FLA Board
Christopher Sutton, Chairman-
Managing Director, Black Horse
Chris Sutton has been Managing Director of Black Horse Consumer Finance (part of Lloyds Banking Group) since June 2008.
During his banking career, which has spanned more than 30 years, Chris has held a broad range of roles, primarily in UK retail banking.
Starting his career with Midland Bank (pre HSBC) on their sponsored graduate programme, Chris later moved to TSB. Over the last 15 years he has held a number of senior executive positions within the retail branch network, UK Private Banking business and International division of Lloyds Banking Group.
Prior to joining Black Horse, he was responsible for LloydsTSB’s expatriate banking business, with staff around the world in places such as Hong Kong, Dubai, South Africa and the US.
Based in Edinburgh, his current role sees him heading up the UK’s leading provider of point-of-sale finance for the motor market.
The company provides finance to more than 7,000 new and used car dealers throughout the country, as well as motorbike and caravan dealers, and also offers dealers new and used car stock funding options.
George Ashworth, Board Director-
Head of Asset Finance, Aldermore
George Ashworth is Head of Asset Finance at Aldermore. He has responsibility for developing and implementing an operational business strategy to strengthen Aldermore’s proposition in the leasing and asset finance markets.
George joined Aldermore from Fortis Lease Group where he was Senior Manager, International Vendor Services. Prior to that, he was Operations Director at Lombard Business Finance (part of the Royal Bank of Scotland) and also gained business finance experience with Crown Equipment Corporation and De Lage Landen BV. 
Simon Baum, Board Director -
Director, Credit and Risk, Alliance & Leicester Plc
Having won an open scholarship to read Engineering at Oxford University, Simon graduated in 1986 and joined CCN Systems Ltd. (now Experian) where he held a number of positions including Consultancy Services Director, UK and General Manager, Experian Scorex (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd. He left to join the Credit Risk team at PricewaterhouseCoopers, working there for two years before moving to Alliance & Leicester plc as Director of Credit & Risk in 2001, with responsibility for credit and fraud risk issues across the retail bank.
Since the acquisition of Alliance & Leicester by Santander, Simon has assumed the role of Deputy Chief Credit Officer for the merged Abbey/Alliance & Leicester Retail Banking operation. 
Alex Brown, Board Director-
Head of Global Asset Finance, Barclays Corporate
Alex started his career at NatWest and has built up a wealth of experience in the structured debt and tax arenas. Before joining Barclays in January 2008, Alex was Managing Director and Head of Media & Entertainment, Structured Asset Finance at RBS. In his current role, Alex is responsible for Asset Finance in the UK and expanding the product set globally.
Alex has driven through a transformation change programme for the Asset Finance business ensuring full alignment with the strategic plans for Barclays Corporate. The primary objective for the business is to deliver sustainable revenue generation and return on equity.
Nigel Clibbens, Board Director-
Chief Operating Officer, Lombard North Central plc
Nigel Clibbens is the Chief Operating Officer of Lombard, the Asset Finance Subsidiary of RBS, where he has been a director since 2001.
Nigel has worked for Lombard since 1994 and has held several senior roles over this time. Nigel qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and has a degree in Economics from London University.
Nigel is also a non-executive director of Motability Finance.
Sam Geneen, Board Director-
Managing Director, Five Arrows Leasing Group Ltd
Managing Director of Five Arrows Leasing Group Limited (FALG), a subsidiary of N M Rothschild & Sons Limited, since its inception in 1988. He is also a Director of N M Rothschild Banking Limited. Sam also holds Chairman roles with State Securities Plc, Specialist Fleet Services Limited, Fineline Media Finance and Lease Portfolio Management.
Prior to joining FALG he spent six years as Managing Director of United Financial Services Limited, a subsidiary of United Leasing plc, an IBM computer leasing company quoted on the London Stock Exchange. He was also financial controller of Hertz Car Leasing for 6 years.
Sam was educated at the High School of Glasgow and holds a degree in Economics from the University of Strathclyde. He trained as an accountant working for Levi Strauss & Co. and is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. He was Chairman of the UK Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) from 2005 – 2007 and was previously Chairman of the FLA's asset finance division. 
