Scottish Widows has recruited Maria Nazarova-Doyle from Mercer to be its new head of pension investment propositions.

She will join the business in January and will focus on what the company calls plans for “ambitious growth” in the Financial Planning arena and retirement advice, including in the workplace and master trust space.

She will be responsible for recommending fund and investment changes and value for money while incorporating the firm’s sustainability agenda.

She has more than 12 years’ financial services experience and during her time at Mercer she led marketing strategy, particularly in Defined Contribution (DC) consulting, Financial Planning and master trusts.

She also held a range of responsibilities at JLT, where she was head of DC investment consulting for several years.

Scottish Widows has invested heavily in workplace pensions, including the acquisition of Zurich’s workplace pension scheme. Scottish Widows received authorisation for its Master Trust in 2019 from The Pension Regulator.

Ms Nazarova-Doyle said: “I’ve joined at an exciting and pivotal moment where there is so much potential for growth, not only following the acquisition of Zurich’s workplace pension scheme and its Master Trust authorisation, but for Scottish Widows as a whole.”

Jeff Sayers, managing director of pensions and investments at Scottish Widows, said: “Maria’s appointment is a real coup for us as she brings strong industry experience and knowledge to our team, which is already delivering a very high standard of service to our customers.”

Her arrivals adds to the senior leadership team which includes Graeme Bold, director of workplace pensions, who joined in 2019 from M&G Prudential.