The Board

Mark is Chair of the Financial Services Skills Commission, following his role as Chair of the Financial Services Skills Taskforce.

He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Flood Re, a post he has held since 2015. He provides strategic direction and ensures the delivery of strategic objectives and risk management. He also serves on the Board of the London Stock Exchange Plc and is senior advisor to Markit, a leading international financial information provider.

Mark was previously Member of Parliament for Fareham, first elected in 2001. During his time in Parliament he served as Minister for Employment 2012-13 and as Financial Secretary to the Treasury, 2010-2012 where he was responsible for the coalition government’s financial services policy. Prior to his election, Mark worked for PwC and its predecessor firms between 1985-2001. He studied Economics at the London School of Economics and is a Chartered Accountant.

Claire Tunley is the Chief Executive of the Financial Services Skills Commission, appointed in May 2020.

Prior to this role, Claire was Head of Skills Policy at City of London Corporation leading on skills and talent policy. In this role, Claire was seconded to the Financial Services Skills Taskforce as subject matter expert on skills; led the creation of a sector deal on apprenticeships between the Professional Business Services Council and government; worked with the Government Equalities Office to create an action-based guide on supporting women’s progression in the work place; and created an innovative partnership with local schools to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain a professional financial services qualification.

Claire has worked in skills and economic development in both local and central government roles for over 20 years. Claire is a member of the Institute of Leadership and Management and is a governor of a secondary academy located in an area of deprivation and is the nominated lead governor for careers.

Christopher is the Global Leadership Partner for one of the UK’s largest banks and, by background, is an organisation design and HR consulting Partner.

He has worked predominately in financial services, across banking & capital markets, insurance and asset management.  He also has significant experience in oil & gas and consumer goods.

Over the last decade Christopher has led on the people aspects of some of the most complex bank restructures, and more broadly has led programmes ranging from cost reduction, business realignment, functional transformation and acquisitions and divestitures.  In addition to his role as a Global Relationship Partner, he is currently leading work to set up the end to end design for two new entrants to the UK Banking Sector.

Christopher has worked closely with regulators and other industry bodies to deliver to organisations major mindset shift and broader cultural and behavioural change programmes.  He works across the c-suite on people strategy programmes.

Christopher has a proven track record of leading teams in various roles including PwC’s London Tax Team; as the Global Relationship Partner for a Japan headquarted global bank; PwC’s UK Financial Services P&O Practice; PwC’s Middle East P&O Practice and PwC’s Tax Transformation team.

Having completed an MA in Psychology at Aberdeen University Susan’s career started in retail during which she held a variety of HR roles, starting off as a generalist then following her passion for learning into leadership and management development. In 2000 she started her own business providing consultancy initially on leadership and management development and latterly, business transformation.  She worked with a variety of organisations across a wide range of sectors around the UK until 2015 when she joined the HR team at Baillie Gifford.

Based in Edinburgh, Susan now leads the Talent & Development team whose role it is to ensure that there is a strong pipeline of talented individuals to ensure the firm’s continued success. She has responsibility for Talent Attraction and Acquisition, Talent Development, Performance Management and Learning.

Bernadette joined Leeds Building Society in October attracted by our purpose, culture and ambition. She has spent most of her career in financial services undertaking a variety of front-line roles in retail banking before making the switch to HR. She has held a number of executive HR roles across banking, insurance, technology and telecoms and has led a range of business change programmes.

Bernadette has a broad HR background and expertise in talent, leadership and organisation effectiveness.

Miles Celic is Chief Executive Officer of TheCityUK and has held this position since September 2016. He is also a member of the Department for International Trade Advisory Groups on Financial Services and Professional Advisory Services, a board member of UK Finance and a board member of the Financial Services Skills Commission.

Miles began his career in broadcasting, making and presenting radio and television programmes for the BBC and others. He moved on to work in the UK Parliament, where he focused on foreign affairs and defence issues. Miles subsequently worked in a number of leading reputation management and public policy consultancies, including a period at an arm of Omnicom – one of the world’s largest communications agency groups – where he advised clients including the BBC, the International Committee of the Red Cross and a number of international financial firms.

In 2007, Miles joined HSBC’s policy function to lead political engagement. He was part of the team that led the bank’s response to the global banking crisis. Miles moved to Prudential in 2009 as Director of Group Public Affairs & Policy and became Director of Group Strategic Communications in 2013. He was a member of Prudential’s Group Leadership Team.

Steve Collinson is the Head of the UK People Team, leading the People function across Zurich in the UK.

Steve has been with Zurich for over 30 years, in a career which has seen him drive and deliver major initiatives within HR, communications, finance and operations. In his current role, Steve and his team are at the heart of major advancements in employee engagement, benefits and wellbeing, and are focused on diversity, inclusivity and building sustainable careers for Zurich’s talented workforce.

Before taking up the role of Head of the UK People Team, Steve was Head of Change and Internal Communications, where he embedded a refreshed focus on engaging employees in strategy, brand, business performance and change.

Steve works alongside the UK Executive team, shaping the employee value proposition to deliver Zurich’s goal of being a great place to work for the widest range of people. He brings leadership, passion and deep business experience to his role.

