James Hennessy is a Senior Vice President and Senior Advisor in the Supervision Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Since 2014, he has led the New York Fed’s Governance and Culture Reform Initiative.Mr. Hennessy joined the Bank in 1992 as an attorney in the Legal Group. He was the corporate secretary of the Bank and special assistant to former New York Fed President William McDonough from 1998-2000, and chief of staff to former New York Fed President Timothy Geithner from 2003-2006. During the Financial Crisis he managed the Bank’s legal team advising on the rescue and restructuring of AIG. He joined the Supervision Group in 2011 and, during the autumn of 2015, served as its interim head.Mr. Hennessy holds a B.A. degree from St. John’s College, an M.S. degree from Columbia University School of Urban Planning, and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. He also holds an Executive Master in Change degree from INSEAD’s program on organizational culture and change management.
Alison Cottrell is the founding CEO of the Banking Standards Board (BSB), a non-statutory membership organisation established in April 2015 to help raise standards of behaviour and competence across the UK banking sector (and now working also with a range of firms and organisations both outside banking and globally). Alison began her career as a City economist covering international fixed income and currency markets. In 2001 she joined HM Treasury, and was Director of Financial Services from 2009 to 2015 with responsibility for a wide range of policy areas. She combined this role for three years with that of Director of Corporate Services, focusing on staff development and organisational culture.
Paul Feeney was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Quilter plc (previously Old Mutual Wealth) in August 2012. Quilter is a leading provider of advice, investments and wealth management in the UK and internationally. Paul Feeney is an experienced, entrepreneurial leader, having held various senior business roles in large international financial services businesses, including as CEO of NatWest Private Bank and NatWest Investments USA, Group Managing Director and Head of Distribution for Gartmore Investment Management and Global Head of Distribution at BNY Mellon Asset Management International. During his career, Paul has developed a deep understanding of the challenges, risks and opportunities faced by the industry. He has been able to leverage this experience as a member of the FCA’s Practitioner Panel. Paul is also a passionate advocate for the importance of breaking down the stigma often associated with mental health.
Joe became Nationwide Building Society’s Chief Executive Officer in April 2016, inspired by the Society’s principle of mutuality. As a building society, Nationwide was founded for a social purpose; to help members buy their own homes and improve people’s lives. Nationwide is one of the UK's largest mutual organisations and the world’s largest building society, with 16 million members and 18 thousand employees. Joe is passionate about Nationwide’s core purpose of ‘building society, nationwide’ and even throughout this pandemic, continues to be guided by the Society’s values and mutual difference. Between 2011 and 2013, Joe was Chair of the Financial Services Authority Practitioner Panel, re-joining as a Financial Conduct Authority panel member in 2016. In addition, between 2007 and 2010, he was a non-executive Director of the Financial Ombudsman Service. Joe’s career started with Procter & Gamble and Dixons Carphone. Joe joined HSBC in 2004, latterly appointed as Head of HSBC’s, Retail and Commercial Bank, UK. In 2014 he became Chief Executive Officer of Openreach.
Christopher Hill was appointed to the Board: April 2017 (Chief Financial Officer from February 2016 to September 2016, Deputy Chief Executive Officer from October 2016 to April 2017, Chief Executive Officer from April 2017). Christopher has considerable strategic, leadership and operational skills and experience from a number of business sectors as well as extensive finance and accounting experience as Chief Financial Officer at Hargreaves Lansdown, and prior to that at IG Group Holdings plc, and Travelex. Christopher qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Arthur Andersen, is an associate member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and is a member of the 30% Club.
