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 Leadership and Governance

Oversight of SFE comes from a non-executive board of management made up of senior leaders appointed from our membership

We have a small team here at SFE led by our CEO, with significant expertise across our core functions of public affairs, communications, membership services and events. The work of SFE is complemented by a number of special interest groups and committees representing industry subsectors and public affairs professionals.

 The Board

John McGuigan
SFE Chair

  • John joined Standard Life in 2013 as Managing Director of Customer Service. Shortly after joining he assumed responsibility for the Company’s businesses in Ireland and Germany. In 2018, at the point Standard Life was acquired by The Phoenix Group, John became the Customer Director for the combined Group. He retired from the role earlier this year.

    Prior to joining Standard Life, John worked for 7 years at Telefonica with his last appointment being Managing Director for Sales and Customer Service in Telefonica Germany.

    John was appointed SFE Chair in November 2022. He also holds roles as a Non-Executive Director at the Scottish Ambulance Service, Senior Mentor with Merryck & Co and was most recently appointed as the Chair of Scottish Rugby.

Sandy Begbie CBE FRSE
SFE Chief Executive

  • Sandy Begbie CBE was appointed Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise in October 2020.

    Prior to joining SFE, Sandy led the development of the Scottish Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee following an 18-month contract at Tesco Bank as the Chief Transformation Officer.

    Sandy was responsible for the Global People, Organisation and Culture Integration following the successful merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management. Before the merger Sandy was the Chief People Officer and Lead Executive for China and Hong Kong for Standard Life for eight years. During this time, he led the Standard Life HR team to be recognised as one of the top performing functions in the UK and also led the turn-around of Standard Life’s Chinese Joint Venture. Sandy was appointed Senior Advisor to the Standard Life Asia Board in July 2020, having been Chair of the Hong Kong-based Board since 2014.

    Before joining Standard Life plc in May 2010, Sandy held similar Transformation and Group HR Director positions within Aegon, Scottish Power and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

    Sandy holds several non-executive positions including Chair of Career Ready, Non-Executive Director of Place 2 Be and Chair of the Centre for Moving Images.

    Sandy was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in August 2018 for services to business and social inclusion, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March 2023.

Sue Dawe
SFE Deputy Chair
Head of Financial Services
Scotland for EY LLP

  • Sue Dawe leads EY’s Financial Services Practice in Scotland and is the Managing Partner for the Edinburgh office. She has been with EY for 30 years. Previous roles include, Head of EMEIA Wealth and Asset Management Assurance and Head of UK Wealth and Asset Management audit. She is a member of EY’s UKFS Leadership team and a member of the EY UK LLP Board. Sue is on the Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB) and was on the Board of Scottish Investment Operations until December 2018.

    Sue is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and has a degree in Accountancy and Finance from Heriot Watt University.

Judith Cruickshank
Managing Director, Commercial Mid Market
Royal Bank of Scotland

  • Judith Cruickshank has worked with NatWest for 14 years in a variety of roles, focused on customer solutions for both Retail and Commercial customers. She is currently MD Commercial Mid Market Banking, Scotland and Climate Lead for the Business Bank. She is particularly passionate about helping business and personal customers prepare for the future through building financial capability and transitioning to a lower carbon world.

    Prior to joining the bank she worked in oil & gas for Shell International and for Marakon Strategy Consultants, with experience in both Asia and Europe.

    Outside of the bank, Judith is also a Finance Committee member of Heriot Watt University and a Director of Scottish EDGE.

Rushad Abadan
Group General Counsel
abrdn plc

  • Rushad leads abrdn plc’s global Legal, Governance and Public Affairs function, as part of which he advises the abrdn Board and executive team on various strategic, operational, regulatory, people and risk issues.

    In other current roles, Rushad serves as a Member of the Court of The University of Edinburgh and of its Audit & Risk Committee. He is also a non-executive director of Finimize, an investment insights platform. Previously, Rushad served as a non-executive director of HDFC Life Insurance and HDFC Asset Management, both leading, listed, Indian financial services companies.

