Meet the Board of Directors
This Board of Directors governs Virgin Money UK PLC.
Kevin Parry OBE
Dame Debbie Crosbie DBE
Muir Mathieson
Chris Rhodes
Anand Aithal
David Bennett
Tracey Graham
Alan Keir
Debbie Klein
Sally Orton
Tamara Rajah
Gillian Riley
Phil Rivett
Kevin Parry OBE
Chairman
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 23 May 2016 (Board) and 1 February 2022 (Chairman)
Virgin Money: 30 September 2025 (Board and Chairman)
Skills and experience:
Kevin Parry is a chartered accountant and brings to the Board expertise in audit, regulation, risk management, and finance. He has used his deep knowledge of commercial and mutual organisations to help shape and transform the Society into a modern mutual. Additionally, as a former Chairman of the Homes and Communities Agency, his perspective on housing is an asset to the Group.
He has a wealth of experience across a broad range of organisations. He has held the positions of Chairman of Royal London Mutual Insurance Company Limited and Intermediate Capital Group plc and Senior Independent Director of Standard Life Aberdeen plc, as well as having been the Chief Financial Officer of Schroders plc and the Chief Executive Officer of Management Consulting Group plc. Kevin is Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Marie Curie, an organisation whose charitable purpose is aligned with the Group’s Fairer Futures initiative and is Chairman of the Mutuals and Co-operative Council that is working with government to double the size of the mutual sector in line with its growth agenda.
Dame Debbie Crosbie DBE
Group Chief Executive Officer
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 2 June 2022
Virgin Money: 30 September 2025
Skills and experience:
Debbie Crosbie joined Nationwide in June 2022. She has worked with the Board to develop the Group's new business strategy, created a new Purpose, and refreshed its brand, marketing and member rewards. Debbie has over 25 years of experience in financial services and has led many successful large-scale technology and customer service transformations. She was previously CEO at TSB Bank where she created and delivered its three-year growth strategy a year early and, while acting CEO of Clydesdale Bank, Debbie led preparations for its successful demerger and subsequent initial public offering.
Debbie is a non-executive director of SSE plc, the energy generation and networks company. Debbie holds an honours degree in Industrial Relations from the University of Strathclyde and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. Previously, she has been a member of both the FCA and PRA practitioner panels and the Prime Minister’s business council.
Muir Mathieson
Group Chief Financial Officer
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 6 September 2024
Virgin Money: 30 September 2025
Skills and experience:
Muir Mathieson was appointed Group Chief Financial Officer in September 2024, having previously held several senior leadership roles at Nationwide since 2010. He is a chartered accountant and his previous positions within Nationwide include Deputy CFO, Treasurer and Director of Financial Planning and Stress Testing. Prior to this, he began his career at PwC, as well as holding roles at Barclays Investment Bank and Chelsea Building Society.
His significant financial services experiences across finance and treasury disciplines mean that he has a deep understanding of Nationwide, and the mutual business model, and he is ideally placed to oversee the long-term financial stability of the Group.
Chris Rhodes
Virgin Money UK Chief Executive Officer
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 30 September 2025
Virgin Money: 1 October 2024
Skills and experience:
Chris Rhodes was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Money on 1 October 2024 upon completion of Nationwide’s acquisition of the bank. Before then he had been Chief Financial Officer of Nationwide since October 2019 having been a Nationwide Board member since April 2009.
Chris is a chartered accountant with over 30 years’ experience in retail and commercial banking having held senior leadership roles across finance, treasury, operations, retail distribution and risk management.
His previous positions include Group Finance Director of Alliance and Leicester Group, Board Director at Visa Europe and Deputy Managing Director for Girobank. He has been a Director of the Lending Standards Board and a Trustee of National Numeracy.
Anand Aithal
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 1 October 2024
Virgin Money: 30 September 2025
Skills and experience:
Anand Aithal has over 30 years of international experience across financial, business, government and professional services. For five years he was Lead Non-Executive Board Member of the Cabinet Office and he has also served on not-for-profit boards in the education and international development arenas.
Prior to his non-executive career, Anand was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs before starting his own firm, which was a pioneering provider of data analytical services.
David Bennett
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 13 November 2024
Virgin Money: 22 October 2015
Skills and experience:
David Bennett is an experienced board chairman and non-executive director and brings to the Board extensive experience of retail banking, strategy, risk management, corporate activity and organisation, operational and structural change, gained from his long career in financial services.
He served as Chairman of Virgin Money UK PLC from May 2020 to September 2025, and prior to that was Deputy Board Chair from October 2015.
Tracey Graham
Senior Independent Director
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 28 September 2022 (Board) and 20 July 2023 (Senior Independent Director)
Virgin Money: 23 January 2025
Skills and experience:
Tracey Graham is an experienced non-executive director, having served on several listed companies and mutual boards across a range of sectors, including financial services. She has considerable experience as a remuneration committee chair and as a senior independent director at Ibstock plc, discoverIE plc and Pension Insurance Corporation Group Limited. Tracey also has extensive consumer experience, having been Chair of LINK Consumer Council for nine years until December 2024.
