Francis McGee,
Head of Corporate Affairs

Francis joined AEGON in July 2005 as Head of Corporate Affairs. His role is to lead AEGON’s work on public policy issues, working with Government and the FSA.

Francis devotes much of his time to AEGON’s contribution to the Government’s pensions reform programme, to FSA’s Retail Distribution Review, and to financial capability issues, including building on the success of Otto Thoresen’s Generic Advice Review for H M Treasury.

He is a member of the ABI Distribution and Regulation Committee and Deputy Chairman of IFA Promotion.

Rachel Vahey,
Head of Pensions Development

Rachel analyses, speaks on and writes about developments in pensions legislation. She also comments on pensions for the financial press. Rachel was closely involved in pensions simplification and is now working on pensions reform and the introduction of personal accounts – lobbying for change, talking to advisers giving an overview of the proposals and what they mean in practical terms, and examining what the future world of pensions will look like.

Steven Cameron,
Head of Business Regulation

Steven leads the analysis of a wide range of regulatory and legislative developments, identifying potential impact on our industry in general and on AEGON in particular. An actuary by profession, he has 25 years’ experience across a wide range of financial services functions. Currently, he is focusing on the FSA’s Retail Distribution Review including Adviser Charging, implications for corporate pensions and interactions with the 2012 pension reforms. He has also championed the embedding of Treating Customers Fairly across AEGON. He’s a member of a number of ABI committees and represents AEGON on the Scottish Financial Services Implementation Group and Scottish Financial Enterprise’s Insurance Sector Policy Group.

Dr Peter Williams,
Head of Industry Development

Peter concentrates on advice, education and pension advice issues. A former chairman of the Society of Financial Advisers, he’s also been a national vice- president of the Chartered Insurance Institute, a board member of the Life Insurance Association, and vice-president of the Personal Finance Society. He's currently the chairman of the CII’s Examiners Committee. Peter’s passion for the value of advice and advisers, and his commitment to professionalism is universally recognised within the market. He also sits of a wide range of industry groups and committees.

Alison Gay,
Senior Business Regulation Consultant

Alison’s focus is on political and legislative analysis, having previously worked in various marketing and business intelligence roles. Current projects include looking at the future of regulation in the changing economic climate. She has a particular interest in the increasingly important field of European legislation, working with colleagues in the UK and AEGON public affairs teams in other country units. Her objectives are to encourage decision makers to consider the wider European aspects of regulatory and legislative change, and to represent AEGON UK views at a European level. Alison is a member of several ABI committees, including the European Committee, and is a Chartered Marketer.

Kate Smith,
Consultant Pensions Development

Kate joined AEGON in August 2006 having worked for a number of pension organisations, including PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Mercers HR Consulting, and has over 20 years of experience in the pensions industry.

Kate is currently focusing on the changing pension environment and how this will look like in the run-up to and beyond 2012 following the implementation of Pensions Reform and other regulatory initiatives. Kate’s emphasis is lobbying for good outcomes for customers and ‘workable’ regulation for smaller employers.

Kate is a Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute (PMI) and is the Treasurer of the PMI Scottish Regional Group. She is a member of an ABI committee and represents AEGON on the Defined Contribution sub-group of the Investment Governance Group.

Mark Stockwell,
Corporate Affairs Officer

Mark joined AEGON in August 2006 from the energy regulator Ofgem.  Previously he was a researcher and policy adviser with the Conservative Party, and he has also worked for a niche political consultancy. He’s responsible for building relationships and communications with Parliament, the political parties, think tanks and other political audiences.

Douglas Herdman,
Senior Business Regulation Analyst

Douglas provides financial and numerical analysis to quantify the impact of regulatory and legislative developments on AEGON and the industry. He has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, mainly in actuarial roles. He is currently focusing on the impact of the FSA’s Retail Distribution Review, pensions reform and the progression of Solvency II implementation.

Nick Hurman,
Consultant - Corporate Affairs

Nick leads our major research and analysis projects that inform the debates on how our industry develops. He’s recently completed a major study on how consumers spend their assets in retirement and previously managed our award-winning work developing consumer-centric models for retail distribution. He’s also heavily involved in our wider work on pensions and distribution reform.

Nick has nearly 30 years’ experience in financial services, much of it in senior executive roles in the industry, and has worked with AEGON since 2001. He has an Executive MBA in Insurance from Cass Business School and is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute.