The Leasing Foundation Board
The Leasing Foundation is led by a board focused on diversity and inclusion, giving, innovation, next generation talent and sustainability.
Nathan Mollett (United Trust Bank, chair of The Leasing Foundation, Next Generation Network)
Nathan is head of asset finance at United Trust Bank. He is currently responsible for leadership of the asset finance, specialist motor finance, and block and wholesale finance businesses, with oversight of distribution, operations, 1st line credit risk, and operational risk. Prior to joining UTB, he worked at Metro Bank for five years and before that he worked at Wesleyan Bank for 16 years with responsibility for sales and marketing.
Nathan is committed to making the business finance industry a destination of choice for the next generation of talented, career-minded young individuals across the UK. He is also an ironman, marathon runner and Crystal Palace football club fan.
Carol Roberts (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion)
Carol has worked in the industry for over 50 years, holding the positions of managing director for various asset finance businesses, including GE Capital and Bibby Leasing. Most recently, she was the director of asset finance for Time Plc until leaving the business in 2022. She also held a board position on the FLA for six years until January 2023. Carol currently continues to mentor in various businesses in the industry and is the chair of council at her local golf club.
Her hobbies are golf and helping at her daughter’s playgroup, when she can.
Helen Lumb (Shire Leasing, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion)
Helen is managing director and chief financial officer at Shire Leasing. A chartered accountant who trained with EY in Birmingham, she has over 30 years’ industry experience, with almost 20 years in asset finance. Helen ran her own consultancy business working in multiple sectors from social housing to retail to the tech sector and is also a qualified coach and NLP Practitioner.
Helen leads Shire’s activity on D&I, in particular focusing on mental health and wellbeing and now co-leads the Leasing Foundation’s EDI group, championing mental health and neurodiversity. In her spare time, Helen is a keen photographer and is currently teaching herself astrophotography.
Helena Thernstrom (Natwest Group, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion)
Helena heads up the legal team at Natwest Group, which supports the Bank’s asset and invoice finance activities. This includes Lombard and RBS Invoice Finance, as well providing leadership to the wider commercial bank with a particular focus on brokers and consumer duty. She has been with the bank since 2015, having joined from De Lage Landen. Prior experience includes working as a solicitor in the Probation Service and in an arts charity.
Helena is an active driver of numerous diversity and inclusion initiatives and employee-led networks and is a regular speaker on gender and the wider diversity and inclusion agenda. She is also a trustee for the Marine Conservation Society and a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute.
Lee Rhodes (Aldermore, Giving)
Lee is the commercial director for the Aldermore asset finance division. He joined the company in 2014 initially responsible for building the wholesale and structured proposition, before taking on the entire asset finance division in July 2020.
Lee has over 20 years’ experience in the asset finance industry. He started in operations with Dresdner Kleinwort Benson’s IT vendor finance team in 2000, before moving to ING Lease’s financial products team in 2003 until ING exited the UK market in 2012.
Mel Chell (Equivo/Shoosmiths, Giving)
Mel is a Shoosmiths partner and the director of client experience for Equivo. Mel is a lawyer with over 24 years of experience in motor and asset finance litigation and recoveries, and was instrumental in setting up Equivo, the market’s first end to end, tech enabled and triple regulated recoveries business.
Mel is a passionate and active supporter of the D&I initiatives at Shoosmiths and Equivo and is keen to drive much needed change across the financial services industry. In her spare time Mel’s passion is open water swimming. Mel swims for fitness and wellbeing and her biggest challenge to date is swimming all 11 miles of Lake Windermere.
Karima Haji (Scania GB, Innovation Initiative)
Karima graduated as a computer scientist and began her career at EDS working with GM Financial. She has also worked at Volkswagen Group, as client services director at White Clarke Group, CIO at Mercedes Benz UK and a stint in Daimler AG in Stuttgart before setting up her own consultancy, Auto Novo in 2015.
In September 2021 Karima joined the executive team at Scania GB as transformation director, responsible for leading the transformation and development of Scania’s UK business in line with the company’s vision to drive the shift to more sustainable transport solutions that are better for business, society and the environment.
