The Changing DB Endgame

Mark is a Trustee and former Chief Investment Officer of the Nationwide Pension Fund, where he had responsibility for the performance and implementation of the asset allocation strategies agreed with the fund investment advisors.

Previously, he led the establishment of Nationwide’s Covered Bond programme and its Silverstone RMBS Master Trust funding vehicle. In addition, Mark has securitised UK Student Loans and a synthetic corporate bond structure along with structured transaction and investment in various ABS instruments. Past experience also includes leading the origination and structuring of social housing, PFI and commercial real estate debt transactions.

Chris is a former Pensions Minister, who now serves as Chair of the Financial Inclusion Commission, of the Lending Standards Board, of the Equity Release Council Standards Board and of The Money Charity. He is an Independent Director of the Current Account Switch Service (Pay.UK) and of Cape Claims Services, and is a trustee of GambleAware and the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute.

Chris is a member of the Treasury FinTech Delivery Panel. He has been Chief Executive of two national charities and chair or trustee of many others and was formerly Director of Financial Capability and Head of Consumer Affairs of the Financial Services Authority.

Toby Nangle is an Independent Economic and Financial Markets Commentator. He spent 25 years in the asset management industry, most recently as Global Head of Asset Allocation at Columbia Threadneedle, where he led an award-winning asset allocation investment team of 26 professionals, based across four time-zones, managing c$160bn AuM for a range of institutional and retail clients. 

Sofia graduated with a Master in Finance & Banking from Strasbourg Business School, and a Master in Management Research from the University of Strasbourg. 

She holds the Investment Management Certificate delivered by the UK CFA Society. 

In addition to his role at M&G, Mark is a Member of the Independent Governance Committee at Zurich Insurance; Executive Chairman of the UBS (UK) Pension & Life Assurance Scheme Investment Committee; and a Member of the Investment & Funding and DC Committees at Lloyds Banking Group Pensions. He was previously the Chief Investment Officer of HSBC Bank Pension Trust (UK) Limited, who he joined in 2011.

Prior to this, he held a number of senior investment roles at Prudential/M&G. These included UK Equity Fund Manager, Head of Equity Research, Director of Collective Investments, and Investment & Strategy Director for Prudential Europe. 

Shalin joined DWS in 2018 and leads the UK Pensions business. His asset management experience includes the management of liability driven investment strategies for pension funds and insurers across fixed income, derivatives as well as listed and private credit. He has managed these strategies for asset owners in the UK, USA and South Africa and has 30 years of experience in pensions and asset management.

Prior to DWS, he worked for Legal & General Investment Management, AXA Investment Managers, FirstRand Bank, Mercer and Aon. Shalin is a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries and holds an Honours Degree in Statistics and Actuarial Science from the University of Cape Town. He is also an advisory board member for the City of London’s Taskforce on Socio-Economic Diversity.

Fiona is the Head of Policy at TPR, leading on changes to how TPR regulates areas such as value for money in DC schemes, funding for DB schemes and standards for trustees. She has more than 20 years’ experience in developing private pension standards and leading regulatory change. She is passionate about delivering pragmatic solutions which both protect members and work for those implementing them. 

Fiona has recently returned from a loan as a Deputy Director at the DWP, where she led on the government response to effect of gilt rises on pension schemes, and way to ensure that pensions schemes including defined benefit schemes invest more productively. 

John has a wide range of pension experience, including having been involved in looking after the Stagecoach Group Pension Scheme in various roles for nearly 25 years, in which he is currently serving as Chair of Trustees.

He was also a long-serving Trustee of the multi-employer Railway Pension Scheme from 2009 to 2020. He was instrumental in initiating changes in the 2021 regulations, acknowledging the different funding treatment possible for open schemes, and is known for independent and challenging thinking. 

A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (Scotland) Tax Board, his early training was as an international tax adviser.

Over his corporate career, he has benefited from extensive experiences in business appraisal and valuations for corporate acquisitions and disposals, and this has influenced his approach to pension scheme investment. He is passionate about delivering fair pension outcomes, and a believer in the virtuous cycle created by pension scheme investment in driving growth to pay pensions. 

