The PSR Executive Team

Managing Director, Chris Hemsley, joined the PSR in November 2018 as Head of Policy and Strategy. In April, he became co-Managing Director, before being appointed as Managing Director in September 2019.

As Managing Director, Chris sits as Executive Director on the PSR Board.

Chris has extensive experience working for UK regulators. He joined the PSR following his role as Deputy Director of Railway Markets and Economics and Chief Economist at the Office of Rail and Road.

Previously, Chris led the implementation of the UK government’s new support scheme for large-scale renewable electricity generation and before that, led the Civil Aviation Authority’s work on competition and consumer protection.

Kate became the PSR’s Head of Policy in October 2022. Prior to this, she was a senior adviser to the PSR.

Kate has 25 years of experience in payments, 18 of these at Lloyds in retail banking and payments including: payments integration for the merger of Lloyds and HBoS; leading the design and build for the payments function at TSB; Change Director at TSB; and Payments Director at TSB.

Natalie joined the PSR in July 2023 as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Head of People and Operations.

Natalie joined the PSR from the Cabinet Office where she was Director of the Leadership, Government Skills and Curriculum Unit; prior to that she was Chief of Staff to the COO of the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary for the Cabinet Office.

Oliver joined the PSR in June 2023 as its Head of Supervision and Compliance Monitoring. Prior to joining the PSR, he was Director of Regulatory Operations at the Bar Standards Board, the independent regulator of the barrister’s profession. In his time at the Bar Standards Board, he led major programmes of regulatory reform including the introduction of a supervision regime for barristers and the opening of the legal services market to new business entities and training providers.

Oliver has a particular interest in ensuring that vulnerable members of the public have access to competent legal representation. He has led cross regulator initiatives to improve the quality of legal representation for young people within the criminal justice system and bereaved families involved in the Coronial Court.

Alex joined the PSR in June 2023 as General Counsel.

Alex joined the PSR from the Cabinet Office, where she led the Investment Screening Unit's work in relation to risk identification, analysis, remedies, compliance and enforcement in respect of the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

Prior to this role, Alex was Legal Director at the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – leading on all aspects of antitrust investigations and merger control. During her time at the CMA, Alex also served as Mergers Director and Head of Brexit strategy. Alex's has also held senior legal roles in NHS Improvement and Ofgem.

Dan joined the PSR in January 2024 as its Head of Strategy and Intelligence.

Prior to this, he was the Director of Rail Strategy and Analysis at the Department for Transport (DfT), having previously worked at the Competition and Markets Authority.

At the DfT, Dan led a broad range of strategy, analysis, and innovation projects across rail – delivering positive outcomes at a time of massive change and challenge - particularly as rail responded to Brexit and the Covid pandemic. This ranged from delivering major rail funding decisions, through to rail regulatory strategy and supporting international rail.