Executive committee

Chief Executive

Karen Miller joined MPS as Chief Executive in 2024. As Chief Executive, Karen is responsible for leading MPS to execute on the strategy agreed with Council. In addition to the implementation of strategy this includes:

• promoting and maintaining the values of MPS
• ensuring an appropriate risk management culture
• overseeing all major operational issues
• monitoring the company's financial performance.

Karen has extensive experience in the insurance sector in South Africa and the UK, in senior executive roles. She joins MPS from Saga Insurance, where she served as Chief Operations Officer, helping build a more efficient organisation without compromising customer service. Among her previous roles, Karen was the Chief Executive Officer at ABSA General Insurance and Chief Underwriting officer at Mutual and Federal Insurance Company, a part of the Old Mutual Group.

She has Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Commerce and Master of business administration degrees. Karen also has a Fellowship from Insurance Institute of South Africa with an Advanced Diploma in Insurance.

Executive Director of Finance

Richard Pile joined MPS in May 2021 and was elected to the MPS Council as an executive director in July 2023.

As Finance Director, he is responsible for the leadership of the Finance Division, providing strategic guidance and oversight on MPS’s finance, investments, business information, procurement and facilities.

Richard has over 17 years of financial services experience in a variety of leadership roles including strategic portfolio planning, financial and management reporting, and operational.

Prior to joining MPS, Richard was Chief Financial Officer at Royal Sun Alliance (RSA) Luxembourg – the European arm of RSA Group. He spent 7 years at RSA in various senior finance roles, and prior to this, worked at Hyperion Insurance Group supporting its global expansion as Head of Group Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) and Reporting. Richard started his career at Grant Thornton, where he qualified as an accountant, working within its financial services practice.

General Counsel

As General Counsel, David is responsible for providing and obtaining legal advice on a wide range of corporate legal issues affecting the MPS group. He is a director of the MPS Periodical Payments Trust and the company secretary for MPS, MPI and MPSrs. He is also secretary to the Ethics Committee of Council.

David obtained a law degree at Leeds University in the UK before completing his Law Society finals at the College of Law at Lancaster Gate London.

He qualified as a solicitor in 1990 in private practice and then moved in-house. Before joining MPS in June 2011, he spent over 20 years as in-house counsel in the IT, finance, banking and not for profit sectors including roles at international organisations and UK and US listed companies.

Chief Risk Officer

Mark Chaplin joined MPS in September 2023. He is responsible for fostering a strong, member-focused risk culture across the business, which ensures our financial and operational risk requirements are met.

Prior to taking up this role at MPS, Mark spent over 25 years developing, delivering and embedding risk management, governance and regulatory compliance across complex and multi-location organisations within the insurance and financial services sectors.

He joins MPS from Aviva plc, where he was Group Enterprise Risk Director, leading the work to build a world-class approach to risk management, and Chief Risk Officer for Aviva’s internal reinsurance businesses and for the UK Life & Pensions and UK General Insurance businesses.

Executive Director of Member Experience, Digital and Change

Jonathan Vardon joined MPS in August 2023. He has significant experience in leading large, complex transformational initiatives, identifying digital opportunities to improve the customer journey and enabling the digitalisation of the businesses he has worked in. In his role as Executive Director of Member Experience, Digital and Change, he is responsible for developing our technology vision, architecture and roadmap, driving our cyber security agenda, and establishing a foundation of technology for digital growth in MPS.

Jonathan’s career includes a number of senior roles in the digital and technology space with a range of national and multinational organisations including Co-operative Group, Provident Finance Group, Boots UK and UST, a leading international provider of IT solutions.

He is also a former independent Member of Board of Governors and Chairman of the Sustainability and Resources Committee at Staffordshire University.

Chief Commercial Officer, UK and Ireland

Helen Bryant joined MPS in January 2025. She is responsible for driving growth and brand engagement in the UK and Ireland, overseeing strategic planning, business development and marketing for MPS’s global brands. Her teams also play a key role in supporting business transformation, ensuring MPS continues to meet the evolving needs of its members and clients.

Helen brings over 23 years of experience from Allianz, where she held a variety of senior leadership and board positions across the bancassurance, legal protection, and broker markets sectors. She has a strong track record of delivering sustainable returns, business growth and customer-focused delivery. As well as being an experienced board member, Helen has led major corporate change and transformation programmes using her extensive trading and back-office experience to develop and successfully execute strategic initiatives.

