About CPS

Monica has had a long and distinguished legal career, retiring as chair and senior partner at Addleshaw Goddard LLP in 2016. As a lawyer, she practised in the fields of commercial litigation and international arbitration, advising on a wide range of claims in a number of jurisdictions. In 2010, Monica was appointed a Recorder of civil cases.

In addition to Chairing the CPS Board, Monica sits on the Nominations, Leadership and Remuneration Committee. She is also a non-executive director at Lloyds underwriter Ark Syndicate Management Limited and at Argenta Private Capital Limited, a Non-Executive Director of law firm Shoosmiths LLP and a member of the Advisory Council of The Mentoring Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation assisting women to reach the top of large organisations.

Stephen Parkinson is the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Julie Lennard is the Chief Operating Officer of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Grace Ononiwu is the Director General Legal Delivery for the Crown Prosecution Service

Dr Peter Kane has worked for over four decades in a range of senior executive and non-executive positions across central and local government and the NHS. A common thread has been a strong focus on economics, value for money and finance, building on his doctorate from the LSE and CIPFA accountancy qualification.

As a senior civil servant he held key roles in the Treasury, Cabinet Office and Home Office, where he worked closely with partners across the Criminal Justice System.

In local government, he was the Chief Economic Adviser in Hackney, and the Chamberlain of the City of London Corporation, the senior finance position, dating back to 1237. He was also Treasurer to the City of London Police.

After serving as a charity trustee of Community Links and CIPFA, he is currently a non-executive director of two NHS Trusts (and Chair of Audit) and the Education and Skills Agency. He is also a trustee of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and chairs its investment committee.

Subo trained as a research scientist, completing her PhD in Clinical Immunovirology at Imperial College London. She has held senior executive roles in the public and not-for-profit sectors as well as in a social enterprise and brings management and leadership experience from a 25-year career building and transforming organisations.

Subo has been a Trustee of three charities working in international development and education. She is also a Non-Executive Director for Southeast Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust and Bromley Healthcare CIC using her clinical and education background to support the delivery of emergency, urgent and community care.

She is a trained senior leadership coach and mentor and has been a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy for 21 years.

Julie Lennard - Chief Operating Officer

Julie Lennard is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Crown Prosecution Service, taking up post in November 2024.

She is responsible for overseeing transformation and improvement within the Crown Prosecution Service, working closely with our partners to direct significant change across the criminal justice system. Julie also sets the overall strategy for our corporate functions – including finance, people, and digital.

Julie joined the CPS from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), where she was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from March 2018. During her time as CEO, Julie led the digital and business transformation of one of the UK’s biggest multi-channel service organisations, with more than 52 million customers, more than 6,000 employees, and almost £8 billion in revenue collected for His Majesty’s Government per year.

Julie initially joined the DVLA in 2014 as Director of Strategy, Policy and Communications, where she was responsible for delivering the organisation’s business strategy and policy development.

Before the DVLA, Julie worked in several roles at The National Archives, and prior to that she worked for Which?, the largest consumer organisation in Europe.

Grace Ononiwu - Director General Legal Delivery

Grace Ononiwu was appointed to the new post of Director General Legal Delivery (DG LD) on 9 June 2025.

Prior to her current role, Grace was appointed as Director of Legal Services within the Crown Prosecution Service in April 2021, with responsibility for providing assurance to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the quality of the legal decision-making and casework progression across a number of CPS Areas. She also has thematic responsibility for Legal Guidance and Development, and Head of Profession support.

Grace qualified as a solicitor in 1991 and joined a private firm of solicitors practising criminal law. She joined the CPS as a Crown Prosecutor and held a number of positions, which led to her appointment as Northamptonshire Chief Crown Prosecutor (CCP) in April 2005, making her the first African Caribbean to be appointed as a Chief Crown Prosecutor in the history of the CPS.

