Nisha Arora
Director of Consumer & Retail Policy, FCA
Nisha Arora joined the FCA in February 2018 and is Director of Consumer & Retail Policy.
Nisha’s division is responsible for developing and maintaining the rules relating to the conduct of firms manufacturing and distributing retail financial products. It leads the FCA’s overall consumer strategy through “Our Approach to Consumers” and through research such as our “Financial Lives Survey” and insight from our relationships with consumer organisations, helps the FCA to better understand consumers, ensuring that the consumer perspective fully informs our policy making and protects consumers from harm.
Prior to her joining the FCA, Nisha held Senior Director roles at the Competition and Markets Authority (where she oversaw its Consumer Protection work) and the Office of Fair Trading. Previously, Nisha served as a senior legal adviser in the Dept for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office. Nisha trained as a solicitor with Denton Hall.
Damian Bowden
Investor Complaint Process Specialist, M&G Investments
Damian has been in the customer experience field for over 5 years and at M&G Investments for 18 months working with their direct customer base. His focus is on improving the customer experience and processes through complaints. He represents M&G Investments on various cross industry working groups and forums. He is the Vulnerable Customer Champion and volunteers as a Dementia Friends Champion in his free time.
Darren Cornish
Group Director of Systems Thinking & People Services, Aviva
Darren Cornish : Interim Group Customer Director and Group Systems Thinking Director. 18 years at Aviva, though after the first 16 left the business and spent 9 years leading the UK Sales and Service Operations for E.ON (energy business) and all things customer for a retail stockbroker. Returned to Aviva at end 2017 as adore the brand and had ‘unfinished business’ in helping us become the customer leader in UK FS. Expert in a strategic method of change called ‘Systems Thinking’ – challenging conventional leadership thinking and thus ways of working to deliver what really matters for customers. As part of that change method always look closely at how our customer experience delivers for our vulnerable customers, knowing that if we get that right then we can be confident of the right culture and deliberate design.
Stephen Gay
Policy Team Manager, TISA
Stephen Gay is responsible for TISA’s Consumer Engagement Council and its work to improve outcomes for financial services customers, including those in vulnerable circumstances. Steve has worked in the financial services industry for 37 years at major life and pensions companies, management consultancies, as well as representative and trade associations.
Callum Heckstall-Smith
Head of Communications & Marketing, British Dyslexia Association
Callum leads the British Dyslexia Association’s external relations, campaigning for society and organisations to embrace dyslexic thinking. Dyslexic himself, Callum came to the BDA from roles in political campaigns and public relations consultancy.
Michael Hilton
Senior Manager, Three Hands
Prior to joining Three Hands in 2018 Michael spent seven years in the UK Government working closely with senior Ministers on climate, skills and innovation policy. Then, at A Blueprint For Better Business, he developed a passion for purpose and led a project with some of the UK’s leading investors on how to identify a genuinely purpose-led company. He draws on this range of experience in his work at Three Hands, designing and delivering projects designed to create business value and social value hand in hand, for clients such as BNP Paribas Real Estate, Centrica and Royal London Group.
Vanessa Hudnott
Vulnerable Customer Strategy Manager, Aviva
I am currently jointly leading the Vulnerable Customer activity for Aviva with a particular focus on training, operational support, and developing capability. I am passionate about our customers, in particular I want customers who are in difficult or challenging circumstances to receive an empathetic and human approach, breaking down perceptions about financial service providers. My previous experience includes leading customer facing teams with Zurich Insurance and HSBC, all my roles have had a strong focus on doing what is right for the customer, whatever their situation but I most proud of the Aviva brand and culture we are striving to embed across the entire organisation.
Kirsty Hunt
External Training & Consultancy Manager, Cruse Bereavement Care
Cruse Bereavement Care is the leading national charity for bereaved people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We offer support, advice and information to children, young people and adults when someone dies and work to enhance society’s care of bereaved people.
Cruse offers face-to-face, telephone, email and website support. We have a Freephone national helpline and local services, and a website (hopeagain.org.uk) specifically for children and young people. Our services are provided by our network of 5,000 trained volunteers and are confidential and free. Cruse also provides training and consultancy for external organisations and for those who may encounter bereaved people in the course of their work.
Morven Lean
Strategic Change Manager (Vulnerable Customers), Alzheimer's Society
Morven advises financial services on how to support customers and colleagues living with and caring for people with dementia. From people, products to place, Alzheimer’s Society’s dementia-friendly recommendations for the finance industry have been created in collaboration with people living with dementia. Morven has recently been seconded to Santander where she is leading strategic activity supporting their mission to become the UK’s best digital dementia-friendly bank.
