Paul Budgen, who joined Smart Pension from Nest in 2018 as director of business development, has left the company to pursue full-time studies at Cambridge University.
Budgen announced his departure on Linkedin today and said: “30 years in the Pensions industry across Legal & General, Aegon, Aviva, HSBC, NEST and Smart. I now want to plan what I do for the next 30 years.
“I am incredibly excited to start to study full-time at Ridley Hall in Cambridge, I’ve never been to Uni but I’ve always wanted to, and I am looking forward to where this takes me. What’s next? I have no idea, let’s see what happens.
“It’s been a blast, I’ve worked with loads of really great people doing very worthwhile and interesting work to help millions of people to retire better.”
Budgen also highlighted some of his achievements at Smart Pension, including £100m to £2.5bn for 1 million members, reduced member charges as well as innovation at retirement and the member app which he described as ‘world-class’.
Budgen has 30 years of expertise working in the UK pension industry. He belongs to both the Pensions Management Institute and the Chartered Insurance Institute. He also serves as a volunteer for the Pensions Ombudsman, a PMI mentor, and a member of PASA’s Master Trust working group.
