The people behind Abundance
Our founders left successful careers in finance and business to create Abundance because they saw that the status quo wasn’t supporting a sustainable economy or serving ordinary investors. They knew they could change that.
Over the past decade Bruce, Karl and Louise have assembled a team to deliver market-leading financial products, technology, marketing and customer service. And, with the support of our advisory group they are focused on continuing to offer the best investment service for all our investors, big and small.
Louise Wilson
Louise spent over 15 years at UBS Investment Bank and was responsible for structuring multi million pound flotations and share sales across several global regions. In the end she questioned why traditional markets don’t serve the ordinary investor and left to pursue a new degree and finding a way to build a fair society and while generating a decent return. Louise is on the Advisory Board for the Centre for Climate Finance & Investment at Imperial College Business School.
Bruce Davis
Bruce started out in finance as an anthropologist, studying the ‘social life of money’ for financial institutions in the UK and around the world. He was involved in the creation of peer-to-peer lending back in 2004 and has worked on a series of policy initiatives since, to support the creation of the peer-to-peer and crowdfunding sector. This has included co-founding the UK Crowdfunding Association, as a member of the Government Green Finance Taskforce and working on the development of the Innovative Finance ISA. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Bauman Institute, University of Leeds.
Karl Harder
Karl went from writing about renewable energy as a parliamentary researcher to running his first green business, which also pioneered the London Living Wage. After 5 years he recognised that finance was the key barrier to creating a more equal and environmentally sustainable world, so left to study for an MBA at Imperial College and to pursue the idea that became Abundance.
Will Jones
Will is an expert at turning a good idea into an operational success, a skill that has benefited a host of major financial services businesses. Part of the founding team and then Operations Director at Egg, he managed their successful launch and growth. Consultancy assignments at M&S Money, ABN Amro and Banco Santander followed until he became Head of Innovation and then Retail Transformation Director at RBS. Now Managing Director of Business Operations at Pollinate, Will brings to Abundance his deep experience of establishing and growing digital financial services businesses.
Mark Taylor
Mark has a deep working knowledge of both the practical and regulatory aspects of investing as a private individual, built through 25 years of experience in product innovation and business startups. Whilst a Director at Virgin Money, Mark launched the Virgin Climate Change Fund, and before that in his role as Director of Egg Investments, he built the UK’s first automated online trading platform. Until 2019, Mark was was Chief Customer Officer for the Equiniti Group plc, before leaving to set up his own ESG consulting and data business. Mark’s long track record of constructing successful investment products for the more innovative and enlightened financial institutions is invaluable.