Our Board

Committee membership: Disclosure Committee (Chair)

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 CEO. He returned to Standard Life in 2013, where he became CEO of Standard Life’s assurance, pensions and savings businesses. He joined the Board of Standard Life plc in 2018. Following their merger with Aberdeen Asset Management, he was the head of Standard Life Aberdeen’s UK business, before joining Royal London.

External appointments: He plays a prominent role in the industry as President of the Board of the Association of British Insurers.

Committee membership: Investment Committee (Chair), Audit Committee, Nominations and Governance Committee, Remuneration Committee

Appointed: 14 November 2014

Skills and experience: Ian Dilks is a Chartered Accountant and spent his entire professional career at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), joining the firm (which was then Coopers & Lybrand) in 1974, and becoming a Partner in 1986. He rose to become a member of the Global Financial Services leadership team and global insurance leader. He has deep experience of the insurance sector, gained through providing audit, advisory and transaction support services to a wide range of major UK and international insurance groups. From 2010 to 2013 he had responsibility for the public policy and regulatory affairs of the PwC global network. He is also a former Expert Adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Committee. From March 2014 to December 2020 he was Chair of NHS Resolution, an arm’s-length body within the NHS.

External appointments: His current appointments include Chair of the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health and social care in England. He was awarded an OBE in 2020 for services to the NHS.

Committee membership: With-Profits Committee (Chair), Nominations and Governance Committee, Risk and Capital Committee

Appointed: 14 January 2015

Skills and experience: An Actuary by profession, Sally Bridgeland has extensive experience in investment management and pensions, serving as a trustee of the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, NEST Corporation and the Lloyds Bank pension schemes. She was Chief Executive Officer of the BP Pension Scheme from 2007 to 2014, after 20 years with Aon Hewitt working both as a pensions and investment consultant and in research and innovation. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and the Board benefits from her extensive knowledge of asset liability modelling, along with investment strategy design and implementation.

External appointments: She is currently Chair of Impax Asset Management Group plc and certain of its subsidiaries, a Non-Executive Director and Chair of Local Pensions Partnership Investments Limited, a Non-Executive Director of Pension Insurance Corporation plc and and a Non-Executive Director of Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Limited and RSA Insurance Group Limited. She is also a Committee Member of the Nesta Trust charity’s investment committee and holds offices with livery companies, associations affiliated with the RAF, and educational bodies.

Committee membership: With Profits Committee, Risk and Capital Committee, Nominations and Governance Committee 

Appointed: 1 April 2023 

Skills and experience: Eithne McManus is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary, and is 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 as UK Actuary. Eithne has since held Non-Executive Directorships at a number of organisations such as Countrywide Assured, LGPS Central and SCOR Ireland. She has a strong affinity with the mutuals sector, having served as a Non-Executive Director of UIA Insurance. Eithne has a deep understanding of with profits. She chairs the With Profits Committee at Countrywide Assured and has recently stepped down as an Independent Member of the With Profits Committee at the Prudential Assurance Company. It is anticipated that she will succeed Sally Bridgeland as Chair of the With Profits Committee from 1 December 2023.  

External appointments: Independent Non-Executive at Countrywide Assured PLC and SCOR Ireland DAC, Director at Alban Actuarial Solutions. 

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 significant 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 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for more than 25 years, including 12 years as a Partner in its banking practice. He is a former member of the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority Practitioner Panel and a former Chair of the UK Finance Financial Risk and Policy Committee.

External appointments: He is currently a Non-Executive Director at Homes England, where he is Chairman of the Investment Committee and Home Ownership Committee and serves on the Audit and Risk Committee and the Change Committee. He is also a Non-Executive Director of both TSB Bank plc and TSB Banking Group plc, serving as Chairman of their Audit Committee and as a member of their Risk, Nomination and Technology Strategy Committees.