June Dennis, EdD, MBA, BSc (Hons), DipM, FCIM, FHEA, CMBE, Chartered Marketer

Chair

Dr June Dennis joined the CIM Board in December 2016 and became Vice Chair in December 2020 and Chair a year later. She has held marketing management positions in a range of industries ranging from clothing and textiles through to engineering plastics and retail.

June first became interested in lecturing through teaching CIM courses during the 1990s. Since then, she has held senior roles at Leeds Beckett University, University of Wolverhampton, UK College of Business & Computing and Staffordshire Universities. She has also worked with HE institutions worldwide on projects ranging from collaborative academic partnerships, degree awarding powers, and curriculum design and development. She still teaches on DBA and the UK Government’s Help to Grow programmes.

June is passionate about ensuring business and marketing curriculum is current and applied and that students are encouraged to achieve their potential. She has undertaken projects on marketing curriculum design and development and integrating project work into the curriculum. She is currently Managing Consultant at Mountain Top Perspectives Limited, based in West Yorkshire which provides virtual non-exec strategic marketing support to SMEs.

She is one of the few marketing expert witnesses in the UK and which occasionally requires giving evidence in court. She specialises in intellectual property and contract law issues particularly in relation to branding and agency/client relationships.

Michael Lynch BA Hons DipM FCIM MSc CMRS Chartered Marketer

Vice Chair

Non-Executive Director, elected to CIM Board in 2021. Chair of the CIM Constitution & Ethics Committee and member of the CIM Strategy & Finance Committee. Michael is currently on secondment from NS&I as Deputy Director, Marketing and Communications at UK Export Finance. Prior to this, he was NS&I’s Head of Consumer Business Strategy & Strategic Marketing. Previously on secondment from NS&I he helped create the British Business Bank as Acting Director of Marketing, Communications and Brand. Before NS&I Michael held senior demand development, marketing and sales director roles with major financial services businesses specialising in investments.

A DipM qualified Chartered Marketer and CIM Fellow, Michael has twelve years experience lecturing for CIM courses including Strategy and Digital Strategy, Innovation and Communications. Michael has been a CIM examiner and is a current CIM mentor. Michael is also a mentor for the Government Communication Service (GCS), the professional body for government communicators.

Michael attained an MSc in Strategic Marketing from Cranfield School of Management and has been on the Marketing and Sales Practice Advisory Board there since 2016.

A Route Panel member for marketing apprenticeships and T Levels with the Institute for Apprenticeships, Michael has chaired and been a member of marketing apprenticeship trailblazer groups and is a member of the national Green Apprenticeships advisory community.

Michael is also a non-executive director with London Mutual Credit Union, London’s largest community bank, a member of the Market Research Society and CFA UK and an active member of the Worshipful Company of Marketors, the City livery company for marketing professionals.

Andrew Yuille, DipM FCIM Chartered Marketer

Vice Chair

Andrew is a marketing and business development professional with a career spanning 25+ years. He has worked across a spectrum of global, mid-market and early stage B2B organisations, across technology, information services and financial services including Hertz, Sage plc and Tetra plc. He is currently Vice President – Partnerships & Alliances for Thomson Reuters; earlier roles at Thomson Reuters included several marketing leadership roles, head of risk business solutions and most recently head of the online compliance training business.

He is a regular public speaker at events across the globe on topics spanning governance, risk and compliance as well as RegTech.
He was elected Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing in 2001 and holds an MSc in Marketing with Distinction from the University of South Wales.

Andrew is a trustee and governor of Herries Educational Trust, a charity supporting the education of pupils at Herries School in Cookham, Berkshire.

Gina Balarin, FCIM Chartered Marketer

Non-Executive Director

Non-executive Director, elected to the CIM Board of Directors in December 2020. Gina Balarin (FAMI FCIM Chartered Marketer) is a TEDx speaker, author of The Secret Army: Leadership, Marketing and the Power of People and the Founder of Verballistics, a boutique marketing consultancy that makes communication meaningful.

Gina has a Masters Degree in Education in the subject of Management Communication which was awarded with Distinction, a BA in Drama and Linguistics, a BA (Hons) in Linguistics and English Language and a Professional Diploma in Marketing. She was awarded Chartered Marketer status in 2010, became a full Member of the Professional Speakers’ Association in 2018, and became a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute in 2022.

