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Welcome to IAgSA (Institute of Agricultural Secretaries & Administrators)
Who are we?
IAgSA (Institute of Agricultural Secretaries and Administrators) was incorporated in 1967 andWhat is our mission?
- To provide professional support to farm administrators and bookkeepers working in the UK rural economy.
- To support career development in rural business administration.
- To promote a high standard of professional conduct with farm and rural business administration.
What does IAgSA do?
- Maintains a membership database of all IAgSA members, which includes farm administrators, bookkeepers, rural business administrators, farm secretaries, accountants, land agents, estate administrators
and others. - Provides our members with relevant information and knowledge to assist them with their ongoing and Continuing Professional Development.
- Arranges training to help new entrants coming into the sector.
- Supports members to improve their technical knowledge and to meet other members and industry representatives through IAgSA Regional Training Days and our National Conference.
- Works to support local IAgSA Branches who provide local networks for IAgSA members across the UK.
- Engages with a wide audience via our
industry-recognised monthly technical bulletin. - Liaises and works with industry stakeholders, the government and others on farming issues that affect our members and their clients.
How do we manage ourselves?
- We follow a Constitution and Code of Conduct to provide our council and members with a framework in which to operate.
- Our Secretariat looks after the day-to-day activities of IAgSA, under the guidance of our council.
- Our Membership Panel approves all applications for membership.
- Our Disciplinary Committee ensures the good governance of membership in relation to the Code of Conduct and ethical matters.
What do we expect of our members?
- To abide by the Code of Conduct.
- To maintain and enhance their professional standards.
- To hold an Anti Money Laundering Supervisory Licence if required.
- To hold Professional Indemnity Insurance if required.
- To demonstrate continuing professional development and submit to IAgSA.
- To further the aims and objectives of IAgSA.
IAgSA Council Members
Council Members help IAgSA to provide a high-quality service to our membership, giving their time and expertise, commitment and enthusiasm. Many of our Council Members work as farm administrators or bookkeepers and so have a working appreciation of the day-to-day issues within our profession.
Christine Thompson – Chairman & Training Representative
Christine is a farmer’s daughter and wife, working alongside husband David on a 600-acre tenanted farm at Helmsley on the southern edge of the North York Moors National Park. After gaining her City & Guilds – Farm Accounts qualification in 1983, Christine worked as a self-employed farm secretary until 1986. She then returned to the profession in 1993, employing and then managing a team of farm secretaries until her ‘semi-retirement’ in 2014. Christine joined the IAgSA Training Team in 2017 and is now the IAgSA Training Representative. During this time, Christine has been fortunate to make many contacts and friends within the Industry. An office and meeting room was built at her farm in 2004 and this now acts as the base for her current work as General Secretary of the Ryedale Show. She is also a Council Member and Trustee of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.
Emma Powell – Vice Chairman and Branches Representative
Emma lives near the Hampshire/Wiltshire border and her role is to liaise between the Council and our branches. After being made redundant from a part-time bookkeeping role for Farms and Estates, Emma decided to become a self-employed farm secretary and has been in the role for more than 10 years. She has been on the committee of the Thames and Test Branch for a number of years, serving recently as Chairman for the last few. Emma has a Level 3 Certificate in Rural Business Administration and regularly attends training courses and workshops.
Rebecca Hill – Treasurer
Rebecca has held the Council post of Treasurer since July 2012, having previously served on Council from 2004-2011. As Treasurer, Rebecca is responsible for IAgSA’s finances, budgeting, monitoring bank movements, approving and paying bills and expenses claims, and reporting to Council. Brought up on a dairy farm in Gloucestershire, Rebecca obtained secretarial and accounting qualifications prior to completing her NCFS at Staffordshire Agricultural College. She began her farm secretarial career working for the Farmers Secretarial Service, based in Devizes, Wiltshire before becoming self-employed, looking after the administration on about a dozen farms. The businesses range from large contract farming operations, needing
Lynn Briggs – Continuing Professional Development & Membership Panel Representative
Lynn is the council member responsible for CPD and reporting to the CPD Assessor. Raised as a farmer’s daughter, she has worked within the agricultural industry all her life. With over 25 years’ experience, she has provided mobile farm secretarial services including
Ann Davies – Bulletin Editor & Membership Panel Representative
Ann studied the NCFS course at Usk Agricultural College and then continued with day release studies in C&G (City & Guilds) Farm Business Management at Dorset College of Agriculture. Ann’s clients in Worcestershire vary from a small pedigree Red Poll
Billie Johnson – Government Liaison Representative
Billie is a co-opted Council Member responsible for liaising with
Sally Lemonius
Sally trained as a secretary and bookkeeper at the Guildford Secretarial College in Surrey in 1967. After working as a PA she moved to the Isle of Wight where her parents had owned an arable farm since 1973. In 1985 she joined Harry Ferguson Farms Ltd. as their farm secretary on their mixed dairy and arable holding. This included working as a PA to the family and being involved in the heritage of the Ferguson name. She subsequently moved within the Group to the investment side becoming Company Secretary of HF Holdings Ltd. She works between London and the Isle of Wight and has now been employed by the Group for over 30 years. Over the years she has also worked for a number of smaller farms on the Isle of Wight in her spare time. Sally has been Chairman and Secretary of the Thames & Test Branch and National Chairman with responsibility for AML & Compliance. She remains on the membership panel.
Hannah Stevenson
Hannah grew up on an arable farm in South West Norfolk. She left East Anglia to study for a degree in psychology at the University of Lancaster and then spent 8 years working in the brewing industry as a Sales Forecaster and Pricing Manager. After having children Hannah and her husband moved to Suffolk, to be closer to family, where she did an IAB bookkeeping qualification and Units 2 – 4 of the IAgSA training programme. She is a self employed farm secretary with 4 clients, covering arable, veg, pigs and free range eggs. She was one of the first mentees to benefit from the mentor programme and is passionate about helping others to tap into the enormous amount of experience that exists within the IAgSA membership through this programme.
She is also secretary of the Suffolk branch.
