Meet the Board
The MGM Board of Directors is responsible for setting MGM Advantage’s business strategy and making sure the business is run efficiently, legally and, above all, for the benefit of MGM’s members and policyholders.
Sir William Proby
Chairman and Non Executive Director
Date of Appointment to Board
28 July 2006
Committee Membership
Member of Remuneration and Nomination Committee
Sir William was elected as a Non Executive Director of the Society in July 2006. He became Chairman in December 2007. He has a strong background in the City, having started his career as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse & Co., moving on to Morgan Grenfell & Co. where he specialised in corporate tax planning and mergers and acquisitions.During the 1980s, Sir William became Chief Executive of MWP Ltd, an associate company of Morgan Grenfell.
He has a long association and deep interest in the nation’s heritage, having served as the President of the Historic Houses Association and as Chair of The National Trust from 2003 to 2008.
Sir William is a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, Chairman of DBS Building Group Limited and a trustee of Howard de Walden Estates.
He is a member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee. Although Sir William is not an official member of the Audit, Investment and With-Profits Committees of MGM Advantage, he also regularly attends the meetings of these committees.
Chris Evans
Chief Executive
Date of Appointment to the Board
13 August 2007
Committee Membership
Member of Investment Committee, With-Profits Committee and Remuneration and Nomination (nomination matters only).
Chris Evans spent 20 years with Prudential plc, where he became Managing Director of Prudential Holborn, the UK IFA distribution business. He then joined the board of Prudential Corporation Asia, serving as Managing Director of Prudential’s Thailand business and finally, he launched a new continental European operating unit, Prudential Europe.
After leaving Prudential in 2002, Chris spent three years working for HBOS Europe Financial Services and then for Mercer Human Resource Consulting, where he was Chief Executive of their Employee Benefits, Retirement Solutions and Benefits Outsourcing business.
Since Chris became CEO of MGM in 2007, the Company has re-launched itself as an innovative specialist retirement income provider serving customers through the IFA channel.
Craig Fazzini-Jones
Chief Operating Officer
Date of Appointment to the Board
23 July 2008
Committee Membership
Member of Risk Committee
Craig joined MGM Advantage as a director and a member of the Executive team in 2008 with responsibility for setting up and managing the Society’s retirement business and leading the promotion and development of the Society’s offering in the post retirement market. In 2011 he was appointed as Chief Operating Officer with additional responsibility for Human Resources, Customer Services, IT and Change.
Craig has a strong background in the life and pensions and retail banking industry with specific experience in the annuity market.
Before joining MGM Advantage, Craig worked for Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) where he was senior director of Retail Strategy (Europe & North America). Craig also held other senior roles at HBOS including Head of Bancassurance Operations and Head of Bank of Scotland Annuity Service (BoSAS), where he managed the largest annuity broker in the UK. Prior to HBOS, Craig held business development and strategic delivery roles at Accenture and Procter and Gamble.
Simon Whitehead
Chief Financial Officer
Date of Appointment to the Board
26 October 2011
Committee Membership
Member of Investment Committee
Simon Whitehead joined the Executive Team as Chief Financial Officer in September 2011. He is responsible for the finance and investment functions at MGM Advantage.
He was previously Chief Executive of Partnership Assurance, the pension annuity and long term care insurer. Simon has held senior finance roles at various instituions including Prudential Annuities, Bank of Ireland Mortgages and the Automobile Association. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG where he specialised in financial services. Simon is also a non-executive director of Better Retirement Group Ltd.
David Gulland
Chief Risk Officer
Date of Appointment to the Board
21 October 2011
Committee Membership
Member of Risk Committee and With-Profits Committee
David Gulland joined the Executive Team as Chief Risk Officer in September 2011. He is responsible for the actuarial, underwriting, compliance and risk management functions at MGM Advantage.
David moved to MGM Advantage from Reinsurance Group of America’s (“RGA”) UK and Irish business, where he was Managing Director. Prior to joining RGA, David was an Associate Partner of the Actuarial and Insurance Solutions business at Deloitte. He has extensive experience within the UK life insurance industry having worked with a diverse portfolio of clients. This experience has involved numerous statutory roles as Actuarial Function Holder and Reviewing Actuary, as well as providing strategic advice to boards on corporate transactions, product development and the implications of regulatory change.
David is a Director of the Investment and Life Assurance Group Limited, a trade body for producers, administrators and distributors of life, pensions and investment products. He is also a member of the Council of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.
Laurie Edmans, CBE
Non Executive Director and Deputy Chairman
Date of Appointment to Board
10 March 2008
Committee Membership
Chairman of Remuneration and Nominations Committee
Member of Investment Committee and Risk Committee
Laurie joined MGM Advantage as a non-executive Director in March 2008. In his executive career he was general manager of the UK pensions and employee benefits business of a major multinational insurer, deputy chief executive of a specialist pensions provider and then director of corporate development at AEGON UK plc.
