Heather Jackson

Former CIO and COO at HBOS/Lloyds.  Former CIO at Capital One, Boots the Chemist and George Clothing, Asda.  Heather is a non-Executive director for Ikano Bank (part of the Kamprad Ikea group of companies), JD Sport and Fashion Group plc and; Tandem Bank, the start-up digital bank.  Previously she has been a non-Executive director for the Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission.

For the last 25 years Heather’s roles have focussed upon shaping and implementing business change to bring about a customer-impacting step change in effectiveness and efficiency.  This has been done across a variety of sectors including retail, financial service, public sector etc and with a variety of different types of business organisation from start ups to major FTSE top 10 corporates.  Examples of the transformational change delivered through Executive roles include global CIO and COO at HBOS responsible for £1blln budget and a cost effectiveness programme delivering better service for 15% less cost; she was a Board member of the Retail Bank and ran the BOS/Halifax integration; at Capital One she was CIO and Launch Programme Director responsible for setting up Capital One in UK and Europe; at Boots, she delivered their multi-channel strategy and also the Advantage Card; and at George Clothing was part of the team that doubled turnover to £800M in two years.  Actinista has undertaken many assignments under Heather’s leadership including: developing Nationwide’s Operation and IT exec team; assessing the deliverability of the Post Office strategy; turning around IT at Manchester City Council; enabling Morrison’s Commercial Strategy; undertaking due diligence on companies Exponent consider investing in.  

Heather’s early career included working at Accenture Consulting, at a variety of software and IT tech companies, including as a developer, analysis and project manager.  She moved into IT from being a trainee accountant as she was fascinated by how technology can improve the future of all organisations.  

Much of Heather’s career focus is around consumer-facing organisations, improving the consumer experience and the cost effectiveness of the organization.  Heather often works with the leadership executive of organisations coaching, team developing, strategic planning or prioritising their change portfolio.  She is data driven and customer focussed.  Her passion is about doing the right thing for a business and adding value.

Heather also does pro bono work for Yorkshire Cancer Research as a panel member selecting which initiatives to invest in.  

Heather has an MA in Modern History from Oxford University.  She lives in North Yorkshire with her three sons (22,19 and 18).