Director, Customer & Revenue, for Transport for London (TfL) one of the largest transport providers in the world.

  With revenues of c£5bn (pre-COVID) it would rank high in the FTSE 100 if listed and Chris was responsible for customer strategy and all marketing activity. He was also responsible for commercial media revenues, including TfL’s outdoor advertising estate, the largest in the world, worth c£150m in the last pre-COVID year.

  He helped TfL become a more customer focused organisation, establishing its ‘Every Journey matters’ promise and delivering a step change in customer service.

  During his time at TfL, it won every major Marketing award including Campaign magazine’s Advertiser of the Year, Cannes Gold Lions and Marketing Society and IPA Effectiveness awards.

  Before joining TfL, Chris worked at a number of leading agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi (twice) and Collett Dickenson Pearce, where he was chair. He now works in a number of consulting, teaching, and advisory roles, including as a non-executive director of Smart Energy GB.

  Chris has a degree from Newcastle Business School, a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and is a Fellow of both the Marketing Society (where he is a past chair) and the Marketing Academy.

   

• 

  Andrew Mortimer

  Panel member

  Andrew is the co-leader of The Aperto Partnership, an independent, expert media consultancy that helps advertisers get the very best from their media investments and their media agencies.

  Previously he spent eight years client-side as Director of Media in Sky’s sales and marketing team, with responsibility for the strategic planning and management of Sky’s above-the-line advertising budget, as well as the relationship with the media buying agencies and media partners.  Andrew was a member of the ISBA Executive Committee for five years and regular speaker at industry conferences on topics such as the role of media specialists within advertiser organisations, client-agency relationships and media transparency.  He started his advertising career in 1996 in the media department at Saatchi & Saatchi, and worked at Vizeum in 2000 and Manning Gottlieb before moving to the client-side at Sky. 

• 

  Nik Speller

  Panel member

  Nik has worked in influencer marketing for the past 5 years, having started his career as a freelancer, before moving to work for Havas, then ShopStyle, and finally to Influencer, where he is VP of Commercial.

  During his career, Nik had developed a particular interest in the development of influencer marketing, regulations, and influencer fraud. He has spoken widely on these topics at events and conferences around the world.

• 

  Jessica Tamsedge

  Panel member

  Jessica is UK CEO, Dentsu Creative, responsible for its four UK offices spanning brand and advertising, entertainment and experience, social and influencer. She also sits on the Board of Somerset House, the UK’s largest creative community and home to multi-disciplinary artists, makers and creative technologists.

   

  Jessica takes a passionate role in promoting positive change in the industry. She sits on the IPA Council and the Industry Advisory Panel to the Advertising Standards Authority. She is a Board Advisor to the Women’s Association, as well as a WACL and NABS 100 member, mentoring diverse talent from across the industry.

• 

  Steve Taylor

  Panel member

  As Creative Commercial Director of Bauer Media's radio division, Steve works with commercial and programming teams generating ideas and inspiring clients to use radio.

  Steve Taylor began his radio career in 1986 as Promotions Manager for Invicta Radio, a station in Kent. After six years he was approached by The Metro Radio Group to head up Sponsorship & Promotions at Viking FM.

  Steve moved to London in 1994 to join Virgin Radio. In his position as Promotions Director, he successfully executed over four hundred promotions and was responsible for attracting a number of new blue chip clients to radio.

  In 1998 he headed overseas fulfilling a lifelong ambition to travel. Whilst in Australia, he was offered a six-month contract setting up a National S&P Department for the Australian Radio Network.  His role involved identifying common themes in programming across 17 stations and developing network opportunities for national clients.

  Returning to the UK he re-joined Virgin Radio. As Group Enterprises Director, he headed up Promotions, Sponsorship, Client Sales, Commercial Marketing, PR and Digital and was subsequently promoted to Station Manager.

  In 2005 Steve was approached to join Bauer Media. As Creative Commercial Director of their radio division, he works with commercial and programming teams generating ideas and inspiring clients to use radio.

  He has also consulted for radio stations in Thailand, Ireland, India and South Africa. 

  Steve’s accolades in radio include two Sony Gold Awards in the ‘best on-air contest’ category and over twenty promotions awards including Promax, Media Week Awards, Campaign Awards, New York Festivals and The Institute of Sales Promotions Awards. He is also a fellow of the Radio Academy.

• 

  Stephen Vowles

  Panel member

  Stephen is CMO at AJ Bell, one of the UK's largest investment platforms offering a range of solutions that cater for everyone from professional advisers to DIY investors just getting started.

  Stephen previously co-founded Emptor Associates, a management consultancy in 2022. He was also a consultant with Kinetic Consulting, a Strategic Consulting Group. Prior to this, Stephen was Chief Marketing Officer of Barclays UK from 2018 to 2022, responsible for all marketing strategy and delivery across both Barclays and Barclaycard brands in the UK. Before Barclays, he served as Marketing Director of Argos and Sainsbury's Argos from 2013 until 2016 where he was responsible for marketing, own brand, brand and customer strategy, consumer insight and analytics across all touch points. 

  Stephen was responsible for co-conceiving and launching Nectar in 2002 in his role as Customer Marketing Director at Sainsbury’s Supermarkets and previously held senior marketing roles at Thomas Cook Retail, Procter and Gamble, and Ladbrokes plc. He also spent six years in the United States with Stop and Shop / Giant, the largest supermarket in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. 

  Stephen was a Non-Executive Director and Council Member at ISBA, the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers, from 2019 - 2023 and has served on CAP’s Industry Advisory Panel since 2014.

Promotional Marketing and Direct Response Panel

The Promotional Marketing and Direct Response Panel (PMDRP) advises CAP on promotional marketing and direct marketing matters.  

Read about PMDRP's activities below. You can find out more about PMDRP's activities prior to 2023 in our archive of annual reports.

• 

  Catherine Shuttleworth

  Chair

  Catherine is the Founder and CEO of Savvy Marketing.  She founded Savvy in 2006 and has grown the business to become a leading award winning agency. The company of 80+ people works with a broad base of clients both in the UK and globally.

  After graduating with a degree in retail marketing, Catherine has focused her career in the retail marketing space working in both client and agency organisations.
  
  As an active member of both the Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM) and the The Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD), Catherine is a well-established expert in shopper marketing. She’s also a regular spokesperson for retail news stories and debates on high profile programmes including BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours, and amongst the retail and marketing trade press.

• 

  Shahriar Coupal

  Director of Advertising Policy and Practice

  As Director of Advertising Policy and Practice, Shahriar oversees the organisation’s Regulatory Policy, Copy Advice and Compliance functions.

  As Director for the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP), Shahriar is responsible for the effective running of committee business, which includes updating the UK Advertising Codes and associated guidance. He also oversees the effective running of the various CAP Panels and the independent Advertising Advisory Committee.

  Shahriar previously worked at Ofcom. He studied Politics at the University of Kent at Canterbury and Economics at Birkbeck.

• 

  Nick Hudson

  Compliance Manager

  Nick heads up the Compliance or enforcement function of the ASA and CAP, which helps to create a level playing field for advertisers; both through ensuring the findings of upheld ASA rulings are implemented by those affected and through proactive, own-initiative work such as surveying trends across different sectors and issuing Enforcement Notices to whole sectors in need of a change of approach.

  Nick is a member of the UK government’s Consumer Protection Partnership Operational Group. He is also Secretary to the Promotional Marketing and Direct Response Panel. With an LLB in Business Law, Nick started his working life in advertising, working in several ad agencies in the account handling department.

• 

  Victoria Bugler

  Operations Manager - Compliance

  Victoria joined the ASA in 2005 working first in the Investigations team, joining the CAP Compliance team in 2009.

  As part of the planned expansion of the compliance function, Victoria became Operations Manager of the second Compliance team in 2023. She currently leads a team of six overseeing work in diverse areas and has worked closely with the ASA’s Data Science team to integrate machine-learning solutions into the teams’ work, to optimise the impact of compliance projects.

• 

  Peter Batchelor

  Panel Member

  Peter currently leads the retail strategy function at VMLY&R Commerce in London, for a mix of UK and global client businesses and is the longest serving member of the panel having joined it in 1999.

  Peter has been involved in marketing communications and strategic creative ideas for over 30 years, having graduated with a degree in business and a CiM Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing. Starting off in data driven and direct marketing at many of the UK’s largest and most iconic agencies including EHS, Brann and Carlson. His more recent roles have seen him working with many iconic consumer brands across retail, CRM, digital and eCommerce businesses at Leo Burnett, J. Walter Thompson, WRCS, Engine and Arc.

• 

  Mark Challinor

  Panel Member

  Mark is Executive Producer and Advertising Initiative Lead for the International News Media Association www.inma.org the world’s leading networking body for news publishers). In the first role, he is responsible for the interactive programme (webinars, masterclasses etc) and with the second, he leads a deep dive into the commercial future of advertising on behalf of global media. He is also former global president for the Association.

  Formerly, Director of Mobile Platforms at Telegraph Media Group, London were he was responsible for all mobile/tablet services and apps for one of the world’s major media groups.

  Prior to The Telegraph, Mark has had over 20 years in newspapers and media, holding senior commercial roles at The Mirror, Daily Mail and London Evening Standard where he led the promotional offerings. In that capacity, Mark introduced the concepts of Fantasy Football and the promotional "free" cs/dvd to UK newspapers.

  He is a regular speaker at media conferences around the globe and is a former regional president for The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

• 

  Michael Halstead

  Panel Member

  Mike is a founder and managing director of HH&S Group. Formed in 1987 HH&S is a promotional agency with strong publishing credentials. In 2007 HH&S branched out to additionally provide publishing subscriptions fulfilment services alongside the existing promotional offering. Today HH&S manages subscriptions for over 400 UK national and regional newspapers, the largest UK independent provider of newspaper subscriptions fulfilment and marketing services.

  Over the last 30yrs Mike was an original board member of the Sales Promotion Consultants Association, the Marketing Communications Consultants Association, the Marketing Agencies Association and involved in the establishment of the Alliance of Independent Agencies.

  In addition, Mike is a Director of James Halstead Plc an AIM listed worldwide flooring manufacturer and distributor.  Stable Events Limited who operate/own the Game Fair, Scottish Game Fair, Welsh Game Fair, other Field Sports events and publishing interests. Poems Limited who provide medical courses on child anxiety and Mike is also a Trustee of the Royal Thames YC Charitable Trust. 

• 

  Mike Lordan

  Panel Member

  Mike worked for Acxiom for around 25 years in various roles, from Data Centre Director to running fulfilment and call centre operations in the North East, latterly being head of customer services in London. He has been with the DMA for 17 years again in a variety of roles; Director of Operations, Director of Preference Services and Compliance and finally Director of External Affairs, mostly dealing with regulators, specifically the ICO.

• 

  Chris McCash

  Panel Member

  Chris is a Planning Director with over 20 years experience in shopper and promotional marketing.

  Part of the start up team for Savvy Marketing in 2006, Chris continues to work with Savvy Clients including Pernod Ricard, Mars and AB Inbev. A sales promotion practitioner as much as a planner, highlights include being on the original J2O launch team, multiple on packs for Mars plus numerous promotional projects for Asda. Latterly his work has included TV advertising in the pet and travel sectors.

   

• 

  Krystle Sargent

  Independent Member

  Krystle has been a Barrister for more than 15 years and is the General Counsel and Deputy Director of Business Services at UK Sport, the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the UK. Prior to that she was at the Criminal Bar and has worked for OFGEM, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and the Serious Fraud Office.

   

  Krystle has also been a Local Councillor and the Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Public Health at Enfield Council, a trustee for a mental health charity, a Management Board member of a pupil referral unit and a local authority school governor.

• 

  Rupa Shah

  Panel Member

  Rupa Shah is Founder and Director of Hashtag Ad Consulting, a London firm that provides workshops, audits and training on the advertising rules to social media and influencer marketers. Hashtag Ad Consulting takes a unique approach to demystifying advertising regulations across the globe and Rupa works closely with influencers, their managers, ad agencies, tech platforms and brand owners to embed compliance throughout the marketing process and, ultimately, to help brands and influencer marketers protect their reputation.

  Prior to founding Hashtag Ad, Rupa trained in law and worked at the ASA and CAP for 13 years, where she developed a keen understanding of the regulatory regime for advertising through her investigative, advisory and compliance roles.

• 

  Carey Trevill

  Panel Member

  Carey Trevill hails from a successful agency background with award-winning campaigns across broadcast and non-broadcast media for global brands. She is an experienced business owner which has included the M&A of her own business going on to manage the UK flagship for global agency group TLC Marketing Worldwide. 

  Swapping stages to work in trade and industry, she was Managing Director of The Institute of Promotional Marketing until 2018 which included a position on the Committee of Advertising Practice in the UK (CAP) examining the broadcast and non-broadcast advertising regulations in the UK. 

  Working with a wide variety of organisations through her consultancy Mission Element, she provides advice and support to organisations on marketing, promotion, change management and is currently contracted as CEO of the BPMA in 2020, working closely with their members to support their businesses during the unprecedented economic upheaval of the pandemic, industry standards and compliance, complying with the CAP Code. She is also working closely with Government teams and Ministers on the wider industry position for export; highlighting the needs of the sector and delivering joint initiatives to businesses supported by BEIS and DIT.