Jan Levy
Managing Director, Three Hands
Jan has worked in the space between businesses and non-profits for 18 years. He joined what was a fledgling Three Hands in 2005 and became MD in 2009, in the process developing leaders in the corporate world by giving them challenging projects with charities well before it became fashionable. More recently has focused on helping businesses gain ‘social insight’ about customers through in-depth immersion and innovation processes with charities. He has worked closely with many Financial Services organisations, including Royal London Group, M&G, Santander and HSBC, as well as a host of non-profits.
Fermin Martinez de Hurtado Yela
Sustainability Strategy Manager, Santander
Fermin is a sustainability strategy manager at Santander Bank, based in London. Before this role, he worked for 8 years in the strategy consulting industry for Accenture Strategy and PwC, helping international clients across Europe, North America and Latin America to integrate sustainability into their business agenda, decisions and operations.
By university background, Fermin is an environmental scientist. He is also an alumnus from the University of Cambridge (UK), where he completed a Master's degree in Sustainability Leadership. Moreover, he hold a Master's degree in Consulting and Business Advisory (EOI Business School - Spain), a Postgraduate degree in Business Strategy and Communications (INSEAD - France) and a Postgraduate degree in Finance (CUNEF - Spain).
Dimpel Patel
Head of Client Services, Brewin Dolphin
Dimpel is Head of Client Services at Brewin Dolphin, joining the firm in February 2015, with responsibility for the group complaints handling function. She is a member of Brewin Dolphin Vulnerable Client Committee and chair of the Brewin Dolphin Vulnerable Client Forum.
Previously, Dimpel has held a number of roles focused on complaints management at Barclay Wealth and the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Ruby Peacock
Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Carers UK
Ruby provides the strategic direction to Carers UK’s policy public affairs and media work. Including leading the State of Caring Survey, the largest survey of unpaid carers in the world. Previously she was Deputy Head of Public Affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses, leading their work in Westminster and working for London Councils and the Children’s Society working on welfare reform, housing and looked after children.
Anthony Scammell
UK Operations Director, Old Mutual Wealth
Anthony Scammell is the UK Operations Director at Old Mutual Wealth, leading a team of approx. 900 staff. Prior to his current role, Anthony was the Strategic Service Development Director responsible for developing Quilter’s customer metrics, developing customer policies and standards for use across Quilter’s business units, as well as accountable for the Digital Proposition function. Notably, prior to fulfilling the role of Strategic Service Development Director, Anthony held the role of Customer Experience Director responsible for all aspects of Old Mutual Wealth’s customer and adviser contact, as well as areas such as Complaints and is a Certified Customer Experience Professional. Anthony has over 35 years’ experience in the Financial Services sector.
Anthony is involved in a number of customer focussed industry working groups, such as the ABI Vulnerable Customer Working Group and the Customer Reconnection Group, and chairs TISA’s Vulnerable Customer Group, playing a lead role in organising TISA’s most successful conference to date, outside of their Annual Conference, in 2018. Anthony regularly speaks at conferences on customer experience matters. Anthony is also a member of the IGC (Independent Governance Committee) and a regular attendee at Old Mutual Wealth’s Customer Outcome Forum.
Nadia Starky
Vulnerable Customer Strategy Manager, Aviva
I have been with Aviva for just over 10 years now, I have held several key roles, spanning Marketing, Strategy, Product development and End to end process design. I am passionate about making a difference and challenging the status quo.
Jonathan Warren
Consultant, Altus Consulting
Jonathan has been working in financial services for 15 years, with experience focused in the investment platform market.
Prior to joining Altus, he worked for James Hay, working on proposition development by managing their digital capability and fund platform. Jonathan worked on and acted as project sponsor on high profile projects, including transformation, regulatory change and the design and development of new propositions. He is a regular commentator on social media and in blogs, particularly around the impact emerging technology in wealth management.
Nick Wilkinson
Head of Access Solutions, Action on Hearing Loss
After a career outside of the third sector, Nick joined Action on Hearing Loss (also known as the RNID) early in 2019 as Head of Access Solutions. The Access Solutions team provide everything to make any business more accessible to customers and staff with hearing loss. Our Louder than Words solutions include workplace assessments, deaf awareness and BSL training, communication services such as BSL translators, and assistive technology products. Improving access for employees and customers with hearing loss will help you increase your income, boost staff morale and attract more customers.