Rethink Risk Steering Group
For our Rethink resilience research programme, we were guided by the insights and expertise of our Steering Group, who were drawn from a range of industry backgrounds. Together, we investigated the risks and opportunities that faced individuals, organisations and society, resulting in practical advice and information.
The latest phase of our research programme explored the value of resilience in a world where disruption is fast-moving, high impact, increasingly interconnected and often happening simultaneously. We gathered a wide range of insights from businesses, investors, government, regulators, as well as citizen perspectives and we used our findings to set out the business case for why leaders need to take a more strategic approach to resilience and the clear and practical steps to get there.
Steering group profiles
Stephanie Bruce, Chief Financial Officer, abrdn (Group Chair)
“As a Steering Group our focus was on the very topical agenda of resilience: organisations who are more resilient to risk can unlock opportunity and gain competitive advantage - in both responding to emerging risks and future shocks and creating long-term prosperity and sustained outcomes.”
Stephanie was appointed Chief Financial Officer on joining the Board in June 2019. She is a highly experienced financial services practitioner with significant sector knowledge, both technical and commercial. She brings experience of working with boards and management teams of financial institutions in respect of financial and commercial management, reporting, risk and control frameworks and regulatory requirements. She is also our representative director on the board of Phoenix Group Holdings plc.
Before joining abrdn, Stephanie was a partner at PwC, leading the financial services assurance practice and a member of the Assurance Executive. Her responsibilities included client growth and services, product development, operations and quality assurance across the UK business. During her career, she has specialised in the financial services sector working with organisations across asset management, insurance and banking, with national and international operations. Stephanie is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and served as the Chair of the Audit Committee. She is an associate of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Edinburgh.
Lord Gavin Barwell, Strategic Advisor, PwC
“An ongoing wave of geopolitical tensions and conflict is creating increased risk and uncertainty - for organisations, on markets, national security and for individuals. I enjoyed being part of this research and exploring the respective role of governments and businesses, and crucially where they need to work together, in helping build the resilience needed to adapt to these challenges - to emerge stronger.”
Gavin Barwell served as Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister from June 2017 to July 2019. As the Prime Minister’s senior political adviser, he was intimately involved in Brexit negotiations. His career has spanned British politics from grassroots campaigning through party headquarters, local government, Parliament, Ministerial office to the very centre of government. He was the Member of Parliament for Croydon Central from May 2010 until June 2017, during which time his roles included Government Whip and Minister of State for Housing & Planning and Minister for London at the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Poppy Jaman, Global CEO, MindForward Alliance
“I enjoyed exploring how elevating wellbeing and inclusivity can help improve the resilience of both individuals and organisations. Everybody should be getting up in the morning looking forward to doing their role within an organisation because it has the right level of purpose, the right level of challenge and the right level of support.”
Poppy Jaman OBE is a global voice of authority on workplace mental health, Global CEO of MindForward Alliance, Founder of Re-Balance and Trustee at the Centre for Mental Health. In 2018, Poppy was awarded an OBE in recognition of her services to people with mental health issues and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Gloucestershire. In 2019 she won Woman of The Year at the GG2 Culture & Diversity Leadership Awards and was named a Game Changer in the FT women of 2019 list. Poppy also founded Mental Health First Aid England and served two terms on the PHE Advisory Board.
Nicola McGowan, Director of Internal Audit & Risk, Travis Perkins
“Rethinking the value and importance of resilience and how it can unlock commercial opportunity elevates the role of risk beyond spreadsheets and risk registers to that of a business enabler. If you can withstand a crisis and respond well, it allows you to stay one step ahead of the competition. It’s critical that we explored the cultural shift needed and the role of individuals in putting resilience at the heart of how we do business.”
Nicola McGowan is the Director of Internal Audit and Risk for Travis Perkins plc and has previously held a number of senior finance and internal audit roles in large listed Groups including GKN and Marconi. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte LLP in 2001. Nicola is also an experienced pension scheme Trustee and serves as a Guardian for the Birmingham Assay Office and as a Board Governor at Birmingham City University, where she is also a member of the Audit & Risk Committee.
Elisa Moscolin, Executive Vice President for Sustainability and Foundation, Sage Group PLC
“My role in this group was helping to articulate the business case for embracing ESG as a way to mitigate risk and build resilience. Sustainability is not only the right thing for organisations to focus on - it’s the smart thing to do, being key to reputation and trust. Growth and commercial performance don’t need to be at odds with positive social and environmental outcomes - they’re mutually reinforcing.”
Elisa Moscolin is a sustainability professional with a track record of driving this agenda in global blue-chip organisations. She advises Boards and Executive teams on sustainability strategy and execution. She has worked in the ICT and Financial Services sectors.
