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Vindi was appointed Chair of UK Government Investments in September 2021. He is also Chair of the Nominations Committee.
Vindi is an experienced Chair of public and private companies with an extensive Board career having been Senior Independent Director at M&S plc; GlaxoSmithKline; Chairman and CEO of Hindustan Unilever Ltd and Chair of privately owned companies.
He has 33 years of executive experience at Unilever, where his last role was President of the Global Foods, Home and Personal Care businesses, including serving on the Unilever Executive Board.
Current additional appointments:
Charles was appointed Chief Executive Officer of UK Government Investments in March 2020, having joined in May 2018 as Head of the Financial Institutions Group.
Prior to this, he had spent his entire career in investment banking. He worked in Financing from 1987 – 1992 and then Equity Research from 1992 – 2006. He then moved into UK Corporate Advisory where he held a number of senior management positions until 2018.
Charles is the Head of the Government’s Corporate Finance Profession.
From 2021 – 2024, Charles served as Chair of the Working Party on State Ownership and Privatisation Practices for the OECD in Paris.
His former Board roles include Non-Executive Director of the UK Infrastructure Bank (now the National Wealth Fund), Trustee of Help for Heroes (the Armed Forces charity) and Chair of the Lambrook School Trust.
Andrew was appointed a Non-Executive Director of UK Government Investments in September 2022.
From 2016 to 2020, Andrew was the Global Managing Partner of Allen & Overy LLP (and, previously, the Global Co-Head of Corporate and UK Managing Partner of Corporate at the firm). Andrew has more than 35 years of M&A and capital markets experience advising multinational corporations and global financial institutions.
Andrew is the Founder and Co-CEO of AGILIS Sports Advisory Limited, an M&A boutique focused on the sports sector.
Current additional appointments include:
Gareth joined the Board of UK Government Investments in July 2023.
Gareth Davies is Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business and Trade. Previously he was Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Trade. Gareth has also been the Second Permanent Secretary and a Director General in the Department for Transport. His responsibilities included decarbonising transport, technology, international and security.
Earlier in his career he was a Director General in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He has led the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and was a Private Secretary in Downing Street.
Gareth started his career in PricewaterhouseCoopers working across Central and Eastern Europe and has worked for AIA, the life insurance company based in Hong Kong.
Kalpana was appointed Non-Executive Director of UK Government Investments in September 2022. She is the NED responsible for Engagement.
Kalpana is also currently a Non-Executive Director of Janus Henderson plc, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Chair of its Governance and Nominations Committee, in addition to being a Non-Executive Director of Pacific Basin Shipping Limited, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Previously, Kalpana was a member of the Takeovers and Mergers Panel of the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong from 2007 to 2014, and was a Non-Executive Director at Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, from 2015-2019.
Kalpana has over 35 years of international advisory, investment banking and asset management experience. Until 2013, she was Chief Executive of Macquarie Capital Asia, the investment banking and private equity division of Macquarie Group Limited. Prior to this, she was Head of the Asia-Pacific Mergers & Acquisitions Group and a Managing Director from 2001 in the Investment Banking Division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch based in Hong Kong. Kalpana is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. She holds a BSc Economics from the London School of Economics, and a Corporate Director Certificate from Harvard Business School.
Current additional appointments:
Andrew was appointed Non-Executive Director of UK Government Investments in July 2019.
Andrew spent most of his executive career in the energy industry; first with BP and then Chief Executive Officer of RWE Npower. Andrew was the Senior Trustee of Macmillan Cancer Support and a member of the Steering Group on the Hampton Alexander Review. He is a Fellow of the Energy Institute. Andrew was previously Chair of Severn Trent plc and Chair of Elementis plc, a FTSE 250 chemicals company. He was a Non-Executive Director and Senior Independent Director of Wolseley plc (now Ferguson Plc) from 2004-2013.
Current additional appointments:
Andy was appointed Non-Executive Director of UK Government Investments in October 2023.
