Jackie Leiper

Ms Leiper brings over 25 years’ experience in financial services to the role. She joined Lloyds Banking Group in 2010, and is currently managing director for pensions and stockbroking and chief executive of Embark Group since its acquisition by Lloyds in January 2022. She was appointed as the chair of Lloyds’ Banking Group’s Scottish executive committee last week.

She is lead media spokesperson for Scottish Widows, a campaigner for gender equality championing women’s development into leadership roles, and a keen advocate for improving financial resilience and awareness of the importance of financial planning for retirement, particularly for women to help close the gender pensions gap.

Her role on the board will include sponsoring SFE’s strategic focus on changing customer needs, a key theme for SFE members, particularly as the cost-of-living crisis continues to impact on customers across Scotland.

The appointment means SFE’s board now has a 50-50 gender balance, an important milestone for the organisation as it drives its commitment to foster greater inclusion within the financial services industry.

Ms Leiper said: “Scotland’s financial and related professional services industry is hugely important to the financial wellbeing of customers and communities up and down the country.

“I am excited to work with SFE and its members on our shared ambition of further developing the strength, inclusiveness and competitiveness of the industry and ensuring that our customers have the support, confidence and choice they need to navigate these uncertain times.

“As a passionate advocate for women in finance, it’s also encouraging to see such strong female representation on the SFE board. While more work is needed, this is another sign of the progress our industry has made on gender equality in recent years.

“I’m looking forward to work with the Board, the SFE team and the Young Professionals network to ensure we continue to bring diversity into SFE at all levels and enable people from all demographics and backgrounds to progress to senior leadership.”