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The board of trustees for the Foundation for Credit Counselling (registered in England and Wales) has the following members.
(Chair)
Tim joined the StepChange Board in 2017 and for four years was Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee (2019 to 2023).
He is the Chair of Polus Capital, Chair of the risk committee of UK Export Finance and an Emeritus Governor of the London School of Economics.
Before Polus, Tim worked in a series of trading and management positions at JP Morgan, and was a Director of the Bank of England. He started work as an officer in the British Army serving in Germany and in the Falkland Islands.
Janet joined the Board in January 2024. She joined Lloyds Banking Group in 2008 to run the Savings business and from 2012 to 2023 was Chief of Staff and latterly Chief Sustainability Officer, a Group Executive Committee role.
She was previously Chief Executive at Alliance Trust Savings, prior to which she was EVP Global Strategy at Visa International.
Janet spent 10 years at Standard Chartered Bank where she held a variety of roles including Retail Banking MD for Africa and non-executive directorships at Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia and Botswana.
Janet studied at the London School of Economics. She has a Master’s degree in Economics and holds an MBA from Cass Business School (now Bayes).
Janet has extensive non-executive experience in government departments, charities and the private sector. She is currently Chair of the Charities Aid Foundation Bank, Trustee of the Charities Aid Foundation, and Trustee of Camden School for Girls.
Dame Suzi Leather is Chair of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education and also chairs the Devon Sustainability and Transformation Partnership. She is a member of the General Medical Council and is a patron of the Donor Conception Network.
Previous roles include chairing the Charity Commission, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the LankellyChase Foundation and the School Food Trust. She was also a non-executive director of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service.
In 1994 Suzi was awarded the MBE for her services to agriculture and food safety and in 2006 she was awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Suzi has a BA degree with honours in Politics, a BPhil degree in social work and an MA in European Politics.
Sue Lewis is Chair of the Remuneration Committee at StepChange. Her other Board roles include Trustee Director at award winning master trust The People’s Pension, and Trustee of Surviving Economic Abuse and The Fairbanking Foundation.
Sue is also a member of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority's Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group. Sue chaired the FCA’s Financial Services Consumer Panel until December 2018. She advises overseas clients on financial education, financial inclusion and financial services consumer protection regulation.
Previously a senior civil servant, from 2005 to 2011 she was Head of Savings and Investments at the Treasury.
The Rt. Hon Alun Michael is the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales. He is a member of the National Executive (Board) of the Cooperative Party, a Trustee of the Penarth Headland Link (a charitable company) and a Trustee of South Wales Police Youth Trust (also a charity).
He was Member of Parliament for South Cardiff and Penarth from 1987 to 2012, during which time he held office as Deputy Home Secretary, Secretary of State for Wales, Minister of State for Rural Affairs and Minister of State for Industry and the Regions.
Chris joined the Board in 2021. He is a member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee. He has significant Financial Services, Lending and Payments experience, and is a qualified chartered accountant.
For the last two years Chris has led the Worldpay from FIS SMB business in the UK, Ireland and for the direct channels in the US.
Prior to WorldPay he ran scale businesses and functions for Barclays and Barclaycard in the UK, Europe and North America, and he had extensive experience in both Executive and Non-Executive roles. Chris’ career started as a consultant for Accenture with clients in Europe, North America and Australasia where he specialised in Financial Services and comms / hi-tech.
Chris Stern, FCCA FCMI, was appointed to the Board in 2016. He is Senior Independent Director at StepChange and is a member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee. He has significant Financial Services and Customer Service experience gained across a range of roles and sectors in both senior Executive and Non-Executive roles. In addition to his role at StepChange, he is also a Senior Pension Trustee on the Centrica Engineers Pension Scheme. He also holds a number of trustee positions with the youth charity YMCA, and is on the boards of National YMCA E&W, and St Paul’s Group.
Chris previously held a number of senior Executive and Non Executive positions within the Centrica Group. These include Chairman of British Gas Insurance and British Gas Finance Ltd (A regulated Consumer Credit provider) and NED of British Gas Services (a regulated Financial Service intermediary) and Finance Director roles within the Financial Services, Customer and Retail Services, and Automotive sectors.
Chris is a qualified accountant and a Lay Minister within the Church of England.
John was appointed Chair of StepChange Debt Charity in 2019. He is also a member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee. He served as the inaugural Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority from 2013 to 2018, during which time the FCA took on responsibility for regulating consumer credit.
Previously, John had a career at KPMG, culminating in him becoming their UK Chairman and Senior Partner, and also Chairman of their European, Middle East and Africa region.
John is currently a Governor of Brentwood School, and is a trustee of the Rifles Volunteer Trust. He is also a Deputy Lieutenant in Essex. John was formerly Vice Chairman of the National Numeracy Trust.
John studied Economics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He is a chartered accountant and he was an officer in the Territorial Army for 14 years.
Helen joined the StepChange Board in 2019 and is Chair of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee, and the Board Champion for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion.
She has a strong background and long-standing interest in addressing financial inequalities and promoting financial resilience.
Working in the Department for Work & Pensions, she was one of the architects of the UK’s automatic enrolment programme and a leading figure in establishing the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST).
Since 2015 Helen has been the CEO of NEST, with over 10 million members, now the largest pension scheme by membership, in the UK.
Helen is also a member of the Council of Scholar Advisors, Centre for Recruitment Initiatives, Georgetown University in Washington, a Governor of the Pensions Policy Institute UK and a member of the Advisory Board to the Money and Pensions Service.
Helen was awarded a CBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list for her services to pension saving.
Lesley joined the StepChange Board in 2019. She is the Board Champion for Consumer Duty and is a member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee.
She is an independent non-executive director of National Bank of Kuwait International and of Pay.UK and has recently been appointed as Chair of the Market Harborough Building Society (subject to regulatory approval).She is also a Governor of the University of Hertfordshire. She was previously Chief Executive of The Pensions Regulator.
Lesley has worked in many different roles in financial services regulation since 1992 and before joining TPR was Chief Operating Officer of the FCA from 2010 to 2015. She is also a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Nick joined the Board in 2019. He is a member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee. Nick brings technology, strategy and operational experience from a broad range of sectors. Most recently he co-founded Ordo which provides an open banking payments platform to help people gain better control of their payments.
Nick is a Director of Vitality Life and Health, Chair of AND Digital, Ordo and Pay Later Group. Significant prior roles included Chair of Faster Payments, a key part of the UK’s payments infrastructure; Chair of MyCSP a public sector pensions administrator and an executive director of Logica, a major IT services company.
Yvonne joined the StepChange Board in 2021. She is also a Non-Executive Director of the charity’s two trading subsidiaries, CCCS Equity Release Ltd and CCCS Voluntary Arrangements Ltd.
She has been involved in credit and debt matters for over 36 years and stood down in 2021 after almost 24 years as Chief Executive of Money Advice Scotland. Yvonne is passionate about the provision of debt advice and financial education and treating customers fairly. Given the current economic and cost of living crisis, she is particularly concerned about how we ensure vulnerable consumers are not left out in the cold. Yvonne is currently leading the Independent Review of Scottish debt solutions.
Yvonne is a Non-Executive Board member and Director sitting on four Boards from across the public, private and voluntary sectors, including the Credit Services Association and its subsidiary, and The Scottish Rail Preservation Society. She is also Board Director of Pollok Credit Union.
In 2002 Yvonne received the OBE for services to disadvantaged communities, and in 2018 she was awarded the inaugural “Women in Credit” Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sue joined the Board in 2023. She is a freelance consultant, drawing on the rich experience of an unusual career path. Her focus is customer vulnerability and financial services, as well as gambling related harm.
After graduating from Oxford with a degree in Experimental Psychology, Sue joined Barclays. She held senior roles in operations, marketing, and diversity and inclusion before leaving over ten years later. A period of entrepreneurial and third sector activity followed. Then, after overcoming some personal challenges, Sue returned to banking as part of the vulnerable customer team at Monzo.
Recent experience of working directly with people in difficult situations, combined with her own lived experience of financial difficulty, means Sue brings a unique perspective to her work.
Sue lives in Warwickshire. She is part-way through an MSc in Psychology and would like to study for a PhD, ideally whilst exploring the UK and beyond in a campervan.
Mike joined the Board in 2023. He is a member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee. Until early 2023, he was a Non-executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of Barclays Plc, a role he had taken on following retirement from KPMG in September 2013.
At KPMG he had spent most of his career as an audit partner focussed primarily on the banking sector, but latterly was also responsible for KPMG’s own risk management and was the firm’s designated Ethics Partner.
He is currently also a member of the Cabinet Office Board and Chair of its Audit and Risk Committee and is a trustee at the Charities Aid Foundation and at The Scout Association.
Liz joined the Board in 2023. She brings lived experience to the Board as a previous beneficiary of the Charity's life changing services and a true passion for the cause.
She is CEO of ‘Hearts Together’, a charity in Devon which works collaboratively with the local NHS Trust to deliver support services and hospital hotel accommodation for patients, carers, relatives, and healthcare professionals. Since taking up this role in 2017, Liz has led the charity through a period of change and transformation, developing a sustainable operating model to expand and enhance its services.
As a Charity CEO, and with a wealth of sector experience, Liz has an understanding of the importance of meeting an individual’s needs, ensuring clients and consumers remain at the heart of decision making.