The Changing DB Endgame

Martin Bailey delivers capital alignment at scale.

He was a lead architect of the Mansion House Accord and the Compact before it, working across government and industry to unlock billions in pension fund investment into productive assets.

At the City of London Corporation, he leads engagement with institutional investors, global firms, and policymakers. He also chairs the £2bn Lambeth Pension Fund, pushing forward investment in private markets, climate risk, and good stewardship.

Shalin joined the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) in 2023, where he serves as Chief Actuary and interim Chief Financial Officer. 

At PPF, he brings extensive pensions, insurance and investment experience, having previously worked at DWS Investments since 2018, and other companies across the sector for many years. He originally started his career in South Africa in life insurance pricing and reserving and then transitioned into liability valuations for defined benefit pension funds. 

In addition, he brings significant LDI, derivative and credit portfolio management experience and has advised some of the UK’s largest pension funds on their LDI strategies both as a consultant with Mercer and portfolio manager with Legal & General Investment Management.

Shalin is a member of the Advisory panel at the Financial Reporting Council. He recently served as a member of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ Finance and Investment Board and as an advisory member for the task force to boost socio-economic diversity at senior levels in both the financial and professional services sectors.

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.

Marian is the Global Head of Risk & Sustainability at GFG Alliance. 

Prior to joining GFG, she was a Managing Director at Redington and before that led Deloitte’s Trustee Advisory team in London. 

Her experience covers pension risk management, sustainability, trusteeship, scheme actuarial work, corporate advisory and investment consulting.

Mirko Cardinale is Head of Investment Strategy & Advice at USSIM where he is responsible for investment advice to non-executive stakeholders, strategic asset allocation applied to DB and DC funds, dynamic asset allocation and total portfolio management.

Prior to his role at USSIM, Mirko was Head of Asset Allocation-EMEA at Russell Investments where he was responsible for designing model portfolios and reviewing the asset allocation of EMEA funds. Before his appointment at Russell, Mirko was Head of Strategic Asset Allocation and Multi-Asset Fund Manager at Aviva Investors, where he was overseeing the asset allocation positioning of UK life and pension funds, as well as managing the DC default fund for the Aviva Staff Pension Scheme.

Prior to his role at Aviva Investors, Mirko was also a senior investment consultant at Watson Wyatt (now Towers Watson), where he built an offshore research team in Uruguay, and a Research Manager at Financial Times Business.

Mirko holds a PhD in Finance from Imperial College, London with a thesis on the interrelationships between pension funding and capital markets, an MSc in Economics from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona and a BSc in Economics from Università Bocconi, Milan.

Mirko’s mother tongue is Italian and he is also fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and French.

Mike runs a responsible investment advisory firm, Ario Advisory. With a background in investment management, governance, pensions and insurance, much of his work is concerned with the financial risks of climate change. He works across the investment sector with asset owners, investment managers, policymakers, regulators, investment consultants and NGOs.

Among his roles, he represents IFoA (actuaries) on the Sustainable Finance Advisory Council at the Oxford Smith School and sits on the WHEB Asset Management independent Advisory Committee. He has recently left the Brunel (LGPS) board, where he was a NED (chairing Audit&Risk, more recently Remco), and he was Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee for their 2018 Green Finance inquiry.

Andy enjoys a portfolio career as a trustee and Non Executive Director. In the world of pensions, he is Chair of Trustees of the Nat West DC Plan, a NED at Capital Cranfield, and a member of the Investment and Funding Committee of the Lloyds Banking Group DB pension schemes.

Until 2019, Andy spent 30 years at Aon as an actuarial and Investment consultant, was a member of the Global Retirement & Investment Leadership and CEO of Aon Hewitt Ltd in the UK. He also sat on the Aon Global Operating Committee.

In his spare time, Andy enjoys skiing and scrambling with his family and has recently passed his private pilots license.  He is also looking forward to more success supporting Wales on the rugby pitch.

