Panel members

Background 

Will Self is Chief Executive Officer of The InvestAcc Group (formally Marwyn MAC II) and has extensive experience across pension, wealth and retirement services sectors. Previously Will was Chief Executive Officer of Curtis Banks Group PLC and prior to this he was Chief Executive Officer of Suffolk Life and Chief Commercial Officer of Cofunds, both divisions of Legal & General.

As Chief Executive Officer he will be responsible, alongside the Board, for leading the development and execution of the overall company strategy, building a market leading intergenerational wealth business. 

During his time at Curtis Banks and Suffolk Life, Will led one of the SIPP industry’s first consolidation initiatives integrating the “Full” SIPP book from Pointon York in 2012. He then led the merger with Curtis Banks in 2016 and subsequent integration to a single brand and operating model.

Will is also a Trustee of the Seckford Foundation and holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.
 

Background 

Devesh started his financial services career as a graduate recruit with Hambro Life in 1981, and with support from his clients developed his own financial planning practice. Devesh has kept his practice within a network, and in 2005 was one of the founding partners of Openwork, where he sat on their Investment proposition committee and was influential in working with senior management in developing their investment and wealth solutions.

Now with over 35 years providing holistic financial advice and helping clients with building, preserving, protecting and distributing their wealth, Devesh is mentoring younger advisers to continue to look after the interests of the next generation of clients and their families.

Background:

Rikesh is a practising Chartered Financial Planner and Founder of 8 Financial Planning, an independent firm focused on delivering holistic financial planning to business owners and those with later life wealth. His work centres on helping clients make better long term financial decisions through independent advice covering investing, retirement planning, Insurance and legacy planning.

With more than 15 years of experience in financial services, Rikesh began his career at HSBC Bank, where he held roles across personal banking, commercial banking and financial advice. This experience gave him a broad understanding of the financial challenges faced by individuals and business owners, which later led him to establish his own firm to provide independent, client focused financial planning.

Rikesh has seen firsthand the positive and lasting impact that high quality financial advice can have on clients and their families. This has led to a strong commitment to improving financial education, and he regularly delivers financial education sessions in schools, colleges and workplaces. His aim is to help build a culture of financial understanding and entrepreneurship across the UK.
 

Background 

Rob started his career as a mortgage adviser, leading to being founder and investor in several regulated advice firms, under both the Directly Authorised and Appointed Representative models. He joined the board of national mortgage network, Stonebridge, in 2015 and has been its Chief Executive since 2019. This business authorises and supervises over 700 smaller mortgage advice firms and also provides support services to over 500 directly authorised advisers.

Previous roles include MD of Virgin Money, Director at West Brom Building Society, and CEO at Mortgageforce. Rob was a founding director of MCCB which regulated the mortgage advice sector before statute, and he was Deputy Chairman of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries. Rob also has experience in the IFA sector and in protection and general insurance markets and, as an Executive or NED, has been a member of 30+ company boards during his career. He was appointed by the FCA in 2022.

Background 

Paul has worked within financial services for over 30 years and most recently joined Scottish Building Society as Chief Executive in June 2019.

He has previously held senior leadership roles at RBS / NatWest and Coop Bank and prior to joining Scottish Building Society was Managing Director, Operations at Co-operative Funeralcare.

Paul is a Fellow and Trustee of the Chartered Banker Institute, a Pension Trustee for the Building Societies Association, a member of the UK Finance Mortgage Board and is currently Chair for the Northern Association of Building Societies.

Paul is a Certified Bank Director, a Chartered Banker and received his MBA from Edinburgh Business School.

Background 

Gordon started his career as a Police officer for 12 years with Strathclyde Police before attending Glasgow Caledonian University in 1997 to undertake a BA Degree in Risk Management and Insurance. He has over 20 years’ experience sitting as Head of Risk Management for Global Companies, namely Global Marine Systems Limited and WS Atkins the Engineering Consultancy.

He became Managing Director of SAGIC in 2011. SAGIC was established in 1909 by The Salvation Army to effectively self-insure their assets and remains wholly owned by The Salvation Army to this day, with any profits generated held for the continuance of their charitable work.

Gordon is a member of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the voice of the insurance industry, and sits on the General Insurance Committee 

Background

Mark is Chief Executive of Gain Credit, a consumer lending business focused on the UK. He is also Chair of the Consumer Credit Trade Association.