Ylva Oertengren (Simply, Innovation Initiative)
Ylva is chief operating officer at Simply. With a background in legal and compliance, she has extensive experience of building and managing operations in the financial services sector across Europe and Asia Pacific. After working in global and UK financial institutions, Ylva co-founded Simply in 2017, with the aim of creating the perfect customer journey that allows SMEs to access funds to realise their potential.
Ylva is also focused on promoting young talent, diversity and innovation across the industry. She has been named Innovator of the Year (2018 Women in Credit awards) and Leading Woman of Auto and Equipment Finance (2019 IAFN Awards).
Julie Henehan (Shire Leasing, Sustainability)
Julie is corporate development director at Shire Leasing PLC. She is a business leader with experience across all areas of asset finance, having worked for bank owned, independent and private equity owned businesses including GE Capital, Newcourt, CIT and PEAC. Prior to joining Shire Leasing, Julie held sales and marketing leadership roles in the UK and Nordic regions with responsibility for both local and global vendor programme development.
Julie is passionate about ESG and sustainability and is vice chair of the FLA Green Asset Group. Since joining Shire Leasing she has been successful in delivering a number of local authority clean air financial assistance programmes designed to support SME customers adopt low or no emission vehicles in the interest of delivering improved air quality. Julie is energised by the opportunities that the industry has to impact positive change for a more sustainable future, utilising our skills and expertise in asset financing to solve new and emerging climate challenges.
Jo Davis (Auxillias, Sustainability)
Jo is co-founder and CEO of Auxillias. She has over 20 years’ experience at a senior level working for major UK law firms and in-house at RBS and VWFS. Specialising in the asset, motor finance, leasing and consumer finance sectors, Jo provides financial services advice (non-contentious and contentious) across a wide range of finance products and helps building online finance platforms for the broker and the lending market. Jo provides legal counsel and compliance and regulatory advice to her clients and is ranked in Chambers as one of the leading lawyers in the UK in consumer finance. Jo also sits on the CCTA board as well as being a board advisor to two fintechs.
Andrew Denton (Alfa Financial Software, non-executive director)
Andrew Denton has been CEO of Alfa since September 2016, having held roles as sales and marketing director and chief operating officer since he joined the company in 1995.
Andrew is director and joint founder of the Leasing Foundation, supporting the leasing and auto and equipment finance industry through charitable activities, research and development. He is co-chair of The McKenzie-Delis Foundation, a charitable organisation committed to driving insight and research into how businesses are moving the dial on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace. He is also is an advisor to The Women’s Association, boosting gender equality in the corporate world, and he is a proud member of the board of trustees for Professors Without Borders, bringing top-level educators and global experts to the doorsteps of students worldwide.
Graeme Chisholm (CBC, non-executive director)
Graeme has more than 30 years’ experience in the asset finance sector, initially in sales with Forward Trust Group and for the last 30 years as director of CBC Resourcing Solutions, the UK’s leading asset finance recruitment firm.
Graeme joined the board of The Leasing Foundation in 2017 and he is committed to attracting and retaining young talent in the asset finance Industry.
Ian Isaac (Lombard, non-executive director)
Ian Isaac is managing director, Lombard, the UK’s largest provider of asset finance and part of NatWest Group. Ian is responsible for the leadership of asset finance across all UK business sectors, from SMEs to large corporates and including specialist fleet, unit stocking and technology businesses.
Ian’s career at NatWest Group has stretched across 30 years. He initially joined Lombard as an account executive and since then he has advanced through the business holding senior positions within both Lombard and its parent, including roles in change management, risk and strategy and a number of senior sales leadership roles.
Ian is a board member of the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) and a former chairman of the FLA’s asset finance division. He is also a director or The Leasing Foundation.
Mike Randall (Simply, non-executive director)
Mike Randall is CEO at Simply. He has over 30 years’ experience in the asset finance sector and has held many senior positions in that time. In April 2017, he founded Simply in response to the need for innovation and disruption in the asset finance sector with the aim of providing customers with a better, faster, simpler, more efficient service.
A frequent speaker at industry events, Mike sits in on the board of the FLA and is also a director of the Leasing Foundation, with a focus on innovation and actively developing young talent.