Board of Directors

Martin McTague was appointed as National Chair of FSB on 8 March 2022. Prior to this, he was FSB National Vice Chair, Policy and Advocacy (from 2021) and FSB Policy and Advocacy Chair, a role he was elected to in March 2016. 
 
Martin has served as a volunteer with FSB for more than 20 years, in a variety of roles including Chairman of the Local Government Policy Unit. 

As National Chair, Martin works closely with government and opposition leaders, attending ministerial meetings and representing FSB and its members at the most senior levels. He also works to ensure that members’ views are represented in international institutions. He works to ensure that FSB’s policy reports are used widely to help policy makers, and he champions FSB’s member survey programme, Big Voice. 

Martin started his own business 35 years ago and now currently owns and manage three businesses - offering public policy, engineering and IT consultancy services. Running businesses for more than three decades means that Martin has worked with institutional investors; operating sophisticated financial management systems, marketing complex IT systems and managing more than 60 employees. 

Martin’s business experience is invaluable to him in his role as FSB National Chair.  He believes that integrity and a cross-party approach are both vital preconditions for success. He is determined to protect and advance FSB’s current standing as the UK’s most influential business lobby – one that truly represents its grassroots members.  Martin has served on the Government’s Low Pay Commission since 2018 and was appointed to the ACAS Council in September 2023 by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. 

Martin McTague was recognised with an OBE for Services to Small Businesses in the King’s New Years Honours 2024 List.

FSB Committees:

• Nominations Committee (Chair) 
• Board Commercial Group (Member) 

Email

[email protected]

Telephone

0808 20 20 888

Tina McKenzie was appointed as Policy and Advocacy Chair in March 2022, having joined FSB’s Board in April 2021 as UK Deputy Chair Policy and Advocacy.  In her role, Tina works closely with government and opposition leaders, attending ministerial meetings and representing FSB and its members at the most senior levels. She also works to ensure that members’ views are represented in international institutions. She oversees FSB’s policy and media work, and champions FSB’s member survey programme, Big Voice, that underpins FSB’s research programme.  Tina has been a champion of business throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and has had widespread media coverage to call for improved business support. During this time, Tina served as a member of the Northern Ireland Executive’s Economic Advisory Group and as Chair of the Government-appointed Stakeholder group tasked with implementing better Health and Safety practices for employers operating in today’s modern workplace.

Prior to this, she spent more than three years as Chair of the Policy Unit for FSB Northern Ireland, during which time she took on a pivotal lobbying role through the Brexit negotiations, including meetings with Prime Ministers, the Taoiseach and senior EU and US officials.
 
After graduating from Ulster University, Tina went on to pursue a successful recruitment career, giving her over 25 years’ experience in the recruitment and employment services sector, setting up and running businesses throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and Europe.
 
Tina established Staffline Recruitment in 2013 as a start-up throughout Ireland, taking the company from a standing start to a turnover of £150 million within five years.  Tina also started a small family business specialising in property consultancy which she continues to own and run with her husband. 
 
Tina has won a number of awards, including UTV Business Eye’s Business Personality of the Year in 2018, the Belfast Telegraph Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020 and the Women in Business, Business Person of the Year in 2022.
 
Tina has previously served as the NI Director of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, the European Ambassador for Women’s Entrepreneurship Day and is the current Honorary Consul to Finland in Northern Ireland. In June 2021, Tina was appointed as a Visiting Professor to Ulster University’s Business School. 
 
Tina’s extensive experience of running a multitude of companies brings invaluable skills to the FSB Board. Her dedication to improving people’s lives through employment and acting as a firm advocate for business drives her commitment to FSB’s ethos and to its members. 
 
In 2023, Tina received an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list for services to the economy of Northern Ireland. 

FSB Committees:

• UKPC (Chair) 
• Nominations Committee (Member)  
• Remuneration Committee (Chair) 

Email

[email protected]

Telephone

0808 20 20 888

Stephen Askew has been a member of FSB for more than 30 years and was first appointed to the FSB Board in May 2019, being reappointed in March 2023. Prior to joining the Board, Stephen was an active volunteer in the Kent area, including as area leader and then national councillor for the FSB South East region.

Stephen is committed to ensuring that FSB continues to represent the interests of all small businesses and the self-employed. He believes that the strength of FSB stems from its member led ethos and that the Board, as volunteers and as business owners themselves, represent that principle. Stephen has a desire to see FSB maintain its strong position within the UK’s business community.

Stephen Askew has more than 35 years’ experience in running and growing an accountancy practice before selling to a large UK practice, acting largely for owner-managed businesses but also some large international companies. He also mentors and has supported hundreds of businesses of all sizes and from many different sectors. Having retired from the accountancy firm he continues to mentor business owners and develops property.

FSB Committees:

• Audit and Risk Committee (Member)
• FSB Insurance Service Limited (Director)

Email

[email protected]

Telephone

0808 20 20 888

Sharon Jandu was appointed to the FSB Board on 7 March 2023, having been a proud and active member of FSB since 2018 previously having served as an FSB volunteer area lead for West Yorkshire and as a member of the Procedures Committee.

