Our core team is based in North Wales.
We come from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences, but everyone believes in making a difference through our products. This means we’re outcome-focused and non-hierarchical in the way that we work and challenge. We expect everyone to ‘be the change’ – to deliver more for our customers.
Meet our Team
Andy Mielczarek
CEO
Andy has broad experience of driving commercial performance across entities and jurisdictions. Prior to Chetwood, he was the deputy head of HSBC’s UK Retail Bank, having previously been Commercial Director and Head of Retail Products for HSBC Europe.
Andy has also been the CFO at M&S Bank, Head of Commercial Finance at MBNA, and Brokerage Operations Director at Charles Schwab.
Andy has been an FCA approved person for many years carrying out a broad range of regulated roles.
Mark Jenkinson
Director of Strategy
Mark is an expert in financial services technology, experienced in designing, building and implementing front-to-back solutions across retail, wealth, commercial and wholesale banking. Prior to Chetwood, he was a lead Partner at Capco/FIS in Retail Banking and Wealth Management.
Over his career, Mark has worked at Temenos and TCA Consulting and has had a number of marquee engagements including the launch of Egg, the UK’s first internet bank, advisor to the Board of NBNKi, the investment fund set up to acquire UK banking assets and establishing Platform Securities as a leading independent processor.
Chris Daniels
Chief Risk Officer
Chris oversees Chetwood’s risk management, credit risk and compliance activities.
Prior to joining Chetwood, he held a number of Credit and Commercial leadership roles at Vanquis Bank before becoming the Bank's Chief Risk Officer. He also held a number of senior analytical roles at Barclaycard International, including the Head of European Collections Strategy.
Julia McColl
Commercial Director
Julia defines and delivers commercial programmes across Retail Banking and Wealth Management, specialising in product development, customer experience and delivering return on investment.
Prior to joining Chetwood, she led strategic initiatives for Capco clients in Wealth Management and Private Banking. At Lloyds Banking Group, she was responsible for digital transformation across Credit Cards, Mortgages and Personal Loans.
Simon Allsop
Chief Financial Officer
Simon has executive responsibility for all aspects of finance and treasury. He has 15 years of experience in the challenger bank and non-bank FI space, and specialises in Liability Management, Treasury and Capital Markets.
Prior to Chetwood, Simon was Group Director of Capital Markets at OneSavings Bank and has previously held senior positions at Fitch Ratings and at Charter Court Financial Services where he was a key member of the management team that led the company through its 2017 IPO.
Jessica Rusu
Chief Data Officer
Jessica is an experienced Analytics and Data leader with extensive experience in Financial Services, Automotive and Retail. She’s passionate about diversity and inclusion and building high-performing teams.
Jessica previously led Advanced Analytics and Customer Insight teams at Ebay. She was also responsible for Consumer and Commercial Stress-Testing at GE Capital.
Chris Blampey
Head of Risk Strategy
Chris has covered the full credit lifecycle across all retail lending products, from customer selection and prospecting, onboarding and underwriting, account management, collections and debt sales.
He has previously been Head of Risk Portfolio Management for unsecured and secured lending at HSBC as well as Head of Retail Credit Services for Europe at HSBC.
Andrew Arwas
Head of Architecture & Design
Andrew has extensive experience in designing and delivering large scale transformation in retail banking & wealth management.
At Barclays Bank, he was Business Architect for a transformation programme in Retail Credit Risk, before taking on the roles of Head of Strategy and Head of Change for Barclays Mortgages. After Barclays, Andrew worked at Capco, ultimately leading the Wealth & Asset Management practice in the UK.
Sean Lynskey
Operations Director
Sean has worked across a number of operations and IT roles in Retail and Private Banking.
Prior to joining Chetwood, Sean worked as a Management Consultant in Financial Services, delivering a number of strategic and regulatory changes in banks in the UK and internationally.
Emma Stephens
Head of Change Delivery
Emma has a wealth of experience in Change within Financial Services.
Emma previously led a successful platform re-build and migration programme delivering enhanced capabilities to customers and employees. She was also responsible for maintaining focus on strategic projects, ensuring that Corporate client implementations were delivered effectively.
Louise Taylor
General Counsel & Company Secretary
Louise has extensive experience in commercial and banking services, having acted principally for financial institutions, private equity and investment houses.
