Get to know the board
There are three boards at Zopa. Their role is to increase the scale of our business, protect our customers and ensure good corporate governance. Find out a little bit more about each of the boards and the people on them below.
The group board
We're proud to have a group of people with vast and proven business and technology skills guiding our path.
Gordon McCallum
Chair and board member
As the architect of Virgin Group's strategy from the mid-1990s until 2012, Gordon brings over four decades' worth of professional, executive and non-executive experience to Zopa.
He was responsible, in particular, for the creation and development of Virgin's Mobile and Money businesses around the world. Prior to that, he held roles at McKinsey and Baring Brothers, and non-executive roles across many Virgin companies.
He is currently a Senior Advisor to private equity group, Searchlight Capital and a Non-Executive Director at a number of companies, including Argent Energy (a major European producer of biodiesel from wastes) and Global Risk Partners (the UK’s leading independent insurance intermediary).
Jaidev Janardana
Group CEO and board member
Devoted to creating simple and fair financial products and services, Jaidev joined Zopa in October 2014. Since then Zopa has more than quadrupled its loan volumes and revenues, achieved profitability, and secured its banking licence in order to offer its customers a wider range of financial products.
Before Zopa, Jaidev spent 12 years at Capital One. Starting out in McLean, Virginia, he was initially focused on the US card business. He then moved to the UK in 2007 with a big task at hand – to manage credit risk through the financial crisis as Chief Credit Officer for the UK business.
Having helped Capital One UK successfully navigate through the crisis, he took on the broader role of Chief Marketing Officer and was instrumental in returning the UK business back to profitability and growth.
Giles Andrews
Co-founder and board member
Giles was one of five people who dreamed up Zopa in 2004. By 2007 he was CEO and became Chairman in 2015.
Zopa wasn't Giles' first venture. He co-founded Caverdale which he took from a start-up to a £250 million revenue motor retailer, before selling it in 1997.
After Caverdale he set up his own strategic consultancy. It had large clients in the General Retail and Financial Services sectors and provided start-up advice and early stage funding for new businesses.
Giles received an OBE for services to financial services in the 2016 New Year Honours list, and is currently a non-exec Chairman of Dynamic Credit, an asset manager and direct mortgage lender in the Netherlands.
Other roles
Giles acts as non-executive Chairman of Bethnal Green Ventures, the accelerator for start-ups using technology to make social or environmental impact. He is also Chairman at MarketInvoice, and Chairman at Kreditech, a lending business providing better access to credit for under-served consumers across multiple markets including Poland, Russia and India.
Jeppe Zink
Board member
Jeppe is a General Partner at Northzone, based in London. With two decades of venture capital experience. After starting out at Deutsche Bank and Amadeus he joined Northzone and established the firm’s London office. His exits include Space Ape Games (exited to Supercell), EpiServer (exited to IK Investment Partners) and Tobii (IPO). Jeppe focuses primarily on finding network effects around enterprise software and fintech businesses, and his active portfolio includes Zopa, Trustpilot, Wagestream, Wallapop, MarketFinance, Nested, Anyfin and Truelayer.
Peter Herbert
Board member and Bank chair
Peter has 40 years' experience in the financial services industry. As former CEO at Tandem he knows a thing or two about creating a new bank. He's also held many leadership roles at Barclays including Group Head of Strategy and MD of Barclaycard. Plus, he was CEO of the global mortgage, consumer lending and credit cards business at GE Capital.
Christine Farnish
Board member and Peer-to-peer chair
Christine's knowledge of the peer-to-peer industry is hard to beat. She was the chair of the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association for six years and she's as passionate about customers being put first as we are. She's been the Consumer Affairs Director at the Financial Services Authority (the forerunner to the FCA) and Managing Director of Public Policy at Barclays.
Richard Goulding
Board member
Any successful business will have a risk expert at the helm. Richard's ours. He spent 10 years at Standard Chartered Bank as Group Risk Officer and is also on the boards of Bank of Ireland and CitiGroup Global Markets Ltd. Before Standard Chartered, Richard held executive positions at Old Mutual Financial Services, UBS Warburg/SBC Warburg, Astra Holding plc, Bankers Trust Company and Midland Bank Group.