He is now the non-executive Chair of the Trinity Mirror Pension Plan Trustees, of Safe Home Income Plans group and of B-different Limited, a leading financial services market research company. He is also a non-executive director of the Money Advice Service, a trustee member of the National Employment Savings Trust (‘NEST’), and a trustee of The Quest School for Autistic Children. He is a Council member of the Pensions Policy Institute.
Formerly, Laurie was a board member of the Pensions Regulator and chaired the Pensions Committee of the ABI. He was appointed CBE for services to pensions reform in 2006.
Brian Harrison
Non Executive Director
Date of Appointment to Board
1 November 2010
Committee Membership
Brian is Chairman of the Risk Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and With-Profits Committee
Brian was appointed as non executive director of MGM Advantage on 1 November 2010. He has over 30 years experience as a life and pension actuary and has strengths in risk management, with profits and defined benefit pensions.
He began his career as an actuary at The Gresham Group before moving to Friends Provident where his actuarial and finance roles included Chief Actuary, Actuarial Function Holder, With Profits Actuary and Finance Director (Life & Pensions).
He retired from Friends Provident in December 2009, but remains a trustee of the Friends Provident Pension Scheme where he chairs the Risk and Investment Committee. Brian is also a member of the With-Profits Committees of Friends Life Group. He is Chairman of the With-Profits Committee of the Police Mutual Assurance Society Limited.
Isabel Hudson
Non Executive Director
Date of Appointment to Board
1 December 2010
Committee Membership
Chairman of Audit and Budget Committee
Member of Investment Committee and Remuneration and Nominations Committee
Isabel was appointed as a non executive director of MGM Advantage on 1 December 2010. She has nearly 30 years experience in the insurance sector, having worked for Eureko BV in Paris as Chief Financial Officer before joining Prudential UK to become Executive Director. In 2006, she also set up Synesis Life – a specialist annuity and pensions buy-out life insurance company. She has also served as a member of the With-Profits Committee of Standard Life Assurance.
Isabel is currently a non executive director of the QBE Insurance Group, Phoenix Group Holdings Limited and is on the Board of The Pensions Regulator. She is also Chairman of the National House Building Council and is an ambassador for the disability charity Scope.
Jim Roberts
Non Executive Director
Date of Appointment to Board
7 November 2011
Committee Membership
Chairman of Investment Committee and a member of Audit Committee
Jim is a qualified Actuary and has 40 years experience in the life insurance industry. He spent 26 years at Skandia Group including positions as Appointed Actuary, Finance Director and, from 1992 to 2006, Group Investment Director. He has substantial experience of investment management and in particular the retail investment market.
He is currently a non-executive director of Ashcourt Rowan plc and Sarasin & Partners LLP, which operates a broad range of institutional, charity, private client and retail products and is an adviser to Simply Biz, a broker service provider. He is also Chair of the investment committees of both Verbatim Investment Management and Insynergy Investment Management.
Philippa Dickson
Non Executive Director
Date of Appointment to Board
16 January 2012
Committee Membership
Member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee, Risk Committee and With-Profits Committee.
Philippa has substantial operational and general management experience developed from working within the FMCG, airline and financial services sectors.
Philippa is currently General Manager e-Commerce Europe for Diageo. She has held Director and general management roles at Diageo since 2005. Prior to that, Philippa has held senior positions and Director level roles with British Airways, BUPA, CIGNA and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Other roles:
Mike Arnold
Chairman of With Profits Committee
Date of Appointment
May 2004
A qualified Actuary, Mike spent more than years 30 years with Milliman (previously Hymans Robertson), one of the leading actuarial practices in the UK. He focused on the provision of consulting services to life assurance companies and had substantial experience as acting as the independent actuary on a number of demutualisations and reconstructions of insurance companies and life assurance funds.
He has acted as Chair of the International Association of Consulting Actuaries (1994-96), Vice President Institute of Actuaries (1997-99) and Chair of the Association of Consulting actuaries (2000-2002).
He is also a non executive director of Old Mutual plc and Scottish Equitable Policyholders Trust Limited and a member of the With Profits Committee of Prudential Assurance Company Limited.
He served as an independent non executive director of the Society from 28 May 2004 to October 2009. He was appointed as a member of the With Profits Committee of the Society in 2004 and became Chair in January 2009.
Board Committees:
We’ve set up a number of special committees of the main Board to focus on key areas of activity. The Terms of Reference of these committees are set out below:
- Remuneration & Nominations Committee (pdf 49.5KB)
- Audit & Budget Committee – Terms of Reference (pdf)
- Investment Committee – Terms of Reference (pdf)
- With Profits Committee – Terms of Reference (pdf)
- Risk Committee – Terms of Reference (pdf)