Panel members

Background 

Andy is the founder and CEO of Chetwood Financial Limited a UK digital bank focussed on consumer lending and retail savings.  

Prior to starting Chetwood, Andy worked for HSBC for a number of years in various roles across Product and Proposition, latterly as Head of Distribution for HSBC UK, with responsibility for the branch network, call centres and financial advisors. Prior to HSBC he was CFO of Marks and Spencer Bank.

Andy is a Chartered accountant.

Sector 

Chair of the FCA Smaller Business Practitioner Panel from 1 June 2022 and represents the interests of small firms as an ex-officio member of the FCA Practitioner Panel.

Background 

Devesh started his financial services career as a graduate recruit with Hambro Life in 1981, and with support from his clients developed his own financial planning practice. Devesh has kept his practice within a network, and in 2005 was one of the founding partners of Openwork, where he sat on their Investment proposition committee and was influential in working with senior management in developing their investment and wealth solutions.

Now with over 35 years providing holistic financial advice and helping clients with building, preserving, protecting and distributing their wealth, Devesh is mentoring younger advisers to continue to look after the interests of the next generation of clients and their families.

Sector 

Representing small wealth and financial advice firms on the Panel. He brings decades of experience of personal financial planning and face to face advice.

Background 

Rob started his career as a mortgage adviser, leading to being a founder and investor in several businesses including small to medium-sized regulated advice firms, under both the Directly Authorised and Appointed Representative models. He joined the board of national mortgage network, Stonebridge, in 2015 and has been Chief Executive since 2019. This business authorises and supervises over 500 smaller mortgage advice firms and also provides support services to over 400 directly authorised mortgage advisers.

Previous roles include MD of Virgin Money, Director at West Bromwich Building Society, and CEO at Mortgageforce. Rob was a founding director of MCCB which self-regulated the mortgage advice sector before statute, and was Deputy Chairman of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries. Rob also has experience in the IFA sector and in protection and general insurance markets and, as an Executive or NED, has been a member of 25+ company boards during his career.

Sector 

Rob represents the interests of Mortgage Advisers on the Panel.

Background 

Paul has worked within financial services for over 30 years and most recently joined Scottish Building Society as Chief Executive in June 2019.

He has previously held senior leadership roles at RBS / NatWest and Coop Bank and prior to joining Scottish Building Society was Managing Director, Operations at Co-operative Funeralcare.

Paul is a Fellow and Trustee of the Chartered Banker Institute, a Pension Trustee for the Building Societies Association, a member of the UK Finance Mortgage Board and is currently Chair for the Northern Association of Building Societies.

Outside of financial services, Paul is a Charity Trustee for Chest Heart Stroke Scotland.

Paul is a Certified Bank Director, a Chartered Banker and received his MBA from Edinburgh Business School.

Sector 

Paul represents the interests of Building Societies on the Panel.

Background 

Gordon started his career as a Police officer for 12 years with Strathclyde Police before attending Glasgow Caledonian University in 1997 to undertake a BA Degree in Risk Management and Insurance. He has over 20 years’ experience sitting as Head of Risk Management for Global Companies, namely Global Marine Systems Limited and WS Atkins the Engineering Consultancy.

He became Managing Director of SAGIC in 2011. SAGIC was established in 1909 by The Salvation Army to effectively self-insure their assets and remains wholly owned by The Salvation Army to this day, with any profits generated held for the continuance of their charitable work.

Gordon is a member of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the voice of the insurance industry, and sits on the General Insurance Committee 

Background

Mark is Chief Executive of Gain Credit, a consumer lending business focused on the UK. He is also Chair of the Consumer Credit Trade Association.

Having spent over a decade at Unilever, Mark held senior leadership roles with both RBS / NatWest and Bupa. He also served as Executive Director of the Money Advice Service, now the Money and Pension Service, driving strategy, policy and proposition development.

Mark has a passion for behaviour change. He has spoken at the United Nations, G20 and European Central Bank on building the financial resilience of consumers and co-founded a not-for-profit, focused on helping long-term unemployed people remain positive and reskill.

Mark has a degree in Mathematics, Statistics and Management Science and a Post Grad Dip in Business Management.

Background 

Kevin is managing partner of Strategic Solutions Chartered Financial Planners which he co-founded in 2010 and Chairman of Casterbridge, a discretionary fund management firm he co-founded in 2016.

After joining financial services many years ago he has experience working with several firms, Lloyds Bank, Liverpool Victoria, Abbey Life and Sun Life of Canada before becoming an Independent Financial Adviser in 2000. He is a Chartered Financial Planner and Fellow of the Personal Finance Society, Chartered Wealth Manager and a Chartered Associate of the London Institute of Banking and Finance. Kevin has been Chairman of the Personal Finance Society Hants & Dorset region since 2012, is Chairman of Dorset Deaf Children’s Society charity and a trustee of the Strategic Solutions Community Foundation charity.

