Our leadership

Ken Stannard

Chair of the Board

Term of office
Ken was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in January 2025 and Chair of the Board in May 2025

Independent
Yes.

Skills and experience
Ken brings 30 years’ experience in credit, lending and payments, having held senior executive roles at Lloyds Banking Group, Capital One and American Express, and most recently as CEO of Cabot Credit Management. Prior to his executive roles, he was a partner at Oliver Wyman LLC. Ken has an MBA from INSEAD and an MA in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford.

External appointments
Ken is currently Chair of Castle Trust Capital Plc, Castle Trust Holdings Limited and Viewture Limited. He is currently also a Non-Executive Director of Verastar Ltd. and Chair of its Remuneration Committee and Lead Director of Cepal Hellas Financial Services S.A.

Lisa Jacobs

Chief Executive Officer

Term of office
Lisa was appointed to the Board as Chief Executive Officer on 1 January 2022.

Independent 
No

Skills and experience
Lisa joined Funding Circle in 2012 and was previously UK Managing Director and Chief Strategy Officer. Prior to Funding Circle, Lisa worked as a Management Consultant, both independently and for the Boston Consulting Group, where she had a financial services focus. She has had roles in NGOs in Tanzania and India.

External appointments
None.

Tony Nicol

Chief Financial Officer

Term of office
Tony was appointed to the Board as Chief Financial Officer on 1 January 2025.

Independent
No

Skills and experience
Tony joined Funding Circle in 2018 as Director of Finance and was part of the team leading the IPO. Prior to Funding Circle, he was Group Financial Controller at IG Group Holdings plc, where he was responsible for all financial reporting including budgeting and forecasting. Before then, Tony worked at PwC as an Assurance Director auditing and advising listed and private businesses in a number of sectors. Tony is an FCA of the ICAEW and holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University 
of Bristol.

External appointments
None.

Helen Beck

Senior Independent Director

Term of office
Helen was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in June 2021. Helen is also the Senior Independent Director.

Independent
Yes.

Skills and experience
Helen has over 25 years of experience in financial services, particularly in remuneration design, regulation and human resources. Helen was formerly a Partner at Deloitte and, among her previous roles in her career, Helen was Global Head of Reward at Standard Bank and Head of McLagan Europe (part of Aon) and held roles in human resources at Fidelity International. Helen was also previously a Non-Executive Director of Irwin Mitchell.

External appointments
Helen serves as Non-Executive Director of St James's Place plc (where she is Chair of the Remuneration Committee), Hampshire Trust Bank, Picton Property Income Limited (where she is Chair of the Remuneration Committee) and as an adviser of Charles II Realisation LLP. Helen is an independent adviser for the Wellcome Foundation’s Remuneration Sub-Committee and is an independent member of the Remuneration Committee for The British Olympic Association.

Hendrik Nelis

Non-Executive Director

Term of office
Hendrik was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in September 2013.

Independent
No.

Skills and experience
Hendrik joined Accel in 2004 and focuses on software, fintech and consumer internet companies. He led Accel’s investments in KAYAK (NASDAQ: KYAK, acquired by Priceline), Showroomprive (EPA: SRP), Funding Circle (LON: FCH), Celonis, CHECK24, Instana, Miro and Zepz.

Hendrik started his career in Silicon Valley as an engineer at Hewlett‑Packard before founding a venture‑backed software company. He is from the Netherlands and graduated from Harvard Business School and Delft University of Technology.

External appointments
Hendrik serves as Manager, Partner Director and/or Member at a number of Accel entities, as well as a Director or supervisory board member of several other companies.

Neil Rimer

Non-Executive Director

Term of office
Neil was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in March 2011.

Independent
No.

Skills and experience
Neil is a Co-Founder and Partner of Index Ventures. Before starting Index Ventures, he spent four years with Montgomery Securities in San Francisco. Neil was previously a Director of Photobox Holdco Limited, Supercell Oy and The Climate Corporation.

External appointments
Neil is currently a Director on various boards of companies based in the UK, Europe, the Cayman Islands and the US including Raisin GmbH, Nexthink SA, , Sofia Holdings Limited, Taxfix GmbH and Typeform S.L. He is also the Co-Chair of Human Rights Watch.

Maeve Byrne

Non-Executive Director

Term of office
Maeve was appointed to the Board as Non-Executive Director on 2 June 2025.

Independent
Yes

Skills and experience
Maeve brings 30 years’ experience within financial services, having held senior executive roles at Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc. Most recently, seconded as Chief Financial Officer of the Non Core division of RBS. Prior to her executive roles, she was a partner at KPMG. Maeve is a Chartered Accountant and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Accountants in Ireland. Maeve has a BCom from University College Dublin.

External appointments
Maeve is currently Non Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at LendInvest Plc and M-Kopa Holdings Limited.  

Richard Harvey

Non-Executive Director

Term of office
Richard was appointed to the Board as Non-Executive Director on 1 August 2025.

Independent
Yes

Skills and experience
Richard brings over 30 years’ experience within financial services, having held senior roles at HSBC, GE Money and Barclays. Most recently, as Global Head of Retail Banking Products at HSBC Holdings plc and Chief Executive of GE Money (UK Unsecured). Richard previously served as a director on the boards of GE Capital Bank UK and HSBC Bank of Nevada. Richard has a BA in English Literature from University of Bristol.

External appointments
Richard is currently Non-Executive Director at both the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and the UK Money and Pensions Service, an arms-length body of the DWP.  In addition, Richard is a Trustee Director of Citizen Advice (Runnymede and Spelthorne).  

Sarah Whiteley

Company Secretary and Chief Legal Officer

Term of office

Sarah was appointed Company Secretary and Chief Legal Officer in January 2026.

Independent

Not applicable

Skills and experience

Sarah has over 20 years advising listed and PE backed financial services firms across Europe and the US. Prior to joining Funding Circle,  Sarah was Group General Counsel and Company Secretary of Cabot Credit Management, Non-Executive Director of the Credit Services Association and previously in private practice at Clyde & Co. Sarah has a Master of Laws from King's College, London.

External appointments

Sarah is currently Non-Executive Director of the Dame Vera Lynn Children's Charity.