Trustees of Foundation for Credit Counselling

Lesley Titcomb CBE

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

Lesley is Chair of the Market Harborough Building Society and is an independent non-executive director of Pay.UK. She serves as a Governor of the University of Hertfordshire where she chairs the People & Culture Committee and the Vice Chancellor’s Remuneration Committee. Previously, Lesley was Chief Executive of The Pensions Regulator, and, before that, Chief Operating Officer and a Board member of the Financial Conduct Authority from 2010 to 2015. She has worked in financial services regulation since 1992 and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Mike 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 function, serving as 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.

Sue Acton

Sue joined the Board in 2023. She is a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, and the Board's Client Champion. She is a freelance facilitator, researcher, and trainer, drawing on the rich experience of an unusual career path, with a focus on customer vulnerability and financial services, as well as gambling related harm. Sue previously worked for Barclays, holding senior roles in operations, marketing, and diversity and inclusion. After overcoming personal challenges linked to a gambling addiction, Sue returned to banking as part of the vulnerable customer team at Monzo. Recent experience of working directly with people in difficult situations and her role as a Citizens Advice volunteer adviser, combined with her own lived experience of financial difficulty, means Sue brings a unique perspective to her work.

Nick Caplan

Nick joined the Board in 2019 and is Chair of the Audit, Risk and 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 Chair of 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.

Helen Dean CBE

Helen joined the Board in 2019; she is the Senior Independent Director, a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, and the Board Champion for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. A key architect of auto-enrolment, Helen began her career at the Department for Work & Pensions, leading policy and legislation that established Nest, serving as CEO from 2015 to 2024. Helen cares deeply about delivering great outcomes for savers through sustainable and responsible investment, and throughout her career has maintained a passionate interest in addressing financial inequalities and promoting financial resilience.

Helen is Chair of the Standard Life Master Trust, a Governor of the Pensions Policy Institute, and Chair of the Governance Committee for Your Island Pension (Guernsey). She also works in her local community of Alnwick in Northumberland, where she Chairs Alnwick Community Enterprise and is a Trustee of the Bailiffgate Museum. Helen was awarded a CBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list for her services to pension saving.

Liz Harding

Liz joined the Board in July 2023 and from January 2026 became Chair of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. She is also the Board's lead trustee working with the Charity's Client Focus Group, which aims to provider greater understanding of the views of clients and improve the overall client experience of StepChange. Liz brings lived experience to the Board as a previous beneficiary of the Charity's life-changing services and has a true passion for the cause.

Liz 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.

Ramon Kaur

Ramon joined the Board in June 2025. She is a member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee. Ramon brings nearly 20 years of experience to the StepChange Board, having had a broad career spanning politics, public affairs, regulation, policy and communications. She is currently Director of Corporate and Public Affairs at EY LLP.

Ramon has specialist experience in financial services including banking, and working with fintechs and startups, helping organisations navigate complex regulatory environments, develop advocacy strategies and engage with stakeholders. Ramon is committed to helping StepChange achieve its mission to help people become debt free. She grew up in the Midlands, studied law at Oxford University, and currently lives and works in London.

Yvonne Klimaytys 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. Yvonne has been involved in credit and debt matters for over 36 years and was previously the Chief Executive of Money Advice Scotland. She is passionate about the provision of debt advice and financial education and treating customers fairly.

Yvonne is currently leading the Independent Review of Scottish statutory debt solutions and is also a Non-Executive Board member and Director across the public, private and voluntary sectors, including the Credit Services Association, and 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.

Sean Lynskey

Sean joined the Board in June 2025 and is a member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee. He is an experienced financial services leader with a background in digital banking, lending, and governance. He began his career in retail banking before moving into fintech leadership. As a founding member and former Chief Operating Officer at Chetwood Financial, he led the development of lending products designed to eliminate fees and improve customer experience. He now advises banks and fintechs on strategy and growth in consumer finance.

Sean also serves on the board of a national higher education charity, where he has helped shape strategic and financial planning. He is currently completing an MBA at Warwick Business School.

Lisa Mellor

Lisa joined the Board in June 2025 and is a member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee. She is the Chief Risk Officer at Aztec Group, a regulated financial services firm that offers fund and corporate services and carries overall responsibility for the risk management strategy to support Aztec's growth plans, ensuring risk is managed effectively for the Group, its stakeholders and customers. Lisa's remit covers Risk, Regulatory Compliance and Internal Audit, and she sits on the Aztec Group Executive Committee, with a Group-wide remit across all operational jurisdictions.

Lisa is an experienced executive leader in Financial Services and FinTech, having worked in banking, consultancy, payments and data analytics. Before joining Aztec, she was the Chief Risk Officer at Pay.UK, the operator and standards body for the UK's interbank payment systems. Prior to that, she spent five years working at Experian. Lisa is a Certified Internal Auditor.

Janet Pope

Janet joined the Board in January 2024. She is a member of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee. She joined Lloyds Banking Group in 2008 to run the savings business and from 2012 to 2023 was Chief of Staff and Chief Sustainability Officer. Janet's earlier roles included Chief Executive at Alliance Trust Savings, and Executive Vice President Global Strategy at Visa International. She also held a variety of roles at Standard Chartered Bank.

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 Board member at Yorkshire Building Society, a Board member at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Chair of the DCMS Audit & Risk Committee, and a Trustee of Camden School for Girls.

Chris Wood

Chris joined the Board in 2021 and is a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. He has significant experience in the financial services, lending and payments sectors, 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 five years, he has led the Worldpay SMB business in the UK and Ireland. Following Worldpay’s acquisition by Global Payments, Chris has extended his remit to run the consolidated Global Payments 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.