Having spent over a decade at Unilever, Mark held senior leadership roles with both RBS / NatWest and Bupa. He also served as Executive Director of the Money Advice Service, now the Money and Pension Service, driving strategy, policy and proposition development.

Mark has a passion for behaviour change. He has spoken at the United Nations, G20 and European Central Bank on building the financial resilience of consumers and co-founded a not-for-profit, focused on helping long-term unemployed people remain positive and reskill.

Mark has a degree in Mathematics, Statistics and Management Science and a Post Grad Dip in Business Management.

Gail was appointed in January 2024 to lead the delivery of the next phase of Bank of Ireland’s UK strategy.

She joined Bank of Ireland from Tesco Bank where she served as Chief Banking Officer, prior to which she held senior management positions in Barclays (UK) including, Managing Director, Unsecured Lending and Managing Director, Premier Banking. Gail also previously held leadership roles in Santander (UK), and American Express.

Gail is a graduate of the University of Warwick (BSc Management Science).

Background 

Frances has been in the financial services industry for 35 years with extensive experience in branch banking and customer service. She was a branch manager for 13 years in RBS, having worked her way up after starting as the ‘junior’ in 1987, in a small local branch in the east side Glasgow. Frances joined Scotwest Credit Union in 2013, initially taking up the role of Compliance and Risk Officer before going on to become the Chief Operating Officer in 2016. She was appointed as the interim CEO in July 2018 and went on to be fully appointed in 2020.

Background 

David is the CEO of FSB Insurance Service, a general insurance broker and advisory business set up to serve the needs of Britain’s largest business organisation, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). His general insurance career spans 40 years, working primarily in insurance broking. He has worked in national roles with large firms as well as developing and owning smaller businesses.

He is a Chartered Manager (CMI) and currently sits on the British Insurance Brokers Association’s (BIBA) Small Brokers Advisory Board and its Insurance Brokers Standard Committee. In 2024 he received the prestigious Francis Perkins Award for his contribution to the Insurance Broking industry.

Background 

Mark is Executive Chairman of Navera Investment Management, a specialist investment manager in the wealth sector.

With over three decades of investment experience Mark started his career in 1985 at Vivian Gray stockbrokers.  Before joining Navera in 2010 he spent 23 years at Newton Investment Management, initially training as an investment analyst becoming head of private clients and charities in 2002 and Deputy CEO in 2007.  At Navera, Mark enjoys the challenges and variety that all small businesses face, and in particular values direct client contact and responsibility.  He holds a BA in Business and is a Member of the CFA Society (UK).

Background 

Lee is Chief Executive Officer and a founding shareholder of motor finance broker and technology provider Evolution Funding Ltd.

With over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, Lee graduated from Nottingham Business School with a BA Hons in Financial Services before joining the motor finance lender Wagon Finance. Wagon was acquired by Abbey National Bank PLC, which then purchased Lombard Motor Finance, forming First National Motor Finance. During his career at First National, Lee held various management roles across sales, new business operations and consumer risk management.

Lee also spent time seconded to a business transformation team that reported to the executive board. Working with KPMG, the team looked at business process redesign, using then-emerging web technologies. This early insight into digital technology has driven Lee’s passion for leveraging competitive advantage through the use of technology and process automation to improve and enrich customer experience and outcomes.

Background 

Stuart was co-opted to the Board as an independent Non-Executive Director and appointed as Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director in November 2024.

Stuart has worked in financial services for over 40 years in a range of strategy, leadership and business development roles and has worked with life offices, friendly societies, reinsurers, retailers, banks, building societies and distribution/advice businesses. He also worked at the Association of British Insurers for nearly 5 years where he led the Raising Standards initiative. He was CEO at Holloway Friendly for over 7.5 years before stepping down to run his own consulting business and becoming a non-executive director. He previously chaired two trade associations, the Association of Financial Mutuals and the Investment.

Background 

Karen joined Marathon Asset Management, a long-only equity boutique which specialises in long-term investment, in May 2026 as Chief Operating Officer. She will also serve as a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

Prior to joining Marathon, Karen was COO and a member of the Management Committee of Lansdowne Partners from 2023. Karen was CEO for CRUX Asset Management since 2020, having joined as COO in 2015. She has held senior and executive roles in asset management for over twenty-five years, including Man Group, Janus Henderson, and Fidelity.

Karen also holds the position of Chairperson and Independent Non-Executive Director of Mediolanum International Funds in Ireland.

Karen holds an MBA from Durham University.