Gary Little, Independent Governor
Gary Little was elected to the Board of Governors in November 2010 and currently sits on the Audit Committee.
Gary grew up in South Arica and completed his education there, graduating from the University of Natal with a degree in Economics. He moved to the UK in 1984 and trained as a Chartered Accountant with Touche Ross. After qualifying as an accountant, Gary joined Barclays Bank and progressed through a number of roles, eventually moving to the London corporate head office where he held several senior management positions.
Following ten years with Barclays, Gary joined the specialist merchant bank, Close Brothers Group, becoming Finance Director of one of its lending businesses. Over the next nine years this business expanded rapidly and Gary's role developed to include strategy as well as finance. He oversaw a number of acquisitions and the company's expansion into Eire and Spain, and helped to establish a separate mortgage lending business.
In 2008, Gary became Chief Financial Officer for Dominion Fund Management at a time when the business was growing rapidly. When the economic climate changed and growth slowed, Gary led a strategic review of the organisation, which resulted in the closure of several distribution offices around the world and the consolidation of operations in Switzerland and the Channel Islands.
More recently, Gary was invited to rejoin Close Brothers and is now the Finance Director of the Group's Retail Banking Division. In addition to managing the finance function and integrating operations of the various lending businesses, Gary is focussed on expanding the division through acquisition and new product development.
Gary is married with three children. He enjoys travel, playing tennis and watching most sports.