    Rushad joined abrdn in January 2016, at that time Standard Life plc. Before this, he was at NatWest Group (then The Royal Bank of Scotland Group) where he was Group Deputy General Counsel having previously served in senior roles since 2006.

    Rushad arrived in the UK in 2002 to work in the Corporate Finance practice at Dundas & Wilson (now part of global law firm CMS). He began his career in India in Arthur Andersen’s Tax and Foreign Investment practice and latterly in Andersen Legal’s M&A and Private Equity team.

    Rushad holds a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) from the University of Mumbai and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Government Law College, Mumbai. He is a qualified solicitor in England and Wales, and India. Rushad is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Colin Halpin
Global Head of Market Data Management for Barclays Group

  • Colin Halpin is Head of Global Market Data Financial Management for Barclays Group and is a member of Barclays Global Procurement Leadership team. 

    In his role, Colin is accountable for the end to end management of all market data products and services, devising and delivering the Groups Market Data strategy, complex contract negotiation, informing and supporting strategic decisions around technology, data and process.

    Colin has over 25 years Financial Services senior leadership experience across Market Data, Asset Pricing, Reference Data, Financial Markets Back Office Operations, Invoice Discounting, Mortgage Operations, Strategy, Transformation, Process Design, Technology Architecture, Client / Stakeholder Relationship Management and Risk Management.

    Before joining Barclays, Colin held a number of senior leadership roles at HSBC, JP Morgan, Ulster Bank (RBS) and Pfizer Treasury. Colin was a Political Ambassador for HSBC as well as Chair of the HSBC Scotland Leadership Team and was on the Financial Services Advisory Boards Sub-committee for Banking and the Economy.

    Colin is a member of the SFE Board, is the current sponsor for the Skills & Inclusion strategic actions, a member of SFE Audit Committee and is a member of the Scottish Governments Talent Attraction Advisory Group.

Anthony Rafferty
Chief Executive
Origo Services Limited

  • At the FinTech company Origo, Anthony Rafferty is responsible for continuing the firm’s 30 year-long legacy of delivering improved operational efficiencies, lowering costs for market participants and improving outcomes for consumers.

    Before joining Origo, Anthony held a number of senior roles in the life, pensions and investments industry. During this time, he developed a passion for supporting consumers in the UK become more engaged with their financial futures and devising ways for the industry to make that much easier for them.

Vida Rudkin
Managing Director
Morgan Stanley

  • Vida Rudkin is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley based in their Glasgow office. Vida is the Head of the Glasgow Office, Global Operations Chief Operating Officer and the UK Senior Manager for Client Assets. Vida holds positions on a the boards of Morgan Stanley UK Limited and Morgan Stanley Pension Trustees Ltd. She also holds external positions on the board of Scottish Financial Enterprise and the Financial Services Growth and Development Board. 

     Vida joined the Morgan Stanley Glasgow office in March 2010 after ten years working in London in various roles across UBS, Barclays Capital and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Prior to entering the Financial Services Industry Vida spent six years as a consultant with Andersen Consulting and then Deloitte Consulting working in the Oil & Gas and Financial Services Industries. Vida has an MBA from Henley Management College and a BSc (Hons) Degree from the University of Surrey.

Louisa Knox
Solicitor and Partner
Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP

  • Louisa Knox is a solicitor and partner at Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP having joined in the early 1990s. Louisa has specialised in pensions law for over 28 years and advises trustees and corporates on a wide range of pensions law matters.

    She is co-Chair of the Shepherd and Wedderburn’s ESG advisory group and also its Constitutional reform group. In her board role at the firm, she is the sponsor for the Shepherd and Wedderburn journey to net zero. Louisa is vice Chair of the PLSA Scotland Group and a member of the ICAS Pensions Committee. 

Jackie Leiper
Managing Director for Pensions and Stockbroking, Lloyds Banking Group, Chief Executive,
Embark Group

  • Within Lloyds Banking Group, Jackie Leiper leads the Embark, Scottish Widows, and Halifax Share Dealing businesses with a collective purpose of providing modern long-term savings & retirement solutions for the UK population.

