Our team

The board

Peter Hutchinson Company Chairman

Peter graduated from York University with a degree in Economics and Social Statistics and is a Qualified Chartered Accountant, being a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant since 1982.

Peter founded Hutchinson & Co in 1985 as a Collection Agency for a resort in Portugal, however, on seeing  the potential for business growth and utilizing his experience and specialist knowledge, he went on to form Hutchinson & Co Ltd in 1987, which was followed in 1992 with the formation of Hutchinson & Co Trust Company Ltd. Pivotal to the company’s success has been Peter's drive and enthusiasm and he has been an active advocate of good practice in the industry; indeed Peter was one of the founding Board Members of the Organization for Timeshare in Europe (OTE), now known as the Resort Development Organisation (RDO), and holding also a key position on the Ethics Council. Outside of the UK, Peter has also advised several government Ministers in various countries on the development of the shared leisure industry and related legislation.

In order to pursue new opportunities for the Company, with the objective of extending the range of services it offers through its UK and international offices, Peter relinquished his role as Managing Director in 1999 and now holds the position of Non Executive Company Chairman.

Veranne Wilkinson Managing Director

Veranne was born and educated in France where she graduated from the Université de Franche-Comté with a Masters Degree in Modern Languages and Business in 1995 and earlier in her career, spent some time with Clifford Chance in Paris.

She joined the company in 1996 as a Customer Relations Advisor in the very busy Operations Department. It was there that she gained her wealth of knowledge and experience in the dealing with the day-to-day business of a Trustee, both from a B2B and B2C perspective. This hands-on operations experience would come to serve her well when she was appointed to the Board in 2005 and later in 2006 when the scope of her responsibilities was expanded to the Legal Services Department. On the 1st July 2009, Veranne became Managing Director of both Hutchinson and Citadel together with all other European Group companies.

Veranne is also actively involved in the shared leisure industry body, RDO, where she sits on the Board and the Resale Working Group; she often also participates in industry-wide discussions, as a Trustee representative.

Anna Rickard Director

Anna joined the company in 1998 Customer Relations Advisor and soon became Resort and Overseas Office Co-ordinator, a post she held until 2004. She was subsequently promoted to Legal Services Manager, working very closely with the Group’s Board members, and became an Associate Director in 2007. Anna has an in depth knowledge of the company operations and plays a key role in the set-up of new projects and schemes. She joined the Board in July 2009 and dedicates her time between shared leisure projects and alternative investment structures.

Raquel Gonzalez Pan Group Operations Director

Raquel joined the company in 2001 in the busy Operations Department in the UK Head Office and, in the same year, transferred to Spain, to assist in the set-up of our branch office dealing with local developer clients. Raquel´s skills grew rapidly as the Spanish branch office expanded business and, in recognition for her drive and enthusiasm, she was made an Associate Director in 2007. In 2009, Raquel was promoted to the position of Group Operations Director and now oversees all operations being carried out in Spain, UK, India and China. Raquel is bilingual in Spanish and English and also speaks Galician; she holds a Degree in Business Studies from the University of La Coruña, Spain. Raquel has many years experience in the hospitality world (her family has a small hotel in Galicia, Northern Spain), so she fully appreciates the importance of giving a highly professional service to clients.

Christopher Allen Business Development Director

Chris joined Hutchinson in 2008 as Associate Director and brings more than twenty years’ experience with him from the Tour Operating and Timeshare industries where he has held numerous senior management positions in Operations and Sales and Marketing. Chris, who holds a Bachelors Degree (Hons) in European Studies and speaks three European languages, is responsible for the Group’s Business Development. He joined the Board in July 2009 and works closely with his fellow Directors in looking for new business opportunities for the Group worldwide.

Lisa Best Investment Services Director

Lisa Best joined the Group as an Associate Director in April 2009, becoming a full member of the Board in September 2009. Prior to joining the Group, Lisa spent many years contributing impressively to the growth of the RMI Consortium and, after its amalgamation with Petchey Leisure, in Gibraltar, Spain and Ireland. Lisa, who is based in our UK Head Office, brings to the Group a wealth of operational experience in the shared leisure industry which she has also been able to apply to alternative investment products.

Mark Bevan Finance Director

Mark is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accounts and brings to Hutchinsonmore than 25 years’ experience in financial management gained across a broad spectrum of commercial sectors including financial services, direct marketing, mail order, import and public sector. As Financial Director, Mark’s hands-on approach has been invaluable in the process of integrating our worldwide offices, particularly through implementation of systems both Financial and Operational, helping support the expanding global nature of the Company´s customer base and operating platforms and our ambitious business development plans.

Lauren Wagner In-House Counsel/Director

Lauren studied at the College of Law in London and qualified as a UK Solicitor in 2007. She joined the Group in the spring of 2011 as In-House Counsel. Lauren has worked both in private practice and in-house, specialising in property, corporate and commercial law and immediately prior to joining the Group, was working in-house for an American listed company which operates renewable energy projects around the world. Lauren is responsible for providing day-to-day advice to the Group on corporate, shared leisure, investment and financial services matters; she is also involved in project structuring, including drafting of Project Documentation, and ensures that compliance procedures are implemented across the board.

Regional directors

Daniel Chou Asia and Pacific Region

Based in our Bangkok office, Daniel who joined the Company in 1998, heads up the Hutchinson Asia Pacific Operations. Daniel, who speaks fluent Thai, English, Mandarin and Cantonese, has built-up a thriving member service department working on behalf of several resorts in the Asia Region and he and his team have been also been responsible for bringing on-board several new resorts in Thailand, China, the Philippines and India.

Yang Chen China

Yang first joined the Hutchinson Group in 2001, based in Bangkok, Thailand, where he played a key role in the set up and operation of the member services departments for several resorts & clubs in the Asia Pacific region and especially for the Asian Chinese market.

In 2005, the Hutchinson Group set up Pacific Sunrise Travel Product Development (Shanghai) Co. Ltd in China, which is a Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise (WOFE) and Yang Chen was appointed as Director responsible for all Hutchinson business in this region. Under Yang’s leadership, the Company has been involved in the development and management of a number of Vacation Ownership products in China, which have added new vitality to the industry. Yang is also actively involved in China in the set up of an industry association and, in 2008, was appointed as Vice Chairman of the China Oriental Vacation Association (COVA). Prior to his role in COVA, Yang held the position of Secretary General in the Thai Vacation Ownership Association (TVOA).

Yang holds a University Law degree, as well as an M.A. in Communication Arts (MACA) from Bangkok University of Thailand. Yang speaks fluent English, Mandarin and Thai.

Prakash Balachandran India

Joining the Company in 1996, Prakash heads up our Bangalore office in India where he oversees all Sales and Operations matters for the region. Our Bangalore office plays a key role in the success of the Company operations and acts as the back-office for many of our international clients. Bangalore also covers a large portion of the Company´s data processing and financial transaction functions and Prakash played a key role in the successful transfer of these functions to the India office. Prakash, who is an Accountant by profession and holds a Bachelors Degree in Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai (Madras), is fluent in English and four other Indian languages.