In 2009, Grace was appointed into London as Deputy Chief Prosecutor (DCCP) of, what was then, the largest CPS region, with responsibility for the London Districts. In 2012, she was appointed Chief Crown Prosecutor for the East of England Region, and in 2014 appointed Chief Crown Prosecutor of the West Midlands Region, making her the first woman and first black person to hold both posts.

Grace has made a significant contribution to the CPS Equality and Diversity agenda and was previously the Chair of the National Black Crown Prosecution Association (NBCPA).

Grace was awarded the OBE in 2008 in recognition for her work with the CPS and received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Hertfordshire in 2017, in recognition for her contribution to justice and the legal system, including her ongoing work to promote legal education. In November 2021, the University of Hertfordshire’s Law Court Building was renamed the “Grace Ononiwu Law Court Building” in her honour. Grace is now a Visiting Professor of the University and Patron of their Law Clinic which promotes practical legal experience to students.

On 31 August 2022 Grace received the honorary award of Doctor of the University from Birmingham City University in recognition of exceptional service to law and order in the West Midlands.

In the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Grace was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to Law and Order and was included in the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 Power List, which features 100 of the UK’s most influential men and women of African, African Caribbean and African American heritage.

In 2021, Grace was the recipient of the Black Solicitor’s Network, (UK Diversity Legal Awards) Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her career to date and for championing diversity in the legal profession.

In September 2024, Grace was elected onto the Executive Committee of the International Association of Prosectors (IAP).

Lisa Benbow - Director of Communications

Lisa leads the Communications Directorate which is responsible for delivering the communications strategy in support of the CPS’s mission and strategic aims.

Prior to joining the CPS, Lisa has held communications leadership roles in a range of international private and regional public sector organisations. This includes six years working in policing, most recently leading the communications team at West Midlands Police, England’s second biggest police service.

She brings experience of leading communication strategies to support cultural change programmes, employee engagement activity and business transformation programmes, as well as crisis management.

Lisa is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Tristan Bradshaw - Director of Transformation and Change

As the Director of Transformation and Change, Tristan has responsibility for the performance and continuous improvement of operations across the CPS. He leads our Operations Directorate which has the responsibility for operational change, court business, performance management, operational compliance and assurance, legal and operational training, continuous improvement and operational effectiveness.

He is also the CPS Head of Profession for Operational Delivery and leads the Business Delivery Group.

Tristan has worked for the CPS for most of his career in a range of roles across Operational Units, CPS national headquarters, as part of a CJS multi-agency project team, as a Senior Business Manager in CPS London, as the Area Business Manager for CPS West Midlands, and Deputy Director of Operational Delivery.

Steve Buckingham - Chief Finance Officer

Steve is the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) taking up post in May 2021.

He is a member of the CPS Executive Group (EG) and Chair of the CPS Investment Committee (IC) and is also an independent member of the Royal Navy (RN) Audit Committee. 

Steve has held senior financial and commercial posts across government at DWP, The Child Maintenance & Enforcement Commission and Jobcentre Plus.

Steve began his career working for the BT Group Plc where he qualified as a Chartered Global Management Accountant.

Steve O'Connor - Chief Digital and Information Officer

Nick Price, Director of Legal Services (Interim) 

Nick started his career as a Barrister prosecuting and defending criminal cases. He spent three years working for the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and subsequently joined the CPS in 2002. After management positions in CPS Hampshire, Staffordshire and West Midlands, Nick was appointed as temporary Chief Crown Prosecutor of CPS North Wales in 2011.

In 2012 Nick became Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor of CPS West Midlands where he was responsible for the Crown Court division of the Area. In 2014, Nick was appointed Chief Crown Prosecutor of the Proceeds of Crime Division, subsequently transferring to become Chief Crown Prosecutor of the International Justice and Organised Crime Division in 2018. Nick transferred to head up the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division in May 2021 and became Interim Director of Legal Services in May 2024.