Helen is a Chartered Insurer and an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (ACII). She holds both a BA (Hons) and an MA from the University of Durham.

Chief People Officer (Interim)

Samantha (Sam) McKendrick joined MPS in April 2023. Sam is responsible for shaping and delivering our global people strategy, fostering a high-performing and inclusive culture, and driving talent development across all regions. She leads the People Team, to support our strategic goals through innovative workforce practices and business transformation.

Sam brings more than 25 years of global leadership experience in human resources to MPS, with a strong track record of building and leading diverse, high-impact teams across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions. Her expertise lies in strategic growth, talent development, and change leadership within complex, international organisations.

Prior to joining MPS, Sam served as Vice President of Human Resources at Aetna International – CVS Health, a Fortune 10 company, where she was part of the international executive leadership team. Previous roles also include Vice President of HR for Global Payments at Western Union, and senior HR leadership positions at Bupa, including People Director for Bupa Global.

Sam’s career reflects her commitment to people-focused leadership, global collaboration, and driving transformation through inclusive and agile HR strategies.

Chief Commercial Officer, International

Chief Operating Officer

Stephanie Smith joined MPS in January 2025.

Stephanie leads MPS’s global legal, advisory, and membership services, ensuring the delivery of the best possible service and outcomes for members. She also oversees the Transformation Office, driving improvements to systems and processes to ensure an exceptional member experience.

She is a highly experienced Chief Operating Officer with a particular focus on delivering operational efficiency and digital transformation.

During her 35-year career, Stephanie has worked across a variety of sectors including engineering with Rolls Royce, aviation with British Airways and insurance with Allianz.

Her previous experience covers all aspects of a Chief Operating Officer role including strong leadership, transformation, strategy development, operations and customer management and she is passionate about doing the right thing for members and colleagues. She champions equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and Environmental, Society and Governance (ESG).

Stephanie holds a MEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from Aston University and certificate (CEng MIMechE) from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. She is also a Non-Executive Director and Board Member of the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, and chairs their Finance, Performance and Transformation Committee.

Chief Underwriting Officer

Phil Towell joined MPS as our Chief Underwriting Officer in February 2025, bringing over 25 years of senior actuarial and risk leadership experience in the London & Lloyd’s and global (re)insurance markets.

He is responsible for the establishment and implementation of our underwriting framework, covering risk appetite, pricing strategy, delegation of authority, quality assurance, and governance.

Before joining MPS, Phil held executive roles as both Chief Actuary in large corporations and a Partner in consultancy practice, leading teams in actuarial, risk, and predictive analytics disciplines. He has worked extensively across all major product classes and distribution channels, developing a reputation as a trusted partner to underwriting and wider executive leadership, particularly in technical pricing, business planning, and portfolio management.

Phil is a Chartered Actuary, Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (FIA C.Act), with a BSc (Hons) Economics degree (1st Class) from the University of Warwick.

Chief Member Officer

Dr Rob Hendry joined the executive team as Chief Member Officer in December 2024. He is responsible for leading our member education, advocacy, and research work, which includes the MPS Foundation, and ensuring members' needs and interests are represented in our leadership team.

Rob is a native of Glasgow and studied medicine at Dundee University, graduating in 1981. He was a partner in an urban teaching practice in Dundee for over 12 years.

He developed an interest in medical law and completed an MPhil in Law and Ethics in Medicine at Glasgow University in 1992. This led to consultancy work for Medical Protection and part-time teaching at Dundee University. He took up a full-time appointment as a Medicolegal Adviser with the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland in 1996 and remained there until he moved to Medical Protection when a Scottish office was opened in 2009.

Rob is a Foundation Fellow of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine and continues to have an interest in teaching, having honorary positions at several universities. He has an interest in mediation and has served on a number of governmental working parties looking at alternative approaches to dispute management.

Having completed his MBA at Strathclyde University Graduate Business School in 2001, he has continued to develop his business interests. In 2011, he was appointed Deputy Medical Director and in 2013 became Medical Director of Medical Protection, responsible for medicolegal services delivered by Medical Protection to its members worldwide.