Executive Committee Members

Biographies of members of the Executive Committee.

Sir Jon Thompson

Chief Executive Officer

Prior to joining the FRC Jon was the CEO of HMRC, the UK Tax Authority, collecting more than £625billion, employing more than 65,000 people and driving reform of the UK tax system.

Before HMRC, Jon was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, jointly leading the £36bn organisation with the Chief of the Defence Staff. Jon has had a lengthy finance career including as Director General, Finance at the MoD, Director General, Corporate Services at the Department for Education and Finance Director of Ofsted. Before joining the Civil Service in 2004 Jon held a number of corporate services and finance roles in the public and corporate sectors.

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David Rule

Director Of Supervision

David Rule is currently Executive Director, Insurance Supervision at the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority.

Previously he was Executive Director Prudential Policy and Director, International UK Banks Supervision. He worked for the FSA as Head of the Macro Prudential Department and was Chief Executive of the International Securities Lending Association. He has a degree in Modern History and further degrees in Political Science and Economics.

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Elizabeth Barrett

Executive Counsel and Director of Enforcement

Elizabeth Barrett became FRC Executive Counsel and Director of Enforcement on 1 August 2018. Mrs Barrett is responsible for leading the FRC’s Enforcement Division and for decisions in relation to disciplinary proceedings involving auditors, accountants and actuaries.

Elizabeth Barrett spent 30 years at Slaughter and May, including 27 years as a partner and was the firm’s Head of its Dispute Resolution Group between 2004 and 2008. Mrs Barrett advised HM Treasury on a number of high-profile proceedings throughout the financial crisis and after, including the interventions in Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, as well as the administration of the Icelandic banks.

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Paul George

Executive Director, Corporate Governance & Reporting

Paul is Executive Director of the Corporate Governance & Reporting Division. Paul joined the FRC in 2004 as the Director of the Professional Oversight Board. He was Chair of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR) from April 2011 to April 2013.

He holds a degree in Accountancy and Financial Analysis from Warwick University, qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in 1985 and was a partner from 1995 until he left the firm in 1999. In addition to being responsible for the audits of many major public interest entities he managed one of KPMG’s significant consulting businesses and was on their UK Consulting management committee.

Following KPMG, and prior to joining the Financial Reporting Council in 2004, Paul was a main board director of a UK publicly quoted company specialising in helping multi-national companies improve their operational efficiency and the effectiveness of their finance functions.

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Anne McArthur

Company Secretary & General Counsel

Anne McArthur was appointed General Counsel & Company Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council in 2006 following two years as Secretary to the former AADB.

Previously she was an Associate at Beachcroft Wansbroughs (now DAC Beachcrofts) in the Public Law Department where she acted for a number of regulators across different sectors prosecuting in disciplinary cases, acting as legal assessor and giving advice on a wide range of regulatory issues. Prior to this, both at Beachcroft Wansbroughs and at Le Brasseurs, Anne acted in relation to disciplinary cases and civil and criminal actions as well as providing general advice in relation to the provision of healthcare services.

Anne studied law at Liverpool University and following completion of Law Society Finals at the College of Law, Guildford, trained and qualified at Le Brasseurs.

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