Contact details for everyone below can be found in the members’ area of the website.
Executive Board members
Paula Clarke Bain (Chair and Conference Director)
Paula is a Fellow of the Society of Indexers and has been an active SI member in many areas for over 20 years, after an in-house background in publishing and printing. She likes to make connections, including across her indexes, with the global indexing community, and in developing further links with authors and publishers.
Ruth Martin (Vice-Chair and New Professionals Director)
Ruth has been indexing professionally since 2018, after working as a law librarian and an information manager for a healthcare publisher. She lives in France, but regrettably can only index in English.
Philippa Jevons (Secretary)
Philippa qualified as an indexer in 2014 and has previously worked in drama,education, and the preparation of research transcripts and legal paperwork.
Rachel Gee (Training Director)
Rachel is an advanced member of the Society of Indexers and has been indexing professionally since accreditation in 2011. She was group co-ordinator of the Sussex group between 2012 and 2018.
Tanya Izzard (Marketing Director)
Tanya has been indexing full-time since 2017, after a career in higher education administration. She is also a member of the Training Course Committee.
Michelle Martin (Finance Director)
Michelle became an accredited indexer in February 2022. She previously worked as a site accountant in the manufacturing industry and a finance manager in the non-profit sector.
Sue Penny (Continuing Professional Development Director)
Sue qualified as an indexer in 2021, and is now an Advanced Professional Member of the SI. She has a background in librarianship, education and bookselling. In her spare time she enjoys pottering by the sea, walking, and talking about books.
Office Holders
Paul Machen (Office Manager, Training and Workshops Administrator)
[email protected]
Paul has worked for the Society in various administrative roles since 2003, becoming Office Manager in 2010.
Mary Coe (Editor of The Indexer)
Mary is a former president of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers (ANZSI), and was appointed as Joint Editor of The Indexer in January 2018, working alongside Maureen MacGlashan before taking on the role as sole Editor. She has previous editorial experience and both academic and international contacts.
W. Stephen Gilbert (Editor of SIdelights)
After a long career centred on text (as author, television drama producer, journalist, playwright, script editor, essayist, interviewer, blogger), Stephen added indexing to his repertoire in 2013.
Kim Birchall (Training Course Co-ordinator)
Kim has been an indexer since 2008 and more recently a copy-editor and proofreader. She has been involved with the SI course since 2012 and took on the role of Training Course Co-ordinator in 2021. In her spare time, Kim enjoys acting, running, and learning languages.
Ruth Ellis (Website Manager)
After a career in the food & drink industry and then business IT consultancy, Ruth has been a professional indexer since 2010. She manages the website and was the instigator of the first National Indexing Day.
Pam Scholefield (Groups Co-ordinator)
Pam has built her indexing business for over 15 years while also giving time to the Society in various committee roles. She really enjoys coordinating the friendly Three Choirs Group.
Ann Kingdom (International Representative)
Ann has been a professional indexer, editor and proofreader since the mid-1970s. She has been involved with the governance of the Society since 1997, serving in a variety of capacities (most recently as Chair: 2008-13 and 2015-18), which has given her a familiarity with almost every aspect of SI activities. Now semi-retired, she is looking forward to having more time for other activities, including a much-neglected allotment.
Caroline Sanderson (Honorary President)
Caroline is an author, journalist and reviewer; as Associate Editor of The Bookseller she has championed non-fiction in her regular reviews and round-ups of forthcoming work. She is also Programme Director of Stroud Book Festival and a Writing For Life Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, currently serving as RLF Writer in Residence at South Tees NHS Foundation Trust. She has written six non-fiction books, including biographies of Jane Austen and Adele. Her memoir – “Listen With Father: How I Learned to Love Classical Music” – will be published by Unbound in July 2025. Her commitment to excellence in non-fiction publishing coupled with the positivity and energy she brings to all her activities in the publishing world make her an impressive ally to the Society.
Sam Leith (Retired Honorary President, 2014-2024)
We would like to express our gratitude to our outgoing President, Sam Leith. Sam has been a vital part of the Society’s activities for ten years, entertaining us at conferences and helping spread the word on indexing at our National Indexing Day events. He has been an unfailing champion of the Society and of the importance of indexes, and SI and its members wish him the very best for his future career.
Sam says: An intelligently compiled and accurate index is an absolutely indispensable part of a nonfiction book — from scholarly monographs to cookbooks, popular histories to legal texts.
The Society of Indexers is the gold standard for professional indexing. For authors and publishers seeking an index, it offers the absolute certainty of a high-quality job by an experienced and accredited professional. For indexers and aspiring indexers, it offers a support network and resources, and provides training and accreditation in this difficult, vital and underappreciated art.
The SI exists to remind publishers, authors and readers that the index isn’t an optional extra, that a computer can’t compile it for you, and that “just doing it yourself” isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds. It exists to put them in touch with the professionals who can.