Sharon is an experienced, insightful and entrepreneurial leader who runs her own small business. As such, she says that she understands the needs and challenges facing FSB members in these turbulent times and shares FSB’s mission of helping smaller businesses achieve their ambitions.

A strong advocate of diversity and inclusion, Sharon Jandu founded the Yorkshire Asian Business Association (YABA) and the Northern Asian Policy Think Tank.

In 2023, Sharon received an OBE in the New Year Honours list for services to International Trade.

FSB Committees:

• ESG Committee (Chair)
• Procedures Committee (Chair)
• Pillar 1:Board Membership Group (Member)

Email

[email protected]

Telephone

0808 20 20 888

Julie Lilley has worked for FSB for 25 years, having been head of various departments prior to her appointment as chief operations officer in 2010 and then chief executive in 2018.  
 
With a vision to strengthen the organisation into the leading membership organisation for small businesses and the self-employed that it is today, Julie led FSB through a modernisation programme beginning in 2017. By 2019, a simplified and more efficient structure enabled the organisation to be agile and more competitive, whilst remaining close to grass roots members and their issues. 

Julie was appointed to the FSB Board of Directors in March 2023. She plays a crucial role in advising on the strategic direction of the business as well as advising the Board on operational matters. She is responsible for ensuring the directors’ strategic vision is delivered via her team of senior managers and the wider staff team. Julie has been the driving force for shaping FSB’s inclusivity and diversity programme and has a ‘lead from the front’ approach, prioritising regular communications with the staff team. 
 
On leaving school, Julie had been self-employed, owning and running her own business. A few years later, she then moved to the Middle East for 14 years, primarily working for the Royal Oman Police, where she was responsible for the development and management of several retail outlets supporting the oil installations in the desert and key cities. Latterly, having studied classical Arabic, she led a department in Special Branch. She returned to the UK to further her education and completed her MBA in 2004.  

For the last two years, Julie has been recognised by inclusion in the HERoes Women Executives Role Model List.

FSB Committees:

• Nominations Committee (Member)

Alison North is passionate about helping small businesses survive and thrive. As a small business owner for more than 35 years, she is well placed to use her knowledge and experience to listen to members and understand their needs on a practical basis for today, and as a future-thinking basis for tomorrow.

Alison’s vision is to bring inspiration, innovation and pragmatism to support FSB as an agile, connected, knowledgeable, diverse organisation, that continues to help small businesses of all sizes to achieve their ambitions, whilst encouraging growth and leadership across the nation and beyond.

Alison has been a member of FSB since 2007. On moving out of London she became more actively involved as a volunteer in her region, becoming the Area Leader for Swindon and Wiltshire. She is active as deputy chair of Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership and through this role chairs a network of business organisations that provide insight on the economy in the region. Coupled with her international experience working with large multi-national organisations she brings a rounded perspective to business in the UK.

Alison set up her first part-time business at age 19, but it wasn’t until 1986, when in her thirties, that she founded a unique services company focussed on managing information. Understanding that there was to be a huge move from paper to electronic filing, she started down the road that brought us to the world of data we know today.

Alison is patron of the New Information Professionals Award and was the first woman to work on a North Sea oil platform in the 1980s.

FSB Committees:

ESG Committee (Member)
Pillar 2: Board Commercial Group (Chair)
Director of following subsidiary companies:

• FSB HR Services Limited
• FSB (Member Services) Limited
• FSB Publications Limited
• FSB Recruitment Limited

Email

[email protected]

Telephone

0808 20 20 888

Ian O’Donnell was co-opted to the FSB Board on 7 March 2023, following more than ten years as an active FSB member volunteer.

Ian has been a business owner since his school days, running a creative design and marketing agency. He serves as a non-executive director and business growth consultant for other SMEs and is the entrepreneur in residence and teaching fellow at Coventry University. Outside of work he’s a keen runner and cyclist and an advocate of active travel.

In 2015, Ian received an MBE in the Birthday Honours list for services to the Economy and the community in the West Midlands.

FSB Committees:

• UKPC (Deputy Chair)
• ESG Committee (Member)
• Pillar 1: Board Membership Group (Member)

Email

[email protected]

Telephone

0808 20 20 888

Caroline Platt was appointed to the FSB Board on 7 March 2023, having been a member of FSB for 4 years. She has been the managing director of a successful family business in the agricultural sector, based in Wrexham, since 2005. The business has held a Royal Warrant since 2018.

Caroline began her career in accountancy and has since accumulated more than 18 years of senior management experience. This, she says, ensures that she is an empathetic and adaptable leader with a realistic understanding of the needs of small businesses on a practical level. Caroline is passionate about every element of business, predominantly the people aspect, internally and externally.

FSB Committees:

ESG Committee (Member)
Pillar 2: Board Commercial Group (Member)
Pillar 1:Board Membership Group (Member)
Director of following subsidiary companies:

• FSB (Member Services) Limited
• FSB Publications Limited
• FSB Recruitment Limited

Email

[email protected]

Telephone

0808 20 20 888