Archives: Ambassadors

Governance, culture and risk management consultant, expert witness, trainer and author

 

Paul is an acknowledged expert in corporate governance and risk management and for 13 years led ACCA’s (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) global thought leadership on these subjects.  He now works with boards and executive teams in assessing and improving their culture and governance and risk management practices to improve organisational performance and resilience.  He also writes and trains boards and others on governance, board effectiveness, risk, business ethics and corporate culture and recently wrote a text book on corporate governance for ICSA.

 

Paul is visiting professor of Corporate Governance at London South Bank University, co-chairman of the CRSA Forum, a network of practitioners established in 1994 interested in the behavioural and cultural aspects of risk, governance and organisational performance, a fellow of scenario and futures consultants SAMI Consulting, a board member of the UK Policy Governance Association and an editorial board member of a governance journal.  He is a trustee of a sailing club and has been chairman of a small housing charity, and started and sold a successful small retail and printing business.

 

Paul is a chartered accountant and a chartered secretary and earlier in his career was a company secretary and group financial controller of a small UK listed company and then a larger unlisted company with 5,000 staff.

 

His publications include:

 

ICSA’s Certificate in Corporate Governance 2018

 

Incentivising ethics 2016

Capitalism and the Concept of the ‘Public Good’

Culture and Channelling Corporate Behaviour Summary of Findings.

Creating Value Through Governance: Towards a New Accountability.

Risk and Reward Tempering the Pursuit of Profit.

Corporate Governance and the Credit Crunch

Siva has 20 years international experience in senior roles in industry sectors including brand deployment / franchising / financial services / technology / professional services / construction / real estate / building materials in Fortune 500 and in private equity backed organisations.

 

He has lived and worked in the UK, Continental Europe & Asia Pacific.

 

He also dedicates time every week to pro bono / altruistic work to make a difference where possible and is a strong believer that every single person can make a difference for the better

Martin Rich is a sustainability and impact investment specialist, with over 20 years’ experience in both mainstream and social investment.

Martin co-founded Future-Fit Foundation 5 years ago with a vision of helping create a society which is environmentally restorative, socially just and economically inclusive. The foundation’s free-to-use tools enable businesses to take practical steps towards – and ultimately beyond – the SDGs, and empower investors to understand the total impact of their portfolios and thus direct capital accordingly.

Martin previously spent 7 years as Sales Director at Social Finance Ltd, where he focused on developing the investor base for social impact investments, including the first Social Impact Bonds. Before that he worked for 13 years in international investment banking on structured debt and derivative products for JP Morgan, HSBC and UBS.

Martin has a passion for sustainable development and poverty relief, focusing his pro bono efforts in both the UK and internationally with Access Foundation, Social Investment Business, Panahpur Foundation, and Christian Aid. He is also a former member of the Asset Allocation Working Group for the G7 Social Investment Task Force.

Antony Elliott is founder of The Fairbanking Foundation. He spent over ten years as Group Risk Director of a major retail bank having worked for UK and international banks previously.

 

He has been actively involved in researching the field of financial well-being (“FWB”) since 2004 and has many published reports. The Fairbanking Foundation was formed as a charity in 2008 to improve FWB through better financial products and services. It conducts research, provides advice and is the certification body for the Fairbanking Mark. The Foundation is the only accredited certification body for financial products in the UK.

 

He has worked on financial capability measurement and behaviour change with MAS and its predecessor body (CFEB), currently sitting on the Research and Evaluation Group.

 

Antony has a degree in Banking and International Finance from City University and a master’s in Operational Research from Imperial College, London. In 2014 he was awarded an OBE for services to bank customers.

Robert studied Economics and Business Administration in Stockholm and London respectively, followed by Finance and Investments Management at LBS and Clinical Psychology at ICP. More recently, Robert completed his PHD on Integral Development with Trans4M, Geneva which thesis led to the synthesis of his recent book entitled Integral Impact Investments, published in 2020.

With deep experience and expertise in finance and investments, he has been MD of Structured Products, UBS, Head of Market Sales and Credit Officer, Europe at Citigroup and Head of High Yield Sales & Research, Europe at BNPParibas. Subsequently he was made Global Head of the Client Solutions Group at Fortis Bank (now BNPParibasFortis) and member of EXCO where he also worked extensively on Organisational culture and business development and later with external bodies such as the FSA on culture impact within the finance industry.

Following this he worked as a Psychotherapist within the NHS and in private practice. He more recently was the Chief Credit Officer for the FinTech firm Assetz Capital and Head of Impact and Strategy at Lintel Capital where he helped to design a full spectrum Impact Investment strategy. He has always looked to engage with people and organisations of high integrity and who have the intention to develop and grow their firms and themselves in the process through a transformational journey.

Among others, he is a member of the International Bankers Association, (WCIB), the Society for Organisational Learning, (SoL), Institute of Business Ethics,(Ibe), the Chartered Institute of Credit Managers, (CICM), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, (RSA).

Joss is a Director of WBCSD’s Redefining Value programme, dedicated to the development of initiatives and tools to align finance, business and true sustainability.