Russell joined M&G Investments in 2019 to head the Global Insurance Solutions team. The team brings together expertise from across the firm to meet the complex requirements of insurance clients. 

Immediately prior to joining M&G, Russell worked at Legal & General, where he spent four years in the retirement division executing large bulk annuity transactions and developing new products. He worked closely with the internal manager on cash-flow matching strategies, holistic portfolio management, and incorporating illiquid assets into portfolios. 

He has a broad background in insurance and pension consulting, investing private capital, portfolio restructuring, corporate banking and quantitative finance. Russell holds a Doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast in Theoretical Physics. 

Guido is MSCI’s Global Head of ESG & Climate Solutions Research, where he leads applied research and thought leadership on ESG integration, impact investing and climate investing. Recent publications include Climate Masters: Net-Zero Alignment: Objectives and Strategic Approaches, How Have Stocks Responded to Changes in Climate Policy and What’s in an ESG Rating and What’s Not. 

Prior to joining MSCI in 2017, Guido was responsible for the sustainability index solutions business at RobecoSAM, following his tenure as Head of Research & Development at index provider STOXX Ltd, where he was responsible for developing new index solutions. He has more than 20 years’ experience in research and product development in the asset management industry. 

Guido holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich and has authored numerous articles in international journals for quantitative finance and risk management.

Morten joined Brightwell in 2018, and is responsible for leading all aspects of the business in its support of its clients and the workforce. 

He has spent most of his career in financial services, as he joined the pensions and investments industry in 2001 and spent over 10 years with the £90bn Danish pension scheme ATP, where he held different senior positions across administration, investments, product and business development. 

In 2010, Morten moved to London, where he founded NOW: Pensions, and as CEO, grew the business to become one of the largest defined contribution providers in the UK. 

Steve helps large institutional investors deliver better returns. He is an experienced negotiator of pension scheme funding strategies, advising both corporate sponsors and scheme trustees. 

Steve has been leading LCP’s proposals to reform how DB Pension schemes are managed, working with Government, TPR and industry bodies. He believes a new “opt-in” system with 100% PPF cover and ability to use ongoing scheme surpluses would transform outcomes for DB members, DC savers and companies sponsoring DB schemes. 

Josh is an Associate Partner within AON’s investment business, having joined in 2016. He focuses on providing strategic advice to both corporates and trustees on managing their pension scheme risks, as well as providing strategic and implementation advice to sovereign wealth funds. 

Josh advises a number of pension schemes ranging from £100m to over £5bn in assets, including Aon’s investment proposition for alternative endgames. 

Josh is a CFA Charterholder, and graduated with a Master of Mathematics from Durham University. 

Adrian specialises in employee benefits with particular emphasis on pensions and extensive experience from the perspective of employer, trustee and scheme member. He is proactive in maintaining technical knowledge, and can ac as scheme secretary, managing providers, undertaking reviews and providing strategic development and delivery. Adrian sees today’s challenges as an opportunity for dynamic enterprise, seeking out innovative, creative solutions to drive continuous improvement alongside value for money, to meet the needs and expectations of all stakeholders.

For the majority of his working career, he has been responsible for the management of occupational pensions schemes, both DB and DC, both from the company and trustee aspects, but also bearing in mind it is the members that are the end recipients and that an employer has a major / strong interest. Adrian also has to have an appreciation of wider employment law, insurance and overall benefit issues e.g. share schemes.

His roles have included pension strategy and also ensuring that the same strategy and provision met all Trust Deed rules and relevant legislation. Adrian has also had responsibility for defining, managing and developing the pensions management function in line with changes in pensions and related legislation together with changes in the marketplace as well as employer requirements. 

Whilst at the AA/Saga, Adrian had overall ownership of the provision of services to three Trustee Boards. Furthermore, he provided the HR leadership team with advice on strategic pension issues including sales and acquisitions both UK and European as well as TUPE issues. In addition, Adrian has been heavily involved in an SPV project.

Edmund Truell, also known as Edi, possesses over 30 years of financial services experience in private equity and debt markets. He served as a Director of Hambros Bank in 1991, Chief Executive of Hambro European Ventures in 1994 and subsequently led the 1998 buyout and formation of Duke Street Capital, later spearheading the formation of Duke Street Capital Debt Management in 2000.

