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Our Board

Andy Bell

Independent Non-Executive Chair
Chair of the Nomination Committee

After spending a number of years working within the financial services sector, Andy
co-founded AJ Bell in 1995. Having graduated from Nottingham University in 1987 with a first-class degree in Mathematics, he qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in 1993 and built AJ Bell into one of the UK’s largest online investment platforms. Andy stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of AJ Bell PLC on 30 September 2022 and has continued as a consultant. A defining feature of Andy’s tenure as Chief Executive Officer was a focus on ensuring that AJ Bell’s primary purpose, vision and culture were engrained in the business.

Andy believes that a strong and effective governance framework is one of the most important foundations on which to successfully grow a business. This approach to governance has stood the test of time as AJ Bell has grown from being a small enterprise to a FTSE 250 listed company.

Andy was appointed Chair of Applied Nutrition in February 2024. Andy wrote the widely acclaimed “DIY Investor”, which is now in its third edition. Andy has a
number of private equity interests across a variety of business sectors and devotes time to the charitable trust he founded in 2011, the AJ Bell Trust. Andy was awarded a CBE in the 2024 New Year Honours List.

Thomas Ryder

Chief Executive Officer

Thomas is the Founder and CEO of Applied Nutrition. Thomas has been involved in the sports nutrition, health and wellness market since his early twenties, as a keen gym goer with an interest in nutrition and supplements. He started his professional career in sports nutrition, health and wellness with a supplements retail store in Liverpool, which led him into the wholesaling market and ultimately to acquiring the Applied Nutrition brand.

Thomas started to manufacture his own products for Applied Nutrition in 2016, providing him with valuable experience across retailing, wholesaling and manufacturing, as well as managing his own brand. This vertical experience has helped Thomas build one of the fastest growing sports nutrition, health and wellness brands in the UK and Europe, with products now being sold in over 80 countries worldwide.

Steven Granite

Chief Operating Officer

Steven is the Chief Operating Officer of Applied Nutrition and was appointed in April 2021. He is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport. Steven previously led a private equity backed food logistics company (Abbey Logistics Group Limited) in roles as Finance Director, Managing Director, CEO and Executive Chairman, until October 2023 when he led the sale of the business to a European competitor (Sitra NV).

From 2012 to 2023, Steven founded and chaired a multi-award winning not-for-profit initiative called ‘Think Logistics’ which seeks to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds gain opportunities within the logistics sector and assist in attracting more young people to the logistics sector. He was also a director of ‘Logistics UK’ which is the UK’s largest logistics trade body association from 2019 to 2022.

Joe Pollard

Chief Financial Officer

Joe joined the Group as Chief Financial Officer in May 2021 and was appointed to the Board of Directors at the same time. He is a Chartered Accountant, having qualified while working for Deloitte.

He previously worked at Grant Thornton in its Corporate Finance practice advising on M&A activity for entrepreneurs, corporate entities, and private equity investors. He has extensive experience leading complex transactions in multiple jurisdictions. In 2021, Joe led the team that advised on JD Sports taking a 32% ownership interest in the Group.

Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Joe worked at Deloitte where he spent time in both the Audit and Equity Capital Markets advisory teams. Joe holds a first-class honours degree in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Liverpool.

Tony Buffin

Independent Non-Executive Director
Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee
Chair of the Disclosure Committee

Tony is the Executive Chair of Tecsa, a software and consumer analytics provider, which he founded in 2019 and in which Wesfarmers, Australia and Dairy Farm International, part of the Jardine Matheson Group, are cornerstone investors. Prior to founding Tecsa, Tony was the Chief Executive Officer of Holland & Barrett, the UK’s leading alternative health and beauty retailer, the former Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Travis Perkins PLC and prior to that was Chief Financial Officer of Coles Group, a top 25 ASX listed retailer.

Tony spent his earlier career at Boots and Loyalty Management Group where he led the successful sale of the business to Canadian listed Aimia Inc. He is a fellow of the ICAEW and graduated from Cambridge University with a first class degree in Geography. He is chair of Highbourne Group and Nobia AB.

Marnie Millard

Senior Independent Non-Executive Director
Chair of the Remuneration Committee

Until December 2020, Marnie was Group Chief Executive for Nichols PLC, the home of Vimto. Marnie now has a NED portfolio career. She chairs the boards at UA92, Pura and Marks Electrical PLC, is the chair of the Remuneration Committee for Applied Nutrition and is a non-executive director for Belvoir Fruit Farms. Previously she was chair of the board at Kidly Ltd and a non-executive director for Finsbury Food Group PLC.

She is a fellow of the Society of Leadership at St Georges House and a Board Mentor at the Critical Eye organisation.

Marnie held the chair for the CBI in the North West of England for 3 years as well as being an Advisor to the Board of International Trade.

Marnie was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2018 in recognition of her contributions to International Trade business in the North West of England.