She has lived on 3 continents and has been improving communication for software and technology organisations on 6 continents for 2 decades. Based near Brisbane, Australia, her work has won critical acclaim in Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. She regularly appears on podcasts and at events discussing marketing, communication, leadership and authenticity. She is a marketing and communication coach to senior leaders and mentors junior marketers.

She also serves on the Board of Project Displaced, an Australian non-profit organisation dedicated to helping people gain the confidence and skills to find new jobs.

William Burton DipM FCIM Chartered Marketer

Non-Executive Director

Experienced Chief Executive and Global Sales & Marketing Director from the travel & hotel and education & training sectors. Also a NAO-trained Government Accounting Officer.  Particular skills in Corporate Strategy, Risk, Governance, Compliance and all aspects of Sales & Marketing. Previous NED experience at Martin Randall Travel; Chair at Highlife Breaks Ltd; Council Member of ABTA, Federation of Tour Operators and VisitBritain; former Senate member for the University of London. Chartered Marketer and Fellow of CIM; Chartered Director and Fellow of the Institute of Directors; Chartered Mechanical Engineer; and holder of an MBA with distinction from INSEAD Global Business School.

Fiona Hawkins FCIM

Non-Executive Director

I have 27 years corporate client and agency experience, delivering marketing campaigns and running a successful business.

Increasing engagement and improving productivity of digital activities for clients is my speciality, by helping companies communicate effectively with audiences using critical-lateral thinking, a strategic approach and high levels of integrity.

My experience includes; leading a programme of digital transformation and a digital-first agency model that leverages emerging channels; transforming a full service agency’s digital skillset through a strategic programme of training; collaborating with two leading Universities to develop an AI platform that improves the power and performance of clients’ marketing data.

Dawn Holmes DBA, MBA, BEng, FCIM, Chartered Marketer

Non-Executive Director

Dr Dawn Holmes is a Lecturer in Marketing at Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) with a strong practitioner background. Her marketing career spans 30 years of working with several technology brands (including Hewlett-Packard, Schlumberger and Brother) and running her own strategic marketing consultancy business.

With senior management roles covering Marketing Management, Insight Development & Deployment, Corporate Planning, and Business Intelligence, Dawn brings a broad range of experience to the board having been elected in 2017. She currently sits on several of CIM’s governance committees and was previously Chair of the Northwest regional board and a member of the IT SIG. Through continuous professional development, she has achieved and maintained Chartered Marketer status since 2002 and became a Fellow of CIM in 2005.

Now teaching full-time at AMBS, she delivers marketing and operations courses across the school at undergraduate, Masters and Global MBA levels. Outside of AMBS, she delivers on Executive Education programmes for Trinity Business School and Salford University.

She has a doctorate and an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School and an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from Staffordshire University.

Gus MacIver, ACIM

Non-Executive Director

Dr Ruchitha Perera DipM, FCIM, Chartered Marketer

Non-Executive Director

I am an enthusiastic marketer with a career spanning over 25 years, delivering marketing education, business coaching and corporate training. I have also provided leadership to global organisations representing brands such as Acer, IBM, and HP.

As an inspirational business coach, specialising in marketing sustainability and digital transformation, I have displayed a thorough understanding of marketing trends, driving organisational value through global coaching assignments.

In addition to facilitating CIM education and master’s and doctoral programs internationally, I have guided many professionals and organisations in executing marketing innovation and digital technologies, enabling them to be future-ready. Furthermore, I take pride in motivating the next generation of entrepreneurs to embrace innovative marketing through local and international mentoring programs.

In addition to being a CIM fellow, I hold Fellowships from CMI (UK) and SLIM (Sri Lanka) and memberships from the American Marketing Association, Sri Lanka Institute of Directors, and Rotary Club of Colombo Mid-Town.

I consistently continue to bring my skills, corporate experiences, and expertise in digital transformation and marketing sustainability to enhance stakeholder value, and create fusion and cordial relationships within and beyond the marketing fraternity by positioning CIM as the global mark of professional marketing.