 

Joss is also a founding partner at Terrafiniti LLP, a pioneering sustainability and systems consultancy and leads their innovation initiative, Towards 9 Billion.

 

Joss Tantram is an expert in sustainable strategy, reporting and management, with 26 years’ experience in the private and not-for-profit sectors in the UK, Europe and world-wide.

 

Joss is the author of a wide range of practical guidance for sustainability professionals as well as the Towards 9 Billion book series – presenting big, playful, hopeful ideas for a sustainable, equitable future. Available from Amazon.

 

www.terrafiniti.com

Mark has worked in the Financial Services Sector for over 30 years.

 

Having worked for various Insurance companies and Fund Managers, he decided to form his own IFA brokerage in several locations across the UK. In 2000 he decided to scale down his operation which culminated in MBO’s for his advisers and then moved to work in the private client sector.

 

As well as running his own successful brokerage, Mark also has excellent experience of working with the expat community as he set up and ran a successful brokerage in Portugal as well as running his UK business interests . In 2012, he was recruited into major Financial Advisory group as a Business Development Consultant and was quickly promoted to Business Development Director. Six months later he was promoted to Managing Director. In 2017 he left to join Tavistock Investments PLC as Group Business Development Director.

 

Mark is a member of several Advisory and Steering groups within the Financial Services Sector and is a keen advocate of Transparency and Fairness.

Flora Coleman joined TransferWise – one of the fairest, easiest and most transparent ways to manage money across borders – as global Head of Government Relations in early 2016. This followed a decade of senior political advisory work, including nearly three years as a Special Adviser to the Leader and Chief Whip in the UK Upper House.

 

Flora has worked most policy areas but has a particular specialism in European politics and financial services. She played a key role in delivering the Cross-Border payments regulation, pushing for global transparency and to secure a law in the EU which means that from Q2 2020 the 500 million people in the EU will know what it costs to make an international payment. This law will lead to an addition €4bn in the European economy from day one.

 

In 2019 she was awarded as a stand out top 5 policymaker and regulatory expert in fintech by Innovate Finance, as well as the 4th most influential woman in UK public affairs. Flora advises start ups on political relations and is on the Steering Board of Coadec – the policy voice of start ups.

 

In her spare time she is the National Deputy Chair of the Tory Reform Group – an independent group which brings together members and friends of the Conservative Party to promote the values of One Nation Conservatism. She is an advocate for diversity in business and technology companies, and speaks passionately about the power of mentoring.

Mark is a Managing Director within Duff & Phelps’ Regulatory Consulting practice, specialising in risk management, control, governance and accountability within the financial services sector.

 

He has over 20 years of experience working in the financial services industry, in professional services and regulation.
Mark has advised financial services firms on regulatory matters since 2013, prior to which he was a Senior Risk Specialist at the PRA and FSA, working within the Risk Specialists Division. During his time as a regulator, Mark reviewed the control infrastructure at several leading international insurers and banking groups. Before joining the FSA, Mark had a career within investment banking for over eight years and spent six years as an entrepreneur in the retail sector.

Mark has become one of the UK industry’s leading advisors on individual accountability and the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR), having advised some of the largest banks, insurers, brokers and other financial services firms on both implementation and the ongoing expectations of Senior Managers and individuals subject to the Certification Regime.

 

Advising a number of major financial banking institutions on SMCR implementation, including leading the implementation working with the Compliance function at one of the UK’s largest banks.

Advising one of the UK’s largest insurers on their compliance with the requirements of the Senior Insurance Managers Regime
(SIMR), including a review of Statements of Responsibilities and the Governance Map.

 

Designing a risk management framework, policy framework, governance arrangements, Compliance structure, three lines of defence model and policy and process implementation at a large financial services firm.

Leading a review of front to back controls at a European investment bank, following accounting irregularities and regulatory challenge. Recommending control improvements, and advising management of regulatory expectations and industry best practice.

Reviewing the governance, risk, compliance and control arrangements at a major general insurer, providing a report with findings and recommendations for improvements.

As a regulator, following a high profile rogue trading incident, reviewing the control infrastructure at a large European investment bank, advising the Supervision team on remediation actions; supported the FSA enforcement team in formal enforcement interviews with senior management.

 

Qualifications:

Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA)

BSc (Hons), First Class, Mathematics, Imperial College

Romi is Chief Executive Officer of PensionBee, the leading online pension manager she founded to simplify pension savings in the UK, following a harrowing pension transfer experience of her own.

 

Romi began her career at Goldman Sachs at the height of the 2007 global financial crisis in the Credit Risk Management and Advisory Division, working in New York and London. In 2012 she joined Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division to advise major banks, insurance companies and pension providers.

 

In 2014 Romi followed her entrepreneurial spirit to become employee number four and Head of Corporate Development at Credit Benchmark, which has subsequently grown to be one of the world’s most successful B2B data start-ups. Fascinated by the emerging world of financial technology, Romi incorporated PensionBee shortly thereafter.

 

Romi received an MBA from Harvard Business School as a George F. Baker scholar and graduated summa cum laude from Emory University.

 

In 2017, she was named Entrepreneur of the Year at computing.co.uk’s Women in IT Excellence awards.