Our team

Mark Day joined the Trust in September 2023 and is responsible for leading our IT, HR, Business Support, Compliance and Risk and Finance departments. Mark is a Chartered Accountant and has worked in a range of finance roles, including as part of the leadership team of a national property and investment company owned by the Department of Health. His roles there included Investment Director, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and a period as Acting Chief Executive.

Most recently Mark has worked in the private sector supporting the NHS in service innovation. He is also Chair of an NHS subsidiary company providing estates management services, Senior Independent Director of an NHS Foundation Trust, and a lay member of Cornwall Council’s Audit Committee.

Matt Hartley is the Money Advice Trust’s Director of Marketing and Engagement, responsible for our brand and marketing, influencing and communications, and analysis and insight functions.  In this role he leads our work to continually improve our customer insight, raise awareness of National Debtline and Business Debtline amongst people in financial difficulty, and influence and improve public policy.

Matt joined the Trust in 2014 and has worked in the debt advice and financial capability sectors for more than 12 years, including previous roles at the Personal Finance Education Group and StepChange Debt Charity. He holds an Executive MBA from Leeds University Business School, and serves as a local councillor in the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

Joshua Parkes is the Trust’s Director of Operations, responsible for leading the Trust’s contact centre operations and client experience departments. Joshua’s role includes overseeing the resourcing and delivery of our telephone and webchat advice channels, and our range of online advice tools and resources across National Debtline and Business Debtline.

Joshua is responsible for our 230-strong contact centre based in Birmingham, and has successfully delivered several major expansions of our debt advice services in recent years.

Joshua joined the Trust in 2009 having previously worked as a mortgage adviser for Portman Building Society. He has a wealth of advice and contact centre experience having worked in a range of roles at both National Debtline and Business Debtline, including providing advice direct to clients and managing advice teams.

Damian Chapman (he/they), is Director of Income Generation at Money Advice Trust and joined in September 2024.

They have been in fundraising and income generation for nearly twenty years, joining us from Charity for Civil Servants where they were Director of Fundraising and Communications. Damian has previously worked for Police Care UK, The Postal Museum, Envision and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Damian is a Trustee for the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIOF), sits on the Complaints and Investigations Committee at the Fundraising Regulator, and is Chair of Rogare, the Fundraising Think-Tank.

Allan joined the Trust as Director of Technology and Transformation in November 2024 and has over 30 years of expertise in financial services and technology, specialising in consumer credit and payments. He has been responsible for driving strategic change across global enterprises and challenger financial institutions alike.

Allan’s career includes senior roles at Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Citigroup and most recently at NewDay where he was responsible for strategic technology transformation. His previous achievements include digitising a legacy credit business, launch of a successful software-as-a-service enterprise and major regulatory programs for SEPA, GDPR, and PSD2.

Allan has a keen interest in consumer lending technology disruption and the impact of regulation on the financial services sector, including Open Banking and data driven decisioning.

Based in the UK, Allan frequently travels to Europe and beyond, pursuing his passion for outdoor activities.

Mark Allison is the former Leader of a London council, and a community activist with more than three decades’ experience in local and national politics.

As a councillor, he was responsible for maintaining council tax discounts for lower-paid households and he led his borough’s response to Covid-19, including supporting those most affected by the pandemic. He also helped establish food distribution services, including a local foodbank.

Mark’s professional experience is in communications and public affairs, having worked in the public and private sectors and been an advisor to a number of MPs.

Laurence joined the Trust’s Board in September 2019 and is a senior director and chartered accountant with extensive programme leadership and multi-disciplined global management experience. Laurence is currently working with NHS England as part of a significant organisational change programme. 

His previous experience includes twenty years at Credit Suisse working in a variety of senior positions based in London, New York and Zurich latterly as Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer for Corporate Services Technology in Zurich. Laurence has also worked in the publishing and automotive sectors in a variety of financial roles. 

Sarah joined the Trust’s Board in December 2022 and is a member of the Audit, Risk and Quality, Nomination and Remuneration Committee and Chairs the People Committee.

Sarah is the Director of Reward for Marks & Spencer and has over 20 years’ experience working in pay and benefits. She started her career as an executive reward specialist with New Bridge Street Consultants, advising remuneration committees on a range of executive pay matters.  In 2012 she joined Sainsbury’s, becoming Director of Reward in 2016 where she was responsible for the pay and benefits of 150,000 colleagues, before moving to M&S in 2024.

