Board diversity
The Group values and promotes diversity and inclusion. We recognise that having a range of backgrounds and experience in senior positions is the right thing to do and provides the Group with strategic advantage.
You can read our Board Diversity and Inclusion Policy (PDF) for more on our commitment and approach.
Isabel Hudson, Chair
Committee membership: Disclosure Committee (Chair), Nominations and Governance Committee (Chair), Remuneration Committee
Appointed: 10 February 2025
Skills and experience: Isabel Hudson has extensive financial services experience spanning insurance, pensions and regulation, and has held non-executive roles in the telecommunications and house building sectors. Her previous appointments include independent designated non-executive director of BT Group plc, Senior Independent Director of RSA Insurance Group plc, and Chair of the National House-Building Council. Prior to these appointments, she served as non-executive director on the boards of Phoenix Group Holdings (Jersey), Standard Life plc, QBE Insurance Group Ltd. (Australia), Marine And General Mutual Life Assurance Society and The Pensions Regulator.
External appointments: Isabel is currently a non-executive director and Chair of the Audit Committee at AXA SA. She is also Chair of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, and is an ambassador for the disability charity SCOPE. Since December 2023, she has been a non-executive director of ISC Group, a global not-for-profit organisation that champions equal representation for women in insurance.
Tim Tookey, Senior Independent Director
Committee membership: Audit Committee (Chair), Nominations and Governance Committee, Risk and Capital Committee
Appointed: 6 April 2020
Skills and experience: Tim Tookey is a chartered accountant with deep experience in major retail financial services organisations and has extensive board experience. His former appointments include Chief Financial Officer of Quilter plc (previously known as Old Mutual Wealth Management Limited) and Chief Financial Officer at Friends Life Group Limited, a position he held from 2012 until the sale of the business to Aviva in April 2015. In addition, he was Group Finance Director of Lloyds Banking Group from 2008 to 2012, having been Deputy Group Finance Director when he joined the bank in 2006, as well as Finance Director of Prudential plc’s UK business and Group Finance Director at Heath Lambert Group. More recently, he served as a non-executive director of Nationwide Building Society, including as Chair of its Risk Committee, until his retirement from the board in July 2022. Tim was appointed Senior Independent Director on 1 January 2024.
External appointments: None.
Barry O'Dwyer, Group Chief Executive Officer
Committee membership: Disclosure Committee
Appointed: 8 January 2020
Skills and experience: Barry O’Dwyer is an actuary with extensive financial services experience in the UK and Ireland. He began his career at Standard Life in 1988, when it was a mutual. In 2008, he moved to HBOS and, shortly afterwards, to Prudential UK & Europe, where he became Deputy Chief Executive Officer. He returned to Standard Life in 2013, where he became Chief Executive Officer of Standard Life’s platform, pensions and savings businesses. He joined the board of Standard Life plc in 2017. Following Standard Life plc’s merger with Aberdeen Asset Management, he was the head of Standard Life Aberdeen plc’s UK business, before joining Royal London in 2019.
External appointments: Barry is currently a member of the board of the Association of British Insurers and a non-executive director of Coop Exchange Limited.
Daniel Cazeaux, Group Chief Financial Officer
Committee membership: Disclosure Committee, Investment Committee, With Profits Committee
Appointed: 22 September 2020
Skills and experience: Daniel Cazeaux is a chartered accountant. From 2008 to 2020, he was a partner at KPMG in the UK, where he led global client teams delivering audit services to UK and global insurance companies, as well as advising on finance change programmes and transactions. In his time at KPMG, he also performed executive secondment roles into finance functions of large UK insurers, which enabled him to develop deep-rooted specialist and commercial expertise in the financial services industry. He currently serves as a director of Royal London Insurance Designated Activity Company, Royal London’s business in Ireland.
External appointments: None.
Kal Atwal, Independent Non-Executive Director
Committee membership: Nominations and Governance Committee, Investment Committee
Appointed: 17 January 2020
Skills and experience: Kal Atwal is a strategy leader with international experience in start-up, scale-up, fintech and digital businesses. She began her career at Ernst & Young on placement in Madrid, after which she held a number of operational and strategic roles with Southern Derbyshire Chamber and Northcliffe Media Ltd. She joined BGL Group when the company took over Bennetts, the motorcycle insurance business, where she held the position of Managing Director. She then became the founding Managing Director of comparethemarket.com, a division of BGL. Until late 2023, she was also a non-executive director of WH Smith plc, Admiral Financial Services Limited and SimplyCook Limited.
External appointments: Kal is currently a non-executive director at Whitbread plc, where she is a member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committees, and OSB Group, where she is a member of the Group Remuneration and People Committee. She is also the Chair of FunkyPigeon.com, a subsidiary of WH Smith plc.