Andy is currently Chief Financial Officer of Aareal Bank AG having previously been Group Chief Financial Officer and Group Executive Director of Standard Chartered PLC from July 2014 until January 2024. Andy joined Standard Chartered from Vodafone Group PLC, where he spent 15 years including 9 years as Chief Financial Officer. Andy joined Vodafone Group PLC in 1999 as Financial Director for Vodafone Limited, and in 2001 he became Financial Director for Vodafone’s Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa Region. In 2002, Andy was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Verizon Wireless in the US and was a Member of the Board of Representatives of the Verizon Wireless Partnership. Andy became Chief Financial Officer of Vodafone Group PLC in July 2005, a position which he held until March 2014. Prior to Vodafone, Andy was Finance Director at East Midlands Electricity PLC. Andy was, until recently, the Senior Independent Director of Marks and Spencer Group PLC and is a former Chairman of the Hundred Group of Finance Directors.
Andy holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial economics from Nottingham University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Vanessa was appointed Non-Executive Director of UK Government Investments in September 2023.
Vanessa has more than 35 years’ experience working in the digital data community and has a background in geographical information and space applications. From 2000-2014, Vanessa was Director General and CEO of Ordnance Survey. From 2011-2015, she was a founding co-chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). Prior to joining Ordnance Survey, she held senior roles with the billion-dollar American software company, Autodesk Inc and the global media and publishing company, Pearson plc. Today, Vanessa is working internationally as a senior advisor to overseas governments, inter-governmental organisations and large private sector organisations.
Current appointments include:
Iain was appointed a Non-Executive Director of UK Government Investments in November 2023.
Iain spent most of his career in senior finance leadership roles and retired as CFO of GSK plc and as an executive director on the GSK Board in April 2023. Prior to joining GSK in early 2019, Iain was Group Finance Director of HSBC Holdings plc, a position he held for eight years. In his earlier career Iain undertook senior finance leadership roles for: HSBC in North America and Asia; for The General Electric Company of the US for almost 12 years in diverse areas including Consumer Finance, Healthcare and Corporate Audit and; for Schlumberger in Africa and Asia. A chartered accountant, Iain’s formative career was with Thomson Maclintock in Aberdeen and with Price Waterhouse in New York and Paris. He holds an MA in Business Studies and Accounting and an Honorary Doctorate from Aberdeen University.
Current additional appointments:
Jeremy Pocklington is the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
Jeremy was previously Permanent Secretary at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (September 2021 to February 2023), and Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (March 2020 to September 2021).
He was Director General, Housing, Planning and Building Safety at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government from August 2018 to March 2020. Before that, he was Director General, Energy and Security at the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and in the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) from February 2015 until August 2018.
Before joining DECC Jeremy was Director of the Enterprise and Growth Unit at HM Treasury responsible for policies on growth, business and infrastructure and for advising on public spending for BIS, DfT, DECC and DEFRA. From 2009 to 2012 he was Director of the Economic and Domestic secretariat at the Cabinet Office. He joined the Treasury in 1997 and has held a range of posts on financial regulation, tax, fiscal policy, and corporate finance as well as working as an assistant private secretary to 2 Chief Secretaries.
Beth joined the Board of UK Government Investments in November 2022.
Beth was appointed as the Second Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury (HMT) in October 2022 and is based at the Darlington Economic Campus. HMT is the UK’s economics and finance ministry.
Beth has worked in HMT since 2000 on a range of policy roles across tax, welfare and public spending. Previous to her current role she was the Director General of Tax and Welfare in the Treasury between 2017 and 2022. Her earlier Treasury roles included Director of Personal Tax, Welfare and Pensions (2013-2017), Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (2011-2013), Deputy Director of General Expenditure Policy (2008-2011), Deputy Director of Environmental and Transport Taxes (2005-07) and Speechwriter for Gordon Brown when he was Chancellor (2001-2005) and Prime Minister (2007-2008). Beth started her career in the Department of Social Security as a policy adviser on welfare (1996-2000).
Mahnaz was appointed Non-Executive Director of UK Government Investments in September 2022. She is also the NED responsible for Diversity and Inclusion, and the Chair of the Remuneration Committee.
With 30 years of experience in finance, Mahnaz has been a Senior Executive at UBS, Citi and ANZ. She led Debt Capital Markets for EMEA and headed Markets for Europe and America. Whilst at UBS and Citi, she co-chaired their respective women’s leadership Executive Committees. She has previously served as a Senior Independent Director on the Board of Alternative Credit Investments, a FTSE 250 company. She has been elected the SID by Imperial College Council. Mahnaz holds a PhD in computer aided technology from Imperial College.
Current additional appointments: