Future of Pensions Summit 2024

Debi O'Donovan

Co-founder & Director, REBA

Debi is the Co-founder  &  Director at REBA.

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Ant Donaldson

Reward Manager – Benefits, Wolseley

Ant leads on all aspects of employee benefits, pensions, and company car schemes for the Wolseley Group, across the UK and Ireland, having previously managed E.ON UK’s reward and benefits activity, including developing the E.ON Group’s first global employee benefits strategy.

Ant’s focus is on engaging Wolseley’s diverse workforce with their pensions and benefit offerings, and continuously improving employee experience and wellbeing, together with scheme delivery and cost-effectiveness. He regularly looks to implement new arrangements, to help meet colleagues’ diverse needs and keep the offering fresh.

Earlier in his career, Ant held several operational management roles at E.ON, Powergen and TXU (Eastern) Energy, and headed a number of significant organisational change programmes. He’s also a Chartered Accountant, with an initial grounding in internal and external audit.

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Robert Cochran

Workplace Pensions Engagement and Innovation Specialist, Scottish Widows

Robert has lead the Scottish Widows Employer and Employee engagement teams, dedicated to crafting impactful messages and materials for a variety of pension seminars and engagement events. His team's outreach touches thousands of employees annually, fueling Robert's passion for demystifying pensions. His commitment to simplification is evident in his team's collaboration with LBG digital resources, aiming to integrate pensions into the broader context of Financial Wellness for employees. With the increasing role of digital engagement through APPs and AI Robert has focused on this area to really take understanding and interaction with pensions to the next level.

A recognized voice in the industry, Robert is a regular fixture in print and on the radio, and hosts the Scottish Widows Workplace Pensions Podcast. His insights on pension engagement, technology, and data are sought after at industry conferences, and his interactions with policymakers over the years have been influential. As a founding partner in Pension Engagement Season and National Pension Tracing Day, Robert has been at the forefront of initiatives that strive to improve retirement outcomes for individuals.

In addition to his extensive professional experience, Robert holds a degree in Marketing and Finance, underscoring his expertise in the financial sector. His educational background complements his practical knowledge, making him a well-rounded specialist in his field.

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Heidi Allan

Head of Financial Wellbeing, LCP

Heidi has been working in the pension and employee benefits industry since the early 1990’s and she has worked for organisations from both a consultancy and provider perspective. Heidi has undertaken many research projects resulting in the production and authoring of a number of thought leadership papers during the last decade.

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Robin Armer

Director, Business to Business Proposition, Nest

Robin leads the Business to Business team at Nest with responsibility for Nest’s relationships with all our employer customers and the various third parties who support them.

He has 25 years’ experience in financial services, predominantly working in the corporate pensions market and has been with Nest since 2012 helping deliver the scheme’s success to date.

Robin is an experienced public speaker and has in-depth knowledge of the UK pension landscape and the various communities which support it.  He previously worked for a large employee benefits consultancy and brings a variety of skills and knowledge from his time in the advisory community.

Robin is a keen advocate for learning and has recently completed a Masters in Behavioural and Economic Science and a series of Strategy programs with Harvard Business School.  He has a number of industry related qualifications, including having been diploma level qualified with the Chartered Insurance Institute.

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Nicky Benstead

Client Director Defined Contribution, Institutional Group, EMEA and Asia, SEI

Nicky Benstead is responsible for managing the relationships with our DC clients. Nicky has extensive experience in the DC market and has managed client relationships from both a consultant and provider perspective throughout her career. Before joining SEI in 2021, Nicky was Head of Client Relations at Aegon, where she still managed client relationships on a daily basis and retained responsibility for her own client portfolio. Prior to that Nicky served as Head of DC Clients at BlackRock and as a senior consultant at Willis Towers Watson.

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Richard Birkin

Partner and Head of DC pensions, Isio

Richard Birkin is the Partner and Head of DC pensions at Isio.

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Yvonne Braun OBE

Director of Policy, Long Term Savings and Protection, ABI

A member of the ABI’s Executive Team, Yvonne directs the ABI’s work on pensions, including ESG and sustainable investment, and protection insurance, and oversees the finance department and data analysis team. She leads the ABI’s diversity and inclusion programme, and the sector’s charitable £100m Covid-19 Support Fund.

Yvonne joined the ABI from the Financial Services Authority, where she worked in policy and public affairs. She previously was a capital markets lawyer at Goldman Sachs and the US law firm Cleary Gottlieb.

Yvonne is a member of the Government’s Industry Steering Group for the Pensions Dashboard Project, and the City of London Corporation’s Taskforce to improve socio-economic diversity at senior levels in financial and professional services. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a former trustee of Asthma UK, a graduate of Cambridge University and holds a doctorate in international criminal law.

She can be found on Twitter at @YvonneBraun4.

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Rita Butler-Jones

Head of DC, Legal & General

Rita is Head of DC at Legal & General, responsible for our DC strategy and business growth. She has a wealth of DC experience with a broad spectrum of product, client, and sales experience. Rita has been at LGIM since 2015, prior to this she held senior sales roles, including Head of DC at Threadneedle Investment, Business Development Director at Friends Life, and DC Sales Consultant at Mercer. She is also a scheme strategist for Legal & General’s Mastertrust and in 2021 Rita was voted Pensions Woman of the Year at the Professional Pensions Women in Pensions Awards. 

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Steve Charlton

DC and Solutions Managing Director, Institutional Group, EMEA and Asia, SEI

Steve Charlton joined SEI in 2017 as SEI’s Defined Contribution and Solutions Managing Director for EMEA and Asia. In his role, he is responsible for building upon the ongoing success of SEI’s U.S. and U.K. DC proposition across global markets. Steve has over 30 years’ experience in the pensions industry, with particular expertise in defined contribution plans. He joined SEI from Vanguard Asset Management, where he was the Defined Contribution Manager for Europe. Prior to Vanguard, Steve spent 15 years consulting with some of the largest DC clients in the U.K. whilst working at Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson), Punter Southall and Mercer.

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Chris Clark

Policy Manager, The Pensions Regulator

Chris Clark is the Policy Manager at The Pensions Regulator.

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Aimée Denham

Client Director, Vidett

Aimée joined us in July 2019 as a trustee director. Her career in pensions started back in 2001, where she worked as pensions consultant at KPMG, before working at the National Grid within their in-house pensions management team. Prior to joining Vidett, she worked at PwC; leading their DC team, and previous to there, had held a senior consulting role at Deloitte. Away from her day job, Aimée is a season ticket holder at her beloved Aston Villa F.C. When not supporting the Villains, she can be found enjoying Pilates, eating out and spending time with her daughter, family and friends!

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Caroline Eastwood

Client Director, Vidett

Caroline has over 25 years’ experience in pensions management, from both in-house and consultancy positions. She was the Senior Pensions Manager at two leading building societies, where she supported their trustees and sponsors in outsourcing administration of their £8bn defined benefit scheme. Before moving in-house, she was a member of the Mercer Governance Trustee Services team, providing outsourced pensions management, secretarial and governance advisory services. She was also named Pensions Manager of the Year at the 2019 Women in Pensions Awards.

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Hannah English

Head of DC Corporate Consulting, Hymans Robertson

Hannah is head of our DC Corporate Consulting services. She has extensive experience defined contribution pension schemes and is responsible for the day-to-day management of numerous high profile corporate clients. She has a passion for delivering improved outcomes for members. She specialises in pension scheme design and benefits management; and change and implementation.

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Lydia Fearn

Partner, LCP

Lydia re-joined LCP in 2022 to support the growth of the DC and financial wellbeing business and deliver advice to clients of all types and sizes.

The team advise a wide range of clients, both trust and corporate, supporting them on all areas of DC including investment strategy, scheme design, communication strategy and their wellbeing strategy with a focus on financial wellbeing.

Previously, Lydia was the Head of Pensions Consulting at Capita and the Head of DC and Financial Wellbeing at Redington.

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Kathryn Fleming

Partner , Hymans Robertson

Kathryn is a Partner in the DC consulting team at Hymans Robertson LLP. She specialises in advising employers and trustees on effective, objective driven, pension strategy. Having spent 20 years in the industry, she has an in depth understanding of providers, engagement and governance. She leads the strategic thought leadership for the Retirement proposition for the DC Consulting market.  Kathryn is also a Council Member for the Pensions Policy Institute and Co-Chair for a workstream of the Pensions Equity Group.

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Catherine Foot

Director, Phoenix Insights

Catherine Foot is Director of Phoenix Insights, a new think tank set up to transform the way society responds to the possibilities of longer lives. Phoenix Insights is part of The Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement business.

Catherine is a research and policy specialist in ageing and longevity, and from 2015 to 2021 was Director of Evidence at the Centre for Ageing Better, a charitable foundation funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, and part of the government’s What Works Network. Catherine has also held senior roles at the health and social care think tank The King’s Fund, and the medical research charity Cancer Research UK.

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Mark Futcher

Partner, Head of DC and Workplace Wealth, Barnett Waddingham

Mark focusses on workplace wealth (including DC), advising a range of UK businesses on, essentially, anything that employers use to recruit, retain and improve their workforce.

He has developed particular expertise in helping employers adapt their employee benefit offering to cope with the changing demands of a modern workforce.

Mark’s extensive experience, clear advice and proactive approach have helped him to become a trusted consultant to a wide range of UK and multi-national businesses.

He was Engaged Investor's Best Individual Pensions Consultant of the Year 2016.

Significant experience:

• advice to clients with workforces in excess of 100,000 employees
• advising trustees of defined contribution (DC) schemes with assets in excess of £1 billion
• modernising DC schemes in the context of the overall benefit packages
• demonstrably increasing engagement with the employer’s workforce
• tailored education of workforces from career start to and through retirement

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Jo Gallacher

Content Director, REBA

Jo Gallacher is the Content Director at REBA.

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Matthew Gregson

Executive Director, Howden Employee Benefits

Today, Matthew oversees all aspects of Howden’s proposition for Corporate clients. He has over 20 years’ experience in employee benefits, including a large portion of his career helping shape the flexible benefits market in the UK. Matthew has personally helped many large and complex employers introduce transformational change to their pension and benefits programmes, working with providers and partners in industry to innovate and maximise the value they bring to clients.

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Emma Hadley

Head of Pensions, Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing

Emma is responsible for both the Howden and Aston Lark Pensions team.  She has over 30 years’ experience within Employee Benefits with a particular specialism in pensions.  Emma has assisted a range of industries on how to comply with Workplace Pensions legislation ranging from Retail to Investment Banking and understands the different challenges that apply to different sectors. 

She is passionate about delivering value for employers, ensuring they receive cost-effective solutions without compromising their workforce’s quality of pension schemes. With her wealth of experience and dedication, Emma is a driving force in optimizing pension programs for businesses and employees alike. She is committed to implementing bespoke and targeted employee engagement strategies, striving for positive outcomes for all.

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Alex Hadonou

Senior Consultant, Aon

Alex has 10 years’ experience having joined Aon in 2013 working in Aon’s corporate consulting team - helping corporates optimize their pension strategy covering both DB and DC pensions. Alex has worked with a number of clients from various backgrounds, ranging from large financial institutions with multi-billion-pound DB schemes to firms in the charity sector. Alex is also a member of Aon’s Financial Wellbeing specialist team, helping both UK and Global clients implement financial wellbeing programmes and developing Aon’s thinking and capabilities in this space.

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Catherine Harvey

Head of Reward, Wienerberger Ltd

Catherine Harvey is the Head of Reward at Wienerberger Ltd.

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David Harvey

Master Trust Leader, NatWest Cushon

David is Cushon’s Master Trust Lead and has worked in the DC pensions market for over 25 years. During that time, he has worked on both “sides of the fence” at Consultants and Insurers and has built up a really good understanding of what both companies and members look for and value when it comes to pension provision. 

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Mark Hewitson

Head of Client Development, WEALTH at work

No bio provided

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Stuart Hopley

Workplace Pensions Specialist, Scottish Widows

Stuart joined Scottish Widows in 2002 and has over 25 year’s experience of working with Independent Financial Advisers, Employee Benefit Consultants, Trustees and Employers. Prior to joining Scottish Widows, Stuart held Account Manager and Business Development roles at Legal & General and Scottish Amicable.

Stuart has a vast experience of Auto Enrolment and a passion for helping people better understand and make the most of their workplace savings. 

Stuart hosts our webinar programme and is responsible for a team of Scottish Widows Workplace Relationship Managers and supports our wider relationships with Key Workplace clients and Employee Benefits firms.

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Christine Jackson

Group Reward Director, Kantar

Christine Jackson is the Group Reward Director at Kantar.

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Sarah Long

Head of New Business, WEALTH at work

Sarah joined WEALTH at work in 2021 and heads up the new business team.  Sarah has extensive experience in both broad based and executive compensation plans on an international level and has over 20 years’ experience in the equity plans/employee benefits market.  She is passionate about all aspects of wellbeing in the workplace and in particular financial wellbeing to help improve people’s lives.  A keen runner having participated in many marathons and is proud to have raised over £28,000 for breast cancer charities.  In her spare time Sarah is also a Rugbytots coach.

Sarah Long | LinkedIn

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Oliver Morley

Chief Executive, Money and Pensions Service

Oliver Morley is CEO of the Money and Pensions Service and joined us on 1 February 2024.

Oliver brings a unique blend of private sector experience at Thomson Reuters combined with a successful record of leadership as CEO of public sector organisations including the Pension Protection Fund. Prior to this, he was the CEO of the DVLA, with services to over 45 million customers annually where he was awarded a CBE for digital transformation.

Oliver is committed to seeing MaPS reach its full potential to deliver on its purpose “to help people, particularly those most in need, to make the most of their money and pensions.” His established relationship with key pensions industry stakeholders will support the team as we deliver the Pensions Dashboards Programme, including our own MoneyHelper dashboard.

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Katharine Photiou

Managing Director of Workplace Savings, Legal & General

Katharine is Managing Director of Workplace Savings. It’s a growth area for the Legal & General Group, with over £85bn assets under management. She’s focused on driving better outcomes for its 5+ million members by understanding their financial needs and helping them plan for their retirement at every stage of their working lives. 

Katharine has been with Legal & General since 2015, joining LGIM as Head of Workplace Savings Product and Proposition before becoming Commercial Director – Workplace Savings. She has over 25 years' experience in the employee benefits and corporate consulting industry. That includes several senior roles at Friends Provident, Barclays Personal & Corporate Banking and Mercer, where she led the team that created Mercer Workplace Savings. 

She graduated from Lancaster University with a BSc in Marketing. She’s also achieved a range of Chartered Insurance Institute Qualifications and more recently the plus SAFe 4 Agilist certification. She’s passionate about driving innovation in pensions and wider savings.  On a more personal level she’s married, lives in London and supports a number of animal welfare charities. 

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Jenny Swift

Proposition Lead, Aon

Jenny joined Aon in 1997 and has over 25 years’ experience working with UK pension schemes on pension and investment issues. She is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and a senior member of Aon’s DC team. She supports clients looking to restructure and improve the value of their DC pension arrangements and has an active role in developing Aon’s DC Solutions to ensure Aon’s clients and members get the best value from their own pension arrangement.

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Steve Watson

Director of Policy & Research, NatWest Cushon

Steve Watson, Director of Policy & Research Steve is NatWest Cushon’s Director of Policy & Research. He has spent over 30 years of his career advising organisations on all aspects of pensions and workplace savings both in the UK and internationally.

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Sam Whiting

Benefits and Pensions Senior Manager , Grant Thornton UK LLP

Sam Whiting is the Benefits and Pensions Senior Manager at Grant Thornton UK LLP, steering the firm's benefits and pensions offering. With 15 years of experience in benefits and pension process management, Sam has broadened her focus to include overall financial wellbeing, championing strategies that resonate with a diverse workforce.

Sam is passionate about demystifying pensions, transitioning from traditional offerings and communication methods to a more holistic approach to financial wellbeing and employee support.

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