our board

our board

Our board members are "non-executive" - they have no involvement in individual complaints. Their job as "public interest" directors is to ensure that the ombudsman service is properly resourced and is able to carry out its work effectively and independently.

chairman

Sir Christopher Kelly KCB

  • chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life
  • chairman of NSPCC
  • a board member of the National Consumer Council

formerly:

  • permanent secretary at the Department of Health
  • head of policy at the Department of Social Security
  • director of monetary & fiscal policy and director of the budget & public finances at HM Treasury

other members of the board

Alan Cook CBE

  • managing director of Post Office Ltd

formerly:

  • chief executive of National Savings and Investments (NS&I)
  • chief operating officer at Prudential

Joe Garner

  • group general manager of personal finance services at HSBC Bank plc

formerly:

  • director at Procter & Gamble in the UK and Eastern Europe
  • director at DSG International

John Howard

  • a council member of Energywatch
  • a non-executive director of National Counties Building Society

formerly:

  • chair of the Financial Services Consumer Panel
  • principal presenter of BBC Radio 4 You and Yours
  • a member of the Mortgage Code Compliance Board

Elaine Kempson CBE

  • professor and director of the Personal Finance Research Centre at the University of Bristol
  • a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee
  • a member of the Financial Inclusion Taskforce
  • a member of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) advisory group on over-indebtedness

formerly:

  • a member of the Banking Code Standards Board
  • independent reviewer of the Banking Code
  • a member of the DTI taskforce on over-indebtedness
  • a member of the DTI foresight sub-panel on personal financial services
  • a member of a Treasury policy action team about access to financial services

Kate Lampard

  • an associate of Verita Limited, consultants in incident investigations and inquiries
  • a trustee of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
  • a non-executive director of RHS Enterprises Ltd

formerly:

  • chair of Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority
  • chair of the Independent Housing Ombudsman Limited
  • chair of the Invicta Community Care NHS Trust

Julian Lee

  • chair of Brighton & Hove City Teaching Primary Care Trust
  • a commissioner at the Legal Services Commission
  • a non-executive director of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Advisory Board
  • Justice of the Peace to the North Sussex Bench
  • crisis & change management consultant

formerly:

  • a non-executive director of the South East Coast Ambulance Trust
  • chairman, then chief executive, of the Allied Carpets Group
  • joint managing director of British & Commonwealth Holdings plc

Roger Sanders OBE

  • director and deputy chairman of Helm Godfrey Partners Ltd

formerly:

  • joint chairman of the FSA's Smaller Businesses Practitioner Panel
  • deputy chairman of the Association of Independent Financial Advisers
  • a member of the Financial Services Practitioner Panel
  • a director of the Personal Investment Authority (PIA) Ombudsman Bureau
  • a PIA board member

Maeve Sherlock OBE

  • a commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)
  • a non-executive director of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission
  • chair of the National Student Forum
  • currently doing research for a doctorate at Durham University

formerly:

  • chief executive of the Refugee Council
  • chief executive of the charity One Parent Families
  • a member of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Treasury

board sub-committees

minutes of board meetings

The board of the Financial Ombudsman Service meets formally around ten times a year, to consider a wide range of strategic issues. The minutes of their meetings are available to download in PDF format.