Our people
ITI is the professional home of translators and interpreters in the UK and internationally and serves as a meeting place for all those who understand the importance of translation and interpreting to the economy and society.
The Board of Directors sets the strategic direction of the organisation and the small staff team of seven is responsible for delivering our strategic priorities and providing membership services.
Our values
Professionalism
We champion professional excellence in all areas of translation and interpreting, helping our members develop their skills, knowledge and confidence.
Inclusivity
We are a welcoming and supportive community that values diversity and ensures everyone feels seen, respected, and represented.
Forward-thinking
We embrace innovation and change, supporting our members to adapt and thrive in an evolving industry.
Ethical practice
We act with integrity, transparency, and fairness in everything we do, building trust within the profession and beyond.
Community
We create meaningful connections among language professionals, nurturing a shared sense of purpose, belonging, and mutual support.
Staff team
For contact details, click on a team member's picture.
Sara Robertson
Sara champions the translation and interpreting profession and leads ITI's strategic direction, working with colleagues and stakeholders to deliver professional development and advocacy. As CEO, she ensures the institute operates effectively and efficiently, overseeing governance, financial and regulatory matters.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 01908 325250
Hollie Renaud
Hollie is responsible for maintaining ITI's governance processes and operational efficiency. Working closely with the Chief Executive, she ensures smooth organisational procedures while supporting the Board, staff team, and ITI Networks.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 01908 325250
Victoria Hill
Victoria oversees the ITI's programme of professional development courses and training, including webinars, workshops and other learning initiatives. She works closely with the Professional Development Committee to develop CPD strategy and plan content and supports the Digital Learning Officer to deliver engaging online learning experiences.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 01908 325250
- LinkedIn:
- https://linkedin.com/in/victoriabeckett/
Matthew Martin
As Digital Learning Officer, Matthew works with subject experts to create and manage course content, ensuring it is accurate and relevant. He is responsible for course creation and uploading courses to the learning management system, keeping it running smoothly, fixing technical issues and finding way to improve the learning experience and make it more engaging.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 01908 325250
Lydia Chapman
Lydia is responsible for the ITI's marketing function, which covers aspects including social media, email marketing and the website. Lydia has a passion for branding, ensuring that the ITI brand is represented consistently across all aspects of the business, and also enjoys meeting members and building working relationships.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 07591 200377
Katie Witton
Katie processes Qualified Member applications for new and upgrading members involving reviewing evidence, scheduling, liaising with assessors, combining marking to produce a result. She also handles daily inquiries from applicants and members as well as maintaining accurate records, supporting projects and committees, administrative tasks to ensure smooth membership processing and membership renewals.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 01908 325250
Rachel O’Callaghan
Rachel is the first point of contact for member queries and for new membership enquiries. She plays a key role in ensuring our members' needs are met and in processing new applications.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 01908 325250
Board members
ITI is a Company Limited by Guarantee. Its elected board is responsible for all strategic, financial and membership aspects of the Institute. The ITI Board is made up of Sara Robertson, Chief Executive and the following ITI members (click on their picture to read more about them):
Fiona Gray MITI
Fiona Gray MITI helps brands and businesses based in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg to find their voice in English through creative copy and compelling content that makes their German words travel.
She has over a decade of experience in the translation industry and has been freelancing since 2016.
She won the ITI Mentor of the Year Award in 2023 and was named Linguist of the Year at the ATC Language Industry Awards 2024.
Lloyd Bingham MITI
Lloyd Bingham MITI runs Capital Translations in Cardiff, Wales. He works from Dutch, German, French and Spanish into English, specialising in business, technology and education. Lloyd is a member of ITI and SENSE, a committee member of ITI Cymru Wales and is a former tutor on ITI’s Starting Up as a Freelance Translator course.
Anna Kerod MITI
Anna holds a master’s degree in biology but she found her true calling in professional language services. She worked for 17 years as an in-house legal interpreter and translator in a boutique London law firm providing services for the oil and gas industry. In 2017 Anna set up a company which focuses on translations and interpreting in commercial litigation and international arbitration, working in the private market.
She is passionate about upholding professional standards in interpreting and believes in building strong direct client relationships and mutually beneficial networks with her colleagues. In her free time she loves outdoor pursuits, skiing in particular, and the occasional bout of cooking.
Dean Evans MITI
Dean Evans MITI is a freelance translator working from German, French and Spanish to English. A patents and IP specialist, he provides translation and editing services to IP firms, international patent organisations and specialist translation agencies. He is chair of the Nominations Committee and a committee member of the ITI French Network. As a Board member Dean is keen to support members to develop resilient, future-proof businesses.
