Biography

Alexander Begbie is Chief Operations Officer at Standard Life PLC, a company that specializes in asset management and long-term savings. The firm helps their clients save and invest for their future, by offering them products and services that they need throughout their lives. Standard Group has around 6,500 people internationally and is listed on the London Stock Exchange with around 1.3 million individual shareholders across over 50 countries. The company is one of the top 500 companies worldwide by revenue. Alexander has been in his present role for 2 and a half years and at Standard Life for 5 years. He has been in the Human Resources field for over 25 years. As COO, he's responsible for HR issues in the company, IT matters, company secretarial communications and other duties. Alexander has always had an interest in Human Resources and he brings a degree of business and commercialism to the realm of HR, and that's something that's usually missing in this field. His banking background has enhanced his performance as a Human Resources leader. Alexander believes that the key to his success has been being prepared to put himself in very challenging situations at work, situations that other professionals wouldn't have put themselves into. An example of this is running the employee joint venture training program. In the next 4-5 years, he'd like to continue developing his experience in working with Asia and also continue working with the charity he supports "Career Ready" that help disadvantaged youth with employment opportunities. His interest in becoming a member in our registry is networking. He'd like to open up a broader network which will enable him to share his experiences with other BWW members. He considers as the highlight of his career that his contribution to Human Resources has been recognized in the United Kingdom. Another highlight is that he spent 6 years on the board of the Wharton Business School. Alexander also takes great pride in the work he's doing with the charity "Career Ready" a program that helps children from disadvantaged backgrounds prepare for the world of work. Alexander regularly speaks at conferences. Lately he's been especially active in Asia with his speaking engagements and a most recent one he's lectured at was the "Boao Economic Conference" in China.