Pay.UK Board
Board members
Our board brings a wide range of knowledge and expertise to guide and deliver change successfully while maintaining a focus on service delivery. Chaired by Mark Hoban, our board directors are listed below:
Mark Hoban
Independent Chair
Appointment to the Board
Mark was appointed Chair of Pay.UK in November 2020. He is also Chair of the Nomination Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee.
Skills and qualifications
Mark Hoban is an experienced chair working in the financial services and charity sectors. He has gained extensive experience across a portfolio of chair roles that operate at the nexus of business, public policy and regulation.
Mark is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Relevant past experience
He has recently retired as Chair of Flood Re and the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
Mark was the Member of Parliament for Fareham between 2001 and 2015 and was a minister in the UK’s coalition government between 2010 and 2013.
External appointments
He currently chairs the Financial Services Skills Commission, he is a member of PwC’s Advisory Council and a member of the Bank of England’s Enforcement Decision Making Committee. Mark has recently become Chair of the Cardinal Hume Centre.
David Pitt
Chief Executive Officer
Appointment to the Board
David joined Pay.UK in July 2021 and was appointed to the Board upon joining.
Skills and qualifications
David has a strong and successful track record delivering high profile projects both in the UK and internationally, and leading organisations through periods of transformational change.
Relevant past experience
Prior to Pay.UK, David was Chief Operating Officer at the Government’s Test, Trace and Containment operation responsible for the delivery of a transformation strategy and overseeing the end-to-end process to improve overall delivery across the UK. Prior to this he was also as Chief Operating Officer at esure Group, leading the business through major transformational change prior to its sale. David has also held senior roles at RSA Insurance, including CEO, Greater China.
External appointments
None.
Michael Ellis
Executive Director Chief Financial Officer
Appointment to the Board
Michael Ellis joined Pay.UK as Director of Finance in April 2021 and was appointed to the Board as CFO in August 2023.
Skills and qualifications
Michael is an experienced commercial finance professional and has extensive experience in the payments industry, including having worked at Vocalink for over 13 years, latterly as CFO.
He was Chief Financial Officer at Vocalink during its acquisition by Mastercard and subsequent integration.
Michael has broad experience within finance, including in the fields of strategy, mergers and acquisitions, finance transformation, planning, financial reporting, tax, and treasury.
He is a Chartered Accountant.
Relevant past experience
Prior to working in payments Michael gained experience in professional practice, logistics and transport.
External appointments
None.
Anna Bradley
Senior Independent Director
Appointment to the Board
Anna joined the Board in October 2017, and was appointed Senior Independent Executive Director (SID) in 2021. She is also Chair of the Remuneration Committee, a member of the Nomination Committee and Chairs the End User Advisory Council.
Skills and qualifications
Anna is an experienced director and Chair. She has a background in regulation, policy and consumer advocacy across a variety of sectors. She has particular interest and expertise in consumer and end user outcomes in regulated markets.
Anna holds an MBA from Warwick University.
Relevant past experience
Wide and deep experience of Board governance in financial services, infrastructure and professional services, and senior executive roles at Which? and the Financial Services Authority.
External appointments
Anna is currently the Chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Chair of Scottish Widows Independent Governance Committee.
Diane Côté
Independent Non-Executive Director
Appointment to the Board
Diane joined the Board in January 2022 and was appointed as Chair of the Risk Committee and a member of the Audit Committee upon appointment.
Skills and qualifications
Diane is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CA – CPA).
Relevant past experience
She has held senior positions in FTSE 100 companies such as Aviva plc, Standard Life plc, most latterly as Chief Risk Officer for London Stock Exchange Group where she also chaired its Foundation, and its diversity and inclusion executive committee. Diane has also chaired TheCityUK Cyber Security and Resilience Advisory Board and was a member of the European Central Bank (ECB) market infrastructure resilience advisory committee.
External appointments
Diane is a director and member of the Audit Committee, Risk Committee and US Risk Committee Société Générale Group, Chair of La Nuova Musica, she is Board Trustee of the Shaw Trust and independent director of X-Forces Enterprise.
Helen Crooks
Independent Non-Executive Director
Appointment to the Board
Helen Crooks joined the Pay.UK Board in January 2023.
Skills and qualifications
Helen is an experienced data and digital leader and holds a BSc in Mathematics and Sociology.
