Our team

The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP and BCAP) are supported in their work by the Advertising Policy and Practice team that sits within the overall structure of the ‘ASA system’ for UK advertising regulation. The team is responsible for code policy work, provision of pre-publication advice, on-going training for industry, writing and updating of guidance to help advertisers interpret the Codes, proactive monitoring of advertisements and, of course, a robust compliance function. 

Andrew Brown
Chairman of CAP and BCAP

Andrew Brown was appointed Chairman of the Committee of Advertising Practice in 1999 and Chairman of the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice on its formation in 2004.

He joined J Walter Thompson in 1965 and spent most of the next 28 years in Account Management, with a four year stint in Account Planning. He was an agency Board Director for 10 years.

Andrew served on the IPA training committee for twelve years and was a member of the IPA Council from 1991 to 1993. Since 1993, he has been a Director of the Advertising Standards Board of Finance, the body that funds the British advertising self-regulatory system, and, until 2007, the Director General of the Advertising Association. He was Chairman of the CAM Education Foundation from 1994 to 1996 and was awarded a CAM Fellowship in March 1996.

Shahriar Coupal
Director of Advertising Policy and Practice and CAP/BCAP Secretary

Shahriar Coupal is the Secretary for CAP and BCAP, Director for Advertising Policy and Practice at the ASA, and is responsible for ensuring the proper running of the CAP and BCAP Committees and directing the self-regulatory system’s monitoring, compliance, code policy and copy advice functions.

Shahriar was previously Manager of the CAP and BCAP Code Policy team where he played a central role co-ordinating the review of the UK Advertising Codes public consultation. He joined the ASA from Ofcom in 2005 when the ASA took on responsibility for regulating broadcast advertising.

Malcolm Phillips
Code Policy Manager, CAP/BCAP

Malcolm was born in Aberdeen and grew up in Cambridge. He studied English and French at the University of Warwick before going on to do postgraduate work at the universities of Manchester and St Andrews. He came to ASA in April 2005 as an Investigations Executive, joining the CAP Code Policy team in 2007.

In August 2009, he took over as Manager of the CAP and BCAP Code Policy team, which assists B/CAP to ensure the Codes remain relevant and fit for purpose, for example by ensuring the Codes don't undermine the law and take proper account of concerns about categories of advertising.  The Code Policy team has recently begun to evaluate responses to the CAP and BCAP Code Review consultation documents; a root and branch review of the UK’s Advertising Codes.

Nick Hudson
Copy Advice Manager

With an LLB in Business Law, Nick started his working life in advertising, working in several ad agencies in the account handling department for over 10 years.

He joined the ASA in 2006 initially working in Compliance & Monitoring, helping to enforce ASA adjudications and monitoring for problematic ads. He took over as Copy Advice Manager and Assistant Secretary to the General Media Panel (GMP) in 2009. 
 

Bruno Sheldon
Compliance Manager

Bruno is from Norwich and got his first degree in Geographical Science at Portsmouth University.  He obtained a Masters degree in Rural Resources and Environmental Policy at London (Imperial College) before working as a Research Assistant for British Sugar PLC and then as an Environmental Projects Officer in local government.

Bruno joined the ASA in January 1998 as an Investigations Executive and quickly moved to CAP where he undertook roles with responsibilities for developing the organisation’s strategy for online advertising regulation.  In 2003 Bruno became an ASA Complaints Manager before he returned to CAP to become a Compliance Manager in August 2006.

Nicola Philippi
Compliance Manager

Nicola has broadcast production experience from jobs at the BBC including Newsround and Watchdog.  At NBC Europe she acquired and scheduled programmes.  Then more recently at CNBC Europe she was responsible for coordinating the newsroom, booking satellite feeds and crews, making promotions as well as ensuring compliance for both advertising and programming. 

Nicola joined CAP in 2004 to ensure broadcast compliance in teleshopping and other sensitive policy sectors. In 2006 a dedicated monitoring team was set up with Nicola as the manager.  In 2007 the team’s responsibilities were reorganised to include compliance.