Background 

Frances has been in the financial services industry for 35 years with extensive experience in branch banking and customer service. She was a branch manager for 13 years in RBS, having worked her way up after starting as the ‘junior’ in 1987, in a small local branch in the east side Glasgow. Frances joined Scotwest Credit Union in 2013, initially taking up the role of Compliance and Risk Officer before going on to become the Chief Operating Officer in 2016. She was appointed as the interim CEO in July 2018 and went on to be fully appointed in 2020.

Sector 

Frances is a representative of the Credit Unions sector on the Panel.

Background 

David is Managing Director of FSB Insurance Service, a general insurance broker and advisory business set up to serve the needs of Britain’s largest business organisation, the Federation of Small Businesses. His general insurance career spans 40 years, working primarily in broking. He has worked in national roles with large firms as well as developing and owning smaller businesses.

For 20 years he has held a number of voluntary roles with his trade body, the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA). He currently sits on both their Small Brokers Advisory Board and Insurance Brokers Standard Committee.

Background 

Mark is Executive Chairman of Veritas Investment Management a specialist investment manager in the wealth sector.

With over three decades of investment experience Mark started his career in 1985 at Vivian Gray stockbrokers.  Before joining Veritas in 2010 he spent 23 years at Newton Investment Management, initially training as an investment analyst becoming head of private clients and charities in 2002 and Deputy CEO in 2007.  At Veritas, Mark enjoys the challenges and variety that all small business face and in particular values direct client contact and responsibility.  He holds a BA in Business and is a Member of the CFA Society (UK).

Background 

Will Self joined MAC II in March 2023 as Chief Executive Officer – Pensions Division, to lead the identification, acquisition, and integration of pensions businesses for MAC II.

He joined MAC II from Curtis Banks Group PLC where he was Chief Executive Officer. Prior to this, he was Chief Executive Officer of Suffolk Life, a division of Legal & General. 

Will completed his first degree in Oceanography at Southampton University and completed his MBA from Cranfield University in 2010. He holds a variety of non-executive roles and is also Vice Chair and a Trustee of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice (EACH).

Background 

Lee is Chief Executive Officer and a founding shareholder of motor finance broker and technology provider Evolution Funding Ltd.

With over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, Lee graduated from Nottingham Business School with a BA Hons in Financial Services before joining the motor finance lender Wagon Finance. Wagon was acquired by Abbey National Bank PLC, which then purchased Lombard Motor Finance, forming First National Motor Finance. During his career at First National, Lee held various management roles across sales, new business operations and consumer risk management.

Lee also spent time seconded to a business transformation team that reported to the executive board. Working with KPMG, the team looked at business process redesign, using then-emerging web technologies. This early insight into digital technology has driven Lee’s passion for leveraging competitive advantage through the use of technology and process automation to improve and enrich customer experience and outcomes.

Background 

Stuart has worked in the financial services market for over 40 years in a range of strategy, leadership and business development roles.  He is a senior strategy and business development professional and general manager in financial services and has worked with life offices, friendly societies, reinsurers, retailers, banks, building societies and distribution/advice businesses.

In addition to this, Stuart worked at the ABI for nearly five years, in both policy and leadership roles.  He led the Raising Standards initiative and spent a considerable amount of time negotiating with both the FSA and the European Commission. He has considerable experience of negotiating policy issues with regulators and of supporting the financial services market to maintain high ethical standards.

In his most recent Executive role, Stuart was CEO at Holloway Friendly for over 7 ½ years and drove the development and implementation of a new successful growth strategy for the business, resulting in a significant increase in membership and new business.  He has recently returned to running his own consulting business and being an iNED.

Stuart has considerable Board, ExCo and Management Committee experience and contributes regularly to industry wide developments.  He is a former Chair of the Association of Financial Mutuals, the ABI Health and Protection Committee, the PRA Practitioner Panel Insurance Sub-Committee and Chair of ILAG.

Background 

Karen is Chief Operating Officer at Lansdowne Partners having joined the firm following the successful acquisition of CRUX in August 2023. 

Prior to the acquisition Karen was CEO for CRUX Asset Management and had held that position since early 2020, having joined CRUX as COO in 2015. She has held senior or executive roles in asset management businesses for over 25 years, including Man Group, Janus Henderson and Fidelity, both in London and Dublin. 

Karen also holds the position of Chairperson and Independent Non-Executive Director for Mediolanum International Funds in Ireland and in September 2022 was appointed as a Non-Executive Director on the board of the Investment Association, the UK trade body for the Investment Management sector. Karen holds a Masters in Business Administration from Durham University.