Trustees & Ambassadors
The Trustees and Ambassadors of the FairLife Charity have a wide experience base covering the finance industry, the community and the financially disadvantaged. Their role is to promote the charity and to help ensure that it develops in line with its mission and goals. Ambassoders and FairLife Panel members are the charity's primary source of expert guidance, while the Trustees act as an independent oversight on the work of the Executive. All Trustees act in a personal capacity, as is required by the regulations governing registered charities, and their consent is required to approve new FairLife Mark criteria.
TRUSTEES:
James Entwisle, Managing Partner, Hymans Robertson
James is Managing partner and leads the Executive Members Board in developing and executing the firm's strategy and business plans. He takes an holistic view of that role, balancing client needs (current and anticipated), the growth and development of our people, excellence in what we do, and of course good financial discipline. He is guardian partner on some of our larger clients.
An added dimension is James' leadership of our work for charitable causes. He is an eager advocate of volunteering, fund-raising for good causes and is currently working on the establishment of Hymans Robertson Foundation to provide financial education to the poorest sections of our society.
James is also a frequent visitor to India in his capacity as chairman of a charity providing education, healthcare, orphanages and other support to the poor.
Jackie Bennett OBE, Senior adviser to UK Finance
Jackie is a NED and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry gained from working at UK Finance, mortgage lending firms and the Council of Mortgage Lenders. She is a part time senior adviser to UK Finance and was Director of Mortgages at UK Finance between 2018 and 2020. Between 2001 and 2014 Jackie worked at Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), one of the bodies integrated into UK Finance in July 2017. She was Head of Policy at CML for 10 years, working through the last financial crisis and delivering on a number of key initiatives related to mortgage regulation and supporting customers in financial difficulty. Immediately prior to joining UK Finance, Jackie worked for two different mortgage lenders in senior compliance roles. She also served as Deputy Manager for property and household at Association of British Insurers (ABI), having spent her early career working in a variety of police and criminal policy roles at the Home Office. Jackie is also a non-executive director for the New Homes Quality Board. In June 2010, Jackie was awarded an OBE for services to the financial services industry in the Queen’s birthday honours list.
Nigel Stanley, Chair of the Members' Panel, NEST
Nigel Stanley was Head of Campaigns and Communications at the TUC from May 1997, and was the TUC's first Parliamentary Officer from 1994 until his promotion. Since retiring from the TUC he has been a Board member at the Pensions Quality Mark and is currently Chair of the Members' Panel at the National Employee Saving Trust (NEST).
From 1992 to 1994 he freelanced in public affairs, research and journalism where his client list included the Shopping Hours Reform Council, the European Commission, the Labour Party and a number of MPs. He worked at the House of Commons from 1983 to 1992, first for Robin Cook and then for Bryan Gould on research, press relations and campaign management.
Before this he was the Organising Secretary of the Labour Co-ordinating Committee from its launch in 1978.
Noreen Siddiqui, Digital & Policy Executive, The Investment and Saving Association
Noreen has worked as a regulatory compliance specialist within the UK’s financial services for over 25 years. Her experience is drawn from roles within industry (listed entities) and within legal and consultancy practices. Over her career Noreen has worked within a variety of industry sectors, across a broad spectrum of regulatory issues and regulatory implementations. Noreen Joined TISA in January 2022 with the aim of fulfilling her ambitions of working with the industry to drive better outcomes and increased fairness for consumers. Noreen has a keen interest in helping the industry move towards more transparency and clarity for consumers, and this includes an interest in financial education for both adults and children.
Amy Washington, Teacher, Ex-Vice President, Education and Welfare, Hertfordshire Students’ Union
Amy graduated from The University of Hertfordshire before joining the Students’ Union as the Vice President in charge of student education and welfare. She completed a two year term with the Students’ Union and then returned to academia to study for a PGCE. Amy is now a teacher at Onslow School.
Barry Sheerman, Labour Member of Parliamentary for Huddersfield
Barry was formerly Chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 and the Education and Skills Committee from 2001-2007. He currently Chairs The Skills Commission, has extensive experience in educational issues and played a key role in education policy and debates. His interests also include economic affairs, environmental sustainability and transport safety.
Barry is an energetic social and political entrepreneur having initiated over 30 different social enterprises over the past 20 years. He is Chairman of Policy Connect (which runs a number of policy forums and parliamentary groups), the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, Urban Mines (an environmental charity), The John Clare Trust and The Dominic Rogers Trust, all of which he helped to establish. He is also a Visiting Professor of Social Enterprise at the University of Huddersfield.
Leigh Berkley, Chairman at Collection House Group.
Leigh served as Chief Executive Officer of Tessera Credit Group LLP until 2015 when selected assets of the business were purchased by Arrow Global Group plc. He transferred at the same time, taking-up a postion of Director of External Affairs & Development with Arrow Global. He move on Arrow in 2019 and is now the Chairman at Collection House Group. Leigh is also a past Director and President of The Credit Services Association (CSA), past Vice President of The Federation of European National Collection Associations (FENSA) and Director of the Money Advice Liason Group (MALG).
