Board Members

Faisel has worked in the field of financial exclusion for 20 years. Initially with the Grameen Bank and World Bank in Bangladesh, for the last 17 years he focused his work in the UK and Europe. In 2000 he set up one of the UK’s first microcredit programs in London’s East End, and in 2005 launched Fair Finance: a social enterprise tackling financial exclusion in the UK. During this time Faisel has been the elected President of the European Microfinance Network (2010-15) and a columnist at the Guardian Newspaper on issues of financial exclusion.

In 2007 he was made an Ashoka Fellow and 2009 was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He received an OBE from the Queen for services to Community Finance in 2014, and in 2015 was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of East London for his work in helping thousands of families escape the poverty trap. In 2019 was made an Honorary Fellow of Social Enterprise UK for his contribution to shaping, guiding and championing the UK’s social enterprise sector.

Faisel is a member of the Project Committee, Finance Committee and Risk Committee.

Catrin is the Chief Financial Officer of Fair Finance. Catrin is an experienced professional with national and international roles across finance and strategy, most recently with Anglo American plc.

Catrin is a chartered accountant with an ACA and DChA from the ICAEW.

Catrin is a member of the Finance Committee, Risk Committee and Project Committee.

Guillaume is the Chief Risk Officer of Fair Finance. Guillaume has over 15 years of experience in financial services, both in the for-profit and social sectors. Prior to joining Fair Finance, Guillaume worked at BNP Paribas in their Risk function as well as the investment banking and capital markets division, in Paris and London.

He holds a master’s degree in business and finance from ESSEC Business School in Paris.

Guillaume is a member of the Risk Committee and Project Committee.

Matthew joined the Board of Fair Finance, and became Chair, in 2016.

He was previously CEO of UK, Middle East and Africa at Dentons, a global law firm, and was also a member of the firm’s Global Board and Global Management Committee. Before that, he practised as a solicitor in the City for more than 20 years, during which time he held various other senior positions at the firm in addition to his role as a partner specialising in banking and project finance.

As well as Chair of the Board, Matthew is a member of the Finance Committee and Risk Committee.

Matt Elsom is the Head of Business Development for TruNarrative, a company whose purpose is to reduce fraud and make safe commerce simpler.

Matt has been working in credit risk and fraud services companies for the past 18 years, both in the UK and abroad. Taking a career break to work for an aid organization in Nicaragua, Matt first saw the acute need for affordable finance and how access to ethical financial services can transform lives.

Matt is a member of the Project Committee.

Vice Chair – Rasmus is senior counsel in the Macfarlanes tax and remuneration practice. With more than 15 years’ experience in London and New York, he specialises in all aspects of UK and international employee incentive arrangements.

Rasmus holds a Danish and UK law degree (LLB) from the University of Copenhagen and BPP Law School, London and a Masters (LLM) in Corporate and Commercial Law from King’s College London. Rasmus is also qualified as a Certified Equity Professional (CEP) from Santa Clara University, California.

Rasmus is Chair of the Remuneration Committee.

Graham is a management consultant who works with businesses involved in social housing development including housing associations, local authorities and private developers.

He is currently at Altair Ltd where he focuses on supporting housing associations with strategy development, business planning and organisational change.

Prior to that Graham worked extensively in Local Government for over 20 years where he held a variety of posts working on the first wave of Housing PFI schemes, the Housing Association development programme and a range of complex regeneration schemes. He subsequently held a number of senior management roles in Housing, Customer Services, Revenues and Housing Benefits.

Graham is Chair of the Project Committee.

Andrew is Chief Financial Officer of Equinity PLC. Andrew is an experienced CFO with a track record of national and international delivery in blue chip companies including Unilever, Cadbury Schweppes, Premier Foods, Bupa, and most recently as Group CFO at Mitie Plc.

Andrew is a qualified Chartered Global Management Accountant and has experience of healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and logistics, as well as working in several heavily regulated businesses

Andrew is Chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the Risk Committee.

Michele has a BSc(mgmt) and a Master’s Degree from Trinity College Dublin and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland. She has over 25 years’ experience of financial services and retail banking, particularly in the areas of payments and digital innovation. Michele is currently a Non Executive Director of the Bank of Ireland Group and Executive Director of Mololo Ltd.

Michele held the role of Managing Director of Virgin Money’s Digital Bank until July 2018, prior to which she was Director of Strategic Development, responsible for the Bank’s future development. She joined Virgin Money initially as Director of Banking, with responsibility for building the Bank’s new credit card business. Before joining Virgin Money, Michele was CFO of MBNA Europe where she held executive positions on the boards of MBNA Europe Ltd and Premium Credit Finance Limited. Michele’s earlier career was spent at Goldman Sachs, Credit Lyonnais and KPMG.

Michele is a member of the Risk Committee.