Chris Hitchen
Chair
Member of the Risk Committee and Remuneration and Nominations Committee
Chris has more than 35 years experience in the UK pensions and investments industry. For nearly 20 years he led the Railways Pension Scheme, a large multi-employer pension-pooling arrangement, first as CIO and then as CEO. As well as chairing Border to Coast, Chris is the Chair of the Nuclear Liabilities Fund and sits on the Board of the Scott Trust Endowment. He is a former Chair of the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) and was a long-serving trustee and investment committee chair for the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). Chris is a qualified actuary and an Honorary Fellow of the CFA Society of the UK
Felicity Bambery
Chair of Board Audit Committee
Felicity has over 25 years’ experience in financial services related audit and assurance. She spent her executive career at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where she qualified as a chartered accountant and was a partner for several years. During the latter part of her executive career, Felicity led the firm’s national pensions assurance practice, acting as statutory auditor, controls assurance provider and head of internal audit across a diverse client base. Felicity retired from the partnership in 2022 and has since taken on non-executive roles with Leek Building Society and TPT.
Cllr David Coupe
Partner Fund nominated Non-Executive Director and member of the Audit Committee
David is Chair of the Teesside Pension Fund Committee and was first elected as ward councillor for Stainton & Thornton on Middlesbrough Borough Council in 2015. He became an executive member for Adult Health and Public Protection and Digital inclusion in 2022 and is also co-Chair on the Live Well South Tees Board. David worked in the electronics and telecommunications industry before becoming self-employed and involved with electronic and computer systems.
Rachel Elwell
Chief Executive Officer
Rachel joined Border to Coast as CEO in November 2017 with more than 20 years’ experience working in pensions and institutional investment (at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Royal London Mutual Insurance Society). In October 2020 Rachel joined the board of the Investment Association, the UK asset management industry’s trade body, in December 2021 she joined the board of Opera North, and she joined the board of the Just Finance Foundation, a financial education charity, in November 2023. Rachel is a Cambridge maths graduate and a qualified actuary.
Kate Guthrie
Chair of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee
Kate Guthrie is an independent non-executive director with a portfolio of roles across organisations in the financial services, public and charity sectors. She is a member of the UK Defence Board and Chair of the Defence People Committee. She is the senior independent director (SID) and Chair of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee at Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, an independent non-executive director of Finova, and trustee and Chair of the Remuneration Committee at Scottish Ballet. She was previously the Chair of Lloyds Banking Group Foundation, Scotland, a member of the Virgin Money Foundation Board, and a trustee of Action for Children (including Chair of Scotland and SID).
Kate’s executive career spanned financial services, pharmaceuticals, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), and retail. She was formerly Chief People Officer for Virgin Money. Kate also held executive roles at Lloyds Banking Group, Novartis, Diageo and Marks and Spencer.
Richard Hawkins
Non-Executive Director
Richard’s executive career has spanned over three decades in the banking and financial services technology sector. He previously served as Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Europe at HSBC and is currently a non-executive director at the Post Office. He has held board positions at the Valuation Office Agency and is a board advisor at Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) Bank. As a consultant, Richard specialises in CIO advisory, transformation, risk management and cyber security, leveraging his deep expertise to drive strategic change while remaining at the forefront of emerging technologies . Passionate about innovation, he co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of a fintech start-up, pioneering blockchain-based trade finance solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Cllr John Holtby
Partner Fund nominated Non-Executive Director and member of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee
John is a councillor in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council where he is the Deputy Leader with a portfolio for Corporate Affairs including pensions, having first been elected in 2013. He was High Sheriff in the area in 2011/12. John is an arable and livestock farmer on the land his family has farmed since 1890. He has an MA (Hons) in Land Economy from Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Fiona Miller
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
After being the national lead on the government’s pooling agenda and one of the driving forces behind Border to Coast’s initial conception, Fiona joined Border to Coast from Cumbria County Council. Fiona has 30 years’ experience in finance, ICT, and operational restructuring across both the public and private sectors. Fiona continues to support the development of pooling in the UK and represents the LGPS pooling companies on the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board Investment Committee. In November 2023 Fiona was appointed as the new independent Chair of the Lancashire Local Pension Board. She is also a member of the Bank of England’s Decision Makers Panel.
Andrew November
Chair of the Audit Committee and member of the Risk Committee
Andrew has spent more than 25 years in asset management, most recently as Head of Investment Office, Scottish Widows. He is also a Director of Bell November Consulting Ltd, a financial services consultancy specialising in business restructuring and management coaching. Andrew is an Associate of the CFA Society of UK. He holds an MSc in Applied Economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz, USA, and a BA in Chinese and Economics from the University of Leeds.