Nicolas Firzli is founder of the World Pensions® Council, the retirement & savings industry group, co-chair of the G7 Pensions Roundtable held on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, founding-member of the Advisory Council for the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF), a World Bank and G20–led global initiative, and executive director of the Singapore Economic Forum (SEF).

He has co-developed notions such as ‘SDG–Driven Investment’, ‘Pension Superpowers’, the ‘Age of Geoeconomics’, ‘Employee Capitalism’, and chaired the Pensions and Asset Owners Roundtable at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference (Paris COP21 Summit/Paris Agreement).

Nicolas is a graduate of Canada’s McGill University (Statistics & Financial Economics), an alumnus of the HEC Paris School of Management (MBA Corporate Strategy & Marketing) and the University of Paris Law School (LL.M. Corporate Law) and has conducted research at the University of Louvain (UCL) Doctoral School of Economics and Management in Waals Brabant (Belgium).

He is a regular contributor to BBC News (Asia), Asharq News with Bloomberg, the Arabian Gulf financial news network, RTÉ, Ireland’s National Television and Radio Broadcaster, and Cairo TV (Qahera News).

He is also active in ecumenical, intercultural dialogue, nonalignment, & the promotion of peaceful, inclusive sustainable development endeavours in Britain, the European Union (EU) and the Greater MENA–APAC continuum.

Chris is an investment professional (Associate, CFA Society of the UK) from an actuarial background (Affiliate, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries) with substantial experience at director level as a pension fund manager and more widely.

He began his career with Clerical Medical & General Life Assurance Society before moving on to F&C and Hill Samuel Investment Management. Subsequently attracted to the investment funds arena, Chris became a specialist in closed-ended structures.

Drawing on over 40 years’ experience, his focus is now on developing innovative propositions aimed at delivering better retirement outcomes. The UK pensions industry isn’t providing DC pensions – it is accumulating money for ‘savers’ who then must find their own way of accessing ‘retirement pots’. They should be provided with solutions that deliver a stable income throughout their retirement.

Chris has highlighted a fundamental flaw in the current DC structure – retaining pot conversion ‘at retirement’ creates a dangerous and unnecessary cliff-edge risk in a world of pension freedoms. Investment strategy should change as retirement approaches, but not in the way currently characterised as ‘lifestyling’ – a different solution would deliver better outcomes.

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.

Louise Kooy-Henckel is EMEA Head of Sustainable and Transition Solutions at BlackRock. 

She leads the team responsible for BlackRock’s Sustainable and Transition strategy and commercial platform in EMEA, which includes driving cross-functional initiatives across the firm, leading engagements with clients and other external groups, and power sustainable product ideation that address clients’ evolving needs.

Together with the STS team, Louise focuses on deepening relationships with clients to anticipate rapidly evolving industry trends and regulations shaping sustainable and transition investing.  

Louise brings over 25 years of asset management and sustainable investing experience and most recently led Wellington Management’s Sustainable Investing product platform and initiatives in EMEA. Louise also served as an Investment Director on Wellington’s Global Impact Team and built multiple solutions in both public and private markets (2016-2023).

Prior to joining Wellington Management in 2016, Louise spent 20 years at JPMorgan Asset Management where she was a managing director and head of the Global Equities Client Portfolio Management team in EMEA (1997-2016). During her time there, she also served as a Client Advisor in the firm’s institutional client group. Prior to her long association with JPMorgan Asset Management, she held of number roles with State Street in Germany and Australia (1994-1997).

Louise also brings extensive governance expertise as a board member and pension trustee. She has served on boards in Luxembourg and Ireland, chaired sustainable investing initiatives and advised on decarbonization and TCFD.

Louise is currently serving as a non-executive director on the board of Pensions for Purpose and as a pension trustee of a UK corporate pension scheme. She holds executive certifications from University of Oxford’s SaÏd Business School in Private Markets and in Impact Investing and earned a BSc in Financial Economics from the University of London (Birkbeck).

Mark is the Climate & Sustainability Lead at The Pensions Regulator (TPR), responsible for developing the regulatory response to climate change and sustainability disclosure requirements and delivering TPR’s Climate Change Strategy. He brings 30 years of experience working predominantly in the public sector.

Prior to joining the TPR, Mark worked for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) within the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, where he led on climate change and sustainability. During his time at MoD, Mark contributed to the Defence Climate Change and Sustainability Review, which ultimately led to the publication of the Climate Change and Sustainability Approach in 2021. 

In tandem, he developed a Defence Energy and Emissions Strategy, and was involved in work to mobilise third party capital to invest in renewables across the Defence estate, before attending COP26 as part of the Cabinet Office’s COP26 Unit.

Just before leaving the MoD to join TPR, he was busy supporting across sector work to integrate climate risks into sustainable land management and specifically brownfield land development.

Chris is Chairman of the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, a pooling vehicle of 11 LGPS pension funds with assets of over £40 billion.

He was one of the inaugural Trustees at Nest, a 9 million member DC scheme, and returned to its Board in 2018, where he chaired the Investment Committee. Chris was also corporate Chair at the Pension SuperFund, an initiative to consolidate private sector DB pension schemes.

Chris was a Board member for the Toronto-based International Centre for Pensions Management, and for the UK’s Investor Forum, a conduit for strategic dialogue between companies and investors, and an outcome of the Kay Review, on which Chris served.

Chris is an Actuary, a Past Chair of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association and an Honorary Fellow of the CFA Society of the UK. He and his wife Pip have four mostly grown-up sons and in his spare time, Chris runs marathons slowly.

Veronica Humble leads NatWest Cushon’s investment function. 

Prior to this role she was Head of DC Investments at Legal and General Investment Management and held a number of roles across LGIM’s Investments and Distribution before that.

She started her career as a quantitative analyst in Phoenix Group. She has MSc in mathematics and a PhD in statistics.

Saurabh Katiyar is Head of Index Solutions Research, EMEA, offering research insights and thought leadership on global investing.

He is responsible for research to support new and existing indexes and risk models, including factor, ESG, climate, thematic and economic exposure indexes, as well as performance and risk attribution. He also serves as an ambassador to asset owners, asset managers and wealth managers on the role of indexes and factor models in asset allocation and portfolio construction.

Prior to MSCI, Saurabh was working for Nomura in the Quantitative Equity Strategy team. In this role, he was responsible for carrying out thematic research and financial modelling to generate investment ideas and recommend factor allocation with a view on the macro environment. 

Saurabh graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and is also a CFA charter holder.

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 

Philip has worked in Local Government Finance since 1987 and has been involved in various roles for the Clwyd Pension Fund since 1996.

During this time he has worked with an in house team and external advisors who have recommended and implemented changes to the Clwyd Fund’s governance, funding, investment and administration strategies.

Over the 27 years the value of the Fund has increased from £300m to over £2.3bn and the investment strategy and approach to managing investment risk has significantly changed.

Recreationally, Phil can be found supporting Everton and Chester FC or making investments at various racecourses.

Jon has two decades of international CEO experience in public and private asset management, with a proven track record of building successful businesses and managing, motivating and inspiring large teams for complex, global diverse organisations.

Jon is the founder and managing partner of Alderwood Partners, an asset management advisory firm, and was previously Managing Partner of Northill Capital, a $91bn AUM fund management business which he founded in 2010 before leaving in late 2019 and then selling his stake in the business in 2020.

From 2000 to 2010 Jon was the Vice Chairman and CEO of BNY Mellon’s international asset management business and Chair of Dreyfus, the US mutual fund manager and of Insight, now one of Europe’s largest asset management firms.

From 1991 to 2000 he worked for Fidelity Investments and subsequently for J P Morgan. Jon also has extensive board governance experience across multiple regulated markets including UK, US, Europe, Australia and Asia.

He has been a non-executive director of Jupiter Fund Management and Quilter plc where he also Chaired Quilter investors. Jon also Chairs Causeway Securities, a global structured products business.