    Jackie is also a lead media spokesperson for Scottish Widows, and is a leading campaigner of gender inequality championing women’s development into leadership roles and also leads for Scottish Widows on Gender Pensions and financial resilience. Jackie is a member of the Insurance, Pensions & Investment Exec Committee, an executive member of Embark Group Board and also the Chair of the Scottish Widows Master Trust Strategy Committee.

 Our Team

Ben Rose
Director of Public Policy & Communications

  • Ben joined SFE in September 2023, and is responsible for leading all aspects of SFE’s policy development, government engagement and broader stakeholder communication.

    He brings over 15 years of public and private sector experience, much of that spent advising senior figures in politics and financial services. He was most recently a Senior Public Policy Manager for NatWest Group, and also served as Chair of SFE’s Public Affairs and Communications forum between 2021 and 2023.

Jayne Currie
Director of Membership Services

  • Jayne joined SFE in October 2021 as our Director of Membership Services. She is focused on ensuring our members get the best possible value and experience from us and is also driving forward our changing customer needs strategy activity. 

    She has been working in Financial Services for over 25 years, mostly within the life and pensions sector.  Her passion is the customer and of course SFE members.  Jayne has worked at Standard Life, Scottish Widows and Royal London in various marketing, strategy, and insight roles.

Christina Anthoulaki
Programme Director

  • Christina joined SFE as our Programme Director in September 2023 and she is responsible for the design and delivery of key programmes across SFE. She has a background in Strategy and Product Management in financial and legal services, and she has a strong interest in promoting financial and social innovation which contributes to the development of a fairer and more inclusive financial ecosystem.

    She spent six years at NatWest Group in a variety of technology and change management roles before joining law firm Mishcon de Reya as Finance Product lead within Strategy.

    Her role in SFE focuses on the development and delivery of the sector’s Growth Strategy, including the delivery of its flagship Skills Action Plan. Christina is also a trustee of Money Advice Scotland.

Theo Prendergast
Public Relations & Communications Manager

  • Theo has been with SFE since January 2021 and has been Public Relations & Communications Manager since August 2021.

    He is responsible for managing SFE’s public profile, media relations and strategic messaging and delivering high quality communications to SFE’s range of audiences. Theo has two years of previous marketing and public relations experience having worked as an Account Coordinator at Clear Marketing and as intern at Big Partnership. Before joining SFE, he completed an MS in Political Communication at University of Glasgow.

Harry Meighan
Marketing Executive

  • Harry joined SFE on a one-year Digital Marketing Modern Apprenticeship in April 2022 and worked towards supporting SFE to plan and deliver digital content across all of our platforms.

    After completing his apprenticeship in March 2023 and obtaining his SCQF Level 6 diploma in digital marketing, Harry was kept on permanently at SFE where he now holds the title of marketing executive. His main responsibilities include planning and delivering content across SFE’s digital channels, website management and the day-to-day support of the SFE member platform.

Rachel Kennedy
Events & Relationships Manager

  • Rachel joined SFE in April 2022 as our Events and Relationships Manager. Rachel is responsible for supporting the Director of Membership Services in ensuring our members have an exciting events programme and fulfilled experience as an SFE Member.

    Rachel has over five years relevant events and engagement experience, organising live and hybrid events for public, private and third sector. Rachel is currently completing a GA (Graduate Apprenticeship Programme) in Business Management at Heriot Watt University.

David Hedley
Office Manager & PA to the Chief Executive

  • David joined SFE in 2012 working in several roles including office support and more recently as Events and Communications Executive where he managed the members events schedule and helped support our members.

    After a brief period away from SFE, David re-joined in May 2022 as PA to the CEO ensuring the smooth running of the executive office.

Lana McGill
Office Admin Apprentice

  • Lana joined SFE in August 2023 and is responsible for managing the SFE member platform, invoices and supporting our events and relationships team at events and with new members.

    As part of her apprenticeship, Lana is also working towards an SCQF Level 6 diploma in office administration.