Project Heather makes senior appointments to round off top team at proposed Scottish Stock Exchange
· Elaine Morton joins as Chief Regulatory and Compliance Officer and Helen Webster as Chief Operating Officer
· Project Heather team are joined by interns appointed in partnership with Entrepreneurial Scotland and Ethical Finance Hub at new George Street headquarters
· Commitment to gender balance demonstrated in predominantly female top team
(28 June 2019, Edinburgh)
Project Heather is pleased to announce the appointments of Elaine Morton as Chief Regulatory and Compliance Officer and Helen Webster as Chief Operating Officer, joining the executive team who will work together to bring a new kind of stock exchange to Scotland. In addition, three interns from Scottish universities have joined the team, in collaboration with the Ethical Finance Hub and Entrepreneurial Scotland, to work on discrete projects over the summer months, undertaking research, helping to establish processes and systems and supporting the team as they get ready to launch in the second half of the year.
Headquartered in Edinburgh, the team recently moved into new premises on George Street, leased from the Crown Estate Scotland, offices which are intended to become a focal point for collaboration among partners of Project Heather to help change the way capital markets operate to better benefit the whole of society. With a permanent staff of 12, the organisation is now prepared in the key areas within which to build an impact focused, globally facing, Scottish based stock exchange.
Elaine Morton joins Project Heather from Sainsbury’s Bank, where she was Head of Conduct, Compliance & Financial Crime and brings over 18 years’ experience in a variety of disciplines in retail financial services. She will be leading the dialogue with the Financial Conduct Authority as the project seeks regulatory approval for the stock exchange.
Helen Webster joins Project Heather from Aberdeen Standard, where she was Chief Executive Officer of Aberdeen Life and Head of Governance, UK and Ireland. Helen will be responsible for overseeing the operations of the Scottish Stock Exchange.
More information on the team can be found here.
CEO and founder Tomás Carruthers said: “I’m delighted with the quality of the team we have assembled and their terrific depth of experience. I’m also pleased that over 50% of our team are women and that this pattern of diversity is reflected in our Executive team.
“We are looking at diversity through multiple lenses and as part of this commitment we are keen to provide opportunities for people who are just starting out on their career journey, which is why I am so pleased that we have been able to partner successfully with the Ethical Finance Hub and Entrepreneurial Scotland to offer internship opportunities. We will continue to challenge our standards of diversity as we build a new type of stock exchange, as it is by challenging norms that we ensure we do not behave in the same old ways. Culture and values are key to creating a trusted, accessible and innovative new financial institution, and we look forward to developing a great place to work as we continue towards launch.”
Project Heather recently confirmed the support of Scottish Enterprise via a Regional Selective Assistance grant, following a successful fundraising coordinated via AAB advisers. The company is partnering with Euronext, EuroCCP and Euroclear to provide the market infrastructure for the proposed Exchange, which, subject to regulatory approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, is targeting a launch around the end of 2019.
Enquiries
Project Heather
Martha Walsh, Communications Director
martha.walsh@projectheather.scot
07876 245 962
About Project Heather
Project Heather is building a Scottish Stock Exchange: an exchange shaped for the 21st century, adding ‘impact’ to the traditional capital markets model of ‘risk and reward’.
Scottish based, yet global facing, it will act as a bridge between values-aligned investors and companies.
The Scottish Stock Exchange will be the first recognised investment exchange worldwide for which companies have to measure their positive social and/or environmental impact before listing, and an annually updated impact report publicly available on their website.
Through a recently agreed technological and strategic partnership with Euronext, the Scottish Stock Exchange is setting out to bring access, visibility and liquidity to businesses — building on a Scottish tradition of entrepreneurship, ingenuity in raising capital and as a hub for renewables, sustainability and social enterprise.
Subject to approval from Europe’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Exchange hopes to launch around the end of 2019.
Elaine Morton
Elaine has been leading and developing compliance teams for 15 years and has a broad range of practical experience in regulatory and legal compliance, financial crime, corporate governance, oversight and risk management. She is a qualified solicitor, a member of the Law Society of Scotland and a Fellow of the International Compliance Association.
Helen Webster
Helen has 25 years’ experience in the pensions and savings industry and has held regulated roles within large financial services organisations, most recently as chief executive of insurance company Aberdeen Life (a subsidiary of Aberdeen Standard Investments), prior to which she was Head of Product Strategy at Kames Capital. Helen is a qualified actuary and serves on the Board of Trustees of Children 1st, Scotland’s national children’s charity, and is a member of the Scottish FA’s Equality and Diversity Advisory Board.
Internships
The three Interns are: Ilkka Saarinen (Research Officer) who is studying for an MSc in Carbon Management at Edinburgh University, Laura Cochrane (Business Development Intern) who is studying for an MA (Hons) Politics and Sociology at Aberdeen University and Calum Kennedy (Finance Intern) who is studying for a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Economics at St Andrews University.
