About
Chris is a special advisor at Morrow Sodali, focusing on corporate governance policies and disclosure systems.
Chris is an experienced policy-maker who has worked at the highest levels with business, investors, regulators, governments and international organizations, and has written and presented extensively on the topics of governance and stewardship.
For ten years until 2014, Chris was Director of Corporate Governance at the UK’s Financial Reporting Council. He was responsible for developing and promoting the UK Corporate Governance Code, one of the earliest and most influential codes for companies. The practices that he introduced include board effectiveness reviews and public reporting on the management of significant risks. He was also responsible for introducing the first national stewardship code for investors in the UK in 2010.
Chris was the FRC’s Strategy Director from 2014 until January 2016. He was responsible for developing the FRC’s overall strategy and plan for 2016-19 and for overseeing its external communications, public affairs and international influencing activities.
In his time at the FRC, Chris contributed to a number of UK government and other reviews, such as the Walker Review of the governance of banks and other financial institutions, and was secretary to the Pre-Emption Group. He established, and chaired for eight years until 2015, the European Corporate Governance Codes Network which shares information and good practice among the bodies responsible for codes in 28 European countries. In this capacity Chris provided advice to the European Commission and ESMA, and in his personal capacity he has advised bodies such as the OECD and EBRD.
As well as working with Nestor Advisors, Chris is currently an advisor to the Institute of Directors Centre for Corporate Governance and a member of the Advisory Board of the Hawkamah Institute. He is an Honorary Life Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute and the Institute of Risk Management.
Chris began his career in the UK Civil Service, where his various positions included responsibility for deregulation, competition policy and liaison with the EU. Chris has a BA (Hons) in Philosophy from the University of Essex.