Paul Lee Announced as Next UK Endorsement Board Chair

The Department for Business and Trade today announced the appointment of Paul Lee as the next UKEB Chair. The appointment is for a three-year term, commencing on 11 September.

Paul joined UKEB as an inaugural Board member in March 2021 and, in these past four years, the organisation has benefitted from his twenty years of experience as an investor and his input to the UKEB’s ongoing focus on ensuring connectivity between IFRS accounting and sustainability standards. As well as his role as a UKEB Board member, Paul is currently Head of Stewardship and Sustainable Investment Strategy at Redington, the investment consultancy, UKEB’s representative on the UK Sustainability Disclosure Technical Advisory Committee and Chair of UKEB’s Investor Advisory Group.

After five years as UKEB Chair, Pauline Wallace will step down when her term ends on 10 September.

UKEB Chair, Pauline Wallace, said:

“Paul has been an influential and well-respected member of the UKEB Board since its inception in March 2021. His insightful input and wise counsel during his tenure as a Board member has been invaluable and his ability to understand and balance the needs of different stakeholder groups has undoubtedly played a part in UKEB’s achievements to date.

I’m delighted to see him appointed as my successor. It bodes well for UKEB’s future success in maintaining the UK’s position as a thought leader and key influencer of international financial reporting.  It also recognises the importance of robust accounting standards in the UK capital markets.”

UKEB Chair Designate, Paul Lee, said:

“As an investor I understand the importance of international accounting standards and the role they play in supporting UK economic growth and inward investment. I also recognise the unnecessary burden that might be placed on companies if standards don’t achieve the right balance. I was pleased to join the UKEB Board four years ago because I firmly believed that the organisation’s remit, to act as the voice of UK stakeholders in the development of comparable and proportionate standards that add value to the UK long-term public good, forms part of the core foundation of a strong and growing UK economy. I still believe that.

The UKEB has been robustly effective under Pauline’s thoughtful leadership, and I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to lead the Board. I’m looking forward to getting started and deepening my work with our excellent Board and Secretariat. There are economic challenges ahead, both in the UK and globally, and my focus, and that of the Board, will be on understanding, supporting and balancing the needs of all UK stakeholders as we navigate those challenges.”

Read the full Department of Business and Trade announcement.