Chris Jones
Board member
Chris is a director of the Zopa shareholder IAG Silverstripe, an investment arm of IAG Capital Partners. Chris leads the acquisition and oversight of IAG Capital Partner’s European portfolio companies. Previously Chris was with Sherman Financial Group and Credit Suisse. He served for 14 years on the Boards of Credit One Bank NA, a multi-billion dollar US bank specializing in credit cards and Consubanco SA, a Mexican bank focused on consumer lending.
Nick Aspinall
Board member
Nick is an investment director of the Zopa shareholder IAG Silverstripe, an investment arm of IAG Capital Partners. Nick is responsible for IAG Capital Partners’ legal and regulatory affairs, corporate structuring and governance of its European portfolio. Previously Nick was a partner with Cambridge Place Investment Management Group and at Aon and Norton Rose Fulbright. Nick is a European Board Member for Kroll Bond Rating Agency.
Michael Woodburn
Board member
Michael is currently working with the VC consultancy, Blenheim Chalcot. Previously, Michael was Chief Executive Officer at Oakbrook Finance, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer in a 14 year career at Capital One UK. He was previously a manager at Schroders.
The bank board
We're proud to have a group of people with vast and proven business and technology skills guiding our path.
Peter Herbert
Chair and board member
Jaidev Janardana
Bank CEO and board member
Richard Goulding
Board member
Paul Cutter
Board member
A technology leader, Paul is the Chief Technology Officer at Paddy Power Betfair and leads 1,100 staff. To deliver a better experience for customers, he has transformed the technology platform, created better engagement and built a more innovative product pipeline. He's also spent nearly 10 years in senior tech roles at BSkyB and AOL.
Gaenor Bagley
Board member
Gaenor has 30 years' experience in the professional services industry. She's held a variety of leadership and board positions, including five years on the PwC UK board as Head of People, followed by 18 months as Head of Corporate Purpose for PwC. Gaenor currently holds a range of other non-executive appointments including with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Jon Hogan
Board member
Jon has over 20 years’ experience in financial services, most of this as a senior executive or non-executive director. Prior to joining the Zopa board he held non-executive director roles at Atom Bank, ING Australia, the Australian British Chamber of Commerce, the University of Central Lancashire and was the Chair of the trading business of the Family Fund Charity. Jon also sits on the board of B-North, another UK challenger business in the SME space. Jon has also held a number of senior executive roles at First Direct and ANZ in Australia.
The Peer-to-peer board
Charged with overseeing the success of our peer-to-peer business, the Peer-to-peer board is chaired by Christine.
Christine Farnish
Chair and board member
Natasha Wear
Board member and Peer-to-peer CEO
Natasha joined Zopa in 2015 as a product manager having spent five years as a strategy consultant at LEK Consulting. At Zopa, Natasha has played an integral role in developing its product offering and operational capabilities, including bringing Zopa's ISA products to market. Prior to leading the Zopa investment product, Natasha was Head of Business Operations. Natasha was named in the Women in Fintech Powerlist in 2017.
Zitah McMillan
Board member
Zitah was most recently the regional CEO of DFC Global in Continental Europe, a credit supply business for consumers and small businesses in various countries across Europe. Previously, Zitah was Director of Communications and International at the Financial Conduct Authority, held senior roles at the Department for Work and Pensions and worked in consumer advertising at Publicis Groupe with clients as varied as L'Oreal, The British Army and Proctor & Gamble.
Doris Honold
Board member
Doris is an expert on financial crime, cyber and operational resilience risks. Most recently, she was Group Chief Operating Officer at Standard Chartered having joined the Group in March 2007 as Group Head of Market Risk. A former Fulbright Scholar, Doris started her career with Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt and has since held positions in Tokyo, Singapore and London.
Michael Woodburn
Board member
Michael is currently working with the VC consultancy, Blenheim Chalcot. Previously, Michael was Chief Executive Officer at Oakbrook Finance, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer in a 14 year career at Capital One UK. He was previously a manager at Schroders.