Laura Byrne MITI
Laura worked as a multilingual financial analyst for a decade before becoming an in-house financial translator in Frankfurt in 2011. In 2013, she returned to the UK and went freelance. She has a BA in German studies.
Laura translates from German and Dutch to English, with a focus on financial, business and legal translation. She has mentored several fellow ITI members in financial translation.
JC Penet
JC is a Reader in Translation Industry Studies at Newcastle University and a certified Personal and Executive Coach (PG Diploma, University of Warwick). He is the author of Working as a Professional Translator (Routledge, 2024).
As an academic, JC researches the impact of recent developments in the translation industry on the financial, physical and psychological well-being of (trainee) translators.
As a Coach, he loves helping (trainee) translators become more aware of their own unique talents and resourcefulness, so they don't just survive - but also thrive - in today's highly competitive language industry.
Simona Manca MITI
Simona is an Italian translator living in Scotland for over 20 years, who specialises in two areas: creative work, including video game localisation, children’s books, and the arts, and technical support for businesses and individuals with bureaucracy. Her experience in events management for an Italian government institution enhanced her business skills. Simona has since returned to full-time translation and is a member of the ITI Italian Network and ITI ScotNet.
When she’s not working, she’s either running, devouring fantasy novels, binge-watching true crime documentaries or listening to podcasts (or even enjoying a musical).
Lucio Bagnulo
Lucio is a senior multilingual strategy and language technology leader with over fifteen years of experience directing large-scale translation operations and shaping multilingual strategies in international organizations. Currently Deputy Programme Director, Head of Translation and Language Strategy at Amnesty International, leading global translation services and language strategy.
He has a proven track record in driving organizational transformation at the intersection of language, technology, and governance, including AI-assisted workflows and sustainable multilingual service models. He has extensive experience leading multidisciplinary, distributed teams and designing operational frameworks that combine human expertise with technology.
Lucio is a strong advocate of approaches where technology supports professional linguistic judgement. He is an active contributor to the language industry through roles such as membership in the European Commission’s Language Industry Expert Group (LIND) and engagement with academic and professional fora. He has received the Think Global Award for Language Industry Person of the Year (2022) and was named among Multilingual Magazine’s 34 Multilingual Media Influencers (2024).
Jonathan Downie
Dr Jonathan Downie is a French to English and English to French conference and church interpreter, researcher, and consultant in multilingual church. He is also the author of three books. He co-hosts The Church Interpreting Podcast and runs two YouTube channels, Inside Interpreting and Multilingual Church.
Lena Marg
With a degree in Translation and Conference Interpreting with German, English and French, Lena spent 20 years specializing in machine translation and post-editing for the localisation industry. She brings deep knowledge of the evolution of MT/AI technologies and related processes and methodologies, and is most passionate about working at intersections: linguists, engineering, research, implementation, change management.
Lena now provides freelance consulting and upskilling services to organisations looking for help with their translation AI strategy, or looking to collaborate on applied research projects.
In 2025, Lena also started her own, in-person Linguistics & World Languages club for Primary school children, with a strong element of exploring through play and art. She supports SLT and EAL teachers, and volunteers with the learning & outreach programme of a local botanical institute.
In her spare time, Lena enjoys running, tap dance, cross-country skiing, learning new crafts (printmaking, darning), broadening her horizon by reading random books from the local library, cinema, pubs and boardgames.
Committees
ITI currently has the following committees:
Nominations
Purpose
ITI is committed to maintaining a fair, robust, transparent, and inclusive process for recruiting members to its Board and to its committees. The recruitment processes for all ITI committees should be based on the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion, ensuring that both the Board and its committees reflect the diverse membership of ITI wherever possible.
The Board has established the Nominations Committee to take the lead in identifying:
- potential candidates for election to the Board
- chairs and members of ITI’s standing committees.
The Nominations Committee is an advisory body. It makes recommendations to the Board and can only act on the authority of the Board.
