Reed may go in Standard Life board shake-up
FD Alison Reed could be on her way out of Standard Life by December
Alison Reed, the finance director of Standard Life, may leave the group as
early as December.
The FTSE 100 life insurer is believed to be preparing for a series of
top-level management changes, which will see Reed and chairman Sir Brian Stewart
leave the company.
A report by The Guardian said that Standard Life was working out a
way to tell the stock market that Reed will depart as early as December, but
will stay on to mentor a successor.
Reed joined Standard Life in June last year and was a key figure in the
getting the £4.7bn float of the company away. Reed was one of a team of external
recruits who were brought in to galvanise the life insurer, which had
traditionally groomed its senior executives internally.
She was hired to work on the Standard Life float at a difficult time for the
business, which suddenly discovered that it could no longer function as a mutual
following a series of rule changes by the Financial Services Authority.
Prior to joining Standard Life, Reed had worked as the finance director of
Marks & Spencer since 2001. She joined M&S in 1984 and worked closely
with former chairman Sir Richard Greenbury.
When Stuart Rose took over as M&S chief executive, Reed was one of four
executives he removed from the board in a management shake-up at the retailer.