Natalie has extensive senior leadership experience across a range of sectors, including her time as the CEO of the UK’s Financial Ombudsman. At the Financial Ombudsman, Natalie was instrumental in the resolution of critical consumer issues, including payment protection insurance (PPI). 

Natalie has a track record of leading technology-driven change, improving the reach and delivery of products and services to customers. After training as a strategy consultant at McKinsey, Natalie has held three CEO roles (at the National Archives, HM Courts and Tribunals Service and the Financial Ombudsman Service), and multiple executive director roles including HSBC UK. She is currently a Non-Executive Director at Countrywide PLC, and leads a boutique strategy consultancy practice. 

Commenting on Natalie’s appointment, outgoing Chairman Alastair Lukies said: "I am delighted to hand over the Chair of Innovate Finance to Natalie. She brings a passion for improving the way financial services deliver for customers and a career in deploying technology-driven change. Her proven and sincere passion for putting the consumer first whilst empathising with the needs of our world leading financial services industry make her ideal for this role. I have no doubt that her breadth of experience will help Innovate Finance continue to develop and grow.” 

Natalie said: “I am honoured to become Chair of Innovate Finance. The UK has already become the best place in the world for FinTech companies to base themselves, with Innovate Finance playing a pivotal role in this success. I am looking forward to working with the Innovate Finance team and Board, our member companies, and stakeholders to continue to strengthen the UK as the global FinTech leader. I would like to thank Alastair Lukies for doing an outstanding job as Innovate Finance’s first Chairman.” 

Lawrence Wintermeyer, CEO of Innovate Finance, added: "The team welcome Natalie to Innovate Finance and we look forward to her leadership on the next leg of our journey to becoming a world class membership association. I would like to thank our outgoing Chairman Alastair Lukies for his vision and dedication to Innovate Finance over the past two years - it has been a pleasure working with him’. 

Founded in 2014 with the support of the City of London and Canary Wharf Group, Innovate Finance is a not-for-profit that aims to accelerate the UK’s leading position in the global financial services sector by directly supporting the next era of technology-led financial services innovators, whether they be a young start-up or an established industry player. 

The organisation’s current board includes executive directors Lawrence Wintermeyer and Abdul Haseeb Basit, CEO and CFO of Innovate Finance; Non-Executive directors Kirsten English, CEO, Style Research, Justin Fitzpatrick, Co-Founder and COO, DueDil, and Nick Hungerford, Founder and Director, Nutmeg.