Alistair Kellie, Partner, Managing Director and co-head of Communications at SEC Newgate UK
Alistair has 20 years' experience in corporate positioning and financial communications, advising a wide range of financial, professional and support services organisations both in the UK and internationally. Clients have ranged from start-ups and family businesses to large multinationals to UK government departments.
Alistair has supported the launch of several high profile businesses; advised on rebranding strategies; provided crisis communications consultancy and has led a number of successful media and policy campaigns. He started his career in public affairs before moving into financial and corporate PR. He is a founding partner of Newgate Communications having joined from Citigate Dewe Rogerson in February 2012 and was involved in their merger with SEC in 2021.
Rebecca Boscott, COO, Hanover Investmemt Management
Rebecca is a qualified Chartered Accountant with a specialism in financial services. She co-founded Oxford & Cambridge Investment Management in 2000 and was Finance Director and Chief Operating Officer until 2007 when the business was transferred to Bank Insinger de Beaufort. She remained with the Dutch bank for two years heading operations for the OCIM business unit.
Rebecca has had a twenty year career in The City and since leaving Insinger has consulted to a range of regulated start-ups. She is currently the Finance Director for a small investment firm. Rebecca is a member of the Institute of Directors, the ICAEW and the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment. Rebecca has done regular charity work for three years and was part of the team that created the FairLife Charity.
Heather Buchanan, Director of Policy, All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking
Heather Buchanan is the Director of Policy for the APPG on Fair Business Banking. She is also the lead on commercial finance for the Transparency Task Force’s (TTF) Banking Team and is a member of the panel of TTF’s Financial Stability Team. Heather was on the Steering Committee of the Banking Futures project and is a member of the UK Finance SME Advisory Group. She has also contributed to the Lending Standards Board Standards of Lending Practice for Business Customers, and regularly advises MPs, peers, Government departments, regulators, trade bodies and civil society on the commercial relationships between businesses and their lenders.
AMBASSADORS AND PAST TRUSTEES:
Anjalika Bardalai, Chief Economist & Head of Research, TheCityUK
Anjalika has over 20 years of experience in research management and economic and political analysis and forecasting. She currently manages the economic research programme of TheCityUK, the industry body representing UK-based financial and related professional services. Before joining TheCityUK in 2014, Anjalika spent 12 years with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in the company’s New York and London offices, holding a number of different roles including head of the EIU’s flagship Country Reports series. She also worked for the consultancy Eurasia Group, advising financial-markets clients on economic and political risk. She has spoken at conferences in a dozen countries across the Americas, Asia and Europe, and has appeared as a commentator and/or been quoted in leading broadcast and print media, including the BBC, CNN, the FT and The New York Times. She is a member of the Alumni Advisory Board at Imperial College Business School and the Economics Advisory Board at the University of Sheffield. Anjalika is also proud to serve as Vice Chair of the RSPCA London East Branch, and as a Trustee of All Stars London.
Dave Pickering, Head of Regulatory Conduct & Risk, Virgin Money
Dave is head of strategy, performance and resilience in Risk at Virgin Money UK, having originally joined the bank in October 2019 to provide second line oversight of the bank’s integration and transformation programme. His widened remit still includes change risk oversight but now extends to leading on change projects for the Risk function and the bank’s prioritisation of regulatory change projects. Previously Dave spent six years at the Lending Standards Board, the last three as chief executive developing voluntary self-regulation in the financial services sector, in particular relating to lending to small businesses, push payment fraud and vulnerability. Prior to that Dave spent 24 years at Nationwide, with the last 13 years in senior roles in audit, compliance and risk.
Carol Knight, CEO, The Investment and Saving Association (TISA)
Carol has been in financial services since 1998, having previously worked in variety of industries, including education, local government, Civil Service and the gaming industry.
A qualified and experienced teacher Carol gained her degree at King Alfred’s College in Winchester and taught in Romsey, Hampshire. She then spent 7 years at Skandia, managing the PEP & ISA new business department, including transfers.
Carol joined TISA in 2004 and has been responsible for the day-to-day running of the Association’s administration centre, technical support, member communications, expanding the events and training programme and technical issues in the cash savings sector. In 2009, she also took on the role of Company Secretary. Carol joined the TISA Board as Operations Director in July 2011, extending her responsibilities to include finance. This was swiftly followed by taking a position as Executive Director for TISA Exchange.
