Ruth Handcock is Chief Executive Officer at Octopus Investments with overall responsibility for retail fundraising, growth and innovation, and central support services. Ruth joined Octopus in 2018 from Tandem Bank, a new UK Challenger Bank, where she was chief customer officer and chief of staff. Ruth started her career with 8 years in strategic consultancy before joining Bacardi as Finance Director of their Martini & Cognac portfolios.

As part of her career, Ruth spent a year working in the Ministry of Trade in Sierra Leone to attract overseas investment and still oversees the running of a primary school in Freetown. Ruth is Governor and Founder at Bolingbroke Academy, a non-selective state secondary school and is also involved in the FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring program helping increase female participation on Boards. Ruth graduated from the University of Cambridge with an MA (first class) degree in Natural Sciences.