Our Leadership Team

Mark has more than 40 years’ experience in commercial and financial services gained through previous roles including CEO of St James’s Place plc, CEO of Virgin Direct and Director of Henderson Investors plc. He is a Non-Executive Director of Coutts & Co.

In addition to being Interim Chair of Connells Group, Mark is Deputy Chair of the Board, Senior Independent Director and a member of the Audit, Nominations and Remuneration Committees of the Skipton Building Society, having been appointed to the Board in 2016.

Helen joined Connells Group as CEO in September 2024, bringing extensive leadership experience from her successful track record of managing large, diverse organisations. Prior to this, she served as Managing Director of Stonegate Group, the UK’s largest pub company, where she led teams across circa 850 sites and multi-formats, driving significant profit growth and overseeing several successful acquisitions.

Helen also has a strong foundation in the estate agency sector, having been Managing Director of Your Move. There, she developed and implemented a strategic three-year plan that transformed the customer experience and exceeded profit expectations.

A passionate advocate for people, Helen places great emphasis on employee satisfaction, fostering career development, leading inclusive teams and driving performance and profit.

As Chief Finance & Commercial Officer, Richard is responsible for the Group’s finance, procurement and premises teams, including Health and Safety, as well as overseeing all corporate activity.

He is passionate about delivering a great service to our customers, both internally and externally, and sees the implementation of new technology to be key in improving the customer journey throughout the property transaction, whether that be sales, lettings or the provision of financial services.

Richard joined Connells Group as Chief Finance & Commercial Officer in 2014. Prior to that he spent over 20 years at our parent company, Skipton Building Society, where he held the role of Group Finance Director from 2002 until 2014. He has extensive experience of delivering mergers, acquisitions and disposals throughout his career, including the acquisition of Countrywide plc by Connells Group and the disposal of our 67% shareholding in TM Group, both in 2021. His many years of involvement within both Connells Group and the Skipton Group have given him a thorough knowledge of the business.

As Chief Operating Officer, Chris has overall responsibility for operations across the Group’s Estate Agency, Lettings, Mortgage Services, New Homes and Conveyancing businesses, as well as our central contact centre.

Central to Chris’ work is his passion for people, and he has a strong focus on empowering our colleagues, driving diversity and embedding a positive culture across all areas of the business.

Having joined the property industry in 2008, Chris has spent 10 years with Connells Group in roles ranging from Area Manager to Operations Director. Chris has also held a number of external roles in the estate agency industry including as a director of two estate agencies, and more recently as Chief Commercial Officer for Yopa, where he set up Financial Services for the business.

Penny was appointed as Chief Risk Officer for Connells Group (subject to regulatory approval) in February 2025. She oversees the Group’s operational risk, compliance (monitoring and policy), financial crime, and data protection functions.

Penny’s approach puts people at the heart of our agenda, and she believes in empowering colleagues to drive the delivery of good customer outcomes.

Prior to joining Connells Group, Penny spent more than 20 years at our parent company Skipton Group, where she has held senior leadership roles in Internal Audit, Compliance and was most recently Head of Customer Outcomes. Penny was also the business owner of the consumer duty project, steering the business through the new regulatory framework which came into force in 2023. As a result of her time at Skipton Group, Penny has a deep understanding of Connells Group's complex structure and the risks that come with being a large organisation with regulated financial products.

As Group Lender Services Managing Director, Adrian oversees our Mortgage Services, Surveying and Asset Management businesses, and is responsible for the development of our important lender relationships and managing our regulatory responsibilities.

A key focus for Adrian is ensuring a customer-centric approach is at the heart of Lender Services, delivering a quality service that stretches across both our customer- and lender-facing businesses. With customers at the forefront, Adrian also chairs the Group’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Steering Committee, charged with driving forward the Group’s ongoing commitment to being a responsible business.

Having joined Connells Group in 2011, Adrian was previously the Group’s Mortgage Services Director, and prior to that, he held roles as Head of Lending at Kent Reliance, Managing Director at Heritable Bank Mortgages and Director of Mortgage Distribution for Bradford & Bingley.

As General Counsel and Company Secretary at Connells Group, Helen has responsibility for the Group’s legal services and corporate governance.

Helen’s role is to lead a team delivering legal business partnering as well as commercial and strategic advice to the Board. Her focus is on promoting team engagement and driving process improvement based on efficiency under a values-led culture, where integrity and ethics are central to all decision making.

Helen is a qualified lawyer and has worked in the legal sector since 1997 in both private practice and in-house roles. Prior to joining Connells Group in November 2024, Helen was Head of Legal and Company Secretary at Weetabix for seven years. In 2024, she was a finalist in the Next 100 Inspirational Women in Law Awards in the In-House Lawyer of the Year category and was also shortlisted for Legal Operations Team of the Year at The Lawyer Awards previously.