Prior to joining Chetwood, Louise spent the majority of her career at international law firm Pinsent Masons and had undertaken secondments with Lloyds Banking Group and the Co-operative Bank.
Sarah Hosker
Head of People
Sarah has diverse experience in leading the HR agenda across multiple industries and countries. She is passionate about combining operational and strategic HR, to deliver organisational change and shift culture.
Prior to joining Chetwood, Sarah led the HR function for Wheatsheaf Group Limited. She also held the role of EMEA lead for Lupin, a generic pharmaceutical company.
John White
Chief Technology Officer
John has an extensive track record in leading technical solutions in Financial Services. He has developed highly successful delivery teams that specialise in building agile scalable platforms, data systems, cards and credit technologies.
John has previously been CEO of a London Fintech, Koto Card, as well as CTO of Vanquis Bank, overseeing the solutions design to transform the business systems and commercial capability.
Stephen Lynch
Head of Engineering
Stephen has significant experience across the full development lifecycle for Data, DevOps and DataOps, implementing solutions for the enterprise across multiple industry sectors.
Prior to joining Chetwood, Stephen worked within tech start-ups, large corporations, and the public sector - both as a permanent member of the team or as a consultant.
Our Directors
Alan Cook CBE
Chairman
Alan’s also currently Chairman of LV= insurance.
His early career was with Prudential where he rose to become a Divisional Chief Executive.
Alan was previously Chairman of Permanent TSB in Dublin (one of the leading Irish banks), Deputy Chairman of Sainsbury’s Bank and a Non-Executive Director for MetLife Europe.
Prior to the above appointments, Alan had been Chairman of the Highways Agency, Irish Life and Permanent in Dublin and a Board member of the Department for Transport. He’s also been Chief Executive of a number of organisations including the Post Office and National Savings and Investments (NS&I).
He was awarded a CBE in the 2006 New Year's Honours list.
Matt Symonds
Senior Independent Director and Remuneration Committee Chair
Matt’s an independent business adviser and investor, with deep experience in retail financial services.
He was formerly a senior Partner in the London office of Bain & Company where he was the leader of Bain’s UK Financial Services practice. Over his career, Matt has worked with retail banks, life assurers, asset managers, card issuers, consumer finance companies and private banks across the UK, Ireland, continental Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.
Matt also serves on the Boards of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, Nottingham Contemporary, and Action for M.E.
Emer Daly
Audit Committee Chair
Emer has a wealth of experience working as a Non-Executive Director within financial services.
She’s currently Board Chairman of RSA Insurance Ireland. Previously, Emer was the Chair of the Audit Committee of Permanent TSB Group Holdings plc and Permanent TSB plc, Audit and Risk Committee Chair for Friends Provident International Ltd (a subsidiary of Aviva plc), and Lombard International Assurance S.A.
Emer has also previously held non-executive directorships roles with two Irish listed companies; FBD Holdings plc and Payzone plc, and with state owned Irish entities EirGrid plc (an electricity transmission system operator), and Dublin Dental University Hospital and Irish Property Registration Authority.
John Gill
Risk Committee Chair
John’s currently Chair of the Risk and Audit Committee for Quilter plc’s UK platform business and Chair of the Risk Committee for Link, the ATM network.
John was formerly Chief Risk Officer of Standard Life’s insurance, pensions and savings businesses in the UK and Europe. During his time at Standard Life, he was also Managing Director (Customer Operations), Managing Director (Finance) and Chief Executive of Standard Life Bank.
Mike Bracken
Non Executive Director
Mike’s also a Non-Executive Director of Lloyd's of London and Omidyar Network and a Partner in Public Digital, helping governments, public institutions and commercial organisations with digital transformation.
He was formerly Chief Digital Officer for the Co-Operative Group and Chief Data Officer for the UK Government. Prior to this, Mike was Director of Digital Development at Guardian News & Media where he was responsible for all consumer facing technology services.
Duncan Martin
Non Executive Director
Duncan is a Senior Advisor for the risk management practice at Boston Consulting Group London and Soteria Software. His previous roles in the banking industry include Director of Credit Analytics at Royal Bank of Scotland and Director of Strategic Risk Management at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
Duncan formerly held consultant roles at Oliver Wyman and Co. and Booz Allen & Hamilton.
