Victoria Baker Heath Joins SunLife UK as CMO

Victoria Baker Heath has joined SunLife in London as Chief Marketing Officer. 

The hire comes at a pivotal time for SunLife UK, which the $1.33 trillion assets Canadian parent sold to Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement business with £310 billion of assets under administration (AUA) and 13 million customers.

The deal makes SunLife the global long-term asset management partner to Phoenix, with its MFS global asset manager offering public equities and fixed income arm, with US$553B in AUM, and SLC Management, a growing alternatives investments platform, with C$194B in AUM, expected to win new mandates.

Commenting on her new role, she said:

“I’m thrilled to be joining SunLife, a brand I’ve long admired for their brand heritage and deep understanding of the over 50s market. SunLife’s expertise and focus on serving customer needs reflects the very best aspects of the financial services industry and the positive impact it can make on people’s lives. This is one of those opportunities that doesn’t come around too often, so I can’t wait to meet the team and start exploring SunLife’s future growth through marketing.”

Heath brings more than two decades of experience to the financial services company, with her areas of expertise being delivering commercial growth, developing innovative customer propositions, brand strategy, through-the-line marketing and distribution, and digital optimization.

Recently she worked as a Marketing Director at Vanquis Bank in London, a role she previously held at Queensway. Queensway is a family hospitality business that has hotels, coffee houses, restaurants, residential property and a private member’s club.

Heath started in marketing in October 2003 at the Royal Bank of Scotland. In May 2009, she joined Tesco Bank as a Senior Marketing Manager, then was shortly after appointed Head of Marketing at Virgin Money, a role she also held at the digital insurance company Esure Group in Surrey, UK. In addition, she also served as a Marketing Director at Post Office, an insurance company in London.

Heath has a postgraduate diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She also served as chair of its Benevolent Fund board, a charity dedicated to the relief of hardship for CIM members, according to her LinkedIn.