The council has made the senior appointments of a membership and business development manager and public affairs manager.
The Equity Release Council has made the double appointment of a membership and business development manager and public affairs manager.
Lorraine Cox (pictured left) takes up the role of membership and business development manager to further support and add value to the organisation’s membership. She brings over 30 years of financial services experience in marketing and relationship management both at a strategic and operational level, having held senior sales and marketing roles at AXA Life.
She most recently worked at the professional body, the Chartered Insurance Institute, managing large corporate relationships.
Simon Posner (pictured right) has been appointed public affairs manager, utilising his Whitehall, parliamentary and government experience to form important alliances and develop significant engagement programmes to support the Council’s ongoing work in the later-life lending sector.
Posner has spent a large proportion of his 20 years’ plus career in Whitehall as a civil servant and a ministerial aide. He was also previously chief executive of a leading transport trade association, the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, where his work established them as an industry leader for safety and compliance through important pieces of legislation and regulation.
Jim Boyd, CEO of the Equity Release Council, said: “I am thrilled to welcome Simon and Lorraine to the team. The expansion of our organisation will enable us to add even further value to members and drive meaningful change through political engagement – and support better consumer outcomes.
"Simon and Lorraine’s extensive experience will bring additional momentum to our ongoing work in leading the way in setting the bar as a standards-setter in later life lending. This comes at a pivotal time for the sector, as the importance of considering a range of retirement funding options only moves further up the agenda.”
Cox said: “Working with the Council and its members to better support the organisation’s growing and increasingly diverse membership will be a key focus of mine going forwards. I’m delighted to be on board to add further value to members on the next phase of this organisation’s exciting growth journey.”
And Posner added: “I am looking forward to working with the Council and its members to continue to drive forward key stakeholder and public affairs matters. Leveraging my experience in Whitehall and at a trade body, it is brilliant to be part of a team so driven by upholding the highest level of consumer protections.”
