CIISA Annual Report 2024-2025 - Flipbook - Page 22
SETTING
STANDARDS
Another key appointment for CIISA
came in the form of the recruitment
of Niyi Akeju as Head of Standards
Development and Stakeholder
Engagement in May 2024. Akeju
was brought in to lead on the
development and publication of
the all-important CIISA Standards.
about the NHS in England and UK
Central Government.
“In the last three years I was there
(the Parliamentary and Health
Service Ombudsman), I was tasked
with setting up a Standards
Authority structure,” Medlock
explains. It was the perfect dress
rehearsal for his work with CIISA.
Niyi Akeju
FAST FORWARD
At the end of 2023, Smith made
a key strategic hire, bringing in
Andrew Medlock as CIISA Chief
Operating Officer. Medlock
joined the nascent CIISA as a
senior leader with over 15 years
of operational and strategic
experience in improving social
justice for the public through his
work with the Parliamentary and
Health Service Ombudsman, which
investigates complex complaints
Medlock created a detailed
operational blueprint, informed
through engagement with CIISA’s
co-creation council, freelancers
and other key stakeholders, to
set out in detail what CIISA could
offer. He also spearheaded key
documents including the corporate
strategy, business plan and a
prospectus setting out how CIISA
would meet its objectives and how
much that would cost.
The CIISA board was appointed in
2024 and is chaired by Baroness
Helena Kennedy, the renowned
barrister, broadcaster and Labour
member of the House of Lords.
20 | C I I S A A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 2 4 / 2 5
With over two decades’ experience
in the creative industries, Akeju
brought specialism in stakeholder
relations, communications,
and programme development
and oversight from working at
organisations including the
British Film Institute (BFI), BBC,
ScreenSkills, and 11 years at
BAFTA where she devised several
longstanding industry-supported
initiatives.
“I had a stakeholder map with
about 200 different organisations
on it, and I met with around
half of them over the period of
developing the Standards,” Akeju
says, explaining her initial work. “I
decided that the most important
thing was to first understand the
lay of the land and then identify
who would be helpful to have on
our standards advisory committee
so it was representative but
focused and not too unwieldy.”
The absolute necessity was to
corral expertise from a cross
section of the creative industries
(CIISA is initially focused on film,
television, music and theatre) and
also different perspectives, some
freelance and special interest
groups, trade bodies and unions,
and also some big institutions.
