Leadership Team

Scott serves as Chief Executive Officer of Thistle Group, after joining in 2025. He brings over 25 years of leadership experience in consulting and business transformation across the life sciences, energy, and financial services sectors.

In his role, Scott is focused on driving the Group’s growth and expanding its capabilities, embedding regulatory compliance, financial crime prevention, and robust governance expertise directly into clients’ growth and transformation initiatives.

Harry joined Thistle Group in 2024 and now serves as Chief Commercial Officer, overseeing client relationships, revenue and marketing.

A key part of Harry's role involves working closely with Thistle’s clients and professional advisers while supporting the development of new relationships across the Group. He previously served globally as a British Army Officer and has since held advisory and leadership roles within private banking, wealth management, and a FinTech start-up.

Sue serves as Chief Operating and People Officer at Thistle Initiatives. She joined the firm in September 2024 and brings extensive international experience as a COO/CPO within the professional services sector, including law and management consulting.

As part of Thistle’s senior leadership team, Sue is responsible for driving efficiency, developing the firm’s people proposition, and ensuring operational excellence. She has a strong people focus and a proven track record in building leadership teams to support growth and transformation.

Alex is the Chief Financial Officer of Thistle Group, having joined in 2025. He has spent his career in the professional services sector, most recently as CFO of a private equity-backed Strategic Insights and Analytics consultancy. With significant experience in M&A, driving both organic and acquisitive growth for entrepreneurial businesses, his role at Thistle will work alongside the leadership team to drive continued investment in the business and maintain a robust internal governance environment.

In addition, Alex is a Trustee and Chair of the Finance Committee at HWLP Multi-Academy Trust.

James Dingwall is the Founder and Director of the Thistle Group including Thistle Initiatives. He supports business and commercial growth as well as providing specialist M&A advice and regulatory advice, particularly in the areas of FCA supervision & enforcement actions along with acquisition due diligence support.

Joe has worked with and in many of the UK's leading wealth and investment management firms. Starting out as a discretionary manager with Barclays Wealth, he moved into consultancy in 2016 to specialise in the buy-side sector and predominantly with private client firms.

He arrives at Thistle Initiatives from Alpha, where he was a Partner and senior member of the Wealth Management and Private Banking segment, supporting a range of private client firms to identify and delivery complex change to their propositions, business and operations.

Matthew is a Partner at Thistle Initiatives specialising in credit, mortgages and insurance. He supports firms in navigating the FCA regulatory landscape, offering strategic guidance, insights and tailored compliance solutions.

With extensive experience across the sector, Matthew helps firms translate regulatory requirements into practical frameworks, ensuring they can achieve their commercial goals while maintaining robust compliance standards.

Michael has joined as a Partner in the Financial Crime team, working alongside Jessica Cath. With over 15 years’ experience in financial crime compliance, he was most recently a Director at BDO, where he built a strong reputation for leading s166 Skilled Person reviews and providing firms with proportionate, risk-based advice to stay compliant.

His career also includes senior roles at Bovill, Lloyds Banking Group and Investec, giving him practical, well-rounded expertise to help firms strengthen their financial crime compliance frameworks.

Nikki has re-joined Thistle Initiatives as a Partner in the Insurance team, working alongside Matthew Williamson. Formerly Managing Director at UKGI, she brings extensive expertise in Delegated Authority markets, MGAs, InsurTech and product development, with a proven record of delivering practical, solutions-driven outcomes for insurance firms.

Nikki also continues to serve as a Director at the Association of Professional Compliance Consultants (APCC).

Sam has 14 years’ experience leading large scale change and transformation programmes in the Financial Services industry, working with several Tier 1 institutions across Banking, Insurance and Wealth and Asset Management.

He has led numerous Regulatory Change programmes including remedial responses to S166, Consumer Duty and Operational Resilience. He also has vast experience delivering pre- and post-M&A transformation programmes, such as new target operating model design and implementation, and post-merger integration.

Lorraine is a Partner at Thistle Initiatives and leads a team delivering projects for a wide range of PSPs and EMIs. She is an experienced regulatory compliance professiona, specialising in compliance frameworks, systems and controls, monitoring, culture and conduct risk.

Lorraine has successfully guided numerous firms through FCA authorisation and has worked with start-ups, fast-growing private firms and listed entities. She has also undertaken safeguarding and due diligence assessments, FCA Skilled Person reviews, and holds GDPR Practitioner status with extensive expertise in data protection and privacy compliance.