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
The architect of Virgin Group's strategy from the mid-1990s until 2012 and CEO of Virgin Management Limited, 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, Chairman of Hunter Boot, and a Non-Executive Director at a number of companies, including Virgin Atlantic Airways.
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 (with restrictions) 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.
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.
Nigel Morris
Board member
Nigel cofounded Capital One Financial Services, and helped to grow it from an emerging startup to an established public company worth over $20 billion. Today, he's the managing partner of QED Investors and brings wide and varied experience to the Zopa board table. He serves on the board of various organisations ranging from Red Ventures to ClearScore and ideas42.
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.
Tim Levene
Board member
A seasoned entrepreneur, Tim's co-founded many companies. These include Crussh, which has 30 stores throughout London, and Augmentum – the venture capital fund. Augmentum is backed by RIT Capital Partners PLC – an investment trust that Jacob Rothschild and his family are substantial investors in. He was also made a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012.
Charles Birnbaum
Board member
Charles is Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP). He has an eye for promising disruptive companies in finance, software, and consumer web services. Some of his recent investments include Betterment, United Capital, Abacus and Main Street Hub. Before BVP, Charles worked in Corporate Finance at Deutsche Bank and was an early employee, and later Director of Business Development, at Foursquare.
Kapil Wadhawan
Board member
Kapil's the founder of WGC, parent company for some of the top brands in India – DHFL, Aadhar Housing Finance and Avanse Financial Services among lots of others. Under his leadership, WGC has transformed people's lives across the length and breadth of India with education loans, life insurance, asset management and insurance.
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.
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.
More about Zopa's leadership team.
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