Our team

Peter Ballard: Partner

Peter is one of the founding Managing Partners of Foolproof. Peter's previous role was as the Marketing Director of Virgin Money. He joined the Virgin Group in 1994 and was one of the founders of the Virgin financial enterprise. His experience in e-commerce dates back almost as far. Peter brings extensive experience in financial services management and consultancy and has successfully headed up projects at Foolproof for many of the UK’s leading brands.

Tom Wood: Partner

Tom is one of the founding Managing Partners of Foolproof. Tom was previously Head of Advertising at Virgin Money, a role which made him focus on improving conversion performance on e-commerce sites. He pioneered usability research at Virgin Money and has been planning, moderating and analysing qualitative research throughout his career. Before Virgin, Tom worked in advertising on the agency side at Ogilvy & Mather.

Tim Loo: Managing Director

Tim joined the business in its early days as a start-up working with the founders to establish Foolproof as a leading brand in digital services. Prior to joining Foolproof he was a senior consultant at the Australian financial services giant AMP. He spent over ten years within this organisation working on projects across the world. In the UK, he had a senior role within the team running the investment portal Ample (formerly iii.co.uk). Tim has been a Committee Member of the Usability Professionals Association (UPA).

Ray McCune: Strategy Director

Ray leads the development of new service offerings at Foolproof and often develops and shapes strategic client engagements in the UK and internationally. Ray was one of three founding partners of the user experience consultancy fhios. Prior to this Ray was Director of Business Development for the London office of Rare Medium - a NASDAQ quoted digital agency. He has managed a wide range of strategic consulting engagements for leading brands in finance, retail, travel and FMCG. He holds a BSc in Organizational Psychology and is a member of the Institute of Direct Marketing.  

Marc Oldman: Finance Director

Marc is Foolproof's Finance Director, he  has been with Foolproof since 2002  prior to which he trained with a national firm of chartered accountants before moving on to a regional firm, and then into industry. As well as managing its internal infrastructure, Marc is responsible for the financial wellbeing of Foolproof, and takes a lead role in the development of business metrics and longer term growth planning.

Sarah Matthews: Head of Research

Sarah takes responsibility for the quality and effectiveness of research projects at Foolproof. She is a skilled and experienced practitioner in user and market research. Her work has included interviews and discussion groups with minority and hard-to-reach groups, children and young people. Sarah has broad experience in finance, education, health and gaming. Her work to date has included projects for Norwich Union, Virgin, CITB, HSBC, RBS and Abbott. Sarah holds a BSC Psychology and Counselling degree and has 7 years experience in qualitative research.

Natalie Machon: Head of Market Insight

Natalie leads a team responsible for generating insights in to UK online consumer behaviour, in particular, the market-leading Online Shopping Survey (Foolproof’s proprietary series of studies examining consumer behaviour in various different markets). Natalie spent four years at British Telecom, heading up the Consumer Insight team and, prior to that, spent 6 years in the Strategy and Planning team at MTV Networks Europe. She has strong experience in advising senior marketing practitioners on how to use an understanding of consumer behaviour to drive commercial advantage. Natalie holds a BA in Anthropology.

Hayley Wheeldon: Group Account Director

Hayley leads Foolproof’s client services team in Norwich, managing the client needs and delivery of projects across different account groups. Hayley has over 10 years marketing experience, 7 of which have been gained within the financial services industry. Her previous roles have included Head of Marketing at Spanish Bank BBVA plus senior marketing roles at Virgin Money and Norwich Union. She has experience of managing multi-million pound marketing budgets and delivering sales and revenue through integrated distribution channels, including involvement in online and e-marketing since 1999.

Ben Whattam: Account Director

Ben has worked for Foolproof since its earliest days in 2002 and has broad experience in the design, development and delivery of online banking sites and the e-marketing of financial services products. Ben manages the relationships and development of many of Foolproof’s largest accounts. He has managed projects for personal and commercial banking clients in the UK and internationally including engagements in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific

Joanna Buck: Account Director

Jo leads an account team with clients across a range of sectors including Financial Services, Travel and Leisure and Retail, including names such as Lloyds TSB and Virgin Group. Prior to Foolproof Jo spent four years as a Marketing Manager for Virgin Money specialising in Credit, Life and Mortgage products. Her career also included marketing roles with Norwich Union and Channel 4. Jo holds a BA from Plymouth University and an advanced marketing qualification from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.