APA Conference & Awards 2025

With over a decade of experience within Accounts Payable, working for some leading companies within the UK, her passion to drive and motivate the industry led to Kat becoming the Head of Education at the Accounts Payable Association. 

She has significant experience in staff development, leadership, and coaching and is determined to eliminate harmful practices, standardising and simplifying processes. 

As part of the Accounts Payable Association, she aims to deliver the highest quality education to drive the Accounts Pable industry forward.

Karen Young is a Director at Hays, leading the finance recruitment practice for the UK & Ireland. With nearly 30 years in the industry, she is a trusted voice on talent strategy, career planning and market trends. Karen heads a team of 250 finance specialists and has been a long-term supporter of the AP Association, and a passionate ambassador for the profession. She is equally passionate about social purpose and leads social impact programmes like Project Flourish, supporting young people who have faced homelessness into employment. A committed and experienced charity fundraiser, her charity challenges in 2025 have seen her swim 10.5 miles of Lake Windermere end to end, complete the Yorkshire Three Peaks, and she is currently training as a jockey to take part in a charity race at Wetherby in October.

Karen also leads the development and delivery of social and environmental purposes at Hays UK&I. This focuses on how the business supports local communities with a particular focus on improving skills and employability, as well as steps to safeguard the natural environment. Karen leads a Hays UK Charity partnership with the charity EveryYouth, focusing on strategic input to the employability element of the Independent Futures programme, that supports young people into work and independent living.

Mandy Wilson, APAM, is the Global Accounts Payable Manager at InterDigital, Inc., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. With over twenty years of expertise in Accounts Payable, Mandy brings deep experience in system implementations, process optimization, and leading high-volume teams. At InterDigital, she oversees AP and Purchasing operations across multiple legal entities, managing both domestic and international teams. Her leadership ensures efficiency, compliance, and continuous improvement in global financial operations. Mandy loves spending time with her husband and three kids. She never misses a WWE event and has an obscene sneaker obsession.

Now into his 12th year at Esker, Dan specialises in Source-to-Pay automation, assisting companies with their AP, Sourcing and Procurement challenges. He has helped numerous companies automate their S2P and O2C cycles across a variety of industries, not only in the UK but also across Europe, and further afield into the UAE and South Africa. Outside of work Dan is a keen golfer and avid Liverpool fan, and coaches a local U19 football team.

With a long-standing career in Accounts Payable and Finance, my passion for AP and fraud prevention continues to drive me every day. I bring rich, proven experience as a Transactional Finance Leader, Influencer, and proud multi-award winner. It was an honour to be named an Ambassador for the Accounts Payable Association—a role that allows me to champion the often-overlooked backbone of every business: the AP function. I’m committed to elevating Accounts Payable, giving it the visibility and respect it deserves at the decision-making table. I strive to make that happen through smarter processes, stronger controls, and ongoing education.

A qualified accountant with over 22 years of experience in Shared Services, spanning the UK and international markets. Her career has encompassed a wide range of delivery models, including in-house, outsourced, and offshored operations, giving her a unique and comprehensive perspective on global finance transformation. Currently serving as Head of Operational Finance, Rachel is a passionate advocate for the value that highly engaged and efficient back-office teams bring to frontline operations. She has consistently championed the role of finance as a strategic enabler—driving performance, improving service delivery, and fostering collaboration between support functions and the shop floor.

As a Source-to-Pay specialist with many years of experience, Kady brings knowledge from a wide variety of industries and enjoys applying this to help customers in their S2P automation journey. By streamlining processes such as supplier management, accounts payable and procurement, Kady excels in helping companies gain flexibility and agility by removing manual processes; saving time and money while improving both supplier and inter-departmental relationships.

Nicholas is an accomplished financial leader with a proven track record in transforming private sector finance and university finance operations over the last 25 years. As Head of Financial Operations at the University of Lancashire, he leads strategic initiatives across cash management, treasury, payables, receivables, payroll, pensions, business travel - all whilst balancing compliance, operational efficiency, and ethical stewardship. His leadership is marked by a commitment to continuous improvement, student-focused solutions, and collaborative governance.

Nicholas holds an MBA and is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI). His professional development includes certifications in project management, treasury operations, and coaching & mentoring, reflecting his holistic approach to leadership and team empowerment. A thought leader in financial policy and governance, Nicholas is known for crafting impactful frameworks that resonate both technically and emotionally often using thematic language like “Empowerment” to bridge strategic goals with human values.

With 20 years of experience in accounts payable, my career began at Speedy Hire where I honed my skills managing suppliers and stakeholders. This foundation paved the way for a decade-long role as Accounts Payable Manager at Vaultex. Seeking new challenges, I took a leap of faith and transitioned to ITV, shifting my focus to purchasing while still supporting the AP process. More recently I have been at Torus62, which is a fast-paced environment, continuously expanding my expertise. I’m passionate about building strong relationships with suppliers and stakeholders, and I excel at identifying root causes of problems to deliver effective solutions.

Nicholas holds an MBA and is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI). His professional development includes certifications in project management, treasury operations, and coaching & mentoring, reflecting his holistic approach to leadership and team empowerment. A thought leader in financial policy and governance, Nicholas is known for crafting impactful frameworks that resonate both technically and emotionally often using thematic language like “Empowerment” to bridge strategic goals with human values.

Shelsea is the UK Yooz Product Evangelist and is an expert in Accounts Payable Automation. She can provide businesses of all sizes and from all sectors with details about all aspects of the Yooz solution. Shelsea has over 13 years experience in International Sales and Customer Services, including several years helping global clients to improve their internal processes and gain efficiency in both B2B and B2C sectors. Shelsea is seen as a trusted advisor who helps companies of all sizes implement adapted strategies and reach their full potential.

A finance leader and consultant with extensive experience in P2P, shared service centres and wider finance functions, Jessica has led international, multi-currency operations across the UK, US, EMEA, APAC and beyond. Building scalable processes, strengthening controls and delivering measurable performance improvements. Her career spans both private and public sectors, including leadership roles in FMCG, luxury goods and the NHS, where she has optimised cashflow and built collaborative finance functions. Known for her people-first leadership and ability to make finance exciting for non-finance colleagues, she believes that every good spreadsheet should tell a story, preferably one that doesn’t put everyone to sleep.

Ross joined apexanalytix in 2023 via their acquisition of a supplier cyber risk management company. He has since worked to share stories of overpayment prevention, profit recovery, supplier risk management, compliance and fraud from some of the world’s largest companies.

With experience working with corporates of all sizes and for vendors, banks, payment schemes, infrastructure providers, and as a specialist consultant, Richard has gained extensive experience in the solutions to solve the issues surrounding business payments and associated AP, AR, and Cash Management Processes. His specialities include today’s business payment methods and the future business payment landscape. He also focuses on automation, efficiency, and fraud and error mitigation in the AP space.

As Regional VP at Rossum, Sam Overton is focused on helping Accounts Payable leaders transform their operations by eliminating manual processes and maximizing efficiency. Drawing on his extensive experience with key financial systems at SAP, SAP Concur, and DocuSign, Sam has a deep understanding of the complexities AP teams face. He is passionate about partnering with finance professionals to build more strategic, cost-effective, and automated Accounts Payable functions