Responsibilities
The committee is responsible for:
- operating in accordance with ITI’s objects, mission, and values
- maintaining confidentiality in its operations to protect the privacy of potential candidates and existing Board and committee members
- promoting fairness and transparency in the nomination process and encouraging broad participation from across ITI’s membership
- staying informed about good practice in governance and nomination processes in not-for-profit organisations
- regularly evaluating the effectiveness of its own operations and implementing improvements as needed
Recruiting Board members
- identifying and encouraging potential candidates for election who have the skills and knowledge to help the Board discharge its duties and meet its strategic objectives
- taking action to ensure that the Board is as representative as possible of ITI membership in terms of protected characteristics, background, experience, and expertise
- working with the Chief Executive to manage the Board election process in accordance with ITI’s Articles of Association and Bylaws
Recruiting committee chairs and members
- identifying potential chairs and members who have the relevant skills and knowledge to help the committee in question discharge its duties in accordance with its terms of reference
- assessing the qualifications, experience, and suitability of potential candidates against the established criteria for the committee in question
- presenting nominations to the Board for approval, with supporting information for each nomination
- advising and supporting committee chairs on the process for recruiting members of their committees.
Chair: Dean Evans MITI
Terms of ReferenceProfessional Development
Purpose
To provide the input of expert linguists into ITI’s professional development strategy, policies and programmes.
The Professional Development Committee is an advisory body. It makes recommendations to the Board and can only act on the authority of the Board.
Responsibilities
The committee is responsible for:
- maintaining and developing ITI’s shared understanding of professionalism, and ensuring that it remains appropriate as the context for members’ work evolves
- steering ITI’s CPD programmes to provide a structure that enables members to develop as professionals throughout their careers
- seeking assurance on the quality of ITI’s training and development offer
- using members’ expert knowledge of the profession and its environment to ensure that ITI responds effectively to the changing context in which members work
- benchmarking ITI’s CPD policy and processes against those of other professional associations
- proposing amendments to ITI’s Bylaws to the Board where appropriate.
Chair: Jo Durning MITI
Membership
Purpose
To oversee matters relating to the acquisition, engagement and retention of members of ITI, working towards maintaining and expanding ITI’s membership of qualified and dedicated individuals who align with ITI’s goals and values.
The Membership Committee is an advisory body. It makes recommendations to the Board and can only act on the authority of the Board.
Responsibilities
The committee is responsible for:
- working with the Membership Team to develop strategies and initiatives to grow membership numbers across all categories
- reviewing membership categories and entry requirements, and proposing changes to the Board
- reviewing the effectiveness and appropriateness of ITI’s assessment procedures for Qualified Membership (both translator and interpreter) and the procedures for assessor training, and making recommendations to the Board
- encouraging development of the membership experience to increase member engagement and career progression
- reviewing recruitment and retention rates and the causes of membership attrition, and proposing initiatives to address these
- monitoring trends in the membership sector, assessing their impact on ITI, and proposing solutions to the Board
- proposing amendments to ITI’s Bylaws to the Board where appropriate.
Chair: Dana Szabados MITI
Terms of ReferenceFellowship
Purpose
ITI values the wealth and breadth of experience of long-standing qualified members and seeks to recognise this through the award of Fellow status to suitable candidates. ITI also encourages Fellows to give back to the profession through supporting advocacy and outreach activities.
The Board has established a Fellowship Committee to:
- work with the membership team to encourage existing Qualified Members (MITI) to upgrade
- consider Fellowship applications from Qualified Members (MITI) and make recommendations to the Board
- promote ways for Fellows to engage with the wider membership.
The Fellowship Committee is an advisory body. It makes recommendations to the Board and can only act on the authority of the Board.
Responsibilities
The Committee’s work may include:
- reviewing Fellowship applications and making recommendations to the Board
- helping to communicate the benefits of Fellowship to ITI’s membership
- creating opportunities for Fellows to engage with others and foster a sense of professional growth
- supporting outreach activities
- creating content that the ITI team can use to promote the benefits of FITI status. This many include things like hosting live events, or writing articles for ITI Insight and the website
In extraordinary circumstances, it may be necessary for the Committee to consider proposing that a Fellowship be revoked. Possible reasons for revoking FITI status may include but are not limited to, the following: bringing the profession into disrepute, an established breach of the Code of Professional Conduct, or the failure to continue meeting Fellowship requirements.
Professional Conduct
Purpose:
-
To implement Article 5.5 of ITI’s Articles of Association: to advise the Board on maintaining, promoting and enforcing the Institute’s standards for professional conduct among its members.
Chair: Dr Joanna Waller FITI
Download the Professional Conduct Committee Terms of reference.
Remunerations
Purpose:
- Set the company's remuneration policy
- Determine the Chief Executive's total individual remuneration package
- Set the targets for any performance-related pay
The committee members are the Chair of the Board, the two Vice Chairs, and Mark Robinson (ITI's accountant).