Helen Starkey - Interim Chief People Officer

Helen has spent her career working in public sector HR in a number of roles, starting in Learning and Development, moving to Business Partnering and then into Strategic HR. In her current permanent role she is Deputy Director of People Development and Inclusion for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

She leads on the strategic approach to Organisational Development with thematic responsibility for HR strategy, Diversity and Inclusion, Learning and Development, Employee Experience, Wellbeing, People Change, Talent management and Senior Staffing.

She has been a Chartered Fellow of CIPD since 2005 and has a master’s in strategic HR Management and Development from the University of Salford.

Helen is passionate about improving organisational culture and making the world of work a place where people feel included for who they are and supported to give their best contribution, she enjoys working across the people function and with organisational leaders, staff networks and trade unions to achieve that. She was appointed as Interim Chief People Officer in June 2024. 

Baljit Ubhey - Director of Policy

Baljit Ubhey joined the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as a legal trainee in 1992 later qualifying as a prosecutor in London. Baljit has since held many roles including Chief Crown Prosecutor of CPS London.

In January 2017, Baljit was appointed as the Director of Prosecution Policy & Inclusion, leading a policy team within the CPS’ operations directorate whilst leading on equality and inclusion across the service. In September 2019 Baljit became the Director of the Strategy and Policy Directorate.

In addition to her career with the CPS, Baljit has held a number of external roles such as non-executive director for BARTS and the Royal London Hospital and has worked with a number of charities.

The Audit and Risk Assurance Committee is responsible for ensuring that the CPS Board and Accounting Officers gain the assurance they need on risk management, the control environment, the integrity of the financial statements and other elements of the Annual Report and Accounts. The Committee is chaired by a Non-Executive Board Member (NEBM). He is joined by a further NEBM and one independent member. The Committee meets four times a year.

Current members of the Committee:

• Dr Peter Kane (Chair)
• Stephen Parkinson
• Michael Dunn
• Dr Subo Shanmuganathan

Independent Member of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee

Michael Dunn

Michael is currently a Non-Executive Director, Audit Chair and Senior Independent Director of London & Continental Railways Limited (LCR Properties) which works between the public and private sectors to develop housing projects with transport elements. He is also Non-Executive Director and Senior Independent Director of Storm Housing Group. He has previously served as Non-executive and Chair of Audit and Risk on the board of the Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Association and as Non-Executive Chair of Metworks.

A Chartered Accountant with senior finance and risk experience in property, construction, treasury, regulated businesses and investor relations, he was formerly Chief Financial Officer of the regeneration specialist St Modwen Properties plc and of the support service provider May Gurney Integrated Services plc.

Michael joined the Crown Prosecution Service Audit and Risk Committee in November 2021.

Nominations, Leadership and Remuneration Committee (NLRC) is responsible for advising the CPS Board on key elements of effectiveness linked to organisational culture and leadership strategies, including ensuring that there are robust systems in place to identify and develop senior leaders from diverse talent pools, draw up appropriate workforce and succession plans and scrutinise incentive structures. The membership of NLRC includes the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Chief Executive and two Non-Executive Board Members, with the Chief People Officer being a required attendee. The Committee meets four times a year.

Current members of the Committee

• Stephen Parkinson
• Julie Lennard
• Grace Ononiwu
• Monica Burch

The Ministerial Strategic Board (MSB) is a joint CPS/Attorney General’s Office Board. It was formed in March 2019 as part of the CPS/AGO Framework. The Framework was updated in December 2020. The MSB’s overarching aim is to oversee the strategic direction for the CPS and jointly hold the CPS to account for the delivery of its strategic objectives. The MSB is chaired by the Attorney General. Membership comprises the Solicitor General, Director of Public Prosecutions, the CPS Chief Executive, the CPS Lead Non-Executive Board Member and the Director-General of the AGO. They meet four times a year. The minutes from this meeting can be found on the Attorney General’s Office website.