Meet the team

Fiona was appointed as a non-executive director in 2012 and became Chairman on 10 May 2018. She has many years of financial experience at leading UK and international banks, specialising in financial institutions. During her career, Fiona has held the positions of Managing Director and Head of Financial Institutions Advisory at ABN AMRO Investment Bank, Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Financial Institutions Group at HSBC Investment Bank and was a Director at Hill Samuel Bank Limited.

Fiona is a non-executive director of Hargreaves Lansdown.

Fiona is the Chairman of Paragon’s Nomination Committee and a member of the Remuneration and Risk & Compliance Committees.

Peter was appointed as a non-executive director in 2011. He spent forty years with Deloitte, becoming a senior audit partner and a business advisor with experience across a wide range of industries and business issues. Specifically, Peter has considerable experience in acquisitions and disposals, capital raising, risk control and corporate governance in the financial services sector.

Peter is Chairman of Deeley Group Limited and a non-executive director of A&J Mucklow Group PLC and Scott Bader Limited.

Peter is a Chartered Accountant and is the Senior Independent Director. He has been Chairman of the Audit Committee since 2011, meeting the requirement for an appropriately qualified person to fill that role. He is also a member of the Nomination, Remuneration and Risk & Compliance Committees.

Barbara Ridpath was appointed as a non-executive director in 2017. She has worked in finance for most of her career, in New York, London and Paris at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Standard & Poor’s and JPMorgan.

She was instrumental in the development of UK mortgage securitisation in the late 1980s and went on to lead the Standard & Poor’s Ratings Group in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

She is currently Director of St Paul’s Institute which examines moral and ethical aspects of finance and economics. She is also a non-executive director of ORX, a trade association for operational risk professionals, a member of Council and the Executive Committee at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs and a commissioner of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission.

She is a member of the Audit, Nomination and Risk & Compliance Committees.

Hugo was appointed as a non-executive director in 2014. He spent 26 years in the fund management industry, originally with Schroders and most recently with BlackRock, covering a wide range of UK equities. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Chartered Accountant and brings an investor perspective to the Board.

Hugo is a Director of Damus Capital Limited and Vitec Global Limited.

He is Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit and Risk & Compliance Committees.

Finlay was appointed as a non-executive director of Paragon Banking Group PLC in September 2017 having been on the Board of Paragon Bank PLC since November 2014. Finlay Williamson was Finance Director of Virgin Money between 2009 and 2014, where he was responsible for supporting the design and delivery of the company’s growth strategy, including the assessment of potential markets, the development of key propositions and the pursuit of non-organic opportunities.

Prior to joining Virgin Money, Finlay had a long career at Royal Bank of Scotland where he held a number of senior finance roles, latterly as Finance Director for the Bank’s Manufacturing and Retail Direct divisions. Finlay is a Chartered Accountant.

He is the Chairman of the Risk & Compliance Committee and a member of the Audit Committee.

Graeme was appointed a non-executive director in September 2017. Prior to this he was Group Chief Executive of Principality Building Society, the 6th largest mutual in the UK. He has over 43 years’ experience in financial services having carried out a number of senior roles in Abbey National, including IT Director for the Retail Bank, Regional Director and running a number of significant change programmes. He also led the call centre operations.

Graeme serves on the Board of Governors at Cardiff Metropolitan University. He has served on the CBI Council for Wales, the Board of Business in the Community in Wales and was HRH Ambassador for BITC in Wales for two years. He was awarded Director of the Year in Wales by the Institute of Directors in 2016.

Graeme is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Banking, holds an MBA from Warwick Business School and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2017.

He is a member of the Nomination, Remuneration and Risk & Compliance Committees.

Nigel is Chief Executive of Paragon Banking Group. Nigel’s early career began in investment banking, which included working for UBS. He joined Paragon in 1987 as Treasurer, before being appointed as Finance Director in 1992 and then Chief Executive in 1995. He has been Chairman of the Council of Mortgage Lenders ('CML'), Chairman of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (‘IMLA’), Chairman of the Finance and Leasing Association ('FLA') Consumer Finance Division, a member of the Mortgage Board of UK Finance (previously ‘CML’) and a Board member of the FLA. Nigel is an associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Nigel is currently a member of HM Treasury’s Home Finance Forum, the Bank of England’s Residential Property Forum.

In 2017, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University for services to the finance industry.

Richard was appointed to the Board as Director of Corporate Development in 2012 and became the Chief Financial Officer in June 2014. He joined Paragon in 1989 and has held various senior strategic and financial roles, including Director of Business Analysis and Planning and Managing Director of Idem Capital. Richard has taken a lead role in Paragon’s strategic development and, in particular, in the loan portfolio acquisition programme through Idem Capital. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

John was appointed to the Board in 2003. He joined Paragon in 1986 following a number of years in the building society industry, and he is the Group’s longest serving employee. John has been instrumental in the development of Paragon’s buy-to-let mortgage lending programme.

John is Managing Director of Mortgages and is responsible for all aspects of the Bank’s mortgage business which includes the origination and management of buy-to-let and residential first and second charge mortgages.

John has been Chairman of the Buy-to-let Panel of UK Finance (previously ‘CML’) and a member of the Intermediary Mortgage Lender’s Association (‘IMLA’) Board having previously served as Chairman of IMLA and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Mortgage Lenders. He is a member of the UK Finance Product Board.

John is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.