Our team

A highly experienced and diverse team with a strong track record of delivery and a wealth of experience in financial and business management

Our story

ELEMENTARYb was born out of frustrations our founders experienced with their own medium-sized companies and the finance industry. Slow turn-arounds, complex and outdated processes, products not fit for their needs or not necessarily the best solutions took its toll on time and resources and left them exposed to unnecessary risk.

After an extensive look, it became apparent that there really wasn’t that much on offer for organisations that did business in a global economy. Passionate to see companies of all sizes in Britain thrive, they set about to change that!

It has become ELEMENTARYb’s mission to identify where SMEs need help to cash and risk manage their businesses and develop services that support their specific requirements and insulate them, helping their business to navigate economic turmoil and focus on growth.

Eb is not just any start-up. We are a team of successful entrepreneurs who became frustrated at the lacking focus on what we consider the global economic beating heart sector, and decided to go about changing things.

Our Board

A stellar Board providing the steady hand of oversight and governance ensuring the focus of our Eb mission.

Karen Rudich
CEO

Karen has nearly 20 years’ experience in business. She is known for identifying opportunities to grow revenues and boost efficiencies, and has a successful track record in assembling effective teams and putting in place structures and systems to generate bottom-line P&L impact. She has led large-scale transformation programmes at UBS, BNP Paribas, Barclays and Lloyds. Most recently she was Founder/CEO of a challenger firm focusing on speedy P&L-driving transformations and technology integration for top-tier banks and cutting-edge FinTech firms. 

Samantha Tubb
Chairperson

Sam is a highly experienced Angel investor and Non-Executive Director (NED). She spent the first decade of her career as a management consultant to the financial services industry, focusing on risk-based capital and risk organisation and governance. Since 2009 Sam has worked with start-ups, actively supporting them from pre-launch through to financial self-sustainability. In 2018 she successfully exited Scholarpack after nine years in a hands-on non-executive role, keeping a clear focus on driving scalable and sustainable growth. Sam is currently a NED and chair of the Audit & Risk Committee at The Key Support Services Limited, NED at Sharesy and NED at Menopause Experts Group. She also sits on the Investment Committee of homeless charity Emmaus. Earlier in her portfolio career, Sam was Vice Chair of NHS Trust UHCW in Warwickshire, chairing their Finance and Performance Committee. Sam’s current portfolio of investments focuses on growth businesses in EdTech, FemTech and FinTech.

Robert Lewis MBE
Director

Bob is a specialist in cyber security with over 23 years experience in the Military and Civil Police, and 13 years in the banking and private sectors. He delivered the first-ever banking forensics lab, now widely used in financial services, and has experience with collaborative initiatives involving law enforcement, intelligence agencies and regulators.

Gary Dolman
NED

Gary is a PwC-qualified chartered accountant who has audited, consulted and worked for financial services firms since 1984 in London and Sydney. He Cofounded Monzo Bank Limited in 2015 and worked with the team to obtain a full banking licence and grow to over 2m customers and a market valuation of £2bn, where he performed the roles of CFO and Executive Director. Gary was also CFO and COO for ABN AMRO Global Transaction Banking, a business with a turnover of over €5bn.

Lord David Blunkett
Strategic Advisor

David Blunkett is a British politician who for eight years was a member of Tony Blair’s Cabinet. He was Secretary of State for Education and Employment and was Home Secretary at the time of 9/11. He is currently a member of the House of Lords, Professor of Politics in Practice at the University of Sheffield and chairs the Board of the University of Law. David continues to write and broadcast extensively and retains an interest in cyber security, democratic engagement and social responsibility, and is also a trustee and patron of a number of charities.

Mark Holleran
NED

Mark built up extensive experience in both corporate finance and private practice at one of the world’s leading law firms for over ten years before establishing and chairing a listed public company investment bank. This has given him unique experience in micro and macro capitalised equity markets, flotations, fundraisings, transaction structuring and distressed business situations. Mark is a non-executive director of and commercial advisor to select growth companies, both public and private. Mark also has particular experience in dealing with successful applications for authorisation by regulatory authorities and the management of ongoing relationships with those bodies.

Eb Leadership

The Eb leadership are shaping our vision for the future, a hands-on team delivering our industry-changing ambition. An incredible team of digital masterminds are leading our growing engine room of engineers, developers and designers.

Damian Salter
Branding & Marketing

Damian has built brands, distinguishing them amongst peers, capturing and projecting the authenticity and promise of their offerings. For over 20 years he has added strategic value, carving market share for Fortune 500, SME, startups, public sector and not for profit, and has delivered for Van Heusen, IZOD, Meritas Ethical Funds, PVH, Women’s College Hospital, Aga Khan Museum, Nestlé, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Torquest Funds. Damian has gained multiple accolades for creative, brand and marketing campaigns.

Adam Swartz
CTO

Adam is an experienced technology leader with extensive experience developing complex IT solutions and building high-performing technology organisations.  He has worked at Telstra, KPMG, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and ABN Amro.  More recently working in the digital start up space, building teams, technology strategy and delivering innovation.  He is expert in data warehousing, business intelligence, distributed systems, machine learning and artificial intelligence. 