Neil leads the £6bn+ Surrey Pension Fund, with near 130,000 members and over 500 employers. Surrey is one of the 11 LGPS partner funds that make up the Border to Coast asset pool. 

Neil believes excellence in service delivery is best achieved through an integrated pension service with equal emphasis on all elements of the business, and a laser focus on the customer. 

The Surrey Fund has received pension industry acknowledgement for its outstanding approach to risk management, governance, responsible investing and most recently, administration.

Neil is a member of the PLSA Policy Board, and its Local Authority Committee. He is also the Independent Chair of the Local Pension Board for the London Borough of Hounslow, and an Independent Advisor to the Local Pension Board of the South Yorkshire Pension Authority. 

He is the father of twin boys who are both off doing far more interesting things than he ever did at university. In his spare time, he supports Queens Park Rangers and three putts.

Charlotte Moore is an award-winning journalist and communications consultant, who has written about investments and pensions for 18 years.

She writes for a number of well-respected trade magazines. She examines how institutions like pension schemes and insurers allocate capital. 

Investing to protect the planet and improve society is one of her areas of expertise and she holds regular salons, where panellists are invited to debate different sustainable institutional investment topics. She is often asked to moderate panel topics at external conferences.

I was formerly CEO of Newton Investment Management where I managed and led the business by establishing and developing appropriate business goals, both short term targets and strategic objectives to ensure that clients were well served, that the firm succeeded commercially and attracted and retained talented people.

I am a seasoned investment management investor with a background in macro investing. As a CEO for over a decade I have strong executive experience having served as a FTSE100 and Fortune 500 executive.

I have a first-class honours degree in Physics from the University of Edinburgh and am a Fellow of the Faculty and Institute of Actuaries. I am also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Wharton Business School, Philadelphia.

All views I express are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family, trying to keep fit by playing golf and running, and walking in the Scottish hills with my wife and deerhound dog and I am an active member of my local church.

Toby Nangle is Contributing Editor for the Financial Times.

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 is a Director of the UBS Pension Trustee Company. Sofia is also an Executive Director at UBS Asset Management, where she works closely with portfolio managers and institutional investors to achieve their investment goals across a broad spectrum of asset classes ranging from passive equities and fixed income to active and alternative investments.

Before joining UBS, Sofia was the Managing Director for the LifeRisks business at RMS, the leading global catastrophe risk modelling firm. At RMS, Sofia led a team of actuaries and consultants helping global insurers manage their longevity and mortality risks.

Sofia graduated with a Master in Finance and Banking from Strasbourg Business School and a Master in Management Research from the University of Strasbourg. Sofia holds the Investment Management Certificate delivered by the UK CFA society.

A highly experienced and trusted investment and pensions’ solutions professional with deep DC insights, who likes to keep an eye on future market needs and how to deliver them.

David has over 30 years experience in asset management and pensions solutions, including senior roles at Mobius Life, AllianceBernstein, Sun Life of Canada Asset Management, Xafinity, Aon Consulting and Capita Hartshead. 

As Chair of the PASA Master Trust Working Group, and a regular contributor to industry working groups, David sees a strong sense of purpose and drive in the industry at a time of technological innovation and information empowerment. 

Focused and practised at complex problem solving in the DC workplace solutions and investment management industry, David views the current opportunities the industry face as potentially huge game changers for savings and outcomes.

If there is one thing which drives David forward every day, it is being in an industry doing the right things to improve member outcomes.

Amlan is a partner in the Investment Team with the remit of using his Global Macro Research and past client franchise to help support LCP’s international and sovereign clients.

In his previous 25 years, he has served a wide range of global institutional clients (pension funds, insurance companies, SWFs, asset managers, central banks, government treasuries, hedge funds and private equity firms).

He is an experienced Global Macro-Finance Researcher specialising in Global Macroeconomics & Demographics. His book Demographics Unravelled published in January 2022 was mentioned by the FT as one of the best new books in Economics.

