.jpg?sfvrsn=6d3bd6f4_3 "Mario Mazzocchi smiling in Wesleyan office")
Mario Mazzocchi
Group Chief Executive
Mario became Wesleyan Group CEO on 1 August 2019. He moved from Lloyds Banking Group where his most recent role was Chief Operating Officer for their Insurance and Wealth Division.
Previous roles in the Group included Managing Director of the Financial Planning and Retirement business line at Scottish Widows, Chief Operating Officer for the Commercial Banking Division, Operations Director of Asset Finance and Head of Brand for the Group.
Before working at Lloyds, Mario gained extensive experience in different industries, markets and sectors, including marketing, sales and strategy.
Marco Groot Wassink
Chief Financial Officer
Marco joined Wesleyan as Chief Financial Officer in 2026. He brings extensive international financial services experience, having held senior finance and risk leadership positions across insurance, wealth management and banking.
Before joining Wesleyan, Marco was Chief Financial Officer of Legal & General's Retail division. Prior to this, he held a number of senior finance and risk roles at Aegon.
Marco is responsible for leading Wesleyan's finance function, ensuring the Society maintains its financial strength while supporting its long-term strategy. He works closely with the Board and Executive Leadership Team to drive sustainable growth, investment and transformation, helping Wesleyan continue to meet the evolving needs of its customers and members.
Karen Blatchford
Managing Director of Distribution
Karen joined Wesleyan as Managing Director of Dental, Direct and Intermediary Distribution in February 2024, before moving to the role of Managing Director of Distribution in 2026.
She previously spent eight years at Quilter where she was promoted to the role of Distribution Director from Head of International Product and Marketing.
Karen has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services sector, including 17 years at Legal & General, and has held senior roles in distribution, products and proposition development, sales and marketing.
Katie Wadey
Chief Product and Commercial Officer
Katie joined Wesleyan in 2024 and has over 20 years of multi-industry experience across a range of Customer and Commercial functions.
Katie has held senior roles at predominantly blue-chip regulated organisations, including BT, LV=, Tesco, British Gas and Aviva. Most recently, Katie was Chief Product and Commercial Officer at Simplyhealth, where she was responsible for the Denplan and Cashplan businesses.
Katie has been a trustee of Transform Housing and Support since 2019 and a NED of Capital and Regional Plc since 2020, where she is also Chair of the ESG Committee.
At Wesleyan, she will lead our corporate strategy and new business development, as well as our product, proposition, digital, marketing and communications activities.
Faraz Tasnim
Chief Operating Officer
Faraz became Chief Operating Officer on 1 October 2025. Before this, he held the role of Chief Transformation Officer at Wesleyan.
He has over 20 years’ experience spanning transformation, commercial, finance and consulting roles. He joined Wesleyan from Quilter in 2022 and prior to that spent time at Direct Line Group, Hastings Direct, Lloyds Banking Group and Rolls Royce.
Faraz has accountability for the transformation and wider Group operating agenda, ensuring we are aligned to our strategy, and focused on delivering the best value for members, customers and colleagues.
He has Group-wide responsibility for Change and Transformation, Technology, Cyber, Data and Analytics, Customer Oversight, Workplace Strategy and Services, Procurement and Supplier Management, and Operational Resilience.
Jon Welsh
Chief Risk Officer
Jonathan joined Wesleyan in 2015. Since then, he has held several leadership roles, including Head of Actuarial and With Profits Actuary. He was appointed as Chief Risk Officer in 2021 and is now responsible for Wesleyan’s risk and regulatory activity.
Jonathan is a qualified actuary with a wide breadth of Risk Function and operational experience. Before joining Wesleyan, Jonathan previously held senior Actuarial positions with NFU Mutual and KPMG.
Jonathan is an active participant in industry bodies and working parties, which has influenced regulatory change within the industry.
Lisa Perkins
Director of HR
Lisa joined Wesleyan in 2017 as a Senior Business Partner, managing the HR Business Partnering team. She then became Head of HR in 2020, and Director of HR in 2021.
Lisa is responsible for the People Strategy at Wesleyan, leading a team of around 40 HR professionals to deliver a range of HR Services. This includes Performance Management, Organisational Design and Transformation, Reward and Recognition, Employee Value Proposition, Attraction and Retention, Learning and Development and HR Shared Services.
Lisa has worked in HR for the last 25 years within the professional services sector. She has also held the role of independent consultant and spent most of her early career at Lloyds TSB Bank in a variety of HR Business Partner and HR Manager positions.