Why First Rate

Gordon joined First Rate in February 2007, having spent over 25 years in banking. Gordon worked for Bank of Scotland for a number of years, holding senior positions in direct banking, credit cards, retail marketing and branch distribution strategy, as well as serving on various industry boards (MasterCard, Visa and LINK).

On the creation of HBOS, Gordon was appointed Head of Remote Banking. He then joined RBS/NatWest as Director of Channel Delivery – Retail Marketing, overseeing the customer proposition for e-commerce, telephony and ATM business. After joining Bank of Ireland in 2004, Gordon was appointed Strategy and Marketing Director for Post Office^® Financial Services.

Gordon enjoys all sports but particularly golf and football and is a keen Glasgow Rangers supporter. He used to play Shinty (a derivative of hockey) at international level for Scotland. Travel is Gordon’s favourite pastime outside work. He has a daughter and a son.

Mark joined First Rate as Finance Director in May 2003. He is a qualified chartered accountant with an economics degree from Queen’s University Belfast and an MBA from Nottingham Business School, and is ‘big-four’ trained with both audit and corporate finance experience. In 1993, he made the move from Deloittes into commerce, initially as an internal auditor with Northern Foods plc (the UK’s leading food producer to the major retail sector), followed by a variety of financial and management accounts positions. Following the demerger of Express Dairies plc from Northern Foods plc in 1998 he held a number of senior finance positions both at head office and site level.

Mark’s philosophy is that this broad finance experience provides the platform for him to perform the primary role of a ‘Finance Director, stewardship’. He passionately believes that by maintaining a robust control environment the finance function is then in a position to add value to the business.

A keen golfer and tennis player, he also enjoys watching rugby and football and is also proud to be a founding member of the Big Boot Walking Club (est. 2000).

Bob joined First Rate following a career spanning 30 years with Abbey. His last role there was as Director, Payment Services, covering cash provision to the branch and ATM networks, automated payments, cheque clearing and international payments. Bob represented Abbey on a number of external bodies such as APACS Council, BBA and Cheque and Credit Clearing Co Ltd., and was Chairman of Visa UK’s board.

Previous roles included Director, Customer Services, with responsibility for Abbey’s call centres and responsibility for the bank’s centralised processing sites and unsecured lending functions.

Bob is keen on most sports (watching these days rather than participating) although he plays the occasional round of golf – badly! He enjoys cooking in his spare time.

David Thomas is responsible for the strategies of acquiring and managing new key clients, together with the development and launch of international payment services. David joined First Rate Exchange Services in August 2007.

David’s experience includes:

Two years establishing and managing dt7 Partnership, a specialist B2B business development consultancy, with particular focus in the retail banking and corporate payments sectors. Clients included News Corporation, HBOS, Bank of America, AirPlus and MasterCard.

Cendant Corporation: seven years’ experience including Managing Director of Cims UK, Cendant’s international membership services business. Responsibilities included the negotiation, managing and development of major client contracts with UK blue-chip companies, one global.

American Express: 18 years’ experience, various sales, marketing roles in both traveller’s cheques and Corporate Cards, where he became VP and General Manager for the UK and the Nordic markets.

David is married with two children and counts among his interests, rugby (Wales and Wasps), golf, walking, classic cars, cycling and jazz.