Tulsi Naidu has been appointed APAC CEO of Zurich Insurance with effect from 1st January, 2021, based in Singapore. She has 20 years of financial services experience in Europe and Asia having worked in the UK, India, Singapore and Hong Kong across both Life and General insurance.As the current Chief Executive Officer of Zurich Insurance Group in the UK Ms. Naidu has reshaped and simplified the business, improved technical and digital capabilities and strengthened the team, resulting in Zurich’s UK business returning to strong growth with improved profitability and high customer, distributor and employee satisfaction. She is an experienced commercial leader and is an active voice on issues such as responsible business, customer focus, the role of insurance in building resilient communities, and diversity in the workplace.Prior to joining Zurich, Tulsi spent 14 years at Prudential UK, including as Executive Director with responsibility for commercial leadership, and as Chief Operating Officer. Earlier in her career she worked at Credit Suisse First Boston, ICICI and Arthur Andersen. Tulsi is Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority Practitioner Panel, a member of the Board of the Association of British Insurers and of the CBI President’s Council. She is a Trustee of TeachFirst and Zurich Community Trust, as well as a former Pilotlight volunteer and Trustee. Tulsi graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad with a Post Graduate Diploma in Management.
Cristina Nestares is Chief Executive Officer of Admiral, a UK market leader of Car, Home, Van and Travel insurance and renowned Great Place to Work. Cristina joined Admiral Group in 2005 following the completion of her MBA at INSEAD Business School. She began her Admiral career by founding Admiral’s Spanish Insurance operation (Admiral Seguros) which she successfully ran for 7 years. Cristina then expanded her remit, managing both the group’s Insurance and Price Comparison businesses in France, Italy and Spain, before taking on her current role of Admiral UK CEO in 2016. In total, Cristina has over 18 years’ international experience predominantly gained within the financial service sector, with other areas including consulting and non-profit organisations. In her free time she is a volunteer and trustee of ‘The Wallich’ a charity tackling homelessness in Wales, and has recently completed an Advanced Management Programme at Harvard University.
Saker is CEO of the international business of Federated Hermes, appointed November 2011, having joined in June 2009 as CIO. He is also a member of the Federated Hermes Executive team. Prior to this, Saker was Global Head of Equities at Fortis Investments, having previously been CIO Global Equities since 2005. Before this, he was CIO of Global Equities and Head of Marketing for SGAM UK. This followed SGAM’s acquisition of Trust Company of the West, where Saker was a Managing Director running global and international strategies, as well the London office. He started his career at Mercury Asset Management in 1987.Saker is founder of the 300 Club and was an inaugural member of the CFA Institute’s Future of Finance Advisory Council from 2013 until 2019. He is a member of the IIRC Council, the FCA-PRA Climate Financial Risk Forum, the United Nations Environmental Programme Financial Initiative Steering Committee, the Banking Standards Board, the UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing, and the advisory Board of the National Youth Orchestra.In 2018, Saker was named CEO of the Year at the Financial News Asset Management Europe Awards. He has a BA and PhD in Medieval History from King's College, University of London.Saker was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s 2019 New Year's Honours list for services to Responsible Business and Finance.
Julie has been operating in the FS market place since 1986. Her first 20 years in the industry were spent in senior operational , compliance and L & D roles within a number of financial institutions. Her practical application, enthusiasm and detailed knowledge of both regulation and the financial services market place allows her to support businesses in meeting their regulatory requirements. For the last 9 years Julie has provided regulatory and training support on a consultancy basis to businesses across the whole financial services spectrum. Specialising in FCA regulation with a focus on Conduct Risk, Training & Competence, Approved Persons Responsibilities, Culture and Behavioural Economics. Julie has most recently worked very closely with UK Finance (previously British Banking Association), The Investment Association and the Finance & Leasing Association to help host a range of SMR webinars and training events to help support firms in implementing the new Senior Managers Regime. In the last 4 years Julie has also been working with firms not only to help them effectively embed SMCR but also to help them implement system solutions to assist them in managing employee competence and responsibilities.
Sophie is a partner in Eversheds Sutherland Human Resources group and co-heads the Eversheds Sutherland Financial Institutions Employment group. She is a highly experienced employment lawyer, having qualified in 2003, who advises clients on complex transactional and contentious matters with a focus on financial services. Sophie has advised extensively on SMCR implementation, compliance and conduct rule breaches with linked regulatory investigations. She is skilled at guiding clients through regulatory investigations and considering the advising on other regulatory employment matters at every stage of the employment life cycle. Sophie is one of the authors of the Employment Practitioner’s Guide to Financial Institutions: Key Aspects of the Regulatory Framework, which was published last year.