Our Board of Directors

The Board of Directors sets the strategy of our service and makes sure we plan effectively for it. The Board also makes sure we have the resources we need to work successfully and independently.

Each Director is appointed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an independent member of the Board. They don’t represent any particular group or sector. They’re also ‘non-executive’, which means they don’t get involved with individual complaints.

The Board approves our annual report and accounts, which looks at the performance of our service over the last year. The report describes the Board’s responsibilities in more detail and includes information about their fees, which are set by the FCA. 

Our Board is committed to being independently reviewed on a regular basis, in line with good practice in the public sector, to ensure it's well governed. In 2023, we commissioned Liz Cross from The Connectives to conduct a review of board effectiveness. She reported, "The Board is effective in governing the Financial Ombudsman with some examples of excellent or exemplary practice."

Board members

Liam Coleman

Interim Chair of the Board

  • Interim Chair of the Board
  • Interim Chair of the Nomination Committee

Liam previously chaired Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and London and Quadrant Housing Trust and was acting as Interim Chair at Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust. Before joining the Financial Ombudsman Service, he was a member of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Board.

Liam has over 30 years’ extensive financial services, public sector and board experience. He was formerly Chief Executive Officer at The Co-operative Bank, Deputy Group Treasurer and Group Head of Capital Management at RBS and Group Director, Treasury at Nationwide Building Society.

He is an Associate of both the London Institute of Banking and Finance and the Association of Corporate Treasurers and holds an MBA from Warwick Business School.

Bill Castell

Member of the Board

  • Member of the Nomination Committee
  • Member of the Audit Risk and Compliance Committee

Bill is a chartered accountant and is Chief Financial Officer at Arrive. He is also on the Board of Governor’s at Whitgift School and sits on its finance committee.

Bill started his career in the British Army before holding senior cross-functional roles in finance and operations. Bill has worked across a variety of sectors, ranging from finance and the media to energy. Bill was a Group Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board at Gamma Communications plc. Bill was also Group Chief Financial Officer at OVO Energy and a member of the board. Bill’s other previous roles include Chief Financial Officer positions at Barclays Bank and Virgin Media.

Jacob Abboud

Member of the Board

  • Member of the Nomination Committee
  • Member of the Technology, Data and Process Committee

Jacob is a Chair and non-executive Director for MS Amlin. Jacob is also a non-executive Director for the Government’s Department for Transport (DVSA) and for the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA). Jacob also runs his own consultancy firm, Petraenovus Consulting, which provides advice and services to financial services organisations on IT and business transformation. He is also a Trustee at the Workforce Development Trust.

During his career Jacob has been a non-executive Director for the Motor Insurance Bureau where he chaired the Digital Transformation Board sub-Committee and co-chaired its Nomination Committee. He was also a non-executive Director for Premierline Broking firm.

In his executive career, Jacob was formally a Chief Information Officer – most recently for Axa (interim) and before that, Allianz, and prior to that Legal & General. Before that he held a variety of roles in banking (retail & investment) and e-Commerce and digital start-ups.

Jacob was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Computer-Aided Engineering from Bath University.  He is also a member of Camelot Network, an independent consultancy network specialising in key areas of the Insurance and Financial Services Industry and a Chartered member of the BCS and the CII.

Shrinivas Honap

Member of the Board

  • Member of the Nomination Committee
  • Chair of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee
  • Member of the Technology, Data and Process Committee
  • Member of the Reform and Customer Experience Committee

Shrinivas is a non-executive Director for the Civil Service Pensions Board and Nuclear Waste Services and a Lay member of both the Pensions Regulator’s Determination Panel and House of Commons Commission, where he is also the Audit and Risk Committee Chair.

Shrinivas was previously a non-executive Director of SaiAum Accounting Limited and was non-executive Director and Audit Committee Chair of Corp Security Limited.

He has held non-executive Director and sub-committee Chair roles for the Driver and Licensing Agency, British Transport Police Authority, South Staffordshire NHS, Office of the Legal Ombudsman, Office of the Public Guardian, UK Atomic Energy Authority and UK Space Agency.

Shrinivas is a Chartered accountant by profession and served with Capita, Vodafone and Egg during his executive career.

Warren Buckley

Member of the Board

  • Senior Independent Director
  • Member of the Nomination Committee
  • Chair of the People Committee
  • Chair of the Technology, Data and Process Committee
  • Member of the Reform and Customer Experience Committee

Warren is currently a non-executive Director and Chair of the People and Remuneration Committee of the Ofgem (GEMA). Warren is also a non-executive Director of Scotts Sufferance Wharf Ltd. He was Chair and Trustee of Citizens Advice between 2012 and 2023. He was also Chair of the Business Disability Forum between 2013 and 2019, and of the British Quality Foundation between 2010 and 2013.

His last executive role was Retail Director of Thames Water, and, prior to this, he was Managing Director and Global Head of Contact Centres with HSBC.

Warren started his career in telecoms with Vodafone in 1989 and thereafter held senior positions with Avaya Communication, Orange PCS Limited, BT Retail, and Openreach.

Vicky Sandry

Member of the Board

  • Member of the Nomination Committee
  • Member of the Reform and Customer Experience Committee
  • Member of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee

Vicky is an Independent Trustee at the Royal College of General Practitioners where she chairs the Governance Committee. She is also a member of the Lay Advisory Group of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

Vicky previously spent 22 years at Sky, where she held senior roles including Director of Legal (Competition and Regulatory) and Group General Counsel.  A member of the Executive Committee, she led Sky’s legal team and oversaw legal and regulatory matters across the UK and Europe.

Vicky started her legal career at CMS Cameron McKenna, qualifying as a solicitor in 1995.

Tracey Ashworth-Davies

Member of the Board

  • Member of the Nomination Committee
  • Member of the People Committee
  • Member of the Technology, Data and Process Committee

Tracey currently serves as a non-executive Director of the Scottish National Investment Bank chairing the Remuneration and Nominations Committee and is also a non-executive director of the Chorley Building Society. 

Tracey’s career in Financial Services includes executive and senior roles in Toronto Dominion Bank Group, Legal & General Group, Royal London Group, Bright Grey and Scottish Provident. She also has executive experience within the NHS, global drinks, manufacturing and construction sectors. 

Tracey has a strong interest in education and is currently Chair of St George’s independent girls school, Scotland and served several years on the Court of Heriot Watt University. She studied at the University of Leeds and qualified as a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). 

Board meetings and subcommittees

The Board meets regularly throughout the year and publishes minutes from each meeting.

Members of the Board also meet in five subcommittees:

  • Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee
  • Nomination Committee
  • People Committee
  • Reform and Customer Experience Committee
  • Technology, Data and Process Committee

Board Effectiveness Review

Our Board is committed to being independently reviewed on a regular basis, in line with good practice in the public sector.

In 2023, we commissioned Liz Cross from The Connectives to conduct a review of board effectiveness , which found, "The Board is effective in governing the Financial Ombudsman with some examples of excellent or exemplary practice."