Our directors
Managing Director
Stephen joined Ikano as Managing Director in 2006 from Experian where he had been President of the Decision Analytics business in North America. He was educated both in the UK (Newcastle University) and in Norway. Stephen says that he joined Ikano "to work in a progressive culture where the shareholder takes a long term view, believes in people and fosters an environment of trust and fairness between co-workers, clients and customers". He has been closely associated with Ikano since 1993, initially consulting with them in Scandinavia and also when the company decided to expand into the UK and Germany. Stephen is a Trustee and Board Member of The Broadway art-house cinema and digital arts centre in Nottingham.
Deputy Managing Director
As Deputy MD Alison is involved with many aspects of the organisation. Her role incorporates that of Finance Director and Company Secretary and she is also responsible for IT services and project delivery within Ikano. Since joining the organisation in 2003 she has taken a major role in developing the business into a strong player in the retail finance and loyalty markets and has been involved with delivering several new products & partnerships. Alison read Engineering at Cambridge University is a qualified accountant and prior to joining Ikano worked for IBM and Reuters in various finance, business development and IT roles.
Commercial Director
Dan is responsible for a range of commercial functions in Ikano including New Business, Retailer Management, Marketing, Data Analytics and Credit & Risk. His primary objective is to generate profitable demand from customers and retailers for the wider team to deliver. Since joining Ikano in 2008, Dan has helped to develop new product and channel capabilities which have enabled Ikano to take on many new retailers and deliver significant growth in both the finance and loyalty sectors. Prior to Ikano, Dan was Managing Director - Partnerships with the Fairpoint Group (formally Debt Free Direct). Dan was one of four Directors who took Clear Start, a fledgling business of 10 people at start-up to a 100+ person company and subsequent trade sale to Fairpoint. Prior to Fairpoint he created and developed Medi-Fi, a finance broker and lender. Dan has also spent over three years at Capital One and five years in the insurance industry with Zurich.
Operations Director
Andy joined Ikano in 2007 from Alliance & Leicester where he headed up the retail Collections function. At Ikano he is responsible for the customer facing teams within the business and as a result has focused on realigning operational resources, reducing costs, redesigning processes and implementing new technology to support the significant growth of the company. His key objectives are to both deliver efficient service and manage bad debt within agreed limits. In addition to his time at Alliance & Leicester he spent five years at Capital One and four years at Abbey (Santander).
Communications Director
Sarah joined Ikano in 2007 with a role covering several functions including Compliance, Marketing Supply and Communications. Since then she has developed and implemented a full risk management and compliance framework, outsourced and streamlined the print production function and developed a communications and CSR strategy. She now has responsibility for HR, Brand, Governance and Communications. Before working with Ikano Sarah was Marketing Director at Capital One and had also spent over fifteen years in the communications field.