The Equity Release Council has appointed five new senior industry fugures to its main board of directors, following a vote by members announced at its latest Annual General Meeting last week.

The five new directors are:

• Bernie Hickman, managing director of Individual Retirement at Legal & General
• Dave Harris, managing director of More 2 Life
• Deian Jones, managing director of Hodge Lifetime
• Paul Carter, managing director of Pure Retirement
• Roger Marsden, managing director of Equity Release at Aviva UK Life.

Paul Barber, director of Bridgewater Equity Release, has also been re-elected. Each of the elected directors will serve for two years until 2018 and join the current serving board members:

• Nigel Waterson, chairman of The Council
• Donna Bathgate, chief operating officer of The Council
• Chris Pond, chairman of The Council’s Standards Board
• Steve Kyle, group regulatory and audit director at Just Retirement
• Helen Davies, head of implementation, Equity Release, at Partnership
• Vanessa Owen, head of Retirement Solutions Products at LV=.

Stepping down from the board are Craig Colton and Jon Tweed, previously of Aviva and Hodge Lifetime, and Colin Taylor of Key Retirement.

Two new appointments were also announced to The Council’s Standards Board. David Forsdyke, head of equity release compliance at Retirement Advantage, and formerly of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has succeeded Nikki Smith of Just Retirement as provider representative. Dean Mirfin, technical director of Key Retirement, will follow on from Age Partnership’s Simon Chalk in representing advisers.

Waterson said: “As The Council celebrates 25 years of safe equity release and our membership continues to grow in size, we’re delighted to announce these appointments which strengthen the board’s representation across the sector. Our new directors bring a wealth of experience and insight to draw upon, and I would also like to thank the outgoing board members for their valuable support during a period of rapid growth.

“Rising demand for equity release demonstrates the growing importance of housing wealth as an income source in later life. Equity release is on the path to becoming more established as a mainstream product in retirement planning. The Council is focused on supporting this by working to inform Government and regulatory decisions, and seeking industry collaborations in product development, adviser education and consumer awareness.”