Alan Cook was born in Wembley, Middlesex in September 1953 and attended Ealing Grammar School for Boys. He joined the Prudential straight from school and stayed with them for 31 years, undertaking a variety of roles including a three year spell in the USA where he was the Senior Vice President for Operations at Jackson National Life Insurance, the Prudential’s USA subsidiary. On returning to the UK in 1996, he ultimately rose to become the Chief Operating Officer for UK and Europe.
In 2002 Alan left Prudential and was appointed the CEO of National Savings and Investments where he presided over a period of sustained profitable growth, which included a renaissance in the popularity of Premium Bonds. In 2006 he moved to become Managing Director of Post Office Ltd, responsible for their 12,000 branches and 63,000 staff.
Alan left the Post Office in March 2010 with the intention of building up a portfolio of non executive positions. He is now Chairman of the highways Agency, a non executive director of the Department for Transport, Financial Ombudsman Service, Office of Fair Trading and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the University of Bedfordshire.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute, a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Bedfordshire. In 2004 he was granted the Freedom of the City of London and is a member of the Worshipful Company of Insurers. He was awarded a CBE in the 2006 New Year’s Honours List.
Home life
Alan is married to Anita and together they have three children – Christopher, Jenny (who has M.E.) and Martin – and three grandchildren, James, Michael and Megan. Alan’s interests include gardening, swimming, fell walking and spending time in their apartment in Spain. He hopes to now have the time to learn Spanish and not be so dependent upon Anita when visiting there!
