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Our Team

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.

Sandy Begbie
Chief Executive

  • Sandy Begbie CBE, FRSE 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 in 2017. 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 HASL Asia business in Hong Kong in July 2020, having been Chair of the Hong Kong-based Board since 2014. In December 2023 Sandy was appointed as International Director to the HASL Asia business and stepped down as Senior Advisor.

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

    Sandy holds several non-executive positions including Chair of Place2Be Scotland and a Trustee on the National Place2Be Board, Chair of Young Person Guarantee and Chair of DYW (Developing the Young Workforce).

    Sandy was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in August 2018 for services to business and social inclusion. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in March 2023. In December 2024 Sandy was awarded Freedom of the City of London for his transformative leadership in Scotland's financial sector and his enduring commitment to fostering economic growth and social inclusion across Scotland.

Ben Rose
Director of Public Policy & Communications

  • Ben joined SFE in September 2023, and is responsible for leading 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.

Sara Votta
Interim Programme Manager

  • Sara joined SFE in August 2024 as our interim Programme Manager, responsible for the delivery of SFE’s skills and careers hub getinto.finance and our industry skills strategy. 

    She brings over 14 years of consultancy and delivery experience in the tech and data industry across financial services and the public sector.

    As a previous SFE member, Sara is passionate about supporting SFE’s sector growth strategy whilst promoting the pathways, skills and opportunities within financial services in Scotland.

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.

Peter Horne
PR & Communications Manager

  • Peter joined SFE in March 2025 as the PR & Communications Manager, focusing on highlighting the work of the organisation within the sector and beyond.

    He brings 6 years’ of both in-house and agency comms experience with organisations in the financial, tech and scale up sectors.

Nicole Scott
Events Manager

  • Nicole joined SFE in June 2024 as the Event Manager. She is focused on bringing a packed event calendar for members to engage and find value.

    She has over 10 years’ experience within the event industry supporting b2b networking, business growth and skills development. Having previously worked with West Lothian Chamber of Commerce and CodeClan, Nicole is aware of the Scottish business landscape and is keen to support the growth within the financial sector within her role at SFE.

Christy Francis
Marketing & Events Executive

  • Christy joined SFE in May 2025 as the Marketing and Events Executive. In her role, she leads the planning and delivery of SFE’s flagship event, the Investment Summit, taking place in October.

    Christy brings over five years of experience in Marketing and Event Management, with a strong track record of delivering corporate events and strategic campaigns across the financial and professional services sectors.

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.

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.

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.