Standard Life has appointed Gail Izat as chief operating officer for its Pensions & Savings business.

In her newly created role, Izat will be responsible for leading the delivery of the unit’s strategy, transformation, integration and risk activity. The role will be particularly important in Standard Life’s ambitious growth plans for the Pensions & Savings business, following the acquisition of Aegon UK. Izat has served as managing director for workplace since 2019 and, more recently, took on responsibility for the retail intermediary channel. In addition, Emma Furlonger was appointed interim managing director for workplace and retail intermediary. She will hold this role until a formal recruitment process has been completed. Furlonger has worked closely with Izat since 2021, most recently as workplace trading director.

The Pensions Administration Standards Association has announced that Duncan Watson has been appointed as a non-executive director and will join its board.

To his new role, Watson brings over 30 years of experience across the pensions and financial services sector. He is currently chief executive officer of EQ Retirement Solutions and previously held senior roles at Equiniti and Aon Hewitt, including UK chief operating officer. His experience spans strategy, governance and operational delivery in complex, regulated environments, alongside a strong focus on improving member outcomes and advancing the role of administration across the pensions system. Watson is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and is a strong advocate for the continued development and recognition of pensions administration as a profession.

BESTrustees has appointed Danny Vassiliades as a professional trustee.

Vassiliades joined BESTrustees on 1 May, after a long career as an actuary and strategic adviser to the UK pensions industry. He spent 18 years at XPS, where he was a scheme actuary and corporate adviser, specialising in funding and investment advice. To this new role, Vassiliades brings technical knowledge of funding strategies, investment principles, and risk management across both defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) schemes, as well as excellent communication skills. Commenting on the appointment, BESTrustees chair, Ann Rigby, said: “Danny's recruitment underlines our objective of growing our business and maintaining the extremely high quality of client service. He has a fantastic reputation from his years as a client-facing consultant at Punter Southall and XPS – and we know that because we have worked with him on more than one occasion.”

Canada Life has announced two appointments to its Executive Committee.

Rose St Louis joins Canada Life as its first chief customer officer, subject to regulatory approval. Before joining Canada Life, St Louis worked for Lloyds Banking Group and most recently served as protection director and chief executive officer of Cavendish Online. Prior to this, she held senior distribution and commercial roles at KPMG and Zurich Insurance. Meanwhile, Sean Christian has been appointed by Canada Life as permanent chief operating officer, in addition to his standing role as managing director, wealth. He has served as interim chief operating officer since June 2025.
 

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