Accounting and Finance advisory board

Grace is an alumna of the University of Leeds, having studied for a BSc Accounting and Finance here at the Faculty of Business. During her degree Grace undertook a year in industry at RSM UK and, on graduating from Leeds, Grace trained in Audit with RSM and qualified with ICAEW as a chartered accountant.

Grace currently works in the Accounting and Financial Reporting Team at RSM, where her work is predominantly focused around managing a portfolio of large corporate clients, delivering year end statutory accounts and providing accounting advice. Grace also assists with advisory projects such as group reorganisations and she has recently specialised in the preparation of completion accounts for clients undertaking acquisitions.

Alongside this, Grace is responsible for managing a team, supporting their professional development and career progression at RSM.

Simon is the Director of Financial Markets Infrastructure (FMI) and Head of Bank of England Leeds. He has responsibility for supervision, risk and resilience across financial market infrastructure – the plumbing of the financial system.

Simon joined the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in 2009 as a supervisor in the Major Retail Groups Division and transferred to the Prudential regulation Authority (PRA) in 2013 where Simon was predominantly engaged in large Bank supervision, before taking on his current FMI Director role in 2019. In November 2024 Simon relocated to the Bank of England’s Leeds office and took over as Head of the Leeds office in April 2026.

Prior to joining the FSA Simon had a wide-ranging career in retail and commercial banking, most recently as Head of Asset Liability Management for Lloyds Retail Banking Division and prior to that as head of Capital One’s UK financial planning and treasury management functions. Simon’s early career was focused on corporate banking, predominantly as a relationship manager at Lloyds TSB.

Simon is an alumnus of the University (B Eng (Hons) Material Science and Engineering) and is a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and the Association of Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Yasanji Ratnaike is Director of Portfolio Strategy at Archon, working within the Sky ecosystem on capital allocation, portfolio construction and risk frameworks for digital asset infrastructure and real-world assets.

He joined Archon in 2026 following a career spanning nearly 15 years across global markets. Prior to Archon, he worked at JPMorgan Chase within Financial Resource Management across the capital markets franchise. Before joining JPMorgan, Yasanji held markets and risk roles at Morgan Stanley and Citibank.

Yasanji holds a PhD in Economics from University of Leeds, where he also served as a Lecturer in Economics. He is also an FCA Approved Person with professional qualifications in securities, derivatives and regulation.

He also serves as a Trustee of Odd Eyes Theatre and continues to support a number of charitable initiatives.

Shaun is the Director, Education and Qualifications at ICAEW, delivering a world class professional qualification around the world to over 36,000 students. This involves, syllabus evolution, advising tuition providers and universities, and writing and delivering regulated professional exams.

Before taking on this role, Shaun taught toward professional qualifications for over twelve years, specialising in tax and business strategy, and was involved in the evolution and design of courses for students.

Shaun studied at the University of Edinburgh (B.Com). He qualified as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant with PwC in London and he is also a qualified Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA).