About the Foundation
The Mortgage Advice Bureau Foundation was established in 2022 to create awareness among MAB staff and customers of the growing need of the communities they live in or are choosing to move to.
All application for funding will need to be supported by a Mortgage Advice Bureau customer or member of staff.
How We Are Governed
We are governed by an independent board of trustees who are responsible for the work that we do and the way in which we do it, including setting and overseeing the delivery of our strategy.
Our Trustees
Lucy joined MAB in May 2015 as Finance Director and became Chief Financial Officer in July 2019. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1996 with KPMG. Prior to joining MAB, Lucy was most recently a director in the corporate broking team at Canaccord Genuity Limited and was part of the team that worked on MAB’s admission to AIM in November 2014. At Canaccord Genuity Limited she advised numerous quoted and unquoted companies predominantly in the financial services sector.
Andrew is CEO of the Mortgage Advice Bureau Foundation having previously worked as the New Homes Director for MAB since 2013 when they acquired the business Mortgage Talk, for which Andrew was the Managing Director. Andrew established the Foundation with the support of the MAB Board and is passionate about delivering on its purpose.
Ali Crossley is the Managing Director, Distribution of Legal & General’s newly formed Retail division. Retail covers protection, retirement income, savings, lending and advice, fintech and mortgage businesses under one umbrella. It has over 5.5 million UK life insurance policyholders, over 1.8 million people in group protection schemes and almost 1.3 million US term-life insurance policyholders.
Ali is responsible for leading the integration of all our distribution activity, which includes intermediary, banks, affinity and our aggregator channels. She also oversees Legal & General’s surveying business LGSS, and our mortgage-related businesses Mortgage Club and Smartr365. Before joining Legal & General in 2019, Ali was the Managing Director of BGL’s affinity business, Junction. She was promoted from Customer Director after leading the acquisition of Sun Life and Virgin Money. She was also responsible for BGL’s 3000-strong customer services team and introduced a number of digital innovations, including webchat, a self-service centre and robotic technology.
Her other financial service roles include Chief Operating Officer at Saga Financial Services and Marketing Director and Director, Retirement Income at Prudential plc. She’s also a non-executive director of Age UK Enterprises.
Ali lives in Rutland and has two children. Outside of work, she’s a keen runner, cook and gardener, and travels to Italy as much as possible
Peter is one of the most successful and influential leaders of a financial services company in the UK. As CEO of the Mortgage Advice Bureau for the last 20 years, he has been the driving force in creating one of the largest and most respected networks and mortgage services brands in the UK. Peter took the company public in 2014 and has seen the value of the business grow materially and venture into international markets.
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Esther Dijkstra is the Managing Director, Intermediaries, for Lloyds Banking Group.
Previously she was the Director of Strategic Partnerships for LBG with responsibility for the National Account, Housing Development and Intermediary Experience teams as well as leading Mortgage Intermediary digital strategy.
Prior to that she was the head of Intermediary protection at Scottish Widows where she was instrumental in the launch of ‘Scottish Widows Protect’ into the Intermediary market, which went live in 2015.
Esther began her career in management consultancy with IBM in the Netherlands and moved to the UK in 2000. She previously worked for Legal & General where she was Commercial and Marketing Director of the L&G Network and UK Mortgage Club.
Esther lives with her husband and two children in Guildford.
Ben Thompson is Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Mortgage Advice Bureau.
Ben has been in financial services since 1986 and before joining MAB in 2018 was Chief Executive Officer of ULS Technology. Prior to this appointment, he was Managing Director of Legal & General Mortgage Club.
Before Legal & General, Ben held roles at Paymentshield, St. James’s Place, Winterthur Life and TSB. His career has most recently been focused on mortgages and financial services. However, Ben also has good experience in both retail and private banking, as well as in residential property, in particular estate agency.
Fabien is Chief Commercial Officer and Company Secretary at Mortgage Advice Bureau (Holdings) plc. He has a background in investment banking, having previously worked as a Director at Panmure Gordon where he was pursuing small and mid cap Financial Services opportunities.
