Get to know the board
The role of our board at Zopa is to increase the scale of our business, protect our customers and ensure good corporate governance. Find out a little bit more about the people on our board below.
Max Ohrstrand
Non-Executive Shareholder Director
Max is a Partner at SoftBank’s Vision Fund in London, where he leads investments in high-growth private technology companies across Europe. He joined SoftBank in 2017 from Moelis & Company, where he advised on M&A, IPO, and debt restructuring deals.
Gordon McCallum
Chair and board member
As the architect of Virgin Group's strategy from the mid-1990s until 2012, Gordon brings over four decades' worth of professional, executive and non-executive experience to Zopa.
He was responsible, in particular, for the creation and development of Virgin's Mobile and Money businesses around the world. Prior to that, he held roles at McKinsey and Baring Brothers, and non-executive roles across many Virgin companies.
He is currently a Senior Advisor to private equity group, Searchlight Capital and a Non-Executive Director at a number of companies, including Argent Energy (a major European producer of biodiesel from wastes) and Global Risk Partners (the UK’s leading independent insurance intermediary).
Jaidev Janardana
Group Chief Executive Officer
Devoted to creating simple and fair financial products and services, Jaidev joined Zopa in October 2014.
Since then Zopa has secured its banking license to offer its customers a wider range of financial products, increasing its lending volumes six fold and growing its revenue 20x (as of 2023).
Before Zopa, Jaidev spent 12 years at Capital One. Starting out in McLean, Virginia, he was initially focused on the US card business. He then moved to the UK in 2007 with a big task at hand – to manage credit risk through the financial crisis as Chief Credit Officer for the UK business.
Having helped Capital One UK successfully navigate through the crisis, he took on the broader role of Chief Marketing Officer and was instrumental in returning the UK business back to profitability and growth.
Steve Hulme
Chief Financial Officer and board member
Steve leads Zopa's finance and legal teams. He was pivotal in Zopa achieving its banking licence, working tirelessly to successfully take the company from a P2P loan provider to a fully-fledged UK bank. In 2021 he led Zopa’s funding strategy that resulted in Softbank Vision Fund’s $300m equity investment.
He joined Zopa at the start of 2018 having spent nearly two decades in financial roles with a range of innovative financial services companies.
Prior to joining Zopa, Steve was CFO at Tandem Money, CFO for PayPal's global credit business and CFO for Capital One's UK and Canadian business.
Richard Goulding
Independent Non-Executive Director
As we look to scale our business, having guidance and oversight from experienced risk experts is critical. Richard provides us with this. He spent 10 years at Standard Chartered Bank as Group Risk Officer. Before Standard Chartered, Richard held executive positions at Old Mutual Financial Services, UBS Warburg/SBC Warburg, Astra Holding plc, Bankers Trust Company and Midland Bank Group. Richard is also on the board of Bank of Ireland Group.
Nick Aspinall
Non-Executive Shareholder Director
Nick is an investment director of the Zopa shareholder IAG Silverstripe, an investment arm of IAG Capital Partners. Nick is responsible for IAG Capital Partners’ legal and regulatory affairs, corporate structuring and governance of its European portfolio. Previously Nick was a partner with Cambridge Place Investment Management Group and at Aon and Norton Rose Fulbright. Nick is a European Board Member for Kroll Bond Rating Agency.
Michael Woodburn
Independent Non-Executive Director
Michael is the Chief Data Officer at ClearScore and is also working with the VC consultancy, Blenheim Chalcot. Previously, Michael was Chief Executive Officer at Oakbrook Finance, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer in a 14 year career at Capital One UK, and also a manager at Schroders.
Paul Cutter
Independent Non-Executive Director
A technology leader, Paul is the Chief Information Officer at Flutter Entertainment plc, where he sets the global strategic direction for over 5,000 technologists. His role is to share technology and expertise between the different brands in the Flutter group to deliver a better experience for customers. He’s also spent nearly 10 years in senior tech roles at BSkyB and AOL.
Gaenor Bagley
Independent Non-Executive Director
Gaenor has 30 years’ experience in the professional services industry. She’s held a variety of leadership and board positions, including five years on the PwC UK board as Head of People, followed by 18 months as Head of Corporate Purpose for PwC UK. Gaenor currently holds a range of other non-executive appointments, including with Octopus Titan VCT plc and the National Audit Office.
Pippa Lambert
Independent Non-Executive Director
Pippa was previously Global Head of Human Resources at Deutsche Bank where she was responsible for leading the development of a successful and progressive HR transformation programme, focused on improving the group’s culture, diversity and inclusion and digital agendas.
Prior to that, Pippa was Group Head of Reward at the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (2011-2013) where she worked closely with the RBS Board on the redevelopment and restructure of the bank’s compensation and benefits programme.
Pippa is currently a Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Committee Chair at Aviva plc, a member of the Senior Salaries Review Board, and a trustee at Future Dreams Charity.