Beverley Brown
People

Passionate about people, a connector/introducer, partnership finder and developer, Beverley has demonstrated the ability to turn obstacles into opportunity, perceiving them as merely a detour to the final goal.  Beverley has a background in investment banking and broking, working for Chase Manhattan, Credit Suisse and ICAP. She then built up and eventually sold a multi-million pound search recruitment firm focusing on the investment banking sector, with offices in London, Zürich and Singapore.

Shuab Akhtar
Product

With a career spanning over 20 years, Shuab got his start working in agencies on clients such as Bentley Motors, BBC, Panasonic, and the Cartoon Network, where early on in his career he was at the forefront of pushing and defining boundaries in the new digital space. For the last nine years he has made his mark in successfully shaping and building products within the FinTech industry. Shuab has built, tuned and innovated products and services for the Financial Times, BT, Towergate Insurance, Barclays and Handlesbanken. He strives to strike a balance between representing the customer, business, product and culture fit. As a driver of vision, strategy, design, and execution within the product lifecycle, he is passionate about creating products that solve problems and provide value, whilst giving organisations an edge over their competitors.

Denisse Rudich
Compliance & Governance

Denisse is forward thinking, diplomatic and pragmatic with the ability to identify future trends and threats and manage responses at both strategic and tactical levels. She has developed practical solutions to complex, global problems; and uses influencing and negotiation skills gained by dealing with the highest levels of government for effective delivery. Denisse has over 15 years’ experience delivering financial crime prevention, anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and controls and systems across banking and public sectors. She has worked with many top-tier financial firms as well as holding the roles of G7/G20 Director of Research: Global Security Threats, founding member of the WEF’s Coalition to Fight Financial Crime, and Senior Member of the UK RegTech Council’s AML stream.

Kay Campbell
Human Resources

Kay applies a no-nonsense approach to organisation of all Human Resources policies, benefits packages and operational requirements for start-ups to hit the ground running quickly.  She has extensive experience at launching operational centres for Hedge Funds in the UK & US.  Working in accordance with HMG’s Supplier Assurance Framework on processes and policies, her most recent role was Chief of Staff at a disruptive technology start-up.

Bash Isai
Software Engineering

With over 20 years of experience in Software Engineering, Bash has led software development teams across a multitude of industries – delivering projects for Aviva Insurance, BP, IHG, British Gas, BMW, the UK Government, BT, Pepsico Tropicana, Vodafone and many more. With a Master’s in Interaction Design and two Bachelor degrees, he focuses on delivering high-quality digital user experiences.

Abdul Gaffar
Head of Delivery

Abdul is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in delivering successful technology programmes, complex digital solutions and building high performance teams. His expertise spans multiple industries, making him a versatile leader in the digital landscape. Abdul’s holistic understanding of the software/web system development lifecycle, positions him well to bring value at every stage, from project inception through to commercialisation. He understands the importance of aligning technical requirements with broader commercial objectives, making him instrumental in achieving business success. Abdul’s unique blend of technical expertise, project management experience and leadership skills have enabled him to drive successful digital transformations and deliver customer-focused solutions. His unwavering commitment to innovation and excellence makes him an invaluable asset in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Jeff Lucas

Jeff Lucas
Head of Customer Engagement

An accomplished leader in Customer Success and Experience with over 18 years of experience. Specialising in SaaS platforms, he has built and scaled customer success and support teams from the ground up. Jeff brings a ‘customer first’ mentality to every stage of the customer lifecycle, working with customers to encourage adoption. He has proven success in delivering innovative customer-centric solutions that transform organisational capabilities and accelerate strategic company growth.

Our Advisors

Knowledgeable advisors providing value across the many facets of our business.

Jennifer Byrne
CFO/FD Collaboration Advisor

Jennifer’s diverse experience across accountancy enables her to provide insights into the complex challenges faced by finance teams today. Following her time with Grant Thornton and EY accountancy firms, Jennifer qualified as a Chartered Accountant and began her career with one of Canada’s largest independent energy companies with a $50 Billion Market Capitalisation. After relocating to London, she decided to pursue her passion for being part of entrepreneurial driven teams and worked for a number of startup and scale up SaaS companies. Jennifer applies her knowledge of sound finance processes to build strong teams, creating core finance functions that deliver value-added analysis to support strategic business decisions.

Marie-Charlotte
Johnstone-Rouzier

Community & Events Advisor

Marie-Charlotte is an expert in community building and ecosystem engagement. Passionate about how networks can improve someone’s life, she enables individuals and organisations to work together to create growth and development. With a background in training and education, Marie-Charlotte has worked around the world (Tunisia, Hungary, Australia, France, UK) helping brands develop their reach and engagement. She dived into the FinTech world more than three years ago and is now adept at connecting FinTech actors on a global scale. A great supporter of inclusion, she has been active in several networks to help the access of all to success.