The Committee
Our Committee is made up of volunteers from MAB business partners. These volunteers are responsible for the initial assessment of applications and help to shape the future thinking of the foundation.
Stephen is the Business Principal at Mortgage Advice Bureau in Norfolk and has been working with MAB since 2008. The business is based out of offices in Norwich & Great Yarmouth but also has other outlets around the UK. Stephen always aims to lead the business to be a big part of the local community and always tries to give something back to the local area with charitable fund raising and support for local events.
Director of MAB New Homes Mortgages Lee has been in the industry since 1995. Married to Lisa for 28 years and 2 children, one who has followed in his footsteps and works with the business the other in her final year at Uni studying Forensic Science. For many years Lee has been involved in fundraising, arranging Sporting Dinners with such names as Paul Gascoigne, Vinnie Jones, Anthony Joshua, Dennis Taylor, Sir Geoff Hurst to name a few. A keen scuba diver his claim to fame is having dived with Manny Pacquiao. He is a season ticket with his beloved Rotherham United. He is a lover of travel and has a second home in Northern Cyprus.
Sarah is the Product Manager at Mortgage Advice Bureau. She has over 18 years’ experience in the world of marketing and product management, working mainly within the Financial Services and Utilities industries.
Sarah is passionate about supporting those in need and regularly takes part in fund raising activities such as Race for Life and Tough Mudder.
She is a proud Mum to 2 young boys, who keep her very busy. She and her family spend a lot of time at Breadsall Cricket Club, where they have been hugely involved in the new pavilion crowdfunding project which officially opened in June 2022.
She is a Brummie at heart and supports Aston Villa – although she doesn’t get to see as many games as she would like, what with being surrounded by Derby Fans now she lives in Derby!
Lian is the Sales and Development Director for Marquis FS based in Macclesfield. In simple terms, she leads a team of experienced advisers and case managers, as well as acting as a business development manager for the company, networking with businesses from all across Cheshire and local areas.
Her passion is people, and loves to interact with others. Supporting local charities is very important to Lian, and over the years has raised many pounds for East Cheshire Hospice and the Dougie Mac, causes which are very close to her heart.
Kate is the owner of Mortgage Advice Bureau Crawley and has been working in mortgages for over 15 years. Kate has been keen on volunteering for many years and is currently still chairing her children’s primary school PTA, despite both her children now left the school! In her non-working hours Kate enjoys spending time with family and friends, as well as watching TV!
Working in the Shared Ownership sector alongside nearly 100 Housing Associations, Jon has driven a business with people at its heart. Both within Metro and outwardly towards the local homeless community, supporting Sheffield Archer Project financially and attending working party groups but also with direct involvement doing soup runs and helping on the streets. Believing it possible to use that Director type relentless energy for both commercial and good, which the foundation addresses perfectly.
Andrew is the founder of Mortgage Q Limited trading as Mortgage Advice Bureau Bingley, He has over 30 years’ experience in the world of Mortgages and also served as a Magistrate for over 14 years.
Andrew has a passion for helping and supporting others and has previous charities sector experience having held the position of Trustee at Bradford Cancer Support Centre.
Away from work you will find him on the Golf Course or running over the moors above his Bingley home in the faint hope of keeping fit. A proud Yorkshireman and Bradfordian he’s passionate about the City in which he lives and was delighted earlier this year when Bradford was awarded the City of Culture for 2025.
Claire is the co-founder of Mortgage Advice Bureau – Network Partner Scotland. For over 17 years, she has run the business as Chief Financial Officer alongside husband Dom. Claire is hugely passionate about Human Resource at MAB and is a firm believer that employees are the heart of the business.
Outside of work you’ll find Claire out for a run, spending time with her 4 kids (and 1 spoiled dog) or enjoying the occasional glass of wine.
Questions?
If you’d like to get involved or learn more about the Mortgage Advice Bureau Foundation, reach out to us on our contact page.