Max Ohrstrand
Non-Executive Shareholder Director
Max is a Partner at SoftBank’s Vision Fund in London, where he leads investments in high-growth private technology companies across Europe. He joined SoftBank in 2017 from Moelis & Company, where he advised on M&A, IPO, and debt restructuring deals.
Gordon McCallum
Chair and board member
As the architect of Virgin Group's strategy from the mid-1990s until 2012, Gordon brings over four decades' worth of professional, executive and non-executive experience to Zopa.
He was responsible, in particular, for the creation and development of Virgin's Mobile and Money businesses around the world. Prior to that, he held roles at McKinsey and Baring Brothers, and non-executive roles across many Virgin companies.
He is currently a Senior Advisor to private equity group, Searchlight Capital and a Non-Executive Director at a number of companies, including Argent Energy (a major European producer of biodiesel from wastes) and Global Risk Partners (the UK’s leading independent insurance intermediary).
Jaidev Janardana
Group Chief Executive Officer
Devoted to creating simple and fair financial products and services, Jaidev joined Zopa in October 2014.
Since then Zopa has secured its banking license to offer its customers a wider range of financial products, increasing its lending volumes six fold and growing its revenue 20x (as of 2023).
Before Zopa, Jaidev spent 12 years at Capital One. Starting out in McLean, Virginia, he was initially focused on the US card business. He then moved to the UK in 2007 with a big task at hand – to manage credit risk through the financial crisis as Chief Credit Officer for the UK business.
Having helped Capital One UK successfully navigate through the crisis, he took on the broader role of Chief Marketing Officer and was instrumental in returning the UK business back to profitability and growth.
Steve Hulme
Chief Financial Officer and board member
Steve leads Zopa's finance and legal teams. He was pivotal in Zopa achieving its banking licence, working tirelessly to successfully take the company from a P2P loan provider to a fully-fledged UK bank. In 2021 he led Zopa’s funding strategy that resulted in Softbank Vision Fund’s $300m equity investment.
He joined Zopa at the start of 2018 having spent nearly two decades in financial roles with a range of innovative financial services companies.
Prior to joining Zopa, Steve was CFO at Tandem Money, CFO for PayPal's global credit business and CFO for Capital One's UK and Canadian business.
Richard Goulding
Independent Non-Executive Director
As we look to scale our business, having guidance and oversight from experienced risk experts is critical. Richard provides us with this. He spent 10 years at Standard Chartered Bank as Group Risk Officer. Before Standard Chartered, Richard held executive positions at Old Mutual Financial Services, UBS Warburg/SBC Warburg, Astra Holding plc, Bankers Trust Company and Midland Bank Group. Richard is also on the board of Bank of Ireland Group.
Nick Aspinall
Non-Executive Shareholder Director
Nick is an investment director of the Zopa shareholder IAG Silverstripe, an investment arm of IAG Capital Partners. Nick is responsible for IAG Capital Partners’ legal and regulatory affairs, corporate structuring and governance of its European portfolio. Previously Nick was a partner with Cambridge Place Investment Management Group and at Aon and Norton Rose Fulbright. Nick is a European Board Member for Kroll Bond Rating Agency.
Michael Woodburn
Independent Non-Executive Director
Michael is the Chief Data Officer at ClearScore and is also working with the VC consultancy, Blenheim Chalcot. Previously, Michael was Chief Executive Officer at Oakbrook Finance, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer in a 14 year career at Capital One UK, and also a manager at Schroders.
Paul Cutter
Independent Non-Executive Director
A technology leader, Paul is the Chief Information Officer at Flutter Entertainment plc, where he sets the global strategic direction for over 5,000 technologists. His role is to share technology and expertise between the different brands in the Flutter group to deliver a better experience for customers. He’s also spent nearly 10 years in senior tech roles at BSkyB and AOL.
Gaenor Bagley
Independent Non-Executive Director
Gaenor has 30 years’ experience in the professional services industry. She’s held a variety of leadership and board positions, including five years on the PwC UK board as Head of People, followed by 18 months as Head of Corporate Purpose for PwC UK. Gaenor currently holds a range of other non-executive appointments, including with Octopus Titan VCT plc and the National Audit Office.
Pippa Lambert
Independent Non-Executive Director
Pippa was previously Global Head of Human Resources at Deutsche Bank where she was responsible for leading the development of a successful and progressive HR transformation programme, focused on improving the group’s culture, diversity and inclusion and digital agendas.
Prior to that, Pippa was Group Head of Reward at the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (2011-2013) where she worked closely with the RBS Board on the redevelopment and restructure of the bank’s compensation and benefits programme.
Pippa is currently a Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Committee Chair at Aviva plc, a member of the Senior Salaries Review Board, and a trustee at Future Dreams Charity.
Max Ohrstrand
Non-Executive Shareholder Director
Max is a Partner at SoftBank’s Vision Fund in London, where he leads investments in high-growth private technology companies across Europe. He joined SoftBank in 2017 from Moelis & Company, where he advised on M&A, IPO, and debt restructuring deals.