Emma Black Chartered FCSI, Co-Founder and CEO of Cascade Cash Management, has been appointed new president of the CISI North East Committee. Emma takes over from Peter Douglas Chartered FCSI.
Born in the North East, Emma has lived around the UK and was raised in a family involved in professional sport. She was educated at Durham University where she achieved her BA (Hons), MSc and PhD specialising in in Behavioural Finance and M&A.
She has lectured across undergraduate and post-graduate levels at Durham University, Newcastle University and Leeds University and was also Deputy Director of Postgraduate Programmes at Newcastle University, where she originally linked in the university to CISI. Emma helped to co-found a wealth management company called Tier One Capital and built a compare-the-market savings tool Cascade Cash Management which was spun out into a standalone vehicle in 2015.
She then co-founded a new bank - GB Bank - in 2017 that obtained its full banking licence in 2022 and has won several awards, most notably Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards and recently Female Entrepreneur of the Year at Forward Ladies. She is a CISI Chartered Fellow (Chartered FCSI).
Emma said: “It's been wonderful to be a part of the CISI family for six years now on the Northeast committee. I'm honoured by the opportunity to take the reins from the wonderful Peter Douglas and step into the president's role.
“Peter has worked hard and set in place a fantastic platform on which we can build. The North East is an exciting region with great opportunities today.
“Inward investment combined with a great talent pool makes the region a great place to live and work. We've great talent on the committee and we're looking forward to continuing to build onward and upward providing worthwhile educational and professional opportunities for our members.”
Outgoing committee president Peter Douglas Chartered FCSI said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being able to make a contribution to the CISI and especially its most critical component – the membership, over the past four years, during which I’ve been very well supported by Colin Anderson and my colleagues on the North East committee.
“All things come to an end, however and I know I’m leaving the Committee in extremely capable hands and as a region we’re very lucky to have someone with Emma’s insight, profile and sheer energy to help steer the ship”.
CISI Chief Executive, Tracy Vegro, said: “We are delighted to welcome Emma as the CISI’s new North East committee president. We all look forward to supporting her and the committee in their work on developing the strategy for membership for the year to come. We must also extend our thanks to Peter Douglas for his leadership and vision.”
The CISI’s mission is to help members attain, maintain, and develop their knowledge and skills and to promote the highest standards of ethics and integrity in the securities and investment profession. Based in the City of London, with origins in the London Stock Exchange, the CISI is a charity with global reach through its representative offices in financial centres such as Colombo, Dubai, Dublin, Glasgow, London, Manila, Mumbai, and Nairobi.
They work in close co-operation with regulators, firms, and other professional bodies worldwide, with over 44,000 examinations taken each year. With 50,000 individual members, of which 23,000 are students, the CISI is the professional body which sets examinations and offers qualifications for those working in or looking to establish a career in financial planning, wealth management and capital markets.
