Leadership

Clive Bannister joined the Group in February 2011 as Group Chief Executive Officer. Prior to this, he was Group Managing Director of Insurance and Asset Management at HSBC. He joined HSBC in 1994 and held various leadership roles in Planning and Strategy in the Investment Bank (USA) and was Group General Manager and CEO of HSBC Group Private Banking. He started his career at First National Bank of Boston and prior to working at HSBC was a partner in Booz Allen Hamilton in the Financial Service Practice providing strategic support to financial institutions including leading insurance companies, banks and investment banks. Mr Bannister was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company on 28 March 2011.

Jim McConville was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company as Group Finance Director on 28 June 2012.  Between April 2010 and December 2011, he was Chief Financial Officer of Northern Rock plc.  Prior to that, between 1988 and 2010, he worked for Lloyds Banking Group plc (formerly Lloyds TSB Group plc) in a number of senior finance and strategy related roles latterly as Finance Director of Scottish Widows Group plc and Director of Finance for the Insurance and Investments Division. Mr McConville qualified as a Chartered Accountant whilst at Coopers and Lybrand.

René-Pierre Azria is Chief Executive Officer of Tegris Advisors LLC, a US private advisory firm specialising in strategic financial analysis and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to founding Tegris, Mr Azria was a worldwide partner with Rothschild & Co. Before joining Rothschild in 1996, Mr Azria served as Managing Director of Blackstone Indosuez and President of Financiére Indosuez Inc. in New York. Mr Azria serves as a Director of two privately-held book publishers in France and the US. Mr Azria was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company on 2 September 2009. He is a member of the Board Investment and Board Risk Committees.

David Barnes joined the RBS Group (then Williams & Glyn’s Bank) in 1973 and remained there in various roles until his early retirement in February 2009. His roles included Relationship Banker in the then newly established Corporate Division, Managing Director of the Financial Institutions Relationship Management team and member and subsequently Chairman of RBS’s Credit Committee. From 2005 he was responsible for all lending to financial institutions and for capital management for RBS’s Financial Institutions Group.
Mr Barnes was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company on 2 September 2009. He is a member of the Board Audit and Board Remuneration Committees.

Tom Cross Brown was Global Chief Executive of ABN AMRO Asset Management (which managed some €160 billion, with offices in 30 countries around the world) from 2000 to 2003, as well as Chairman of ABN AMRO Asset Management in the UK from 1997 to 2003. Prior to this, he spent 21 years with Lazard Brothers in London, latterly as Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Brothers Asset Management. Mr Cross Brown is Non-Executive Chairman of Just Retirement (Holdings) Limited, and is a Non-Executive Director of Artemis Alpha Trust plc, as well as of other private companies and charities. Mr Cross Brown served on the Board of Directors of the former Pearl Group Limited from May 2005 until September 2009. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company on 24 September 2009. He is Chairman of the Board Investment Committee and a member of the Board Nomination and Board Risk Committees.

Ian Cormack is Non-Executive Chairman of Maven Income & Growth VCT 4 plc and is a Non-Executive Director of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, Aspen Insurance Holdings, Arria NLG Limited and Xchanging plc.  Mr Cormack was Chief Executive Officer of AIG, Inc. in Europe from 2000 to 2002 and was Chairman of Citibank International plc and co-head of the Global Financial Institutions Client Group at Citigroup. Mr Cormack served on the Board of Directors of the former Pearl Group Limited from May 2005 to September 2009. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company on 2 September 2009. Mr Cormack is Chairman of the Board Remuneration Committee and a member of the Board Nomination Committee.

Manjit Dale is a founding partner of TDR Capital, a private equity firm established in 2002. TDR Capital manages over €2.6 billion of assets on behalf of a variety of institutional pension funds, university endowments and wealthy private individuals. Mr Dale has over 20 years' experience in private equity, finance and consulting gained with Deutsche Bank, Bankers Trust, 3i plc, NM Rothschild and Andersen Consulting. Mr Dale graduated from Cambridge University with an Honours Degree in Economics. He served on the Board of Directors of the former Pearl Group Limited from December 2004 to September 2009. He has also served on the Boards of Pizza Express and Center Parcs and currently serves on the Board of Algeco Scotsman and Stonegate Pub Company.  He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company on 2 September 2009 and is a member of the Board Investment Committee.

Isabel Hudson is a former Executive Director of Prudential Assurance Company Limited. She was also Chief Financial Officer at Eureko BV. Ms Hudson is Non-Executive Chair of the National House Building Council and a Non-Executive Director of QBE Insurance, MGM Advantage and The Pensions Regulator. Ms Hudson is an ambassador to Scope, a UK charity, and has 31 years' experience in the insurance industry in the UK and mainland Europe.  She was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company on 18 February 2010. She is a member of the Board Risk, Board Remuneration and Board Audit Committees.

Alastair Lyons CBE was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company as Senior Independent Director on 29 March 2010.  He is also Chairman of Admiral Group plc, the FTSE 100 direct motor insurer, Chairman of Serco Group plc, the FTSE 100 international services company, Deputy Chairman of Bovis Homes Group plc, and Chairman of the Towergate Insurance Group.  In his executive career he was Chief Executive Officer of the National Provident Institution, Executive Director of Abbey National, responsible for the insurance division, and Chief Executive Officer of National & Provincial Building Society. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and has been a Non-Executive Director of both the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Transport. He was awarded the CBE in the 2001 Birthday Honours for services to social security. Mr Lyons is Chairman of the Board Audit Committee.

Hugh Osmond founded Punch Group and served as its Executive Chairman between 1997 and 2001, during which time he built Punch Group into one of the UK’s largest pub companies. He previously co-led the acquisition and market listing of Pizza Express in 1993 and helped build it into the UK’s largest sit-down restaurant chain. He has also been a major investor in, and director of, many public and private companies across a wide variety of industries.  He is a director and a shareholder of Sun Capital Partners Limited, formed in 2001, that specialises in identifying and advising on investment opportunities. Mr Osmond served on the Board of Directors of the former Pearl Group Limited from December 2004 until September 2009. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company on 2 September 2009 and is a member of the Board Investment and Board Risk Committees.