Trustees of Foundation for Credit Counselling

Janet Pope

Janet joined the Board in January 2024. She is a member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee. 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, a member of the Yorkshire Building Society Board and chair of its Environment and Social Purpose Committee, a member of the Shared Ownership Council Board, and Trustee of Camden School for Girls.

Dame Suzi Leather

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

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.

Rt. Hon Alun Michael

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 Wood

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.

Chris is a seasoned executive with over three decades of experience running scale businesses within the payments industry. For the last three years, he has successfully led the Worldpay SMB business in the UK and Ireland. Prior to joining Worldpay, Chris held senior leadership roles at Barclays and Barclaycard, where he oversaw large-scale operations across the UK, Europe and North America. He began his career as a consultant at Accenture, where he specialised in financial services and comms/hi-tech, working with clients across Europe, North America and Australasia.

Chris Stern

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 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.

Helen Dean CBE

Helen joined the StepChange Board in 2019 and is Chair of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee, and the Board Champion for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion.

Helen is one of the architects of auto enrolment, having started her career at the Department for Work & Pensions where she developed the policy and legislation for the pension reforms that led to auto enrolment and the establishment of Nest; she was CEO of Nest from 2015 to 2024.

Helen cares deeply about delivering great outcomes for savers through sustainable and responsible investment, connecting with the new cohort of savers generated by auto enrolment and about promoting diversity across our industry. She is a mentor to younger pensions and non-pensions professionals, offering guidance and coaching. Throughout her career Helen has maintained a passionate interest in addressing financial inequalities and promoting financial resilience across society.

Helen is Chair of the Standard Life Master Trust, a Governor of the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) and Chair of the Governance Committee for Your Island Pension, the automatic enrolment pension which will be introduced by the States of Guernsey in 2024. She is also a Non-Executive Director of the Scottish Government. Helen was awarded a CBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list for her services to pension saving.

Lesley Titcomb CBE

Lesley joined the StepChange Board in 2019 and was appointed Chair in May 2024. She is also a member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee.

She is Chair of the Market Harborough Building Society and is an independent non-executive director of Pay.UK. She recently stood down as INED and Audit Committee Chair at the National Bank of Kuwait (International) plc. She is also a Governor of the University of Hertfordshire where she chairs the People & Culture Committee and the Vice-Chancellor's Remuneration Committee. 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 The Pensions Regulator was Chief Operating Officer and a Board member of the Financial Conduct Authority from 2010 to 2015. She is also a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Nick Caplan

Nick joined the Board in 2019. He is Chair of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee. Nick brings technology, strategy and operational experience from a broad range of sectors. He has worked in technology and financial services for much of his career and has co-founded a number of companies in both the fintech and data/technology areas.

Nick is a Director of Vitality Life and Health, Chair of AND Digital, and Thatcham Research. 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 MacDermid OBE

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 statutory debt solutions.

Yvonne is a Non-Executive Board member and Director sitting on three Boards from across the public, private and voluntary sectors, including the Credit Services Association and its subsidiary. 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 Acton

Sue joined the Board in 2023. She is a member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee. 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.

Michael Ashley

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 a trustee at the Charities Aid Foundation and at The Scout Association, and has previously held Board member roles at the Cabinet Office and the Charity Commission.

Liz Harding

Liz joined the Board in July 2023. She is a member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee. 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 a people management specialist and freelance consultant supporting organisations through periods of transformative change and growth, with experience as a Charity CEO and senior leader across a variety of sectors.

Liz has an understanding and appreciation of the importance of meeting an individual’s needs, ensuring clients and consumers remain at the heart of decision making.