• 

  Samuel Winterbourne

  Panel Member (IPM)

  Samuel is Regulatory Affairs Executive at the Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM), offering agencies, service partners and brand owners a thorough legal framework, helping to ensure the smooth running of UK and International promotional activity.

  Prior to joining the IPM, Samuel trained in several areas of law including Civil Litigation and Residential Property but has become passionate about Promotional Marketing after discovering the more morally rewarding results of his work.

Advertising Advisory Committee

The Advertising Advisory Committee (AAC) is the independent consumer panel providing a consumer perspective on the policy work of CAP and BCAP, such as the drafting and interpretation of the UK Advertising Codes. 

AAC members are independent of the advertising industry and are appointed following public advertisement: 

Read about the Committee's activities below. You can find out about the AAC’s activities prior to 2023 in our archive of annual reports.

• 

  Sam Younger

  Chair

  Sam is Chair of the Consumers’ Association (Which?) and of the international development charity VSO. He was a member of the Council of the ASA from 2014-2020.

  Previous roles include Managing Director of the BBC World Service, Chair of the Electoral Commission and Chief Executive of the Charity Commission.

• 

  Christine Forde

  Committee Member

  Christine is the Chief Executive of Solihull Action through Advocacy which is a charity that advocates for adults and young people with autism and learning disabilities. She qualified as a solicitor and has commercial expertise and experience of professional regulation including legal services, health, and education. She also has experience of transforming a broad range of services including ensuring that digital technologies are harnessed to provide improved customer service. 

  Christine is a Council member of Which? the UK’s consumer champion. Its aim is to protect consumers and make their lives simpler, fairer and safer. She is also a member of the National Serious Case Panel of the Football Association. 

  Her previous roles include Associate Director for Public Facing Services Transformation at the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, an adjudicator at the Solicitors Regulation Authority, a member of the Academy for Healthcare Science Regulation Council and legal chair of the Investigating Committee at the General Chiropractic Council.

• 

  Martin Hart

  Committee Member

  Martin is Assistant Director, Education at the General Medical Council. In this role he oversees the GMC’s responsibilities to promote high standards of basic medical education and training so that patients can be confident they will receive safe, high quality medical care.

  He has overseen a number of reviews of GMC standards and outcomes for medical education and training and had a key role in the integration of the former Postgraduate Education and Training Board (PMETB) into the GMC in 2010.  He currently leads the team responsible for the quality assurance of UK medical education and training.

  Prior to joining the GMC he was Head of Commercial Policy at Ofcom, the regulator for the UK communication’s industries. Earlier in his career he worked for the Independent Television Commission, the BBC and ITV. He is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society (RTS).

  He holds an MA (Hons) from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the University of Warwick.

• 

  Jess McBeath

  Committee Member

  Jess McBeath is a specialist in online harms and digital citizenship, with a particular interest in online misinformation. Jess is a member of Ofcom's Advisory Committee for Scotland and Borders College Regional Board.  

  Her career spans the public, private and voluntary sectors and she has a degree in Linguistics & Artificial Intelligence and an MBA. Jess was awarded the NSPCC Childhood Champion Award as Schools Volunteer Scotland 2018. 

• 

  Asha Odedra

  Committee Member

  Asha is an experienced civil servant having worked across several central government departments. She has specialised in the development of criminal justice policies to address violence against women and girls as well as supporting the work of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.

  Asha’s work was recognised through the awarding of an MBE for services to law and order.

• 

  Craig Simmons

  Committee Member

  Craig is a specialist in consumer policy and regulation and has held senior roles at the Financial Conduct Authority, HM Treasury and the Money and Pensions Service. He now leads Clear Consultancy Services, a firm which provides bespoke consultancy on organisational strategy, stakeholder engagement, service design and policy making.

  Craig brings particular experience in improving support for people in financial difficulty and for those in vulnerable circumstances. He was previously responsible for the debt advice and credit pillars of the UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing and worked with hundreds of stakeholders in delivering the Breathing Space Scheme, the Consumer Credit Regime and the Standard Financial Statement.

  Craig is also a Trustee of the Envia Charitable Trust and a Board Director of the Money Advice Liaison Group.

• 

  Nita P. Woods

  Committee Member

  Nita is a Sustainability Strategist and Social Entrepreneur. She has 20 years’ experience working for corporate clients, specialising in purpose-led business strategy, conscious capitalism, sustainability strategy and communications. She wants to solve our biggest social challenges by bringing diversity of thought and representation at C-Suite and Board level.

