Sophie Haagensen

Sophie Haagensen has been on the Board of Northumbria University since January 2020.

Sophie is currently Head of Strategy and Planning at Atom Bank, one of the UK’s leading challenger banks and a globally recognised FinTech. Sophie joined Atom at its inception in 2014 and has covered a number of disciplines to support the start-up’s rapid growth from a team of just six to c.400 today. She played a significant role in securing Atom’s banking license, was Programme Director for the launch of the bank and has acted as Chief of Staff to the CIO.

Sophie joined Atom Bank from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership where, as Deputy Director, she played a central role in driving the development of the Strategic Economic Plan for the North East. The plan secured £290m in a competitive national bidding process - the third highest award in the country.

Previously, Sophie led a strategy team at the Department for Work and Pensions responsible for advising ministers on the viability of new policy proposals. She also advised on the digitalisation of services and a major organisational restructure to deliver digital transformation.

Sophie joined the Civil Service Fast Stream in 2010 before joining the Cabinet Office, where she project managed the launch of Big Society Capital – the world’s first social investment bank, and oversaw the £150m loan book of the Futurebuilders fund.

Sophie gained a BSc in Biology from the University of Nottingham (2004) and graduated with distinction from Northumbria University in both her MSc in Business and Management (2009) and her MBA (2014).