2026 Judges

Alexandra has been working in the pensions and benefits industry for around 20 years. Her passion lies in financial wellbeing, ensuring that employees are empowered to make informed decisions about their financial present and future.

Alexandra started her career in pensions and benefits as Pension Quality Mark Manager at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (formerly National Association of Pension Funds). She then worked in a pensions and group risk/ employee benefits consultancy role at Deloitte before moving to Vodafone as Pensions and Benefits Manager and then to Royal London as Colleague Pensions Manager for UK and Ireland. Alexandra holds BSc in Business Psychology and Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning (DipPFS), and is Pensions Management Institute member (EPMI).

Neil has 20 years experience in reward across a range of sectors including retail, financial services and tech. He is currently Head of Reward at Wickes plc having joined Wickes in 2021, and is responsible for the full reward agenda. In recent years Neil has specialised in executive remuneration in listed companies. He has led a number of award-winning benefits teams, and is a regular conference speaker, award judge and contributor to industry press. Neil has a particular passion for financial wellbeing, particularly in relation to pension awareness.

Neil McCawley was VP of Group Reward at RS Group from January 2024 until the end of June 2025, where he was responsible for all aspects of Reward. Before that he spent 9 years as VP Total Reward for Ferguson plc primarily looking after Executive Compensation for Ferguson plc, and for his final 12 months he worked in both the US and UK covering the US Head of Reward role in addition to his own. Prior to that he was Head of Reward for Wolseley UK having joined them in 2007, where he looked after all aspects of reward and benefits for them. Before joining Wolseley, he spent three years at One Stop Stores looking after reward and benefits, having joined them after leaving Barclays Bank plc where he spent 21 years carrying out a variety of roles, his last one there was as Senior HR project manager.

Oliver has been working in pensions and benefits for over 20 years, across a broad range of sectors including reinsurance, shipping, asset management, banking, retail and aerospace. He is currently AVP, Benefits at Pacific Life Re, having joined in 2026, where he is responsible for the design and delivery of the company's benefits proposition.