GB Bank is a new bank focused on one thing:
Getting Britain Building again.

Chairman

Paul Rippon

Paul’s journey spans a humble beginning in the housing estates of Nottingham, fired by naivety, raw intelligence and being streetwise. His eventful financial services career in retail and commercial banking covers 28 years at eight banks and building societies in the UK, Ireland and beyond. He has worked in PLC, mutual, nationalised, private, charity and venture capital funded institutions.

Paul has co-founded seven businesses since 2007 across agriculture, manufacturing, digital and two banks.

Paul’s approach has evolved over the years from being an individual disruptive change agent, to being a leaderacutely aware of people’s feelings and needs. He enjoys coaching people to be more confident, comfortable being themselves and to use their strengths. He is highly skilled at addressing the needs of multiple stakeholders with empathy, logic and humour.

Paul wrote the board and corporate governance arrangements for Starling and Monzo which he co-founded. He is passionate about companies and people being transparent and acting with integrity.

At Monzo, he was instrumental in hiring all the non-executives, attended almost every board meeting and sub-committee. He ensured that all board members were listened to and supported during some very challenging times.

He has served on several boards and sub-committees over the last 20 years including subsidiaries and industry bodies at Norwich & Peterborough (Director of FTSL Ltd, Astra Mortgages and LINK) and Northern Rock (FTSLLtd and Kielder Property Management Ltd). He also served for 6 years on the Academic Audit Committee for the Institute of Financial Services.

He is currently a board member of The Border Mill Ltd, Blossom Holdings Ltd, Bold Change Ltd and the North-East and Borders Alpaca Group.

Co-founder & CEO

Stephen Lancaster

Stephen has defined the information, data and technology strategy for GB Bank and will deliver the modern, robust cloud-based platforms and services that will be at the fingertips of our savers, borrowers and team.

He is a business leader with over 30 years of experience in technology. He was the managing director of an IT consultancy firm and held executive positions in a multi-national oil company, as well as the role of interim Chief Executive of financial-technology start-up Cascade Cash Management. He has a track record of strategic and business delivery in corporate management roles.

Stephen holds both APMP and PRINCE2:2009 certifications, is a Member of the British Computer Society (MBCS) as well as a Member of the Association for Project Management (MAPM).

CFO

Mike Says

Mike Says has spent over three decades in finance, across both banks and consumer financial services companies, in start-ups and turnarounds as well as in senior roles in large financial institutions.

He has held CFO roles at Harrods Bank, Citibank, 118118 Money and SAV Credit (now Newday), was Finance Director and COO of the Retail Division at Lloyds Banking Group and was one of the founders of the UK business of Capital One. Mike served as CEO of LQID, leading on delivering an innovative, consumer focused banking service to the UK consumer and small businesses.

Mike has held Regulator controlled function positions in Harrods Bank, Lloyds Bank and Capital One Bank, and is an alumnus of Imperial College and London Business School.”

Non Executive Director

David Price

David is a highly accomplished Chairman, Non-Executive Director and former Chief Executive Officer. As the Board representative of the firm’s major investor, TPF, he brings more than 30 years’ experience delivering accelerated and well risk-managed growth for Banks, Fintechs and NASDAQ-listed Tech companies in Europe, the US, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific markets.

Having started his career with Barclaycard, working in product design and innovation, David subsequently joined the cutting-edge team at One2One responsible for exponential customer growth. Rebranded as T-Mobile UK, it is now an integral part of one of the most renowned and successful mobile telecommunications companies in the world.

Building on his passion for scaling businesses, David spent a further period with the Barclays Group overseeing Emerging Markets expansion prior to returning to the UK where, as CEO of BFC Bank he joined a small, but elite group of people who have successfully steered a firm through the regulatory process to launch a new Bank.

He has held a number of Non-Executive and Board advisory roles, including Chairman of a start-up Fintech, Depoway; Director of the UK Faster Payments Scheme; Independent Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Credit Committee for Reliance Bank and is a former Member of the Board of Governors at the University of Northumbria.

INDEPENDENT NON - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jerome Moisan

Jerome was formerly SVP and President of International Markets at Blackbaud Inc (NASDAQ listed SaaStechnology provider), responsible for EMEA / APAC and the global Online Consumer division (including JustGiving, acquired in 2017). Prior to this, Jerome was General Manager at Travelport where he over saw operations for the UK, Ireland and France markets.

His previous experience includes senior commercial and advisory roles with Travelport, British Airways, SAS,KLM, Worldspan and BT (British Telecom).

INDEPENDENT NON - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Vicky Griffiths

Vicky Griffiths is a portfolio Non-Executive Director (NED) and a Partner at executive search firm, Independent Search Partnership, where she specialises in board recruitment and succession planning. In a non-executive capacity, Vicky is a NED on the board of RM PLC, the FTSE-listed education technology company. She is also the Senior Independent Director of the British Olympic Foundation, Vice Chair and Remuneration Committee Chair of Bellevue Place Education Trust, a Trustee of Vincent’s Club at Oxford University and she also sits on the Main Committee of the MCC at Lords Cricket Ground. Prior to moving into executive search, Vicky worked for Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, where she was responsible for operational risk. She started her career as a strategy consultant for Bain & Company and also spent some time working as a consultant for Vantis PLC and as a teacher.

Vicky graduated from the University of Oxford with an MA (Hons) in Economics & Management. She represented the university at hockey and cricket and also played hockey for England and British Universities.

Independent Non-Executive Director

Mike Kirsopp

Mike has spent 45 years working in the financial services industry, specifically within the commercial lending sector. Much of his career was spent within the Commercial Banking arm of Lloyds Banking Group, which also included senior roles in the business change and strategy functions.

In 2011 Mike joined the team that would launch Cambridge & Counties Bank the following year. Initially working on developing the plan to gain the new bank its operating license, Mike became Chief Operating Officer. He was responsible for building an organisation that became renowned and recognised for the high quality of its service to all customers through its combination of people led relationships supported by flexible cloud-based technology.

Taking up the position of Chief Executive Officer in 2014, Mike built on his passion for growing a customer centred Bank which continues to meet customer needs in a way often ignored by others in the market whilst blending a healthy risk culture with growth aspirations.

Since retiring from full time executive roles Mike is working to support new start-up Banks fill the gaps left by existing and traditional players who abandon sectors and customers in the race to maintain market dominance. His passions outside of work are family, dogs and cars. He is the proud owner of such British classics as the Austin 1300GT and the MG TF.

Chief Risk Officer

Richard Gregory

Richard is responsible for the bank’s risk management framework, which ensures the business operates in a safe and compliant manner. This approach seeks to protect the interests of customers and investors.

Richard has over 17 years’ financial services experience in leadership roles in risk and commercial functions. At Northern Rock, Richard had responsibility for a wide range of risk activities including stress testing, model reviews, board risk reporting, operational risk and the implementation of the “Treating Customers Fairly” policy . At Virgin Money, Richard held a number of risk roles: Head of Risk Assurance, Head of Compliance and Head of Conduct Risk. In July 2014, Richard moved to VM’s commercial function as Business Control Director to build the business’s risk capability.

He holds a BA from Oxford University, an MBA from Durham University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young.

Chief Savings Officer

Rob Reed

Rob heads up the savings business, covering products, pricing and customer service.

He has over 20 years’ experience in financial and commercial roles. He trained as an accountant, working for over a decade at Gateshead Council and Northumbria Police Authority. He then spent 11 years at Northern Rock and then Virgin Money in a number of commercial roles. These roles included Head of Balance Sheet Analytics, and Head of Existing Savings Business, which brought responsibility for managing a savings portfolio of over £20bn.

Rob holds an MA in Economics from the University of Cambridge and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy.

Chief Operating Officer

David Young

David joined GB Bank in November as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and will be responsible for all Operations and IT-related activities. Prior to this, David spent 2 years at BFC Bank as COO where he successfully navigated the organisation through the challenges of Covid-19.

David spent 9 years at Metro Bank, where he helped to scale the UK’s first new bank in over 100 years. David held a number of leadership responsibilities across Digital, Operations, Change, IT and most recently Customer Experience. Prior to this, David worked for HBOS, holding a number of senior roles supporting the distribution business.

Following the merger with Lloyds TSB, David worked in the Retail Strategy team, developing the strategy for the newly merged business. David started his working career as a Consultant with Boston Consulting Group in London where he worked in a number of industry sectors, notably Financial Services, Telecoms and Retail.

David enjoys travelling, live music and wine tasting, ideally combining these together as reasons to embark on new foreign adventures. He lives in London with Sarah and his Cockerpoo, Baxter.

CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER

Jenna Baker

Jenna is GB Bank’s Chief People Officer and joined the management team in 2020.

Prior to GB Bank, Jenna was Head of People Experience at the FinTech Nucleus, the adviser-built financial advisory platform. Jenna was responsible for creating a market-leading people proposition and culture and sat on the management team.

Jenna’s passion is applying human-centred design principles to every aspect of the people experience. She has been behind her organisations being recognised as ‘workplace of the year’ and’people engagement project of the year’-for pioneering distinctive, market-leading, approaches to flexible working and culture. Jenna graduated with a B.A. (Hons) from the University of Stirling and lives in Edinburgh with her husband and two children

Chief Lending Officer

Neil Williams

Neil leads GB Bank’s lending proposition which is built entirely around serving regional property developers.

He started his banking career in 1983 when he joined Lloyds Bank in Billingham straight from school and brings a wealth of experience dealing with SME, large corporate and property customers.

Neil helped establish Alliance & Leicester Corporate Bank nationally and opened their office on the Quayside in Newcastle and led a very successful team of relationship managers, supporting local SMEs and property specialists.

When Alliance & Leicester was acquired by Santander in 2008, Neil was asked to move down to Leeds to establish Santander Corporate & Commercial Bank where he had responsibility for Yorkshire and Humberside, subsequently including the North-East. He led various teams across numerous locations and built one of the largest and most successful regions for Santander in the UK.

Neil left Santander in 2019, returning back to Teesside to be closer to his family and became a self-employed consultant, helping local business to grow and to be more successful.

Neil is proud of his North-East roots and is a Boro fan. He is married and has two grown up children, a granddaughter and enjoys countryside walks.

Senior Independent Director

Megan McCracken

Megan is an experienced Non-Executive Director with board roles across global corporations like State Street and Fidelity, as well as smaller, high growth businesses. She brings a breadth of industry expertise to GB Bank, together with a depth of finance, digital and ESG skills.

Megan has an extensive career across financial services, strategy consulting, and engineering. Most recently, she led strategic initiatives for financial institutions including Citigroup, HSBC and Marex, with a focus on digital transformation and sustainable finance. Prior to banking, Megan was a consultant delivering projects across industries, functions and geographies, and directing businesses in a fast-evolving market and regulatory environment. She began her career in the highly technical field of aerospace engineering, where she led space operations for Boeing’s 601HP satellite line.

Megan’s experience across the boards of a FTSE 250 investment trust, a global trustee bank, a venture capital trust (VCT), a UK marketplace lender, a high growth digital company, and a top tier academic institution equip her well to support GB Bank as we transition from building a bank into serving clients across their saving and lending needs.

Megan holds a master’s diploma in Corporate Governance and was awarded the Institute of Directors Non-Executive Director of the Year and Innovate Finance’s Standout Fintech awards.