The Board
Peter Basford, Chair
Peter is a member of the LEP Skills Advisory Panel and leads on the financial services sector, as part of this chairs the Financial, Insurance and Professional Services (FIPS) Group for Ipswich who work closely with the equivalent FIG group in Norwich. After a career of 33 years in Banking including Personal Banking, Audit, Private Banking and Commercial Banking, Peter also worked for BDO accountants in 2018/19 and has established a business coaching organization who are growing fast and aim to cover the whole of England providing support for SMEs. Peter is a Suffolk Ambassador and has recently co-founded an Innovation Lab in Stowmarket. Away from work, Peter is a keen golfer and enjoys spending time with his family and travelling.
Email: peter@bgcn.co.uk
Anette Gilham
Anette works at Ipswich Borough Council as Economic Development Project Manager. She leads on various projects one of them being the Financial, Insurance and Professional Services (FIPS) Group for Ipswich. Anette’s previous experiences are within Business Development, Project Management and Sector Development. Away from work, Anette is a keen potter and enjoys spending time with her family and travelling.
Email: anette.gilham@ipswich.gov.uk
Colin Low
Colin lives in rural Suffolk, has been married to Mel for 29 years and they have three children aged between 13 and 23. Colin has always had a fascination with money, finance and economics; managing the school bank, visiting the Stock Market on the day of the Big Bang in 1986 and even asking for shares on his 18th birthday (he actually received a suit).
Having worked in banking, investments and the financial advice sector, he founded Kingsfleet Wealth (named after his Felixstowe Primary School) in 2010. Colin is a Chartered Financial Planner, one of the few advisers in the country to have obtained a Master’s degree in Financial Planning and has recently co-founded RXi Wealth, a Discretionary Investment Manager. In his spare time, he is chair of the Board of Sizewell Hall, a Christian Conference Centre on the Suffolk Coast, keeps bees and tries to go running to compensate for his substantial appetite.
Email: colin@kingsfleetwealth.co.uk
Simon Elliot
Simon was born in Ipswich and has two children and one fur baby. He is a Commercial Banking Relationship Manager at HSBC, a role which he has held since the start of 2025. He previously worked as an Investment Manager for The FSE Group in Ipswich after spending 17 years working in the Banking and Finance sector for Barclays in a mix of relationship manager roles, mainly across Suffolk and Norfolk, within Business and Corporate banking. Away from work, Simon enjoys long dog walks with his family and is also a keen football fan.
Email: simon.c.elliott@hsbc.com
Micky Lawton
Micky is an employee benefits consultant for Becketts in Bury St Edmunds, assisting organisations to design, implement and manage effective employee benefits packages.
Micky studied Actuarial Sciences at the University of Kent before spending 4 years with a pension provider in Ipswich. Following this, he moved to a local independent financial adviser where he completed his level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning and became an independent financial adviser. During his time there, he had a particular focus on helping businesses, and after 8 years, he moved to his current role with Becketts in 2025.
Micky has been a board member since the start of 2020, joining the board at a difficult time whilst they navigated the challenges of the global pandemic. He has played a part in projects such as the FIPS Work Experience Programme and since 2024, Micky has been co-treasurer of FIPS and is involved in managing the group’s finances.
Richard Brame
A driven and successful Operations and Change Director with 40 years’ experience in the Insurance industry in a wide variety of roles. Originally trained as a Certified Accountant before taking on more insurance based, client facing roles, Richard has a history of strong strategic and operational leadership, with significant experience managing people, projects, budgets and business transformation. Currently Head of the WTW Accounting & Settlement (A&S) function, Chair of WTW Ipswich Management Group, and a Willis Group Services Limited Board member. These roles include overseeing all A&S operations and change activity and promoting the development of the WTW Ipswich office and people. Richard is Chair or part of Local, London Market and Global Steering Groups and Boards. Suffolk born and bred Richard is a Suffolk Business Ambassador and a member of the Suffolk Chamber in Greater Ipswich Board as well as the FIPS Board. Richard is also a Past President and current Vice President and Charities Officer for the Insurance Institute of Ipswich, Suffolk and North Essex. Outside of work, Richard is married with two grown up children, and a keen sport (football and cricket) and music (prog rock) fan.
Email: richard.brame@wtwco.com
Sarah Sanderson
Sarah lives in Colchester with her 13 year old son, partner Tom and Ronnie the Red Fox Lab! She has over two decades of experience in commercial strategy, client development, and relationship management. Currently working as Head of Growth at Footprint Digital, she has implemented and driven strategies that generate significant business growth, especially in the professional services arena via Digital Marketing. She is known for her motivational energy and ability to forge long-lasting partnerships. Sarah spent most of her career working for Newsquest Media Group as a Digital Sales Director driving sales and growth in Digital Marketing and as a Commercial Director creating new magazines and running their suite of newspapers and websites in the Herts and East London region. Sarah’s ethos is simple: to inspire growth and build meaningful connections, ensuring success for her team, clients, and community.
Marianne Flack
Marianne is Deputy Principal at Suffolk New College with responsibility for the quality and curriculum of the college’s 5000 learners at their 4 campuses across Suffolk. With a Master’s degree in Education and over 25 years’ experience of working in education in a wide variety of roles, including 10 years as a teacher and teacher educator, Marianne is passionate about providing exceptional educational opportunities for young people and adults across the county. Working with industry partners and key stakeholders, to design industry relevant curriculum, and incorporating work experience or industry placements into learners’ educational journeys is a key focus of Marianne’s work. She has led on a number of projects that have gained national recognition – including the workforce development suite of ‘Licence to’ programmes - and presents at national and regional conferences to share this practice with peers in the sector. Marianne is married to Stephen, and they have two grown up daughters, and she enjoys exercise, music and travel in her spare time.
Email: marianneflack@suffolk.ac.uk
Jo Hocking
Jo moved to Suffolk with her family when she was a child and was educated in Bury St Edmunds. She started her career at AXA Insurance and moved into insurance broking in 1998 joining The Beckett Group, which later became part of Towergate in 2009. During this time, she pursued her passion for helping and advising businesses on identifying and mitigating their insurance risks. Jo moved through the internal Account Handling role to become a Client and Business Development Executive. In 2014, she joined Hugh J Boswell and opened their office in Bury St Edmunds. Hugh J Boswell later became part of Ethos Broking and following the merger of Hugh J Boswell with Saffron Insurance, Jo went on to hold the Head of Technical Broking role where she was responsible for clients and the technical standards and development of staff within the group. She holds the ACII qualification and is a Chartered Insurance Broker. Jo joined the British Insurance Brokers Association - Anglia Region Committee in 2021, because she feels passionately about giving back to the sector. As the leading general insurance intermediary organisation, BIBA advise members, Government, Regulators, Consumer Bodies and other stakeholders on key insurance issues affecting insurance brokers, intermediaries and their customers. She became Deputy Chair and Secretary in her first term and Chair of the Anglia Regional Committee in January 2022.
Email: jo.hocking@yutree.com