Our people
Meet our board of directors and executive team. The board is made up of both executive and non-executive staff.
Board members
Our board is collectively responsible for setting out the strategy and vision of Nucleus, shaping and instilling company values, culture and standards and ensuring the maintenance of sound systems of internal control and risk management. We believe the board has all the necessary attributes to effectively guide and challenge the executive team and to ensure that Nucleus’ obligations to its shareholders and wider stakeholders are understood and met.
Our board consists of a team of executive and non-executive directors working together and using their experience of UK financial services and platform businesses to drive Nucleus forward and achieve good outcomes for its customers. Full biographies for each director are available by clicking on the images below.
Gordon Wilson
Chair
Gordon is chair of our board, he was formerly the chair of Interactive Investor, one of the UK’s largest investment platforms. He brings over 30 years’ experience including being President and CEO of Travelport, one of the world’s leading travel commerce platforms. He has held board positions with Ambassador Cruise Lines, Virgin Experience Days and with corporate travel management company, BCD Holdings. As well as being a non-executive director at William Hill PLC.
Kathryn Purves
Senior Independent Director
Kathryn currently chairs Nucleus risk committee. She has executive experience of CEO and CRO roles and a focus on risk management, governance, legal and compliance. She served as Chief Executive Officer of IFG plc, a listed financial services holding company, from April 2018 to April 2020 and previously was Chief Risk Officer of Partnership Assurance Group plc, a leading provider of non-standard annuities. Prior to joining Partnership in 2008, she worked within the private equity industry for approximately ten years. Kathryn is also currently a non-executive director of Intermediate Capital Group plc, where she chairs the Risk Committee, a non-executive director of Aztec Group, and chair of Redington.
Richard Hoskins
Non-Executive Director (FCA approval pending)
As well as being a non-executive director, Richard is chair of the audit committee. He has extensive experience having served as a board member for Old Mutual, Aviva, AIG, Hastings and BGL Group. With a career spanning almost 40 years, Richard brings a proven CEO and CFO track record for multiple blue-chip organisations, and deep expertise in financial services – particularly in insurance services and asset management.
Judith Davidson
Non-Executive Director (FCA approval pending)
Judith is our Consumer Duty Champion. She is the former Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of IntegraFin, which owns and operates award-winning investment platform Transact. She was responsible for the organisational processes and technology infrastructure that facilitated Transact’s growth, including the development of its strategy and proprietary software development. Bringing with her a huge amount of industry experience.
Scot French
Non-Executive Director
Scot is a Governing Partner of HPS and is the Portfolio Manager of the HPS Strategic Investment Partners Funds. Prior to joining HPS in 2007, he spent three years at Citigroup where he managed a portfolio of private mezzanine and private equity investments in North America, Europe and Latin America. Prior to joining Citigroup, he worked in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs and in Mergers & Acquisitions at Salomon Brothers Inc.
Roisin Conran
Non-Executive Director
Roisin is an Executive Director at HPS Investment Partners. Prior to joining HPS in 2016, Roisin worked as an investment professional at BlueBay Asset Management in London as a private credit specialist. She holds a BSc in Economics and Finance from the Quinn school of business at University College Dublin.
Jake Blair
Non-Executive Director
Jake is a Managing Director at HPS Investment Partners. Prior to joining HPS in 2007, he worked as a Vice President in General Electric’s Commercial Finance Distressed Debt Group, where he invested in distressed leveraged loans and was involved in numerous workouts on behalf of GE Capital. In 2000, Jake founded CampInteractive, a New York based charity, where he served as Executive Director for four years.
Owen Wilson
Non-Executive Director
Owen is a partner at Epiris LLP, having joined the firm in 2013. Prior to this, Owen spent four years in Palamon Capital Partners as Principal, 5 years at Candover as Investment Director, and 7 years advising private equity clients whilst at Bain & Co. Owen obtained a BA in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Richard Rowney
Chief Executive Officer
Richard Rowney has been CEO of Nucleus since August 2021 having joined James Hay as CEO in October 2020. He is also Non-Executive Director for MSP Capital Group and Honeycomb Investment Trust. Prior to this, he undertook multiple roles at LV throughout a period of just under 13 years, including acting as Managing Director of LV Life and Pensions and Group CEO of LV. Richard started his career in 1992, undertaking various senior operational, risk and change roles across Barclays Corporate and Retail Banking, and holds an honours degree in Geography from Leeds University, an MBA from Henley Management College and a GMP from Harvard Business School.