  She is Client Impact Director at Anthesis Group, one of the largest consultancies dedicated to sustainability, and is the co-founder of both Planet Communications and Out of The Woods, providing strategic advice to everyone from big brands through to small and micro businesses. 

  As a side hustle, she co-founded CAYA, a coffee shop and co-work space in South London and serves the Mayor of London as a business advisor when she's not busy burning through her bucket list, she's probably thinking up new business ideas, reading a book on a beach in Bali, and alliterating.

• 

  James Best

  CAP Chairman

  James was appointed Chair of CAP and BCAP in April 2011, after serving four years as an Industry Member on the ASA Council. 

  He worked for over 30 years in advertising, after joining BMP as a trainee in 1975. He was Chairman of the agency – then BMP DDB - from 1989 to 2000 and Chief People & Strategy Officer of DDB Worldwide before his retirement from the network in 2006. 
  
  James was Chairman of the UK Advertising Association from 1997 until 2002 and President of the European Association of Communication Agencies 2003-05, as well as a long-serving member of IPA Council.  

Online Publications Media Panel

The Online Publications Media Panel advises CAP on the proper distinction between editorial and advertising in online publications. Current members are:

• Chairman, Asbof 
• Chairman, The Regulatory Funding Company

In 2024, the Panel provided advice on the application of the ‘payment and control’ test in an online publication. The Panel was not required to meet in 2023. For further information on the Panel's activities prior to 2023 please refer to archive of annual reports.

Our Executive

The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP and BCAP) are supported in their work by the Advertising Policy and Practice department that sits within the overall structure of the ‘ASA system’ for UK advertising regulation. The team is responsible for code policy work, provision of pre-publication advice, on-going training for industry, writing and updating of Advertising guidance to help advertisers interpret the Codes, proactive monitoring of advertisements and, of course, a robust compliance function. 
 

• 

  Shahriar Coupal

  Director of Advertising Policy and Practice

  As Director of Advertising Policy and Practice, Shahriar oversees the organisation’s Regulatory Policy, Copy Advice and Compliance functions.

  As Director for the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP), Shahriar is responsible for the effective running of committee business, which includes updating the UK Advertising Codes and associated guidance. He also oversees the effective running of the various CAP Panels and the independent Advertising Advisory Committee.

  Shahriar previously worked at Ofcom. He studied Politics at the University of Kent at Canterbury and Economics at Birkbeck.

• 

  Malcolm Phillips

  Regulatory Policy Manager

  Malcolm took over as manager of the CAP Regulatory Policy team in 2009, which assists CAP and BCAP in ensuring the Advertising Codes remain relevant and fit for purpose, e.g. ensuring they're, where appropriate, responsive to changes in public policy and are consistent with the law.

  The Regulatory Policy team has recently undertaken projects on TV scheduling, advertising of cosmetic interventions, and e-cigarette advertising. Malcolm did postgraduate work in English Literature before moving to London and joining the Advertising Standards Authority as an Investigations Executive, moving to the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) in 2007. 

• 

  Nick Hudson

  Compliance Manager

  Nick heads up the Compliance or enforcement function of the ASA and CAP, which helps to create a level playing field for advertisers; both through ensuring the findings of upheld ASA rulings are implemented by those affected and through proactive, own-initiative work such as surveying trends across different sectors and issuing Enforcement Notices to whole sectors in need of a change of approach.

  Nick is a member of the UK government’s Consumer Protection Partnership Operational Group. He is also Secretary to the Promotional Marketing and Direct Response Panel. With an LLB in Business Law, Nick started his working life in advertising, working in several ad agencies in the account handling department.

• 

  Victoria Bugler

  Operations Manager - Compliance

  Victoria joined the ASA in 2005 working first in the Investigations team, joining the CAP Compliance team in 2009.

  As part of the planned expansion of the compliance function, Victoria became Operations Manager of the second Compliance team in 2023. She currently leads a team of six overseeing work in diverse areas and has worked closely with the ASA’s Data Science team to integrate machine-learning solutions into the teams’ work, to optimise the impact of compliance projects.

• 

  Emma Humber-Smith

  Copy Advice Manager

  Emma took over as Operations Manager for Copy Advice in 2017. Her team provides advertisers, agencies and media owners with free and confidential advice, giving an informed view of the likely acceptability of non-broadcast marketing communications under the CAP Code.

  Emma studied Law, specialising in Entertainment Law, at the University of Westminster before joining the ASA in 2011 as a Complaints Executive and becoming a Senior Complaints Executive in 2014.  She moved to Copy Advice in 2015.