Sarah is a committee member of The Remuneration Group (the independent group of FTSE 100 reward directors).

Adam Khan joined the Board in August 2023 and has more than 20 years of tech experience. He is currently the Google Cloud UK Ecosystem Lead for Retail, CPG & Travel.  Before joining Google in 2018, Adam spent 15 years at Microsoft building trusted partnerships and launching new solutions.  His last role was the Enterprise Lead for Office 365, Windows & Security,

Adam’s expertise lies in leadership and management, strategy, planning and coaching.  He has extensive IT experience, focusing on Cloud since 2007 and more recently Gen-AI and the significant benefits it can provide organisations and society.

Lucy joined the Trust’s Board in September 2019 and is a skilled consumer advocate with a background in law and experience in policy influencing.

Lucy is currently working with the Joffe Trust to support cross sector responses to economic crime. She was founding CEO of Stop Scams UK and formerly Senior Policy Manager at Age UK, leading on the charity’s public policy work on financial services, utilities and scams. Lucy’s previous roles include leading projects in Rwanda and Ethiopia to combat rights abuses and providing legal representation and counselling support for victims of sexual violence.

Zitah McMillan is CEO and Co-Founder of Predictive Black, a predictive business intelligence B2B SaaS FinTech start-up.  She has more than a decade’s experience in financial services, previously as CEO & EVP Rest of World at DFC Global, and  Director of Communications and International at the Financial Conduct Authority.  She previously led communications for the Department for Work and Pensions.

Zitah joined our Board in August 2023.  She is an alumni of Said Business School, a member of Women of FinTech, and a Fellow of the Society of Leadership Fellows, part of St George’s House.

Alexandra Meagher joined our Board in August 2023 and is Group Head of Regulation at Octopus Energy Group, a global energy and technology group and the UK’s second biggest energy supplier, working on regulatory policy and strategy.

Alexandra has over a decade’s experience at the heart of government and in fast-growth business helping accelerate the purpose-led economy. She previously held roles at Bulb and in the Cabinet Office as a senior member of the Prime Minister’s impact investment team. She started her career as a competition lawyer at Freshfields.

In a career spanning 23 years in the civil service, Adam Sharples most recently served as Director General for Employment (2009-11) and Director General for Work, Welfare and Equality (2004-09) at the Department for Work and Pensions, following several senior posts at HM Treasury including Director of Public Spending (1998-2003). 

Since 2011 he has served in a variety of non-executive roles across the public, private and third sectors, including as non-executive Chairman of Ixion Group and a Governor of Anglia Ruskin University. Adam is a non-executive director at University College Hospital and the former Chair of the Money Advice Trust. 

Sir Ian Cheshire was Chair of Barclays until January 2021, and holds a number of roles including as Honorary President of the Business Disability Forum, and Chair of the Heads Together campaign – set up by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Sir Ian has also held the role of Government Lead Non-Executive, responsible for overseeing scrutiny of departments’ work and improving the way public services are delivered.

Otto Thoresen is a former Director General of the Association of British Insurers and former CEO of AEGON UK. In 2008 he authored the Thoresen Review of generic financial advice that helped lead to the creation of th Money Advice Service (now the Money and Pensions Service).

Otto is a former Chair of the Personal Finance Education Group and a former Trustee of StepChange Debt Charity. He now has a portfolio career including as Chair of NEST, Aviva International Insurance, Aberdeen Standard Investments Life and Pensions and the BT Pension Scheme.

Baroness Coussins, a life peer and independent cross-bencher, has worked in the public sector, the charitable sector and for an industry-funded education and regulatory body in paid for, non-executive and advisory capacities. She has held positions including Non-executive Director of The Advertising Standards Authority, Chief Executive of The Portman Group, and Director of social policy and equality assurance for the Commission for Racial Equality.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles KCMG LVO is Group Head of Government Affairs at HSBC Holdings and Chairman of the Financial Inclusion Commission. Sir Sherard spent more than 30 years in the British Diplomatic Service, serving in Cairo, Washington and Paris, as Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary and latterly as the UK’s Ambassador to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

Simon Walker was Director General of the Institute of Directors until early 2017 and has previously served as Communications Secretary to HM The Queen at Buckingham Palace, Director of Corporate Affairs at British Airways, and as a special adviser in the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit at 10 Downing Street from 1996-97.