Baroness Ruth Davidson PC, Independent Non-Executive Director
Committee membership: Nominations and Governance Committee, Remuneration Committee
Appointed: 8 June 2021
Skills and experience: Baroness Davidson has extensive experience in politics, leading the Conservative Party in Scotland and playing key roles in the referendum campaigns surrounding Brexit and Scottish independence. A regular attendee at political cabinet, she was a key adviser to two prime ministers on constitutional issues. She was appointed to the Privy Council in 2016 and joined the House of Lords in 2021 as Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links. Before entering politics, she was a news and current affairs journalist across print, radio and television, primarily with the BBC. Until recently, she was a trustee of the HALO Trust, a board member of The John Smith Centre for Public Service at the University of Glasgow and a member of the Scottish Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
External appointments: Baroness Davidson is currently a non-executive director of Scottish Rugby Limited and the food manufacturer W.A. Baxter & Sons. She currently serves on the board of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Limited and is an ambassador for the HALO Trust, where she previously served as a trustee. In addition, she co-presents the political podcast ‘Electoral Dysfunction’ for Sky News.
Jane Guyett CBE, Independent Non-Executive Director
Committee membership: Remuneration Committee (Chair), Nominations and Governance Committee, Risk and Capital Committee
Appointed: 4 August 2021
Skills and experience: Jane Guyett has extensive knowledge and experience of financial markets and corporate governance in the UK and globally. She has held senior roles with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London and New York, which included serving as Chief Operating Officer (EMEA and Asia) of the Global Markets Group and sitting on the board of Bank of America Securities. She was previously a non-executive director of Kelliher Insurance Group Limited, UK Financial Investments Limited and UK Government Investment Limited.
External appointments: Jane is currently an independent non-executive director of LCH Limited, Banque Centrale de Compensation SA, Paris, and Hiscox Group, Chair of Connect Plus (M25) Limited, and a member of BDO LLP’s Public Interest Committee and Business Oversight Committee. She was awarded a CBE in 2021 for services to the UK economy.
Eithne McManus, Independent Non-Executive Director
Committee membership: With Profits Committee (Chair), Audit Committee, Nominations and Governance Committee, Risk and Capital Committee
Appointed: 1 April 2023
Skills and experience: Eithne McManus is a chartered enterprise risk actuary and an experienced non-executive director in the life and pensions industry. During her executive career, she was Chief Executive of City of Westminster Assurance, having previously acted as Chief Financial Officer and UK actuary. She has since held non-executive directorships at a number of organisations such as Countrywide Assured, CASLP Limited and LGPS Central (as asset manager). Eithne has a strong affinity with the mutuals sector, having served as a non-executive director of UIA Insurance (a mutual insurer). She also has a deep understanding of With Profits, chairs the With Profits Committee at Countrywide Assured and was previously an independent member of the With Profits Committee at the Prudential Assurance Company.
External appointments: Eithne is currently a non-executive director at Countrywide Assured plc, SCOR Ireland DAC and Alban Actuarial Solutions Ltd.
Pars Purewal, Independent Non-Executive Director
Committee membership: Nominations and Governance Committee, Audit Committee
Appointed: 8 February 2023
Skills and experience: Pars Purewal is a chartered accountant and the Chair of Royal London Asset Management Holdings Limited and Royal London Asset Management Limited. He retired as a senior partner of PwC after a career of over 37 years, including 10 years as PwC’s UK Asset Management leader. He has deep experience of asset management, gained through providing audit and advisory services at PwC. Following his retirement from PwC, he served on the boards of directors of Brewin Dolphin Holdings plc and Federated Hermes Limited. Until May 2024, he chaired the board of trustees of the Beyond Food Foundation and resigned as a non-executive director of Temple Holdings Limited in July 2024.
External appointments: Pars is currently an independent non-executive director of The Law Debenture Corporation plc, Chair of its Audit and Risk Committee and a member of its Nomination and Remuneration Committees. He is also an independent non-executive director of Finsbury Growth & Income plc.
Mark Rennison, Independent Non-Executive Director
Committee membership: Risk and Capital Committee (Chair), Audit Committee, Nominations and Governance Committee
Appointed: 25 September 2020
Skills and experience: Mark Rennison is a chartered accountant with extensive experience of working both with and for large financial services organisations. He was Chief Financial Officer at Nationwide Building Society for 12 years and, prior to that, worked at PwC for more than 25 years, including 12 years as a partner in its banking practice. Until 2023, he served as a non-executive director of both TSB Bank plc and TSB Banking Group plc. He is a former member of the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority Practitioner Panel and a former Chair of UK Finance’s Financial Risk and Policy Committee. Until July 2024, he was a non-executive director at Homes England, where he chaired the Investment Committee and Home Ownership Committee and served on the Audit and Risk Committee and the Change Committee.
External appointments: Mark is currently a non-executive director of NatWest Holdings Limited, National Westminster Bank plc and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc.
Nicky Richards, Independent Non-Executive Director
Committee membership: Investment Committee (Chair), Nominations and Governance Committee
Appointed: 5 October 2023
Skills and experience: Nicky Richards has extensive experience of business and investment leadership from her executive and non-executive careers. She is the former Global Head of Equities and member of the Group Management Committee at Schroders plc, where she spent 20 years of her executive career. She was also Group Chief Investment Officer at Fidelity International for four years, and Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of MLC Asset Management for two years. Her non-executive experience includes being a non-executive director of RWC Partners Limited. While affiliated to Schroders, she chaired the RWC Partners (Redwheel) board between 2016 and 2020, and remains on the board in a non-executive capacity after stepping down as Chair.
External appointments: Nicky is currently a non-executive member of the Investment Sub-Committee of King’s College London.