Board of Directors:
Ben Goss, CEO & Co-founder
Ben has overseen Distribution Technology’s growth from concept in early 2003 to its current market leading position. He has overall responsibility for the management and development of the business and strategy.
Prior to Distribution Technology, Ben was UK managing director of mPower, a US company providing e-enabled financial advice solutions, reporting to the global CEO in San Francisco. At mPower his clients included a number of leading financial institutions as well as the FSA.
Ben was a management consultant for a number of years with Coopers & Lybrand and then PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the financial services practice. He worked primarily on asset management and distribution related initiatives for bancassurers, life companies and fund managers as well as new entrants. He left to found Sort Limited, the UK’s first regulated provider of online financial advice in 1998. Sort was the leading provider in its space before selling to mPower and Capital Z in 2000.
Ben is widely published on the topic of technology and advice and has spoken at a range of industry events. He holds a Masters degree from Indiana University in the US where he was a MacArthur Foundation Scholar.
Ges Whitmore, Non-executive Chairman
Ges set up Crisp Computing in 1981 which he grew until 2000 when he merged Crisp with the quoted business, Moneyextra.com. The firm’s IPSIS technology repeatedly dominated the Point of Sale category at the Financial Adviser Sales Awards during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Ges became CEO of the enlarged, renamed business Exchange FS PLC. In 2001 Ges sold Exchange FS to Marlborough Stirling and joined the board as Group Business Development Director. Ges decided to retire from full time business in 2003 and is non executive Chairman of Picture Financial and a non executive director of a number of companies.
Patrick Fitzgerald, Chief Product Officer and Co-founder
Patrick is responsible for product development, customer support and customer proposition development.
Patrick is an experienced software designer and has been producing commercial software for over ten years.
Prior to Distribution Technology, he consulted to a number of global companies such as ABN AMRO, Ernst & Young, Unilever and PricewaterhouseCoopers, specialising in enterprise CRM, particularly in the financial services arena.
Before coming to the UK from Australia, Patrick ran a private software house producing financial and property analysis software, and consulting to the Queensland State Government. Patrick trained as a commercial projects lawyer.
Mike Clifford, Chief Operating Officer
Mike is responsible for the management of our delivery capability and data centre operations. With over 15 years experience in the financial services industry, Mike brings expert knowledge of wealth management and IT programme delivery to Distribution Technology.
Mike has held many senior positions with a variety of financial services companies, and was previously with National Australia Bank, where he was Programme Director responsible for the £40 million wealth management programme.
Prior to this, Mike was with CGI, defining their wealth management product and business strategies.
Peter Francis, Chief Finance Officer
Peter Francis is the Chief Financial Officer of Distribution Technology. He is responsible for the overall financial management of the organisation, as well as corporate governance, risk management and people. Peter has 17 years financial management experience within public accounting and US-listed software companies.
He began his career as an Audit Manager at Arthur Anderson, then senior moves as Finance Director at Fourth Shift Corporation and EMEA Finance Director at SoftBrands Corporation.
Neil Brown, Non-executive Director
Neil has wide ranging experience of investing and developing high growth businesses in the technology and financial services arena from start-ups to public companies. Neil was a Deloitte’s partner before joining Apax Partners, one of the World’s leading providers of private equity, where he built the financial services investment business.
