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 serves 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 is the Chief Executive of the Financial Services Skills Commission and a member of the Board.

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.

Catherine McGuinness is Chair of the City of London Corporation’s Policy and Resources Committee.  She has been an elected Member since 1997 representing the ward of Castle Baynard, which takes in St Paul’s and Fleet Street. Catherine is also a member of the Community and Children’s Services Committee and the Finance Committee.

As Chair of the Policy Committee, Catherine is Deputy Chair of TheCityUK, the promotional body for the UK financial services industry, and the International Regulatory Strategy Group and also Chairs a number of Committee’s such as the Courts Sub Committee, the Culture Mile Working Party, the Resource Allocation Sub Committee and the Public Relations & Economic Development Committee

She was previously a commissioner on the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice and is now a commissioner on the IPPR Commission on Environmental Justice, and on the council of St Paul’s Cathedral.

A solicitor by training, Catherine practised in financial services law for several years, qualifying as a solicitor at Waterhouse & Co (now Fieldfisher), where she became a partner, and leading the London legal departments at Sanpaolo Bank and Banca Commerciale Italiana (now combined as Intesa Sanpaolo).  More recently she has worked as a consultant in the alternative investment management sector.

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.

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.

Simon was appointed CEO of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment in May 2004, having previously worked both with a number of blue-chip financial companies and in Central Government.  His previous role was at Deutsche Bank where he worked as Director, Chairman’s Office, Global Investment Banking.

For three years prior to this, Simon was Deputy Director, Prime Minister’s Efficiency Unit, Cabinet Office where he was responsible for the Unit’s work in a number of major Government Departments.

Simon achieved his professional banking qualifications whilst in his early career with Lloyds Bank plc, undertaking a number of roles including Senior Group Manager, Retail Banking and in Chicago, USA.

A Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, Simon was educated at St Paul’s School London and the University of Surrey.

Emma Hardaker-Jones joined Legal & General as Group HR Director in 2017. Emma’s previous role was as Global HR Director and Board Director at PA Consulting, co-leading the successful sale of 51% of PA Consulting to The Carlyle Group in 2015.

Prior to PA Consulting, Emma spent a number of years as Group Head of Talent and Resourcing at BP, driving change across the 100 countries in which BP operates. Emma has also held roles at Prudential and the Bank of England and was the co-founder of a dot com start-up, Skillvest.com. Emma has significant international experience having worked in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.

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.

Esmond has been at HSBC UK as Chief of Staff and Head of Strategy & Planning for 3 years, having previously been Head of Strategy at RBS for Personal and Business Banking.He has helped to deliver a strong performance for HSBC UK, across customer experience, people engagement and value-growth. He led the creation of HSBC UK’s refreshed 2030 vision, as well as 5-year strategic ambition and transformation plan; he is driving its overall execution.

He has worked in early-stage venture capital and also strategy consulting. He is a Chartered Accountant, and has an MBA with distinction from INSEAD.

Irene McDermott Brown was appointed Chief HR Officer at M&G plc in in July 2017 when M&G plc demerged from Prudential plc. Prior to this Irene held the role of HR Director, Prudential UK and Europe and was appointed into that role in October 2016.

In her role as Chief HR Officer at M&G Irene is responsible for developing the people strategy for the whole company.

Before joining Prudential, Irene spent more than five years at Barclays, three years of this as Group Human Resources Director. Before that she held senior roles at BP and Cable & Wireless, as well as running her own consultancy business.

Stephen is Chief Digital & Transformation Officer at Lloyds Banking Group. Stephen joined Group Transformation in April 2018, to lead the Retail Transformation team and took up additional responsibilities leading the Retail Bank Chief Digital Office in January 2020.

Stephen has been part of the Group since December 2007, leading first the mortgage business, then as MD Retail Customer Products, became accountable for a portfolio including savings, mortgages, personal current accounts, retail business banking and payments.

Prior to joining Group Transformation, Stephen was Group Customer Services Director, and Group Ambassador for the South West in 2016-2019. In this role he represented the bank and built relationships with MPs, community leaders and local businesses, serving also as Bristol City Chair for The City UK, a position he continues to hold.

Chris is Managing Director for the EMEA Region and Global Director of Corporate Development at First Sentier Investors (FSI) – a global asset manager responsible for over £100bn of client assets worldwide.

In his current role Chris is responsible for FSI’s business activities in the UK, Europe and the Middle East as well as for driving the creation of new opportunities across FSI’s global business. Chris also leads FSI’s Product Development and Responsible Investment functions globally and is a member of FSI’s Global Executive Committee.

Before joining the firm in 2003, Chris was Director of Product at Northern Trust Asset Management. Prior to this he trained and worked in the Asset Management Group at PwC in London. Chris sits on the Advisory Council for the UK Investment Association and the International Trade & Industry Committee at TheCityUK. He is also a Director of the UK Financial Services Skills Commission and a Trustee of the Bradfield Youth Club – a registered charity and important social facility supporting more than 500 young people aged 7-20 in North Peckham, London.

Chris holds an MA (Hons) from The University of Edinburgh, is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and an Associate of the Society of Investment Professionals (ASIP).