New NS&I Chairman appointed

Sir John de Trafford joined NS&I’s board as a Non-Executive Director on 1 January 2010. He replaces Martin Gray as Chairman who has come to the end of his term as a Non-executive Director on NS&I’s board. He joined the NS&I board on 1 January 2005 and has served as Chairman since 1 September 2009.

Non-executive members of NS&I’s board oversee the governance of NS&I, advising on strategy and the effective management of the organisation’s activities.

Jane Platt, Chief Executive, NS&I, said:

“Martin Gray has been an outstanding Chairman, providing excellent leadership and strategic direction during a period when we have modernised services for customers and continued to deliver value for money for taxpayers. I look forward to an equally successful relationship with Sir John de Trafford, as we complete the re-tender of our operational services contract, offer our capabilities to other parts of government and continue to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.”

Sir John de Trafford, NS&I Chairman designate, said:

“I look forward to building upon the excellent work done by Martin Gray over the last two years. NS&I is focused more than ever on meeting the changing expectations of its customers, whilst recognising that it can also use its operational expertise to provide services to other parts of government. Delivering excellent customer service will continue to underpin all that we do.”

Notes to Editors

Sir John de Trafford Bt. MBE

Sir John de Trafford became a Non-executive Director from 1 January 2010. His early career was spent in Unilever and at Guinness before he moved into financial services as Head of Consumer Marketing in the UK for American Express. After a spell overseas he was appointed Country Head for the UK and Ireland, before becoming Regional President for Northern Europe and Chair of the company’s EMEA Executive. He retired from American Express five years ago and currently has a portfolio of not-for-profit and commercial activities. He retired as Chair of the Pension, Disabilities and Carers Service at the end of 2010.

Martin Gray

Martin joined NS&I as a Non-executive Director in January 2005 and was appointed Chairman of the board from September 2009. He is also Non-executive Chairman of The Evolution Group plc. He was Chief Executive of NatWest UK between 1992 and 1999, and has held a number of board-level appointments within the financial services industry, including NatWest Bank Group, MasterCard Inc Global board and Visa European board.

1. The current NS&I board members are:
   Martin Gray – Non-executive Director and Chairman of the board
   Jane Platt – Chief Executive
   Peter Cornish – Director, Risk and Assurance
   Julian Hynd – Director, Business to Business and Change
   Gillian McGrattan – Director, Corporate Services
   Steve Owen – Director, Operations and Commercial Management
   John Prout – Director, Retail Customer
   Dharmesh Tailor – Director (acting), Finance and Business Insight
   Sam Beckett – Director, Fiscal Policy, HM Treasury
   David Hulf – Non-executive Director
   Sir John de Trafford Bt. MBE – Non-executive Director
   Simon Ricketts – Non-executive Director
2. NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK, offering a range of savings and investments to over 26 million customers. All products offer 100% capital security, because NS&I is backed by HM Treasury.