Elisa is currently Executive Vice President for Sustainability and Foundation at Sage Group plc.; Sage is a global market leader for technology for small and medium businesses and Elisa is leading its sustainability agenda. Prior to that, Elisa was Head of Sustainability & ESG at Santander where she led the transformation from old-fashioned CSR to sustainability. During her time at Santander, Elisa turned around all legacy programmes, worked with the Board and Executive team to agree on the bank’s ESG vision and ambition, designed a new ESG strategy, built a diverse and high-performing team, designed a sound governance and operating model, established an active dialogue with top investors and enhanced the bank’s ESG credentials. Elisa was also responsible for the bank’s Foundation, which she restructured by working closely with its Board of Trustees to enhance its governance, reputation, and impact. Before Santander, Elisa worked for Vodafone Group in global and local roles in Italy, the UK and Kenya. In Kenya she worked with Safaricom, a subsidiary of Vodafone which developed M-Pesa, the iconic mobile-based money transfer and banking platform that has greatly improved financial inclusion in the country. She is an alumni of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and holds a Master’s Degree in International Studies and Diplomacy.
Elisa’s professional ambition is to contribute to shifting the business community toward more ethical and responsible business practices.
Michael Wignall, Azure Business Group Lead, Microsoft UK
“Organisations want a clear road map on how to build the resilience to adapt and respond to fast-changing and unpredictable risk. We need to know more about how organisations can achieve the right balance between human intervention and technology-powered transformation to create a resilient and secure digital environment that provides the confidence to protect what’s important and see opportunities for growth.”
As Azure Business Group Lead, Michael is responsible for leading strategy, operations and marketing across all Azure capabilities in all UK markets. He joined Microsoft in 2008 and has worked in several roles including UK’s Chief Technology Officer, leading the technology strategy across the subsidiary, before that as the Government Industry Manager responsible for solutions and partners, and in the public sector team for Microsoft Dynamics. Prior to joining Microsoft, Michael worked as a CTO in the telecoms/tech start-up focused on secure cloud solutions.
Paul Williams, Special Advisor, PwC
“The increasing occurrence of what used to be low probability but high impact risks is having a major impact on markets, individuals, organisations and society as a whole. That’s why resilience is coming under the regulatory spotlight. I enjoyed taking part in this research looking at how we can rethink resilience in the face of constant disruption, and make the shift from a probability mindset to a plausibility mindset.”
Paul has over 30 years’ experience in banking technology infrastructure, operational resilience & cyber. Gained mainly in international investment banks he joined the Bank of England in 2014 to support development of the Bank’s approach to Operational Resilience, including cyber. As Head of Operational Risk & Resilience Division, Paul drove & supported various initiatives, most notably; development and implementation of the ground breaking operational resilience policy; oversight of cyber assessment programme (CBEST) and associated regulatory assessment approaches. His worked involved close collaboration with finance sector firms as well as domestic and international public authorities.
Paul was the founding chair of the Bank of England’s Cross Market Operational Resilience Cyber Collaboration Group. Whilst at the Bank Paul was also co-Chair of the G7 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governor’s Cyber Expert Group and also founding Chair of the European Central Bank’s Systemic Cyber Group. Paul now provides private client advisory services on operational resilience & cyber and continues to advise the European Systemic Cyber Group. Paul is also a Commissioner on the UK’s National Preparedness Commission whose mission is to promote better preparedness for a major crisis or incident.
Rebecca Cooke, Partner - Risk, PwC UK
“Risk surrounds us and the value of resilience - and the cost of not having it - have never been greater. I helped shape a vision for how organisations and society can rethink resilience. People and changing mindset lie at the centre of this agenda - enabled by the power of technology to adapt, respond and unlock value in a world where disruption and uncertainty are increasingly the norm.”
Rebecca is a member of the UK Risk Executive, responsible for People and Workforce Strategy and for our Regional business. In addition to her insight in relation to workforce of the future and skills development, she also brings her experience on the risk and resilience agenda as both a risk and internal audit practitioner and as a lead client partner for several of PwC's priority clients in the Utilities and Industrial Manufacturing sectors.
Sam Samaratunga, Head of Risk, PwC UK
“We are surrounded by a diverse range of risks - geopolitical, market, operational, digital and more.The common challenge is the speed of change, the complex interplay between these different risks, and the huge global and local ramifications in our increasingly connected world. That’s why this research is so necessary - to pioneer a more proactive approach to resilience, one that allows organisations to navigate uncertainty and risk with confidence and find new ways to secure value.”
Sam is PwC’s UK and Global Head of Risk Services. Sam is also a member of PwC's UK Management Board.
During his career, Sam has primarily been focused on banking, capital markets and financial services market infrastructure, advising clients on the analysis of risk, control and change within complex information systems. He has specialised in financial services and led client engagements with a range of major banks, clearing houses, regulators and stock exchanges. Sam is a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
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