He is a Research Associate at LSE’s Research Centres – the Financial Markets Group and Systemic Risk Centre, as well as a Singapore FinTech Festival Ambassador and an elected Honorary Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Previously, he was Head of Global Macro Research and Senior MD at State Street Global Advisors and Chief Retirement Strategist, MD and Head of Global Demographics & Pensions Research at Credit Suisse Investment Bank.

As a global EM strategist, he developed global risk & allocation models as an expert on Financial Architecture during the Asian & Russian crises.

He spent a decade in academia with a distinguished teaching career in the US and UK. He was a UK ESRC Research Fellow, Ponders Fellow, a Boston University Doctoral Scholar and a Government of India National Scholar.

He has a PhD and MA in Financial Economics from the University of Iowa, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and an undergraduate Economics with an Honours degree from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.

Bobby is a Senior Pensions leader, who has over 25 years of experience advising both trustees and employers of Occupational Defined Benefit (DB) and Defined Contribution (DC) schemes.

Bobby is a qualified Actuary and a council member of AIMSE. He is a past Chair of the Association of Consulting Actuaries Investment Sub-Committee and has also served on the Finance and Investment Board of the Institute of Actuaries. 

He is a past winner of the MallowStreet Most Influential Investment Advisor Award, and has also twice won the industry Battle of the Bands, as a Bass player. 

Bobby is also a regular speaker on pensions issues at various conferences, and has participated as a judge for a number of industry awards. He has held leadership roles in areas including ESG, professional standards and governance, asset liability modelling and liability driven investment.

I’ve built and led teams across disciplines, geographies, and cultures. I’ve integrated businesses, refreshed legacy capabilities, developed innovative solutions — and worked to deliver outcomes that serve not just clients and shareholders, but the whole system.

I care about drawing out what’s hidden — within people and between people, within organisations and between them — and aligning that potential to meet real, unmet needs. I embrace uncertainty and discomfort.

I’m driven by purpose. And I’m always exploring how to better connect human insight with technological possibility in growth markets. If you’re solving a problem that doesn’t fit neatly into a box, I’d love to think it through with you. If the challenge is broader and more complex, I’d love to assemble the right team to help you tackle it.

Anna Stupnytska is Head of Long-Term Investment Strategy at Nest, where she leads the development of forward-looking investment views across public and private markets, working closely with the CIO to shape Nest’s long-term portfolio positioning.

Before joining Nest in early 2025, Anna spent 10 years at Fidelity International as Global Macro Economist. There, she played a key role within the Global Macro & Strategic Asset Allocation team, guiding investment decisions across asset classes through in-depth research on macroeconomic trends and market dynamics.

Prior to this, Anna was Macroeconomist at Goldman Sachs, contributing first within Global Investment Research and later in Asset Management – where she was part of the influential team behind the BRICs framework. She started her professional journey in 2004 at Merrill Lynch’s Investment Banking division.

Anna holds a First-Class MA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Cambridge and a Distinction-level MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.

Mark Tennant is a Trustee of the Country Landowners Pension Fund, a Trustee of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and a Non-Executive Director of the Unit Trust of India International. He also leads a charity devoted to stopping young offenders from reoffending. 

He was until recently the Chairman of Centrica Pension Funds, and Chairman of Scottish Land and Estates, after spending 28 years with J.P. Morgan Chase as a Senior Adviser, and CFO of the Global Custody Division. 

Prior to that, Mark was at Hill Samuel, Fidelity and Hambros Bank, and served as the Conservative Party candidate against Gordon Brown in 1992 and against Winnie Ewing for the European seat of the Highland and Islands in 1994. 

In the late 80’s, Mark served as the Treasurer for the Conservative Party for Scotland, and the Treasurer for the Better Together Campaign under Alistair Darling in 2014. He also served seven years in the Scots Guards, spent a year nursing in India, and is an Officer of the Queen’s Bodyguard in Scotland. 

Away from work, his main interests are history, travel and Scottish music, particularly the Highland Bagpipe, which he plays.