Board of directors

Skills, competencies and experience:

Sir Roger De Haan is the son of Saga’s founder Sidney De Haan. He joined the business in 1966, aged 17, as its 11th employee and worked here for 40 years. He became Managing Director in 1976 and Chairman and Chief Executive from 1984 until he sold the company in 2004. Sir Roger returned to the business as Non-Executive Chairman in 2020. Since selling Saga in 2004, Roger De Haan has focused his energies on philanthropic activities and the development of Folkestone’s Harbour and its seafront. His main charitable interests are in education, regeneration, the arts, heritage, community, sport and healthcare. In 2014, Sir Roger was knighted for his services to education and to charity in Kent and overseas.

Other roles:

Director of Folkestone Harbour Holdings Limited (and subsidiary companies), Creative Folkestone and Friends of Folkestone Academy; and Trustee of Roger De Haan Charitable Trust.

Committee membership:

Innovation & Enterprise and Nomination.

Skills, competencies and experience:

Mike joined Saga in October 2023. Mike is a chartered accountant and an established executive with a career spanning over 25 years across multiple industries including the retail and consumer sectors. Prior to joining Saga, Mike served as Interim CFO for the Co-op Group, the retail, insurance and funeral care business. Before that, he held a number of leadership roles at department store group, Debenhams, including Group CFO and ultimately Group CEO. He trained at Pfizer before then spending time with New Zealand-based Fonterra Group and British media telco group, Sky.

Committee membership:

Executive.

Skills, competencies and experience:

Mark rejoined Saga in June 2023, having previously been at Saga for six years from January 2016. Mark is a chartered accountant and has held a series of senior roles across finance, strategy and investor relations in a 20-year career. Prior to joining Saga, Mark was CFO for Europe and Central Asia at Intertek and held senior roles at Bovis Homes, and the Canadian-based Secure Energy Services. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and spent a number of years at Deloitte.

Committee membership:

Executive.

Skills, competencies and experience:

Steve joined Saga in November 2021 as CEO of our Insurance business. Steve is responsible for delivering our Insurance strategy and his professional motivation is to work with colleagues to deliver an outstanding Insurance service and create first class experiences for our customers. Prior to Saga, Steve spent over 30 years in the UK insurance market working in both personal and commercial lines. He previously led Tesco Bank’s Insurance business following its acquisition of Tesco Underwriting where he was CEO for six years before also becoming Chief Insurance Officer for Tesco Bank in 2020.

Committee membership:

Executive.

Skills, competencies and experience:

Sir Peter Bazalgette joined the Saga Board on 1 September 2022. Sir Peter brings a wealth of experience from the media and wider creative industries, including with Endemol, ITV, the BBC, YouGov and Channel Four.

Other roles:

Chair of LoveCrafts Group Limited.

Committee membership:

Nomination, Innovation & Enterprise and Remuneration.

Skills, competencies and experience:

Julie brings a wealth of insurance experience coupled with over 20 years in a variety of roles at Co-operative Insurance, RSA and Tesco Bank, specialising in general insurance and predominantly in personal lines. Julie is highly customer-focused, with a breadth of functional, membership and affinity experience and a track record of driving growth. Most recently, Julie was Chair of Police Mutual where she also chaired the Remuneration Committee and was a member of the Risk, Nominations and With Profits Committees; a Non-Executive Director of Co-operative Insurance, where she chaired the Risk Committee and was a member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees. Prior to this, she was the CEO of The Conservation Volunteers (2012 to 2016), a UK community volunteering charity. Julie is an associate with the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Other roles:

Deputy Chair, Senior Independent Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Committee Chair of West Bromwich Building Society (appointed April 2016); and Non-Executive Director (appointed August 2021) and Chair of the Risk Committee (appointed December 2021) of MS Amlin Underwriting Limited.

Committee membership:

Risk, Remuneration and Audit.

Skills, competencies and experience:

Gareth joined the Saga Board in March 2019. He brings a wealth of experience from nearly 20 years with Legal & General in a variety of roles, latterly as a main Board Director and CEO International, where he was responsible for the North American, European, Middle East, Indian and Far East insurance markets. Prior to that, he held a variety of roles in finance, retail marketing and HR. Before joining Legal & General, Gareth worked at PwC for 12 years, where he trained as an accountant and later specialised in insurance.

Other roles:

Audit Chair and Senior Independent Director at Leeds Building Society (appointed November 2015).

Committee membership:

Audit, Innovation & Enterprise, Nomination and Risk.

Skills, competencies and experience:

Gemma, a founder of two digital businesses, joined the Board on 1 September 2022. Gemma, was a boardroom adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger on The Apprentice USA.

Other roles:

Non-Executive Director of Eight Capital Partners plc, Kingswood Holdings Limited, Oberon Investments Group plc and Vivopower International plc; and business and money expert on ITV and Sky News.

Committee membership:

Innovation & Enterprise, Nomination, Remuneration and Risk.

Skills, competencies and experience:

Anand Aithal joined the Saga Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 September 2022. Anand has extensive non-executive experience from fintech, insurance broking, asset management and accountancy. He also brings an entrepreneurial perspective, having co-founded his own data analytics business. Prior to this, he was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs.

Other roles:

Lead Non-Executive Board Member for the UK Cabinet Office; and Non-Executive Director of Polar Capital Holdings plc.

Committee membership:

Innovation & Enterprise, Audit and Nomination.