Gerald Grimes, Board Director-
Managing Director, Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance
Gerald joined Hitachi Capital in 2007 as Sales Director with the responsibility for growth and development of this already established finance provider. He took over the role of Managing Director in 2008 and has overseen a period of significant expansion and diversification into new markets.
Starting his career in accounting with HMRC he moved to Barclays where he gained his first experience in the lending market before spending 11 years with GE Capital, primarily in business development and M&A, across the UK, Europe and USA.
He was part of the team that launched The Funding Corporation in 2001 where he spent 6 years prior to joining Hitachi Capital.
Founded in 1982 Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance is the leader in providing innovative in store and web-based point of sale finance solutions to the UK retail sector. Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance is part of Hitachi Capital UK (PLC), which in turn is part of Hitachi Ltd, one of the most respected companies trading in the world today.
George Lynn, Chairman, Asset Finance Division-
Chief Financial Officer, Angel Trains
Prior to joining Angel Trains in 1994, George Lynn was group finance director for Union Plc, and previously held senior positions in Barclays Mercantile Highland Leasing and Deloitte Haskins & Sells. He is now Chief Financial Officer at Angel Trains.
George has been involved in the FLA, and its predecessor the Equipment Leasing Association since 1983, and is now the chairman of the FLA’s asset finance division.
Peter Minter, Board Director-
Managing Director, Moneybarn plc
Peter joined Moneybarn plc, then called Duncton, in 2002, with a remit to grow the business organically from a book of around £10m into the leading sub-prime vehicle finance business.
Peter qualified as a Civil Engineer in 1976, and completed an MBA at INSEAD in 1985. After three years in international industrial consultancy, Peter joined Fleet Motor Management in 1989, a division of Commercial Union specialising in vehicle leasing and finance where he held positions of Director of Operations (Leasing) and Director of Manufacturer Programmes. In 1992, Peter left to start two linked businesses, MIM and OASIS. MIM, which specialised is supporting manufacturer leasing and corporate programmes, grew to a tier one supplier to Iveco Ford, and also provided programme support to Volvo, Daewoo, Rover and the BVRLA. Peter sold MIM in 1995. OASIS became the first electronic commerce platform for the leasing industry, and successfully linked over 20 major leasing companies, 2,000 garages and the DVLA for electronic trading. OASIS was sold in 2002, and after a short sabbatical, Peter joined Moneybarn.
Doug Moody, Board Director-
Sales & Marketing Director, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services
Doug Moody has worked in the Motor Finance Industry for over 20 years. He was MD of Chrysler Finance from 1997 - 2000.
He is now Sales & Marketing Director for Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, for Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and smart brands.
Doug is an active member of the FLA and has been an FLA Board Member since 2005.
Gordon Rennison, Board Director-
Legal and Compliance Director, LaSer UK
Gordon has been a member of the Executive Board of LaSer UK since joining the company in 1998. He was initially responsible for business expansion and client management prior to taking on the role for legal, compliance and corporate affairs.
Before joining LaSer UK he had a 25 year career in retailing working for a number of businesses under the Sears Plc umbrella including MD roles at Wallis and Dolcis.
Gordon is an active member of the Consumer Finance Management Committee and recently became Vice-Chairman in March 2011.
The LaSer UK Group of companies is a leading provider of credit and loyalty programmes, supporting over 200 partners with co-brand and affinity cards, point of sale finance and e-commerce solutions across multiple sectors. LaSer UK is a subsidiary of the LaSer Group, with over 20 million customers and more than 6,000 employees across Europe. It is jointly owned by BNP Paribas and Galeries Lafayette.
Philip Ross, Chairman, Motor Finance Divison-
General Manager, Honda Finance Europe plc
Philip has worked in the motor finance business for 30 years. The first 19 years with BlackHorse in various roles including the F&I development team, Branch Manager in 3 different areas, Regional Manager for Toyota Finance and General Manager at Porsche Finance. In 1996 he left to join Honda where he set up their Captive finance company in the UK.
Currently he is General Manager of Honda Finance Europe plc. with overall responsibility for the car and motorcycle finance business in the UK, and also has European responsibilities in 5 countries.
He has been an active member of the FLA Motor Finance Division Committee and recently became Chairman in December 2009.
Outside work Philip has a 6 year old daughter and time permitting enjoys tennis, cycling and golf.