Leadership
-
Andy Briggs MBE
Group Chief Executive Officer
-
Nicolaos Nicandrou
Group Chief Financial Officer
-
Angela Byrne
Chief Executive Officer, Pensions and Savings
-
Arlene Cairns
Life Chief Financial Officer & Group Performance Director
-
Michael Eakins
Group Chief Investment Officer
-
Claire Hawkins
Director of Corporate Affairs & Brand
-
Bríd Meaney
Group Chief Risk Officer
-
Jackie Noakes
Group Chief Operating Officer
-
Vanessa Swanton
Group Chief Audit Officer
-
Sara Thompson
Group Chief People Officer
-
Quentin Zetner
Group General Counsel
Andy Briggs, MBE
Group Chief Executive Officer
Career and experience:
Andy joined Standard Life in 2020 with over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. He has held senior executive roles across multiple business areas in the industry including: CEO of UK Insurance and Global Life and Health at Aviva plc; CEO of Friends Life Group Limited; Managing Director of Scottish Widows; CEO of the Retirement Income Division at Prudential plc and Chair and President of the Association of British Insurers (‘ABI’). Andy is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.
Key skills and competencies:
- Sound executive leadership and a considered approach to strategy, demonstrated through continued delivery of the group’s operating model. Andy has a strong history of high-profile M&A work in his previous roles.
- Broad knowledge of the global insurance industry which helps inform views on long-term strategic direction.
- Proactive approach to understanding stakeholder priorities, which closely aligns to Standard Life’s core social purpose and strategy, including work on developing initiatives such as Midlife MOT, financial and digital inclusion.
Nicholas Lyons
Group Chief Financial Officer
Career and experience:
Nic joined the company on 2nd December 2024 with over 30 years of financial services experience. He most recently held the position of Chief Executive Officer at Prudential Asia & Africa, and prior to this was Group CFO of Prudential plc.
Nic has held several senior finance and executive leadership roles during his career including CFO of Aviva UK Life, Group Financial Control Director of Aviva plc and Chair of the European Insurance Industry CFO Forum. He is a Non-Executive Director (‘NED’) of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Insurance Authority. Nic is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales.
Key skills and competencies:
- Experienced in leading significant transformational and infrastructure projects which assists with oversight of the implementation of the group’s evolved financial framework, driving progress towards being the UK’s leading retirement savings and income business.
Detailed knowledge of financial markets as leader of Standard Life’s financial strategy, which supports achievement of strong financial results in line with the financial framework of Cash, Capital and Earnings
Arlene Cairns
Life Chief Financial Officer & Group Performance Director
Career and experience:
Arlene joined the company in April 2023 with over 20 years experience in senior finance leadership roles.
Prior to joining Standard Life, she was the Group CFO & Board Executive for Donaldson Group Ltd, having joined from Aviva plc where she was the Chief Finance Operations Officer leading Global Finance Operations and Transformation. Arlene has held several senior global finance & strategy roles across the UK, Ireland and Australia working for Westpac Institutional Bank, Allied Irish Bank plc, Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Ltd and Zurich Financial Services & consulting experience at Ernst & Young LLP. Arlene is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Chair Designate of the Finance and General Purposes Committee and member of the court for Glasgow Caledonian University.
Michael Eakins
Group Chief Investment Officer
Career and experience:
Michael joined the company in July 2020 following the acquisition of ReAssure Group where he had held the same role since June 2019.
Prior to joining ReAssure, Michael was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs where he was responsible for the European Pension and Insurance Business and UK Rates sales. He has extensive experience of managing finance professionals and providing advice to senior management at insurers, pension funds and asset managers. Michael is a Non-Executive Director of Future Growth Capital Limited, a private markets investment manager which supports the objectives of the UK’s Mansion House Compact.
Michael has a MSci in Mathematics from the University of London and is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.
