Members of our executive team are each responsible for different areas of our work. They provide leadership to their teams, and ensure we deliver the strategies provided by our Commission Board.

Vijay is our Chief Executive. Vijay joined the Electoral Commission from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where he was Director General. He has worked in the role on climate, energy and the environment, global health and covid, and a wide range of countries. 

He served as the British Ambassador to Brazil and worked in the Ministry of Justice and Cabinet Office on electoral issues. There he led the programme to establish individual electoral registration, and wider issues relating to political and constitutional reform of the UK.

Sam is the Director of Policy, Research and Voter Engagement. He leads the Commission’s work to understand and analyse the challenges to well-run elections and referendums in the UK, and the Commission's extensive programme of voter education and engagement. 

This includes:

  • our comprehensive reports on elections and referendums
  • our wide-ranging research programme on electoral registration and participation
  • our detailed analysis of policy and legislation proposed by the UK’s governments
  • leading the programme of work with schools, and other civic bodies and partners, to deliver education and resources about engaging in the democratic process

Sam joined the Commission in 2025, having previously established and led the statutory public inquiry into the Omagh bombing. He had previously also been Director of Policy, Research and Analysis and Deputy Secretary at the UK Covid-19 public inquiry. 

Sam has a background in senior leadership in the public sector, having led arm's length bodies in the constitutional and transport fields. He has held other senior roles in healthcare and constitutional regulators, as well as in the Cabinet Office. Sam is a board member of both the Boundary Commission for Wales and the Association of Chief Executives.

Jackie is Director of Electoral Administration and Regulation. She leads our work overseeing the delivery of elections and provision of guidance and support to electoral administrators in their management of elections and electoral registration. 

Her teams manage the registration of political parties, and the reporting, publication and compliance of party, candidate and relevant non-party campaigner finances. This includes:

  • supporting parties, candidates and campaigners to understand and comply with their obligations
  • identifying potential offences and where necessary taking enforcement action
  • managing engagement with policing and other relevant agencies
  • monitoring and working with others to help prevent and mitigate risks and threats to the system

Jackie has a background in regulation, policy, funding and cultural diplomacy. She has held senior roles at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the British Council and National Lottery funding organisations.

Chris is the Director of Corporate Services and his remit includes finance, procurement, HR and payroll, and projects and planning. 

His team’s key responsibilities include: 

  • financial management and reporting
  • corporate planning
  • pay reviews and performance management
  • purchases from suppliers
  • overhauling the organisation’s approach to KPIs and risk management and reporting 

Chris's focus at the Commission is to build a strong corporate centre and to foster relationships with the national Parliaments. His key strengths are in professional capability and building teams.

Chris has 18 years of Civil Service experience with Defra, HMRC and DBT. He has also worked in the private sector for PWC, Deloitte and the water industry. He has also been involved with the Intellectual Property Office, Innovate UK and is co-chair of the Government Finance Function Sustainable Finance Network.

Niki is Director of Communications. She is responsible: 

  • for the Commission’s external, digital and corporate communications functions
  • overseeing the Commission’s voter-facing awareness campaigns
  • democratic education work, which ensure voters (and soon-to-be voters) across the UK have the information they need to vote with confidence

Niki joined the Commission as Head of External Communications in 2018, prior to which she led multi-disciplinary communications teams in the social housing sector.

Alison is our General Counsel and Director of Devolution and Law. She leads our in-house legal service, our legislative strategy and coordination function and our teams in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. She also leads our EDI activities. Her responsibilities include:

  • overseeing the in-house legal team's advice across the full range of our functions, managing legal risk within its statutory remit
  • coordination of our response to new legislation from the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd
  • supporting the teams in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to deepen our relationships with the devolved legislatures and executives, meet our devolved accountabilities and carry out our functions in the particular context of each part of the UK
  • overseeing our EDI strategy and legal responsibilities and our Welsh translation service.

Previously, Alison spent two decades as a lawyer in the UK Government, gaining experience in constitutional law, elections and devolution. As a Legal Counsellor at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, she led successive legal teams working at the intersection of public international law and public law and was the UK Agent to the European Court of Human Rights.