Executive Moves:
Senior Appointments in Financial Services
Welcome to our quarterly insights into C-Suite and Executive movements across Financial Services from April to June 2025.
This snapshot of leadership moves over the past three months highlights the evolving landscape across the financial services sector. Growth emerged as a clear theme in our 2025 CEO Insights survey – a message that’s echoed in our day-to-day work across both search and interim.
In conversations with financial services leaders, we’re seeing a cautiously optimistic mood on the ground, in contrast to some of the gloomier media headlines. Organisations are striking a balance between continuity and fresh thinking, with leadership transitions ranging from internal promotions to external hires and interim-to-permanent appointments.
We’re excited to start sharing some of the key moves we’ve been tracking across the sector and will continue building on this first snapshot on a quarterly basis.
We have included moves within:
- People & Culture / Human Resources
- Reward
- Digital, Technology & Transformation
- CEO & Board
- Finance
If you’re looking to partner on upcoming appointments or succession planning, please get in touch.
People & Culture / Human Resources
- Kirk Southern: Named as permanent Chief People Officer at Howden after being appointed Group Head of Reward in June 2022 and subsequently promoted to Interim Chief People Officer in October 2024.
- Sarah Mantle-Gray: Appointed Chief Human Resources Officer at RSA, previously Director of Total Talent at the same company.
- Elli Michaelides: Appointed Chief People Officer at Vanquis, previously People Director at the same company.
- Cath McVey: Appointed Chief People Officer at Progeny, previously held the same role at Ascot Lloyd.
- Lucy Thackeray: Appointed Group HRD at Barclays, previously Group Head of Executive Resourcing at HSBC.
- Tara Johnson: Promoted to Chief People Officer at HG Capital, previously Head of Business Partners at the same company.
- Sarah Allen: Appointed Director of Talent & Learning at Deloitte, previously Director of Learning at Aviva.
- Martin Corfe: Named Senior Director, Human Resources at Vitruvian Partners following a move from Actis, where he was Managing Director, Human Resources.
- Margot King: Joined PwC as Head of People and HR Transformation, previously Chief Human Resources Officer EMEA at MUFG.
- Chris Pegler: Joined HSBC in a Global People Transformation role on a contract basis, previously Group Head of People at OSB Group.
Reward
- James Coleman and Jules Ingleby: Appointed Co-Heads of Reward & Performance at Barclays. They are both promoted internally from their previous roles as Head of Compensation and Head of Reward Policy & Governance, respectively.
- Shoma Ghosh: Promoted to Group Head of Performance and Reward at HSBC. Shoma has spent 20 years at HSBC and was most recently the Group Head of Compensation.
- Esther Junaid: Joined ClearBank as Head of Reward, previously Principal, Reward at Peel Hunt.
- Stephan Groh: Appointed Managing Director, Reward at CVC, previously Head of Investment Compensation at Invesco.
- Chris Browne: Appointed Head of Reward at CFC, previously Head of Reward and Global HR Operations at Low Carbon.
- Claire Livesey: Promoted to Interim Chief People Officer at Metro Bank, previously Director of Performance & Reward at the same company.
Digital, Technology & Transformation
- Debra Bailey: Appointed as Chief Information Officer at One Savings Bank, previously Chief Information Officer at Royal Mail.
- Ceri Stokoe: Appointed Chief Operating Officer at Tokio Marine, previously Chief Information Officer, Europe at QBE Insurance.
- Yogesh Patel: Appointed Chief Operating Officer at Hampshire Trust Bank, previously Managing Director – Head of Transformation at Coutts.
- Femi Bamisaiye: Appointed as Chief Operations & Technology Officer at Nest Pensions, previously Chief Information Officer at Aviva UK General Insurance.
- Lyn Grobler: Joined St James’s Place as Chief Information Officer, previously Chief Information Officer at Howden Group.
- Kirsty Kelly: Named as Group Chief Information Security Officer at CFC Underwriting, previously held the same position at Beazley.
- Darren Coomer: Appointed Chief Information Officer at Tesco Insurance, previously Chief Technology and Operations Officer at iptiQ.
- Akhil Lalwani: Appointed Chief Data Officer at Allianz UK, previously Chief Data Officer at Convex Insurance.
- Norma Dove-Edwin: Appointed Director of Strategy for Tech, Digital and Data at Legal & General, previously Interim Chief Information Officer at Rolls-Royce.
CEO & Board
- Vicki Wharton: Appointed as Customer Operations Director at Royal London, previously Director of Customer Excellence at Aldermore Bank.
- Tovah Grosscurth: Promoted to Managing Director – Commercial Lines at Intact Insurance, previously Director of E-Trading at the same company.
- Jazz Gakhal: Appointed as Chief Executive Officer, Money at Skipton Building Society, previously Managing Director of Direct Line’s flagship Motor & Rescue business.
- Katie Worgan: Appointed Chief Operating Officer at Legal & General, previously Chief Operating Officer at Lloyds Banking Group.
- Sameera Khaliq: Appointed Chief Financial Officer at DF Capital, joining from Skipton Building Society, where she was Director of Financial Strategy & Business Partnering.
- Stuart Logue: Named as Chief Financial Officer at Asta Managing Agency, previously Interim Chief Executive Officer at Flood Re.
- Michael Evans: Appointed Chief Financial Officer at Foundation Home Loans. Michael was previously Chief Financial Officer at Octopus Electric Vehicles.
- Stefano Combi: Appointed Chief Financial Officer at Cynergy Bank, following a period as Interim Chief Financial Officer since July 2024.
- Rakesh Thakrah: Named as Chief Financial Officer at Athora Group after a period as Interim Chief Financial Officer. Rakesh was previously Chief Financial Officer at Phoenix.
- Alexandra Cliff: Appointed Chief Financial Officer at Lloyd’s of London after moving up from Deputy Chief Financial Officer to succeed Burkhard Keese.
- Siobhan Boylan: Named Group Chief Financial Officer at abrdn, effective summer 2025, following her departure from Coutts & Co, where she currently serves as Chief Financial Officer.
- Pam Kaur: Promoted to Chief Financial Officer at HSBC, replacing Interim Chief Financial Officer Jon Bingham.