Claire Hawkins
Director of Corporate Affairs & Brand
Career and experience:
Claire joined the company in November 2000 and was appointed to the newly created role of Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations Director in June 2020. Claire has held a number of senior positions across the company including Head of Investor Relations and Director of the Group's SII Delivery Programme.
In her current position of Director of Corporate Affairs and Brand, Claire is responsible for embedding Standard Life’s purpose of helping people secure a life of possibilities as well as leading Standard Life’s sustainability and brand strategies.
Claire is also the executive sponsor of the Standard Life carers network and a passionate ambassador for flexible working having utilised both part time and work from home contracts during her time with Standard Life. She is also a qualified chartered accountant.
Brid Meaney
Group Chief Risk Officer
Career and experience:
Bríd joined the company in April 2021 with over 25 years of life insurance experience. She held the positions of Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Division and Life Finance Director before starting her current role in September 2024.
Prior to joining the company, Bríd was a partner in KPMG LLP’s (‘KPMG’) Advisory business for over 10 years working with insurance companies across the UK and globally. She held the post of Head of Insurance for KPMG in the UK in 2018 before transferring to KPMG in Hong Kong to support the China practice from 2019 to 2021. Bríd is a qualified actuary.
Jackie Noakes
Group Chief Operating Officer
Career and experience:
Jackie joined the company in September 2022 with a wealth of banking and insurance experience. Prior to joining the company, she spent four years as Group Chief Operating Officer at the Bank of Ireland in Dublin and Jackie’s other key roles include; CEO Mature Savings, Group and IT Shared Services Director at Legal & General and IT Vice President of American Express Bank Business Solution Delivery services.
Jackie also brings international experience, having held roles with IBM (Australia), Blue Cross & Blue Shield (USA), Sun Alliance (UK), Fireman’s Fund Insurance (USA) and Ericsson (Sweden). She studied IT and Data Processing at University of Limerick and holds MIT qualifications in Fintech Future Commerce and AI in Business Strategy.
Vanessa Swanton
Group Chief Audit Officer
Career and experience:
Vanessa joined the company as Chief Audit Officer in March 2025.
Vanessa joined from TSB Bank plc where she was Chief Audit Officer. Prior to joining TSB, she was Chief Internal Auditor at Liverpool Victoria Financial Services Limited (‘LV=’) where she led the Internal Audit function and Special Investigation team. Vanessa has held roles in management consultancy at Ernst & Young LLP and KPMG LLP and spent 16 years at Lloyds Bank Group plc working in a number of roles across the Lloyds Group and its three lines of defence.
Sara Thompson
Group Chief People Officer
Career and experience:
Sara joined the company in May 2020 with extensive HR experience having spent her career entirely within HR.
Sara started her HR career as a graduate and has also worked for various large multinationals as well as running her own consultancy. Her early career was in IT and telecoms companies and more recently she has gained considerable Financial Services experience including roles in Royal Sun Alliance, Barclays and more recently, Aviva plc. Sara lived and worked in South Africa for a number of years where she led the people aspects of the integration of Absa Bank into Barclays. She also has international experience, having held roles in in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Latin America and the US.
Angela Byrne
Chief Executive Officer, Pensions and Savings
Career and experience:
Angela joined the company in January 2026 with over 20 years of executive leadership experience.
Angela joined from NatWest Group where she spent 20 years in a number of senior executive roles, including as Chief Customer Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Retail Bank. Most recently, Angela was interim Chief Executive Officer of the Retail Bank, where she led the innovation of customer experience, driving financial performance and ensuring regulatory compliance. She has extensive experience leading customer businesses and digital transformation.
Quentin Zentner
Group General Counsel
Career and experience:
Quentin joined the company in August 2010 and was appointed as General Counsel in December 2014, having previously held the role of Director, Life Legal.
Prior to joining Quentin was General Counsel at Nikko Principal Investments Ltd, a Japanese private equity company and before that was a Corporate Partner at Pinsents. He is a qualified solicitor.