Meet our Board of Directors

Fahed Boodai is the co-founder and Chairman of Gatehouse Financial Group and Chairman of Gatehouse Bank plc. With more than 27 years investment banking experience specifically within the global real-estate market, he has presided over diverse real estate acquisitions and exits totalling more than US$3 billion. He holds an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California and a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business from the University of San Diego. He also occupies a number of external board and director positions. Fahed’s family maintains overall control of the Boodai Corporation, a Kuwait-based holding company with diverse interests including construction, engineering and global real estate.

Gerald Gregory is a retired Managing Director of a diverse portfolio of businesses and he has significant strategic and operational experience in large (equivalent FTSE top 100) mutual retail financial services companies. He has extensive experience in strategy development and implementation, risk management, treasury and structured finance operations, marketing and sales. Gerald retired from his executive career in March 2008 and since then has worked in a variety of Non-Executive Director roles mainly, but not exclusively, in financial services. He is very familiar with the UK liquidity and capital regimes and has been approved by the UK Regulator under the Senior Managers and Certification.

Abdulaziz AlBader joined the Board of Gatehouse Bank in February 2017. Prior to this, he was employed by the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) from 1989 and in July 2023 retired from his position there as Executive Director for Operations and Administration. Abdulaziz has held other senior roles at the KIA including Executive Vice President, Human Resources & Administration at the Kuwait Investment Office, London. Prior to joining the KIA, he served as Director of the Minister’s Office, Ministry of Finance and Director, Public Warehousing Company and Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, Kuwait. He represented the KIA on the Board of Directors of Warba Bank from February 2014 to March 2016, where he was Chairman of the Risk Committee; Vice Chairman of the Audit Committee; and member of the Governance Committee. Abdulaziz graduated from Kuwait University in 1980 with a BA in Accounting, holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Scranton Pennsylvania, USA and is a member of the Kuwait Accounting Society.

Lesley Beecher joined the Board of Gatehouse Bank in April 2023. She has over 30 years' experience in the financial services industry, including board-level roles at HSBC, First Direct, Harpenden Building Society and Cornerstone Mutual Services. As a technology specialist, she has extensive executive experience in delivering large change programmes and leading teams of up to 1,000 technology professionals, making her highly skilled in digital, technology, delivery and people leadership. She currently also remains on the board at Harpenden Building Society.

Phillip McLelland joined the Board of Gatehouse Bank in April 2024 with over 30 years’ experience within highly commercial, complex and regulated environments, including energy and financial services. He previously held executive-level roles at Calisen, British Business Bank plc, Provident Financial plc and UK Asset Resolution with responsibility across all aspects of finance leadership, reporting, financial control and risk management. Phillip is also a Non-Executive Director at Furness Building Society, where he has chaired the Board Risk Committee and as a member of the Board, is responsible for overseeing leadership, strategic direction and governance.

Charles Haresnape joined Gatehouse Bank as Chief Executive Officer in May 2017. Prior to joining Gatehouse Bank, he was Group Managing Director at Aldermore Bank from January 2011, where he was responsible for residential and commercial mortgages, plus property development. Before joining Aldermore, Charles worked at Connells, one of the UK’s largest estate agency groups, where he was Group Mortgage Services Director. Prior to Connells, he was responsible for intermediary mortgage lending at both NatWest and RBS, plus the branch mortgage sales force within NatWest. He has worked for a number of other household names in the UK banking and building society sectors, including Nationwide and HBOS where he was a senior executive, responsible for mortgage sales and portfolio acquisitions. Charles has been Deputy Chairman of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and Chairman of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA).

Danesh Mahadeva was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Gatehouse Bank in July 2017. He began his career at the Bank as Vice President, Head of Finance in September 2013 and was responsible for managing the finance function. He has been an active member of key governing committees of the Bank and has worked closely with the Board in developing the Bank’s strategy and financial planning. Prior to joining the Bank, Danesh’s previous roles have included working for Barclays Bank Plc across financial and product control and Ernst & Young specialising in audit in the banking and capital markets division. Danesh graduated with a BSc degree in Management Sciences from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England & Wales (ICAEW).

Usman Chaudry joined Gatehouse Bank as Chief Risk Officer in January 2018. Prior to this, his previous roles included working at digital challenger bank, Tandem, as a Risk Director and Standard Chartered, where he held the role of Global Head of Risk Governance and Policy and was responsible for risk oversight across 80 countries. Usman has also previously been at KPMG advising UK banks on FS risk and regulatory matters, including FS corporate transactions and at Barclays and GE Capital helping set up greenfield operations and risk management in retail and commercial businesses across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He started his career at FICO, where he used advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to help banks drive better decisions. Usman holds a PhD in Computational Chemistry from the University of Manchester.