STANDARD Life, part of Phoenix Group, has appointed Jonathan Henderson as Head of Public Relations to support its ambitious growth plans. The appointment follows the acquisition of the Standard Life brand by Phoenix Group last year and the unveiling of a programme of investment in the iconic brand that has been supporting customers for nearly 200 years.
Phoenix Group is the UK’s largest long-term savings business with around 13 million customers and manages c £300bn of savings on their behalf. In his role Jonathan will help drive Phoenix’s ambition to increase Standard Life’s presence in a number of key markets including workplace pensions, bulk purchase annuities, lifetime mortgages and retail savings. Based in Edinburgh, Jonathan will oversee an in-house team for Standard Life and report to Shellie Wells, Phoenix Group’s Corporate Communications Director.
Jonathan joins from Aegon UK, one of the UK’s largest workplace pensions and investment platform providers where he was Head of PR for the last six years. He brings a wealth of understanding of the long-term savings market to the role and experience building consumer finance brands and enhancing relationships with key intermediaries including employers and financial advisers. Prior to joining Aegon, Jonathan worked at a number of PR agencies including H+K Strategies and Citigate Dewe Rogerson where he supported a wide range of businesses, primarily in the financial services sector, with corporate, financial and brand communication challenges.
Commenting on the appointment, Jonathan Henderson, Head of PR at Standard Life said: “Standard Life is one of the UK’s best known and most respected savings brands and it’s a privilege to take on the role during the next chapter for the business under Phoenix Group’s ownership. Our industry plays such a crucial role in supporting people to secure the futures they aspire to, and I look forward to both helping customers to make sense of their savings and retirement decisions and to helping communicate a clear vision for the organisation.”
Commenting on the appointment, Shellie Wells, Phoenix Group’s Corporate Communications Director said: “The growth of our business has led us to invest in our external communications function in recent years with a number of key hires. Standard Life is an important brand for our Group and we are putting dedicated, senior resource in place to help build the profile of the brand in both existing and new markets. I look forward to working with Jonathan and his team at what is an exciting time for our organisation.”
Phoenix Group’s Corporate Communications team consists of seven media specialists with further recruitment in progress as well as dedicated Public Affairs and Social Affairs teams.