Relevant past experience
Her previous roles include Chief Data Officer at Ofgem and executive roles at Tesco and Lloyds of London. She featured in the DataIQ100 power Titan list from 2017-2020, and was recognised with the DataIQ lifetime achievement award, in 2022. She also previously chaired the London Market Data Steering Board.
External appointments
Helen chairs the External Advisory Group for the UK Parliament Digital Transformation Programme, is a Non-Executive Advisor for Parliament Digital Services, advisor on data strategy to consultancies Practicus and Anmut and a member of the Strategic Advisory Board for Energy Demand Observatory and Laboratory (EDOL).
Marc Pettican
Non-Executive Director
Appointment to the Board
Marc Pettican was appointed the Pay.UK Board in May 2021.
Skills and qualifications
With over 20 years in the payments arena, Marc Pettican has seen significant development in technology and innovation across the industry, and has often been a driving force in shaping new propositions for Barclays’ corporate portfolio (NFC, EMV, Data Security, eCommerce, Virtual Payments).
Relevant past experience
Since joining Barclays over 30 years ago, Marc has extensive experience in acquiring payment gateways, data security and commercial payments. He has undertaken a succession of senior coverage, leadership and general management roles, covering small businesses through to global corporates.
Since October 2022, Marc has held the position of Head of Barclaycard Payments, overseeing the end-to-end payments business, spanning issuing and acquiring for small businesses to large multinational corporates.
Advisory Board Member, Commercial Payments International until 2022.
External appointments
None.
Lesley Titcomb
Independent Non-Executive Director
Appointment to the Board
Lesley joined the Pay.UK Board in January 2021 as an INED. Lesley is a member of the Audit, Nomination and Remuneration Committees.
Skills and qualifications
Lesley is a Chartered Accountant and has a strong financial services and regulatory background, including the Pensions Regulator and the FCA.
Relevant past experience
Chief Operating Officer of the FCA, Chief Executive of the Pensions Regulator.
External appointments
Currently, Lesley is Chair of the Market Harborough Building Society, an Independent Non-Executive Director of the National Bank of Kuwait (International Plc) and a Governor of the University of Hertfordshire.
Lesley has recently been appointed as Chair of the debt advice charity Step Change, where she has been a trustee for five years.
Lars Trunin
Non-Executive Director
Appointment to the Board
Lars joined the Pay.UK Board in March 2021.
Skills and qualifications
Lars is a Board Director at Wise Payments Ltd and TINV Europe AS. As Director of Product for Europe and the UK at Wise, formerly TransferWise, he leads teams focused on helping over 10 million people around the world move their money internationally as quickly, inexpensively and conveniently, as possible.
He holds an MBA from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Relevant past experience
Lars spearheaded the initiative of Wise joining the Bank of England’s RTGS system as the first Non-Bank PSP, and as a direct customer of the FPS.
Before Wise, Lars founded Raudwara, an Estonian publishing house, authored several bestselling books in mathematics, and worked with the Walt Disney Company in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Lars was also a member of the Banking Stakeholder Group, European Banking Authority.
External appointments
None.
Ajay Vij
Independent Non-Executive Director
Appointment to the Board
Ajay Vij was appointed to the Pay.UK Board in January 2023.
Skills and qualifications
Ajay specialises in digital transformation and scaling global technology services in financial services. He holds an MBA from London Business School.
Relevant past experience
Ajay has built his career with technology service integration firms, including Infosys, IBM Global Business Services and Avanade.
External appointments
He is currently UKI and Strategic Industries Head, Google Cloud EMEA. Previously Ajay was Vice President for Strategic Industries for Google Cloud EMEA.
Peter Wyman
Independent Non-Executive Director
Appointment to the Board
Peter was appointed to the Pay.UK Board in October 2017. Peter is Chair of the Audit Committee and member of the Risk Committee.
Skills and qualifications
Peter is an experienced Chair and NED with a current portfolio of appointments in the private, public and third sectors.
Peter is a Chartered Accountant.
Relevant past experience
Peter was previously a senior partner in PwC, Chair of the Care Quality Commission, Treasurer of Bath University and a NED at Companies House.
External appointments
Peter was recently appointed as the first Independent Chair of the Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Other roles include the Chair of NHS Blood and Transplant and Sir Richard Sutton Limited. He is also a Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset.
All Pay.UK directors are required to declare their conflicts of interest.
Board minutes
From time-to-time, we are required to redact key information from publications where it is necessary to protect commercial confidentiality, candid debate and the financial stability or integrity of Pay.UK, or to comply with our duty of confidentiality. You can read the policy which governs this process, below: