Keith Skeoch

CEO

Keith joined us from James Capel & Co (now HSBC Securities), where he was employed from 1980 to 1999. From his first role at James Capel as an international economist, Keith went on to become Senior UK Economist in 1982 and Chief Economist two years later. In 1993 he was appointed Director of Economics and Strategy and in 1998 became Managing Director International Equities.

During the past 14 years, Keith has made numerous media appearances and written many newspaper articles. He's also acted as an academic advisor to the CBI and several parliamentary committees. Keith was a trustee of the James Capel Pension funds and sat on the investment committee of those funds. He graduated in Economics (BA Hons) from the University in Sussex in 1978 and completed an MA (Economics) at the University of Warwick in 1979.

Alex Watt

Managing Director, Property Investments

Alex oversees and directs company activities with specific responsibility for our property investment and development portfolios.

Alex joined Standard Life as Senior Surveyor in 1982. He was promoted to Assistant Property Investment Manager in 1983 and Property Investment Manager in 1988. He's a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

William Littleboy

Operations Director

William joined us in 2001 from Pareto Partners (a specialist quantitative asset manager) in London where he was Chief Operating Officer. Prior to this, he'd been with Citibank since 1982, initially joining in London before going on to lead its business with the investment management industry in the UK and Europe. In 1991 he was appointed Citibank's Regional Manager for Scotland & North Britain. He then moved to Frankfurt in 1994 where he was first appointed Regional Business Manager and subsequently Chief Operating Officer. William holds an MA Mathematics from St. John's College, University of Cambridge.

David Cumming

Head of UK Equities

David began his career with Royal London Mutual before moving on to hold positions with Edinburgh Fund Managers, Manufacturers Life Insurance and Morgan Grenfell, where he was a Director. He joined us in 1998 as Investment Director responsible for corporate pooled pension funds, our UK equity portfolio and a number of segregated clients. Following his appointment as Head of UK Equities in March 2000, David continues to manage pooled and segregated UK equity fund portfolios as well as managing the UK equity investments for the UK Life Fund.

David was appointed to our Board as Executive Director in June 2004. He holds an MA (Hons) degree in Economics and Accounting from the University of Edinburgh and is an Associate of the Society of Investment Analysts.

Rod Paris

Head of Investments

Rod started his career with us as Head of Global Fixed Income in May 2002 and was appointed to our Board of Directors in June 2004. He was previously Managing Director and Head of the Global Fixed Income team at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. Prior to that, Rod was a director of Mercury Asset Management, and also worked with Warburg Asset Management and Chase Manhattan Bank. He holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Keble College, University of Oxford.

Mark Connolly

Executive Director, Distribution and Client Service

Mark has held his current position since May 2005. He joined Chemical Bank International Investment Services as the Head of Fixed Income and Currency Team in 1980. He later joined Rothschild Asset Management as Director, Global Fixed Income and Currency Group, gaining the responsibility of Head of Business Management in 1994, and was appointed Managing Director, Global Head of Institutional Business. Mark moved to Insight Investment Management in 2003 where he became Managing Director, Global Head of Institutional Business before joining Deutsche Asset Management in 2004, taking on the responsibilities of Managing Director, Head of European & Middle East Institutional Business.

Colin Walklin

Finance Director

Colin started his career in 1975 as an auditor with Arthur Andersen before joining UK stockbroker Sheppards and Chase as Corporate Finance Manager in 1981. He then moved to Switzerland in 1982 to take up the position of Business Planning Manager with Philip Morris. In 1985 he joined Deloitte as a Management Consultant (Financial Services sector) and during his time there, was seconded to the Bank of England for two years. Colin joined Standard Chartered in 1992 and was appointed Group Head of Finance in 1999. In 2002, he moved to Barclays, initially as Group Financial Controller and, in 2005, was appointed CFO of Barclaycard. Finally, he joined our company in 2007. Colin has a BSc in Engineering, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and is a Panel Member on the Financial Reporting Review Panel (part of the FRC).

Roger Renaud

President, Standard Life Investments Inc. (Canada)

Roger began his financial career as an actuarial assistant with Sun Life of Canada in 1982. After lecturing on the Montreal Stock Exchange for ten years, he joined Scotia McLeod as an Investment Executive. In 1989, Roger joined First Marathon as Vice President, before joining Standard Life Investments Inc. in 1991. In 1995, he was promoted to Senior Vice President, before taking on his current position as President at the close of 2005.