Before joining Nest Insight in 2018, she worked in research and strategy consulting roles, leading insight and innovation work addressing a range of future opportunities, including in personal finance and pensions.

Clare was previously a civil servant for nearly 35 years, latterly as Permanent Secretary of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2015 to 2019, and of the Department for Exiting the EU until its closure in January 2020.  Her early career was spent mainly in the Department of Health and the NHS, with senior roles in the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Transport.

After leaving the Civil Service, Clare chaired the Health Foundation’s Covid-19 impact inquiry and worked with organisations including Transport for London and the Bank of England.  She is a trustee of the History of Parliament Trust and chairs the South Downs Partnership.  Clare was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 2020 Birthday Honours.

Working directly with companies, non-profits, and local governments, Mariel and her team use quantitative methods to design and rigorously test ideas in the field, exploring what is needed, what works, and how to drive impact, primarily in the financial services sector and public policy arena. To date, they have worked with over 100 partners and run over 150 field studies reaching millions of people around the world. She holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Duke University and a BA in International Relations from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her previous work experience includes Boulder County Housing and Human Services, Peace Corps-Dominican Republic, and Nagle & Associates, a consulting firm for nonprofits and charitable foundations. Originally from Idaho, Mariel enjoys riding bikes, walking in the woods, watching minor-league baseball, and spending time with her partner (Evan) and children (Jones and Alice).

Gavin holds a BA in History and Politics and from the University of London.

Gavin is an author, his debut book The Opportunity Index examines the economics of inequality. He is also the founder of a Financial Education Program which equips secondary school pupils attending schools in disadvantaged areas with the tools and aspirations to enter the corporate world.

Gavin is a trustee of the Old Vic Theatre Trust, the NFL UK Foundation and the Pensions Policy Institute.  He has been recognised by the Black British Business Awards as the Senior Financial Services Professional of the year in 2020, he was awarded the Heart of BlackRock for driving a culture of empathy, trust and respect and is listed as one of the top 30 Black Professionals by the Powerlist’s, Power in the City bi-annual ranking in 2019, 2021 and 2023.

In the last 8 years Helen has led the product, marketing and operations arms of Nest, before her appointment as CEO in September 2016. Since then, Helen has been at the helm of one of the largest pension schemes in the UK. Using her position to support women in pensions, Helen is a mentor to female pensions and non-pensions professionals, offering guidance and coaching. Helen has signed the Women in Finance Charter on behalf of Nest, overseen the creation of Nest’s first diversity group and published Nest’s gender pay report despite not being required to. Helen is committed to bringing more diversity to Nest’s senior team and is working with her board to establish a senior leadership programme to cultivate the next generation of diverse leaders for Nest.

At Wagestream, Emily leads on the scale-up’s work to tackle financial exclusion and build a more inclusive app that improves workers’ financial wellbeing. The role brings together stakeholders across policy, public sector and the financial services sector – from running co-creation sessions with customers, through to leading an Impact Advisory Board. She also runs the company’s programme of academic research in collaboration with leading think tanks and global universities and recently published “Unlocking the Pay Cycle“, a report on the wellbeing impact of flexible pay.

Emily is passionate about financial inclusion, and has been working in fintech since the term itself was coined. Before Wagestream she co-founded a social impact fintech, Touco Lab, which built financial services products for people with cognitive impairments using open banking technology. Touco was awarded grant funding from the Nationwide Open Banking for Good programme, and was accepted onto the Techstars accelerator programme.