She was Chief Executive of Talaris Limited, an international cash management business. Before that she held a number of senior roles in De La Rue plc, HSBC and AXA Insurance.
Alan Keir
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 1 March 2022
Virgin Money: 30 September 2025
Skills and experience:
Alan Keir is an experienced banker who began his non-executive career when he retired as a Group Managing Director and CEO of EMEA at HSBC in 2016, where he had been leading operations in 30 countries, including the UK home market. He has extensive experience in a full range of banking activity, including retail branches and investment banking from his previous roles as Chair of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Bank International plc and non-executive director of Majid Al Futtaim.
His expertise in the retail and commercial banking sector, and his proven track record of delivering a successful commercial banking strategy, whilst redefining the culture and values of a large organisation, assists the Board in setting and delivering strategic performance. He was previously a non-executive director of HSBC Bank plc between 2018 and 2021.
Debbie Klein
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 1 March 2021
Virgin Money: 30 September 2025
Skills and experience:
Debbie Klein has extensive experience in consumer, commercial brand, marketing and people roles. Until 2023, she was Group Chief Marketing, Corporate Affairs and People Officer at Sky where her remit included responsibility for overall brand and marketing development, as well as leading corporate communications, public affairs, internal communications and human resources. She was responsible for Sky’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme, leading Sky’s challenge to meet its 2030 net-zero goals approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative. Her expertise in sustainability and CSR matters assists in building Nationwide’s Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) agenda.
She was previously Chief Executive Europe and Asia Pacific at The Engine Group, an integrated marketing services business, and held various leadership roles in her 20 years at the firm. Earlier in her career she worked in Strategy and Insight at Saatchi & Saatchi and Nielsen.
Sally Orton
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 1 June 2023
Virgin Money: 30 September 2025
Skills and experience:
Sally Orton is a dual-qualified chartered accountant in Australia and the UK, with a career spanning over 30 years in financial and professional services, bringing to the Board expertise in audit, regulation and finance. She has extensive experience across financial services organisations, with a remit including M&A, integration, transformation, sustainability, financial and related regulatory matters.
She has held CFO positions across a broad range of firms, including GAM Holdings AG (listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange), LCH Ltd (part of the London Stock Exchange Group) and Howden Broking Group, and also held senior roles at Man Group plc and CFO advisory roles. Having started her career at KPMG in Australia, she moved to London in 1997 to join the Banking and Capital Markets industry groups of PwC and then EY.
Tamara Rajah MBE
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 1 September 2020
Virgin Money: 30 September 2025
Skills and experience:
Tamara Rajah is an experienced entrepreneur, executive and board director with deep expertise in consumer innovation, transformation and digital.
She currently serves on the parkrun Global Board and has previously been a non-executive director of Holland & Barrett, the ScaleUp Institute Limited, London & Partners Limited and Entrepreneur First Operations Limited. Her executive experience includes serving as CEO of Wellness Solutions and Chief Transformation Officer at Holland & Barrett, where she drove the transformation of the brand and its customer proposition.
Earlier in her career, Tamara was one of the youngest partners at McKinsey & Company, spending a decade in its healthcare practice and leading the firm’s global work on entrepreneurship and technology clusters in life sciences, digital and technology. She then founded and scaled an award-winning, venture-capital backed global consumer healthcare platform. She has published widely on high-growth entrepreneurship.
Tamara brings to the Board a proven track record of driving growth and innovation in parallel to leading digital and consumer-led transformation.
Gillian Riley
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 1 April 2022
Virgin Money: 30 September 2025
Skills and experience:
Gillian Riley is a senior banker with an accomplished track record at Scotiabank, Canada’s third largest financial institution, for over three decades. She has worked in retail, business and wealth management areas in senior roles driving transformation. Most recently, between 2018 and 2024, she served as President and CEO of Tangerine Bank Canada’s leading digital bank with top in class customer satisfaction and strong growth in customer engagement. Gillian also serves as the Chair of the Board for Roynat Capital, which supports small and medium-sized businesses with financing solutions.
Gillian previously founded The Scotiabank Women Initiative, programme built to strengthen equality and support for women entrepreneurs. She is a champion for diversity and community values, contributing to health care, youth empowerment and gender equality. She serves on the Foundation board of St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and Huron University.
Phil Rivett
Independent non-executive director
Date of appointment
Nationwide: 1 September 2019
Virgin Money: 30 September 2025
Skills and experience:
Phil Rivett is a chartered accountant with over 40 years’ experience of professional accountancy and audit, with a focus on banks and insurance companies. He has a wealth of experience, advising major financial services providers in the UK and on a global basis. He has held various senior positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and was Chair of its Global Financial Services Group prior to retiring from the firm. He has an exceptional leadership track record, advocating a collaborative and inclusive approach.
