Mark Tennant, SFE Chairman

Mark was appointed Chairman of SFE on 24 August, 2009. He brings wide experience to the role, with a 36 year career spanning almost all major areas of financial services including investment banking, fund management and pensions. He has strong international experience having worked in Edinburgh, London, the US and Hong Kong.

Currently Senior Adviser to J.P. Morgan, he is also a member of the international advisory board of global US asset management company T Rowe Price Global Investor Services, one of the major US global asset managers, and chairman of management consultancy Bluerock.

He spent 13 years with Chase Manhattan (latterly J.P. Morgan) opening the Edinburgh office for Chase, then moving to America as Head of Strategy and Finance for the custody division. In 1996 he returned to London where he spent eight years as Head of Strategic Planning for Europe and Asia.

He is married with three children and lives in Elgin. 

 

Owen Kelly, SFE Chief Executive

As Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE), Owen Kelly represents and supports Scotland's financial services industry in Scotland, the UK and internationally.  SFE's membership is diverse, ranging from global organisations with Scottish headquarters, to companies providing specialist support services.  The industry makes a major contribution to Scotland's economy, accounting for up to 1 in 10 jobs in Scotland. 

Prior to joining SFE in January 2008, Owen developed his career in the civil service, most recently holding the post of Director of Communications at the Scottish Government.

Owen joined the government service in 1988, shortly after graduating from Edinburgh University with an honours degree in Chinese. His key policy specialisms in government were international relations and communications. But he also spent two years in Tokyo in the mid 1990s, promoting Scotland to Japanese companies as an investment location; and two years as Director of Properties at Historic Scotland, where he was responsible for generating £20m of commercial income a year to support the agency's conservation work.

Owen has served in UK and Scottish governments and has worked closely with Ministers from all four of Scotland's major political parties. He was Private Secretary to Rt Hon Lord Selkirk of Douglas when he was a Scottish Office Minister and Principal Private Secretary to Rt Hon Jack McConnell MSP when he was First Minister.

He speaks Mandarin Chinese and halting Japanese. He is married with three children.

 

Hywel Ball

Hywel Ball is Ernst & Young's Senior Partner for Scotland. Based at the firm's Edinburgh office, Hywel is responsible for providing regional leadership across the firm's Scottish offices and leading the business in the Scottish market place.

Hywel is one of Ernst & Young's key global account handlers and has over 25 years' experience with Ernst & Young.  He was made partner in 1996 whilst working in the Financial Services team in London and New York.  Prior to taking on the role as Managing Partner for Scotland in 2007, Hywel was Head of the firm's Energy, Chemicals and Utilities practice for the UK, Middle East, India, and Africa. 

 

Ken Barclay

Kenneth Barclay was appointed as the Managing Director of UK Corporate Banking, Scotland, RBS with effect from 1 January 2007.

Ken started his career in Scotland and has held a variety of roles in Corporate & Commercial Banking both in Scotland and England.  He returned from Hong Kong where he was Managing Director, Head of Corporates, Asia Pacific to take up his role in UKCB Scotland. 

Prior to that assignment, he established and led the Technology, Media & Telecoms relationship management business in the UK and continental Europe for 10 years establishing RBS in the process as a pre-eminent financing partner to the industry.

Ken is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland.

 

 Jim Coyle

In 2009, following the creation of Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), Jim was appointed Divisional Finance Director for Group Operations also with responsibility for all aspects of the financials for the Group wide Integration programme.

Prior to that Jim was a highly effective leader of the Group Finance function in HBOS and has a strong track record of delivery over a long period on business as usual, as well as a variety of different Projects.

Jim joined Bank of Scotland (BOS) in 1991 and as his role expanded he became involved in a variety of projects including the acquisition of BankWest in Australia and the BOS bid for NatWest. In 1999 he was promoted to Group Chief Accountant of BOS.

Jim played a significant role in the merger with Halifax and was subsequently appointed Group Chief Accountant of the wider HBOS Group. Following that he was one of the most senior members of the HBOS Finance Community, leading on the HBOS IFRS implementation, the Basel 2 Project and the Finance workstream on the Rights Issue.

Prior to joining BOS Jim held a senior position with BP, following qualification as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and a degree in Law and Accountancy from Glasgow University.

Alongside his role as Divisional FD, Jim sits on the LBG Scottish Executive Committee, a body that decides and drives the strategy for LBG in Scotland. Jim has a real passion for the LBG People Agenda and is chair of the Scotland People Board that focuses on career development and the talent management strategy across the 1,000 strong LBG Finance Community in Scotland.

Jim is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland, on the Qualifications Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, and a member of the Financial Reporting Council's Financial Reporting Review Panel.  Jim is also Chair of Audit Committee of Vocalink Holdings Ltd, a Member of Board of iPSL (Intelligent Processing Solutions Limited) and a Member of Board of National Youth Choir of Scotland (Charity Board).

Outside work Jim enjoys spending time with his family and has a teenage son and daughter.

 

 John Gill

John Gill was appointed Managing Director, Customer Service in August 2006.  He is responsible for the customer service provided to Standard Life Assurance Limited's 4.5 million customers.

John has spent his entire career of 20 years with Standard Life.  From 2003 to 2006 he was Managing Director, Finance in UK & Europe Life & Pensions.  From 1998 to 2003 he was Finance Director of Standard Life Bank.  Prior to this he fulfilled a wide variety of roles for Standard Life in the UK and internationally including three years based in Montreal.

John joined Standard Life in 1986 after graduating in Mathematics from Edinburgh University and qualified as an Actuary in 1990. 

 

 Adrian Grace

Adrian started his career at the Head Office of Leeds Permanent Building Society in 1979 before joining Mercantile Credit in 1984 in the Dealer and Asset Finance Division. 

In 1991, Mercantile Credit was acquired by GE (General Electric) and Adrian had 10 years in a variety of roles in the United States (for 4 years) and in the UK. 

In 2001, Adrian joined Sage Group PLC as Managing Director of the Small Business Division for the Group.  Barclays asked Adrian to join them in 2004 as Chief Executive of its Insurance Division in order to turn around its business model and operations. 

Adrian joined Bank of Scotland on April 17th 2007 as Managing Director of Commercial within the Corporate Division. On the 2nd Feburary 2009 Adrian joined AEGON UK as Group Business Development Director and on the 4th April 2011 became Group Chief Executive. Adrian is also a Non-executive Director of Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE).

Adrian has an MBA from Henley Management College.

 

Benny Higgins

Before joining Tesco Bank as Chief Executive, Benny served as Chief Executive Officer, Retail Business of HBOS Plc.

Between 1997 and 2005 Benny was Chief Executive, Retail Banking at The Royal Bank of Scotland where he was responsible for personal, affluent and SME businesses across both NatWest and RBS. He led the successful integration of NatWest Retail Banking within RBS, the largest single merger in UK banking for some time.

Before joining RBS, Benny was at Standard Life for 14 years where he held a range of senior positions, including being a Member of the Group Executive.

Benny has a First Class Honours degree in Mathematics from the University of Glasgow. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland and is a board member at Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE).

In 2011, Benny took on the role of Ambassador for The Prince's Trust Scotland - a youth charity helping to change young lives and a community partner of Tesco Bank.

 

Michael Polson

Michael Polson is Head of Sectors and Clients at Dundas & Wilson, a leading national law firm, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London.  He is also an Executive member of the Firm's Board and a partner in the UK Corporate Group where he specialises in the corporate finance needs of clients, with a primary focus on the financial services sector.

Michael has significant financial services sector experience through his advisory and transactional work, and acts as relationship partner for a number of Dundas & Wilson's leading financial services clients.  He is ranked by the UK Legal Directories as a leading individual in Corporate Finance and Investment Funds.

Michael has an MBA from Edinburgh University Management School.

 

Anne Richards

Anne Richards is chief investment officer (CIO), head of multi-asset investment and a member of Aberdeen's group management board. Anne was chief investment officer and joint managing director of Edinburgh Fund Managers, which was purchased by Aberdeen in 2003.

Prior to joining EFM, Anne worked for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers where she was responsible for the UK alpha team which managed a range of segregated pension funds, charity funds and unit trusts. She was also chairman of the UK institutional asset allocation committee.

Previously, Anne has worked for JP Morgan Investment Management, Alliance Capital Limited and Cambridge Consultants Limited. Anne began her career with the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva as a research fellow.

Anne graduated with a 1st Class BSc (Honours) in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh and holds an MBA from INSEAD in France. She is also a Chartered Engineer and a fellow of the Securities and Investment Institute.

 

 Sushil Saluja

Sushil Saluja is managing partner of Accenture's United Kingdom and Ireland Financial Services business. This business has a strong (and expanding) portfolio of clients across retail and commercial banking, general and life insurance and capital markets.

Sushil has worked for Accenture for over 20 years, with his entire career spent in the UK financial services sector. His career has been dedicated to long-term assignments at a number of blue chip financial services clients, including launching two start-ups. He has strong industry experience in shaping and leading large transformation programmes including cost reduction programmes; mergers and acquisitions; organisation re-engineering/restructuring; technology-led change; and outsourcing.

He is active in a number of industry groups across the UK, including being a board member of TheCityUK, a new independent body established with the support of the City of London Corporation and in consultation with government and industry to promote the Financial Services industry across the UK.

 

 Colin Stewart

A native of Scotland and a graduate of the University of Glasgow.

Colin joined Citibank, now Citi twenty years ago, having spent 5 years with Chemical Bank.  Citi is the largest financial institution in the world with 300,000 staff in 104 countries and a market capitalisation of $150 billion.

Colin has spent most of his career in London, but has travelled with Citi extensively.  He was responsible for developing Citibank's foreign exchange and treasury in Europe.  He is now Managing Director of Citi in Scotland with full responsibility for Citi's Markets and Banking activity. Citi's activity continues to expand in Scotland with a developing and growing funds administration business employing 400 people. He is also Chairman of Citi Pensions and Trustees Ltd and a member of UK Pension Advisory Committee with responsibility for Citi's UK pension assets, as well as a member of the Institute of Directors. He is a Senior Credit Officer within Citi.

He is a Director of Young Enterprise Scotland and of Scottish Financial Enterprise.

He was until recently a Director and Deputy Chairman of Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian.

He is an enthusiastic sailor and transatlantic yachtsman, having completed the Challenge Transat 2002. He also took part in the Global Challenge Round the World Yacht Race 2004-2005. He has been elected as a member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club. He is also a keen runner and family man.