Board of Directors
Chair
Charlie Cornish
Charlie Cornish was appointed MAG Chairman in October 2023. Prior to that, he held the role of Group Chief Executive for 13 years.
Prior to joining MAG, Charlie was Managing Director of Utility Solutions, the commercial business of United Utilities (UU) with operations in the UK, the Middle East, Australia, Bulgaria, Poland, Estonia and the Philippines and was a Director of UU PLC. Previously he worked for a number of manufacturing and service companies including Plessey Telecommunications, British Aerospace and ABF.
Ken O'Toole FCA
Ken O’Toole was appointed MAG’s Chief Executive Officer in October 2023. He previously served as Deputy Chief Executive, and prior to that was the Group’s Chief Development Officer. During his time at MAG, Ken has also held the role of Chief Executive of London Stansted Airport and Chief Executive of Manchester Airport.
He spent six years with Ryanair Holdings plc, joining initially as Head of Revenue Management and latterly as Director of New Route Development. A qualified Chartered Accountant, his previous experience includes Musgrave Group, a leading Irish and UK based retailer and Credit Suisse First Boston.
A qualified Chartered Accountant, his previous experience includes Musgrave Group, a leading Irish and UK based retailer and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Jenny Cochrane
Jenny Cochrane was appointed General Counsel and Company Secretary in April 2020. Jenny has been with MAG since 2013 having previously held the position of Legal Director with responsibility for the legal function across the Group. Prior to joining MAG Jenny worked in private practice and specialised in corporate finance.
Jan Bramall ACA
Jan Bramall joined MAG in 2018 as Group Finance Director, prior to taking on the role as Chief Financial Officer in December 2020.
Jan previously held VP Finance roles across listed International business including JCI and Tyco with responsibility across Europe, North America, South America and Canada.
Jan qualified with PwC and specialised in Corporate Finance and M&A transactions post qualification.
Non-Executive Directors
Councillor Bev Craig
Bev became Leader of Manchester City Council on 1st December 2021. First elected in 2011 as a Burnage Councillor, she held a range of responsibilities on Manchester City Council, including serving for 4 years as Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing, then as Deputy Leader overseeing resources, capital programmes, social value and digital.
Since becoming Leader her focus has been on Manchester's ambitious COVID recovery, the importance of building a more inclusive and sustainable economy, children and young people, equalities, housing and zero carbon. She holds a range of responsibilities on behalf of the city including the GM Work and Skills Portfolio for the Combined Authority and the GM Local Enterprise Partnership.
Manoj Mehta
Executive Director (Europe) for IFM Investors with responsibility for evaluating, implementing and managing European investments. Prior to this role, he held senior positions within Transport for London and the Infrastructure Advisory Group at Citigroup.
Vanda Murray OBE
Vanda is Chair of Marshalls plc and Chair Designate of Yorkshire Water. She is also an Independent Director and Chair of Remuneration at Bunzl plc. Prior to this she was CEO of Blck plc, a FTSE quoted International Support Services Group. She was appointed OBE in 2004 for services to Industry and to Export.
Christian Seymour
Christian is Head of Infrastructure (Europe) for IFM Investors with responsibility for business expansion in Europe and oversight of IFM’s existing European asset portfolio. He has over 20 years of experience working for companies including Duke Energy, Santos, BHP Billiton, Bechtel and Woodside, successfully delivering large scale projects involving multidisciplinary teams.
Catherine (Cath) Schefer
Cath is the Chief Operating Officer of Global Operations for Stantec, overseeing all operations outside of North America. Cath has more than 30 years' experience in design, construction and programme management of major infrastructure projects and is a chartered civil engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Paul Venables
A Chartered Accountant and US qualified, Paul started his career at Deloitte, where he was a senior manager in its USA practice.
He then spent 13 years at Exel plc where he held a number of senior roles including Deputy Finance Director, a member of the Executive Board and Chair of the Acquisitions and Project Review Board.
Following the acquisition of Exel plc by Deutsche Post, Paul joined Hays plc where he was Group Finance Director for 16 years, before retiring in September 2022.
Paul was also SID and Audit Chair of Wincanton plc.
Jon Wragg
Jon has a consumer sector background, having held leadership roles at Superdry plc, Asda WalMart and The Very Group. Jon has broad International and UK experience within both D2C and D2B2C envirionments. His focus for the past twenty years has been in digital channels, where he has been responsible for delivering both digital transformation and growth. Jon has previously held non executive / board advisor roles at digital start ups, and is currently on the board of Sosandar plc.
Cllr John Blundell
John is an economist working at a large engineering and construction consultancy working on the strategic and economic cases for infrastructure and transport related projects. He is a councillor on Rochdale Borough Council, occupying the Regeneration cabinet post, and is a director of Rochdale Development Agency.
Amanda Brown
Amanda Brown was appointed to the MAG Board on 1 September 2023 as an Independent Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Chair Designate. Amanda is an experienced senior executive with a background in consumer facing organisations and financial services.
She served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Hiscox during a period of significant growth and transformation for the organisation and she also held executive roles within Whitbread Group, PepsiCo and Mars Inc.
Amanda has a wealth of experience as Chair of Remuneration Committee at Micro Focus plc and Mitchells & Butler plc in addition to over fifteen years of executive responsibility for remuneration as part of her responsibilities within HR.