Mike Regan
Chief Financial Officer
Mike is an experienced board-level CFO with a track record of success in M&A, driving business transformation and developing high performing finance teams. He joined Nucleus in September 2022 from UK digital insurer BGLi where he was Chief Financial Officer for three years. Prior to this, he spent almost ten years at the Royal Bank of Scotland, and as part of this held the role of Finance Director for RBS’s Private Banking Franchise, Coutts. A chartered accountant by profession, Mike has a breadth and depth of experience in the financial services sector, starting his career at PwC and later holding senior positions at financial giants UBS and HSBC and European commercial bank West LB.
Executive team
Our executive leadership team is responsible for the day-to-day management of the business and implementing Nucleus’ strategy.
Richard Rowney
Chief Executive Officer
Richard Rowney has been CEO of Nucleus since August 2021 having joined James Hay as CEO in October 2020. He is also Non-Executive Director for MSP Capital Group and Honeycomb Investment Trust. Prior to this, he undertook multiple roles at LV throughout a period of just under 13 years, including acting as Managing Director of LV Life and Pensions and Group CEO of LV. Richard started his career in 1992, undertaking various senior operational, risk and change roles across Barclays Corporate and Retail Banking, and holds an honours degree in Geography from Leeds University, an MBA from Henley Management College and a GMP from Harvard Business School.
Richard Warner
Chief Operating Officer
Richard Warner joined James Hay as interim Chief Operating Officer in November 2020. With over 30 years’ experience leading transformational change across operations, digital and technology, Richard oversees the administrative and operational functions of the platform and ensures that delivering a high quality of service to customer is at the heart of everything we do.
Prior to James Hay, Richard held both COO and CIO roles during his nine years at LV, and before that he spent 21 years at the multinational technology, business and management consultancy firm, Accenture.
Richard was a former winner of the BCS CIO of the Year.
Alex Kovach
Chief Commercial Officer
Alex Kovach joined James Hay as Chief Commercial Officer on 1st June 2020. He’s responsible for all commercial aspects of our operation including business development and sales, proposition and marketing.
He has broad general management experience with a focus on digital, consumer and early stage business start-ups and corporate ventures. As Chief Commercial Officer at Interactive Investor he oversaw a period of rapid growth that led to the D2C platform moving from 9th to 2nd largest in the UK. His other recent roles include Managing Director of Camelot Global Services and CEO for International Development at Ladbrokes PLC. He was educated at Durham University and has an MBA with distinction from Insead.
Mike Regan
Chief Financial Officer
Mike is an experienced board-level CFO with a track record of success in M&A, driving business transformation and developing high performing finance teams. He joined Nucleus in September 2022 from UK digital insurer BGLi where he was Chief Financial Officer for three years. Prior to this, he spent almost ten years at the Royal Bank of Scotland, and as part of this held the role of Finance Director for RBS’s Private Banking Franchise, Coutts. A chartered accountant by profession, Mike has a breadth and depth of experience in the financial services sector, starting his career at PwC and later holding senior positions at financial giants UBS and HSBC and European commercial bank West LB.
Martin Ettles
Chief Risk Officer
Martin Ettles joined the Company as Chief risk officer in March 2020. Martin joined Nucleus from Phoenix Group where he was Conduct and compliance director. He initially started his career in 1999 with Standard Life, joining the actuarial graduate programme. During his career at Standard Life he spent time in the UK, Ireland and Canada. He qualified as an Actuary in 2005 and as a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary (CERA) in 2013. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1999 with a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Statistics.
Alison Longbottom
Chief People Officer
Alison joined James Hay in October 2020. Her career spans two decades, incorporating roles in the UK, Europe and Africa across FTSE 250 companies, Private Equity, B2B and B2G, and unionised manufacturing. Prior to joining James Hay she held a human resources leadership role at Portals, world-leading banknote and passport paper manufacturer, having supported the separation of the business from a public company and the establishment of a private equity-backed independent business.
Andrew Smith
Chief Digital Officer
Andrew Smith re-joined the Company in January 2015 and is the Chief Technology Officer. He has been involved in Nucleus from inception and was previously an employee from 2008-2012 where he worked as Chief Operating Officer. He then worked as Chief Operating Officer for the Axa Wealth Elevate platform (now Aberdeen Standard Elevate Limited). Prior to this, he was Vice President of development and operations for Thomson Reuters Corporation. He has also worked at Logica Limited, where he worked internationally for a variety of clients including Financial Times, ANZ Bank and Telstra. Andy holds a BSC (Hons) (Computing Science) from the University of Aberdeen as well as a MSc (Cognitive Science) from the University of Birmingham.