Governance

The Board of Management

The Board of Management are responsible for the governance of The Society and the system by which we are directed and controlled. It does not manage the day to day operation of the society but holds the responsibility for the society’s long term strategy, it’s values and the senior management team that are tasked with implementing, developing and upholding the values of The Society.

As a Friendly Society we have no shareholders and are owned by you, our members. As such your role is to elect board members, the auditors and to satisfy yourselves of the management of The Society.

The Society has continued to make considerable progress in complying with The Combined Code on Corporate Governance having particular regard to the Annotated version for Small Insurers.

The Society is committed to high standards in Corporate Governance and recognises the value that good governance adds to providing clarity and supervision to the membership. As part of that commitment, this section of the website provides information that is relevant to you including copies of the Report and Financial Statement, details of important committees and our Memorandum and Rulebook.

The Society takes its responsibility as an investor seriously. In considering how to invest, we are careful to identify the policyholder benefits that we have to meet from our investments. You can read our full Shareholder Rights Directive Engagement policy here.

Reports and Financial Statements

Current

Previous

AGM

2022

The minutes from our 2022 Annual General Meeting are available here

    Previous

    Terms of Reference

    Memorandum & Rules

    Fair Value

    Board members

    Derek Wright - Chair

    board members

    Derek is an actuary and has worked in both the life insurance industry and as a consultant. Derek was the chief actuary of Laurentian Life in Gloucester until its sale in 1995 after which he joined Deloitte LLP where he set up its UK actuarial practice. He was appointed a partner of Deloitte in 1999. From 2011 until his retirement in 2015 Derek led the Canadian actuarial practice of Deloitte. Much of Derek's time at Deloitte was spent on audit and risk consulting activities to the insurance industry.


    Adrian Humphreys

    board members

    Adrian joined the Board in November 2015. He is a specialist in Corporate Healthcare and Risk provision. He is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Benenden Healthcare. Adrian previously spent 15 years of his career working for Western Provident Association (‘WPA’), a not-for-profit health insurer. For 10 years, he was the Managing Director of WPA’s Corporate Division. Prior to this he worked for the management consultant Arthur D. Little Inc. He was the Chairman of JLT Benefits Consulting practice.

    Adrian has an MBA from Cranfield and a PhD in the field of Physics and Mathematics.

    Anna East

    board members

    Anna joined the Board in November 2015. Anna is Society’s Senior Independent Director. Anna is a solicitor having practiced at Eversheds and a financial services plc. Until very recently, Anna was the Chair of the Dudley Building Society, and Vice Chair, and Chair of the Audit Committee, at Midland Heart Housing Association. She is a Non-Executive director at Entrust which is a national regulator. Anna has held a number
of NHS Board roles and was a governor of King Edwards School in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

    Lynzi Harrison

    board members

    Lynzi joined the Board in February 2022. Lynzi is a qualified management accountant and has recently started her role as COO of Novia having previously held senior roles at LV=, Quilter plc and its predecessor firms, Old Mutual Wealth and Skandia. She brings a wealth of experience including risk, governance, finance and change all acquired in the financial services industry.

    Dave Cheeseman

    board members

    Dave is an actuary with over 30 years’ experience in the life insurance industry and brings a strong mix of financial, actuarial and operational skills.During the last 12 years he has been a board member of various life companies. From 2010 to 2016 he was Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of AXA UK Life and between 2017 and 2019 he was CFO for Phoenix Life.

    Andrew Horsley

    board members

    Andrew joined the Board in February 2022. Andrew is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute with over 30 years’ experience in the financial services sector. Andrew recently retired from Cirencester Friendly where he was Company Secretary and Head of Compliance, having previously held senior roles at Engage Mutual. Andrew was previously a Non-Executive Director at The Chorley & District Building Society where he had been Vice-Chair of the Society and Chair of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee.

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