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.

Shalin joined the 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.

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. 

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 

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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.