In 2006, Edi co-founded Pension Insurance Corporation, a leading insurer of defined benefit pension funds, where he managed £4 billion in assets and led the largest ever UK corporate pension insurance buyout.

Edi has co-founded Pension SuperFund, the UK’s first consolidating pension ‘superfund’, offering a safe and affordable way for British businesses to keep their pension promises to their employees. In 2010, Edi co-founded Disruptive Capital, a leading London-based private equity firm with an impressive track record in sourcing and managing opportunistic investments. In October 2021, as Managing Partner of Disruptive Capital Acquisition Company he successfully reopened the SPAC market with a £125m listing on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

He is Co-Founder and Trustee of the Truell Conservation Foundation, and a former Trustee of both the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos Conservation Trust. He also sits on the Smithsonian Council of Philatelists. He is a qualified as Chartered Financial Advisor and holds a BSc in Economics & Finance from Durham University.

Matt is an actuary, who has spent much of the past 15 years working with pension schemes and insurers in the world of de-risking.

Starting life as a pensions consultant at Aon, he advised trustees and sponsors on many of the market’s early buy-ins, buyouts and longevity swaps. Gamekeeper turned poacher, Matt moved insurer side, initially at Legal & General and then Scottish Widows, with the responsibility 0f structuring and executing a wide range of pension derisking solutions. 

Matt has recently joined Clara Pensions as Chief Transactions Officer, where he is responsible for Clara’s new business activity, and when the time is right, the de-risking of the sections of the Clara Pension Trust. 

Sammy Cooper-Smith joined Rothesay in 2011, and as Head of Business Development, is responsible for new business origination and marketing to defined benefit pension schemes and insurance companies. 

At Rothesay, Sammy has played a lead role in transactions with the pension funds of National Grid, telent, Asda and Allied Domecq among others, as well as the reinsurance of the Prudential, Zurich Alliance, and Aegon annuity portfolios. 

Prior to joining Rothesay, Sammy was at Paternoster, which Rothesay acquired in 2011. He started his career at Prudential.

Andrew has spent nearly 25 years working in pensions and is APMI qualified. He considers pensions to be all about engaging with people to improve their future financial security. He has managed many types of pension arrangements for very different organisations with unique attributes. 

Andrew’s work has included: 

• Innovative pension solutions – with focus on digitisation, simplification and effective communication 
• DB schemes – closures, de-risking liabilities, long term objectives, endgame, s75 debt, New Fair Deal 
• DC arrangements – auto re-enrolment, pension freedoms, investment changes, Master Trusts, aim for better outcomes 

• HR Teams – Reward matters, group risk benefits, annual pay reviews, impact on high earners of Annual & Lifetime Allowance changes 

William McGrath has a City background and was an executive director of Plcs for 25 years, latterly serving as CEO of Aga Rangemaster, a group which set an innovative long-term framework for its DB scheme back in 2015. It has worked very well in practice. 

He founded C-Suite Pension Strategies to encourage corporate engagement in DB pensions, and for schemes to “Run On 4 Good” on all stakeholders’ interests. 

Ian is a highly experienced pensions investment executive. Most recently, he has been the Chief Investment Officer at Lloyds Banking Group Pensions, overseeing some £40 billion of assets across both DB and DC sections. He joined Lloyds from Aviva, where he carried out a similar role. Prior to that, he was the CIO of the Pension Protection Fund. Ian is also a member of the actuarial profession’s Finance and Investment Board, while also being Chairman of EPFIF’s Pension Fund Investment Advisory Committee.

Steph took up the role of Head of Pension Scheme Executive for M&G in July 2024, assuming responsibility for the company’s three staff pension schemes.

She previously spent 19 years at Lloyds Banking Group in a number of pensions roles, ultimately taking responsibility for all member facing activity and strategic change as Head of Pensions Operations. Working on the Lloyds schemes provided the opportunity for Steph to build a broad experience, including the challenge of GMP equalisation through the court case and subsequent implementation. 

Steph’s primary focus is on the member experience within pension schemes, which she views as becoming ever more critical with the shift to DC pensions and the need for members to understand their retirement savings and options.