Board and Committees

Graeme McAusland

Chair

Graeme was appointed Chair of the Society from 1st January 2023. He was appointed to the Board in August 2016 and has previously chaired the Society’s Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee and acted as the Society’s With-Profits Advisory Arrangement. Graeme qualified as an actuary in 1991 and has spent most of his working life in the life assurance industry. He has held various senior roles, including Chief Executive of a mutual insurer and UK Group Finance Director of another insurer. He is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of The Medical Defence Union and is Chair of the Trustees of a funeral plan trust. In his spare time, Graeme plays the cornet in a brass band, for which he is also the concert secretary, plays golf and watches all sorts of sports, particularly football and cricket.

Annette Petchey

CEO

Appointed as CEO in May 2021, Annette has deep board experience across financial services and other organisations, both as an Executive and Non-executive director. Originally a life and disability underwriter, she has worked in many different areas of financial services. She has a passion for delivering great customer experience and has brought that passion to Metfriendly, improving how Metfriendly provides products and services for its Members. 

Since she was appointed Metfriendly’s CEO, Annette has taken advantage of several invitations for ride-alongs with various Police Units, strengthening her understanding and great appreciation of what the Police do for our society.

Annette is the daughter of a former Met Police Officer and was a JP for a number of years.

Martin Bellingham

Executive Director

Martin joined Metfriendly in 2019 as Sales and Marketing Director and has recently moved into the role of Membership Support Director reflecting his additional responsibility for the Member Services Team. He has spent most of his working life in financial services having worked in senior roles at Nationwide, The Children’s Mutual and AXA. Prior to moving into financial services Martin worked at Boots in various strategic marketing roles. Martin is a member of the Market Research Society and sits on an advisory board for the Office for National Statistics.

Robert Dagg

Risk & Operations Director and Company Secretary

Rob joined Metfriendly in 2019 and has 35 years’ experience in financial services having held a number of senior roles in both customer-facing and support functions at major financial institutions. He brings a wealth of risk knowledge and is a Fellow of the International Compliance Association. He leads the Risk, Compliance, Technology and HR teams and is our Company Secretary. He holds the Senior Manager Functions of Risk & Money Laundering Reporting Officer for Metfriendly and joined the Board as an Executive Director on 1 January 2023. In his spare time, he is a keen swimmer, a medic first responder and was a volunteer Rescue Officer with HM Coastguard for 12 years.

Paul Grimshare

Executive Director

Appointed as CFO in 2022, Paul brings a wealth of relevant experience to Metfriendly having worked in the life and pensions, general insurance and asset management sectors, both in the UK and internationally, for over 20 years. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with a Big Four firm and has since focused on delivering effective financial management and clear strategic financial insights to support the development of a business. Paul is an experienced Non-executive Director, having previously served on the Board of a major UK Pension Scheme Trustee and currently on the Board of a business delivering low-carbon energy and sustainable development on behalf of his local borough council. Away from his work, Paul is a husband and father of two boys, with a keen interest in sport, fitness and travel – ideally combining all three.

Rebecca Hall

Non-Executive Director

Rebecca has been an actuarial consultant for much of her career, initially with Deloitte and more recently working independently through her own company. Rebecca has focussed on supporting companies going through strategic change. She specialises in annuity and With- Profits business and has worked with many other mutual firms. She is also a Non-executive director on the board of another insurer and an independent member of a With-Profits committee for a large mutual.

Craig Haslam

Non-Executive Director

Non-Executive Director; Chair of the Member Committee; Remuneration, Nomination & Governance Committee, Strategic Finance & Investment Committee

Craig was appointed to the Board on 1st January 2019. He spent 32 years with the Metropolitan Police Service, joining as a cadet and finishing as the OCU Commander for the Taskforce. He had a varied Police career in challenging boroughs and in training, while specialising in public order. Craig has been a Member of Metfriendly since joining the Police, making his move onto the Board a natural progression. In 2022, Craig was commissioned as one of His Majesty’s Deputy Lieutenants, representing the monarch and building bridges in communities across Greater London.

Nicola Hayes

Non-Executive Director

Chair of the Investment Committee. Nicola has a background in investment management, where she held various senior roles in global distribution (sales, marketing and client service). She now works as a corporate governance consultant and also sits on the board of a national charity, where she is Chair of the Finance, Investment and Commercial Committee.

Emma Richards

Non-Executive Director

Emma was appointed to the Board in April 2022.  Emma retired from the Metropolitan Police in Oct 2022 having served 34 years in the Metropolitan Police.  She has been a uniformed officer for all her career, specialising in firearms, public order and as a Counter Terrorism Security Co-ordinator. Emma retired as a Superintendent on the Taskforce within the MPS, she was appointed as the National Gender lead for the Police Superintendents Association in 2018. She brought up two children as a single parent and worked part time for many years.  Emma is the third generation of Metropolitan and City of London Police Officers, her sister retired as a DCI 2020 and her niece works for the City of London Police.

Lee Schöpp

Non-Executive Director

Senior Independent Director, Lee is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Director with considerable experience in strategic planning and execution gained over 25 years. Lee has previously worked with a mutual insurer as CFO and CEO, and currently chairs a fintech firm supplying the insurance sector as well as working as a business coach to firms in the northern home counties. When not working, Lee likes to play golf and travel.