Sharon Doherty is Lloyds Banking Group’s Chief People and Places Officer. She joined the team in June 2022, with the aim of helping our 60,000 plus people play their part in Helping Britain Prosper.
Sharon is committed to creating a culture that attracts and inspires the most diverse, agile and committed talent to thrive and grow.
Before joining Lloyds Banking Group Sharon was Chief People and Places Officer at Finastra – a leading global fintech.
Prior to this she was Vodafone’s Global HR Director, Technology where she drove their award-winning diversity and digital work programme.
Sharon’s career also spans people and leadership roles at Laing O’Rourke, BAA Heathrow’s Terminal 5, GE Capital, PwC, Kingfisher and Marks and Spencer.
Sharon is a mother, author and champion of democracy, diversity, equity and inclusion across the world.

Chris has spent 15 years in Senior/ Divisional HR Director roles in Business and Professional Services firms.

Before joining Aon in November 2022, Chris was HR Director for the UK and Global Sales & Client Management teams and subsequently for the Operations teams at American Express Global Business Travel  totalling 5,000 people across 24 countries in EMEA and APAC.

Chris was also previously UK HR Director at the commercial Real Estate and Investment firm, CBRE and prior to this, he was a Lead HR Consultant at Eversheds law firm, working with clients of all industry sectors on interim assignments, restructuring and change programmes.

He has a passion for business partnering, talent development, culture change and diversity & inclusion.

Chris lives just South of Cambridge with his wife, Sharon and sons Laurence and Joseph. When not working and spending time with his family, Chris loves cycling around the roads of South Cambridgeshire!

Caroline is an experienced HR Director with over 25  years’ experience within the fields of Financial Services, FMCG, Travel and Retail sectors. Currently she is HR Director for Danske Bank UK where she leads the People Strategy as part of the Banks Executive Committee. She has spent the majority of her career in London and returned to NI in 2015. Prior to taking up her current role she worked for a number of FTSE 100 companies including Reckitt Benckiser where she held a Global HR Director role, Executive HR Director at Coutts and had 11 years with RBS in a variety of HR roles.

Caroline Haines has been an elected member of the Court of Common Council at Guildhall since 2017. She is about to complete her term as Chair of the City of London Education Board, is Chair of the Natural Environment Board and Vice Chair of Policy and Resources, the lead strategic and policy making committee of the City of London. Caroline is a Trustee of the City of London Academy Trust and was Chair of Governors at the outstanding Newham Collegiate Sixth Form College for over four years. She completed a  five year spell chairing the London Careers Festival in 2023 and has recently been appointed a Director of FSSC (Financial Services Skills Commission) and Chairs the Education Advisory Board for WildSearch Associates.

A lifelong educator, her career culminating in running a North London Sixth Form College, Caroline has a long commitment to social mobility and the vital importance of employability skills to improve access to the City Financial and Professional Services sector for all the capital’s young people.

Melanie Halsey brings more than 20 years’ experience in senior human resources (HR) roles, most recently as Executive Vice President, HR at Colt Technology Services Limited, where she led a global team of 150 HR professionals across 15 countries.

Prior to that, Ms Halsey was Global Head of HR for Eight Roads, a global venture capital firm. Ms Halsey joined that business after working for Eight Roads’ major shareholder Fidelity, where she was the Head of HR for UK Financial Services.

Tanuj joined Standard Chartered in March 2017 as Group Head, Talent, Learning and Culture and took on additional responsibility as Global Head HR, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking in May 2018. In November 2018 she joined the Management Team as Chief Human Resources Officer.

Prior to joining the Bank, Tanuj built her career at HSBC, where she worked for 17 years across multiple HR disciplines in many of their footprint markets- Hongkong, Singapore, India, Dubai and London. In her last role she was a Group General Manager and Head of HR for EMEA, Global IT & Operations and the International Management programme.

Tanuj is a Non-Executive Director at Sainsbury’s PLC and a member of their Nomination and Remuneration Committees. She also a board member of Asia House, which is a London-based centre of expertise on trade, investment and public policy whose mission is to drive engagement between Asia and Europe.

Katy is the Head of Human Resources at Capital One UK, leading all aspects of talent acquisition and development, people operations, and strategic business partnering. Katy has been with Capital One for over 10 years and spent the majority of her career working for their parent organisation in the United States in various senior HR positions. She is passionate about ensuring that organisations provide opportunities for personal and professional development and the impact ongoing skill development has on enabling people to better serve the needs of their customers.

Fiona joined FSCS in 2016 as Head of Financial Management and became the Chief Financial Officer in July 2020.  She also sits on the Board of Directors and is a member of the Executive Team.

Fiona is a Chartered Accountant who brings diverse and extensive experience spanning over 20 years within the financial services sector, including senior positions at JPMorgan and HSBC.

Much of her career has been spent building and leading high-performing finance teams.  At JPMorgan, from 2007 onwards she was a director and held senior positions, including Global Controller roles in corporate finance, business management and strategic client initiatives in both London and New York.

Prior to joining FSCS, Fiona was at HSBC as a Senior Manager for Global Finance and Technology functions.

David is a Partner in EY People Advisory Services (PAS) focusing on future workforce themes in the Financial Services sector.

David is an experienced entrepreneur and advisor with a 25-year track record in helping clients with strategy, organisational effectiveness and people challenges. He joined EY 9 years ago and led the South African People Advisory practice before relocating to the London office in 2016 where he has had several leadership roles, most recently as EY EMEIA Workforce Advisory leader. He has led large assignments in banking and insurance clients in the areas of hybrid work strategies, strategic workforce planning and capability development, organisational change and culture, leadership and learning, and talent.

David joined EY as part the acquisition of Resolve Group, a collection of strategic human resources consulting companies that he co-founded and led for 14 years in South Africa. He also co-founded and launched SnappCab, an App based taxi aggregator. Prior to starting Resolve he had several formative early career experiences in the areas of political violence mediation, electoral administration and policing reform during the South African transition to democracy, and spent several years in student and community based anti-Apartheid activism.

Sara’s career has been spent entirely in HR, starting as a graduate and working for various large multinationals as well as running her own consultancy. Her early career was in IT and telecoms companies but since then she has gained considerable Financial Services experience including roles in Royal Sun Alliance, Barclays and more recently, Aviva, the UK’s largest insurer. Between 2005 and 2009 Sara lived and worked in South Africa where she led the people aspects of the integration of Absa Bank in to Barclays. Although the UK is now her base Sara has worked in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Latin America and the US. Sara is a working mum with a daughter and son in their early twenties.

Jen is the Group Chief Operating Officer for NatWest Group and a member of the Executive Committee. In this role Jen is responsible for defining and driving strategy across a broad range of functions including corporate affairs, corporate governance/ company secretariat, HR / people, legal, regulatory affairs, marketing, investment, customer journeys, property, and supply chain. She is also the Executive Sponsor for LGBT+ and Wellbeing.

Since joining NatWest Jen has been the Group Chief Transformation and Group Chief People and Transformation Officer.

Jen joined NatWest Group in 2020 following 15 years at Lloyds Banking Group. Appointed to the Group Executive Committee in 2017, she was Group Director, People and Productivity. Prior to that, she was the Group Organisation Design and Cost Management Director, Group Customer Services Director and MD, Business Banking serving over a million small business customers. Jen has also worked in the engineering and airline sectors.

Jen has broad and extensive Board experience – she is a also Non-Executive Director on the boards of HMRC, Morgan Sindall plc (where she also chairs their RemCo), and City HR. She has previously sat on the boards of City, University of London, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets and Kent Community NHS Foundation Trust.

She is a Fellow of the CIPD and co-founded Stratos, a global development programme for senior women in Financial Services.

Jen graduated from Oxford University and has three children.

Tracy is the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

Tracy was Executive Director, Strategy and Innovation at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), where she led on delivery of the SRA’s Corporate Strategy and headed the Innovation, Regulatory and Education Policy and Research & Analysis teams as part of her portfolio. She is also the Executive Sponsor for Mental Health and Well-Being at the SRA.

Prior to joining the SRA, Tracy was Executive Director, Strategy and Resources at the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the Regulator of accounting, audit and corporate governance. She led the Strategy and Resources, Risk, HR, Communications and Economics teams, alongside her wider Executive Committee responsibilities. She was the FRC’s Diversity Champion and led on a number of initiatives aimed at boosting diversity on FTSE boards. She was awarded an OBE in the 2020 New Year Honours list for services to Business and Diversity.

Tracy is a member of the Cabinet Office’s Major Project Leadership Academy (MPLA) and an alumni member of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy network, Oxford University Said Business School and City of London Corporation’s Leaders of Tomorrow alumni groups.

Vicky Wallis joined Direct Line Group as Chief People Officer in April 2020 and is a member of the Group’s Executive Committee. Vicky is responsible for developing and driving the people agenda enabling a dynamic, inclusive place to work, where people can collaborate, grow and thrive.

Vicky has a wealth of experience in building HR functions, developing cultural frameworks and enhancing people capabilities having worked previously at Santander where she was the HR Director for five years and at RBS, where she partnered the business through unprecedented levels of change in their Capital Resolution and Non-Core Divisions. Having operated in international organisations with global roles and projects in India, Romania, EMEA and the US, Vicky also gained a wealth of experience running her own HR consultancy company working with a range of companies, notably EDF Trading, Lloyds Pharmacy, Abbey National and Vodafone.

Vicky is passionate about ensuring that organisations provide interesting and stretching work opportunities for people from all backgrounds and creating cultures that enable everyone to thrive and grow to their potential.  She sees the continuous evolution of organisational skills as a critical part of the HR agenda in order to ensure colleagues are always ready for the rapidly changing market.

Vicky is CIPD qualified and has a Master’s degree in Organisational Leadership.  Vicky is married and has two children (26 & 24) and ensures she maintains a good work:life balance in order to spend quality time with them. She is also a keen film-goer and also enjoys running, cycling & the gym; when she can get there!