Robert Kelly, CEO, The Association of British Credit Unions Ltd (ABCUL)
Robert became the Association of British Credit Unions Ltd (ABCUL) CEO in September 2018 after 10 years as NHS Credit Union CEO based in Glasgow. His background is in accountancy and finance and he has held a number of executive and non-executive roles across the financial services sector, charitable and housing sectors including organisations such as Glasgow Credit Union, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Morgan Stanley along with a current spell on the Thenue Housing Association Management Committee and as the independent Chair of their Audit and Risk Committee. Robert has extensive experience in strategic and talent development, corporate governance and is firmly committed to the ethos of co-operation and collaboration as a means of empowering businesses, people and communities alike.
Jasmine Birtles, journalist, author and presenter, Moneymagpie.com
Jasmine Birtles is a TV presenter, money and investing expert, speaker, podcaster, freelance journalist, author of 38 books and founder of popular consumer money making and saving web site MoneyMagpie.com. A regular commentator about all things money on TV and radio, she can be seen on BBC TV News, ITV News, Channel 5 News, Sky News, ‘This Morning’, BBC TV’s ‘Inside Out’ and is a regular panellist on GB News TV ‘On the Money’ weekly programme. In addition, she’s heard UK-wide on national and regional radio including BBC Radio 4 ‘You & Yours’, ‘Money Box’, ‘Woman’s Hour’, BBC Radio Wales, Scotland, Ireland; LBC and TalkRADIO; amongst many others. A personal finance, investing, cryptocurrencies and lifestyle contributor for publications including The Mail on Sunday, The Guardian, The Sun, The Mirror, inews.co.uk, stylist.co.uk and Closer; Jasmine also has a monthly column in Platinum magazine for women over 50. Jasmine broadcasts, writes and speaks about all aspects of personal finance including investing; banking and apps, savings, pensions, mortgages, credit cards, debt, utilities, FinTech and cryptocurrencies. She‘s also the author of several popular books including one Times best-seller. Recent books include ‘Beat the Banks‘,‘The Money Magpie’, ‘The Money Book’ and ‘A Bit on the Side’. She is Patron of the UK charities Fair for You and Community Money Advice; and is an Ambassador for National Empathy Week.
Steve Baker, Conservative Member of Parliament for Wycombe
While a Trustee, Steve was the Member of Parliament for Wycombe. He has a good knowledge of finance having established an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Economics, Money and Banking. He has also used his finance skills charitably co-founding The Cobden Centre; an educational charity promoting a free society, with a sustainable economy in which everyone has the opportunity to participate. Steve served on Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee and the Transport Committee. He was also Chairman of the Aerospace APPG.
Peter Behrens, Chief Commercial Officer, RateSetter
Peter oversees the customer side of RateSetter including growing loan originations, customer analytics, marketing and giving customers great service from getting a quote for a loan through to paying it back. Before co-founding RateSetter, Peter trained and practised as a lawyer at Ashurst and worked as a banker at RBS. Peter also sits on the Board of Plenti Group Limited, a fintech lending business listed on the ASX, as a non-executive director.
Robert Gardner, Founder, Redington and RedStart
Robert is Co-Founder and Lead Investment Consultant of Redington Ltd. He cut his teeth at Deutsche Bank before joining Merrill Lynch in 2003, working as Director in their Insurance and Pensions Solutions Group. He was responsible for implementing and executing ALM derivative solutions across several asset classes.
In 2008, Robert also co-founded www.mallowstreet.com, the online pensions community that brings pension fund decision makers and product providers together. Robert is passionate about the impact of social media on business believing that education, collaboration and contributions are the best way to tackle pension challenges.
In 2012 Robert founded financial education charity RedSTART to create an education and entrepreneurship programme for young people. The charity works actively with primary and secondary schools, teaching children using techniques such as gamification.
Ben Hughes, Chief Executive, Community Development Finance Association (CDFA)
Ben joined the CDFA in 2011 and has played a pivotal role in bringing community finance to the attention of policy makers, investors and thought leaders. He helped to establish a performance framework for the sector and was a key player in the formation of the Community Investment Coalition, a new national partnership focused on campaigning for fair finance. Before joining the CDFA, Ben gained over twenty years of experience in the community sector, managing an advice agency and becoming CEO of the social action membership network, Bassac.
Paul Ross, Policy Director, Retail Banking, British Bankers Association (BBA)
While a Trustee, Paul was Policy Director for retail banking at the British Banking Association*. He stepped down as a Trustee to join the FCA where he worked until his untimely death in 2021 from an inoperable brain tumour. Paul possessed a huge wealth of knowledge and was well respected throughout the industry. His guidance in the early years helped to shape the FairLife Charity, nudging us away from structural mistakes and onto a path where we could ultimately succeed. He also helped us to map out that journey explaining that we would have to work for years below radar, but that our efforts would eventually pay off. Having rolled forward five years since those conversations, he appears to be right. Finally Paul kept in touch as an Ambassador. He remained interested in the charity's progress and was always willing to meet when his opinion was sought. We will definitely miss him.
* This involvement did not signify that the FairLife Charity was backed or supported by the BBA or UK Finance.
