Michael Overlander
Chief Executive

Michael Overlander has been actively involved in commodities for over 35 years, having begun his career on the London Metal Exchange (LME) in 1971. He has worked for the Sucden Financial Group since 1973.

In 1985, Michael was appointed to the board of Sucden Financial. He has been responsible for helping the company expand its activities from being a single commodity house to a fully comprehensive brokerage company with an extensive international client base.

With the advent of Electronic Markets he has led Sucden Financial’s drive forward to create and enhance its own trading platform across all sectors. This initiative has permitted the company to maintain a prominent role in what continues to be a highly competitive market place.

He was Chairman of the London Sugar Market for 4 years and a Director of the former London Commodity Exchange (LCE) and in 1996 was appointed to the board of the London International Financial Futures Exchange (NYSE Liffe). In May 2000, 2004, and again in 2007 Michael was elected to the Board of the LME.


Gavin Parker
Director of Information Systems



Gavin started his career in IT in 1981 and has worked in the City for the last 23 years. He has worked for a number of financial organisations in senior IT roles, including Fortis Bank as IT Director and Fuji Bank as an Associate Director, as well as for a number of Independent Software Vendors where the primary focus was electronic trading solutions for derivatives.

Gavin joined Sucden Financial early in 2007 and is responsible for the company's entire IT/IS department which includes Support, Infrastructure, Trader Support and Software Development for Sucden Financial's in-house developed trading and back office systems.

Robert James
Finance Director



Robert James qualified as an accountant in 1985 and has been an accountant professional in the financial services industry for over 24 years. His career began at NatWest Markets, where he spent 7 years in various finance based roles, before moving to Standard Chartered Bank in 1992, to head the internal audits of their trading business.

In 1994, Robert was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Mocatta, which at that time was owned by Standard Chartered Bank. Robert remained at Mocatta after the sale of the firm to Bank of Nova Scotia, before returning to Standard Chartered Bank in 1998.

In 2001 Robert joined Sucden Financial Limited as the firm’s Finance Director, with executive responsibilities for all control and support functions. Robert James currently serves on the board of Sucden Financial and is a lead member of the firm’s credit committee and strategy panel.


Tariq Ahmad
Director of Marketing & Corporate Strategy



Tariq heads up Sucden Financial's marketing, corporate strategy and research areas and oversees the Comfin Funds division. He also has executive responsibility for the firm's Dutch office and is a member of the firm’s executive team leading on all aspects of strategic development for the firm.

After graduating with a business degree, specialising in finance and investment, he joined NatWest Group and spent 10 years with the bank in frontline banking and various strategic and marketing roles. This included a pivotal role in the product marketing and promotion of the banks’ euro product and service proposition in the run up to the introduction of the single currency in 1999. Tariq was then appointed Senior Manager, External Marketing for Natwest, being promoted into the role of Head of Marketing – Corporate Banking & Financial Markets after the takeover by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

In September 2000, Tariq moved to Alliance Capital (Bernstein) the large US investment and funds group, as Vice President – Director, Marketing Communications and Public Relations looking after all marketing and media activities in the EMEA Region coordinating the activities of 8 different offices. Tariq joined Sucden Financial in March 2004.