Speakers C-E

Neil Carberry

Head of Pensions
CBI

Neil is Head of Employment Policy at the CBI, leading the CBI's work on a diverse range of issues including pensions, Health & Safety, Working Time and the National Minimum Wage. He returned to the CBI's Employment Team in April 2007 after a period as Head of Public Procurement, a role in which he was responsible for CBI policy on the Private Finance Initiative. Neil initially joined the CBI as an employment and reward specialist after graduate study at the London School of Economics. Previously, he worked in the City as an HR Consultant.

Charles Counsell

Programme Manager of the Employer Compliance Regime
The Pensions Regulator

Charles has over 15 years' experience of setting up and running major business change programmes. As well as is his work in the public sector, Charles has run major programmes of change in the financial services industry and in the automotive industry. Many of these programmes have been international, including work in South Africa, the United States, the Middle East and in several countries in Europe.

From 2005 to 2007, Charles led the programme which set up 'The Pensions Regulator' (formally known as OPRA), when it was created through the Pensions Act 2004. He is currently leading the Pensions Regulator's part of one of the top five government programmes which will change the UK's pensions landscape enabling all people from young adulthood to save for their own retirement. From 2012 the Pensions Regulator will be responsible for the regulatory regime that underpins auto-enrolment, and will have the responsibility to maximise employer compliance with the new duty on all employers to provide a qualifying pension scheme for their employees, and to auto-enrol their employees into this scheme.

Helen Dean

Policy and Product Development Director
Personal Accounts Delivery Authority

Helen is Policy and Product Development Director at PADA, and is responsible for areas such as scheme design, and liaising with DWP Policy on Legislation.

Helen joined the Department for Social Security in 1984 after graduating from the University of Birmingham, with BSc Hons in Psychology.

Since joining the department she has been responsible for a number of programmes. These have included the introduction of a pension forecasting IT system and an interactive television service for pensions. She also worked on the introduction of the state second pension.

Helen moved to Pension Policy in 2002 where she had responsibility for the Informed Choice programme and then for developing the policy on personal accounts.

Angela Eagle

MP
Minister of State for Pensions and the Ageing Society
Angela is Minister of State for Pensions and the Ageing Society.
Angela previously served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from July 2007. Prior to this she has been Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office (2001-02); the Department of Social Security (1998-01); the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Minister for Green Issues and Regeneration) (1997-98); and was an Opposition Whip (1996-97).
She has been on a number of Commons Select Committees, including the Members Interests Employment Select Committee, the Public Accounts Committee (twice); and Treasury Select Committee, and the Treasury Sub-Committee 2002-2007. Angela has been Vice-chair of the All-Party Equalities Group and in 2005 was elected Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party. She is also a member of Labour's Ruling National Executive Committee (NEC).
She was elected as the first ever Labour MP for Wallasey in 1992, after holding a number of posts within the Labour Party. Angela was educated at Formby High School, and then gained a BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and St John's College Oxford. She worked for CoHSE (now UNISON) as a Researcher, Press Officer, and then Parliamentary Liaison Officer, before being elected to Parliament.
Angela's political interests include Economic Policy, the NHS, and the politics of sport.

James Churcher

Pensions Manager
The Telegraph Pension Scheme

James is Pensions Manager at the Telegraph Media Group where he runs the in-house administration of the scheme and is Secretary to the Trustees. James has developed the Company’s pensions strategy including managing out of legacy DB liabilities and radical updating of member communications.

Before joining the Telegraph, James was at Brambles where he managed the UK pension schemes and arrangements for all the Group’s companies. He also oversaw the rationalisation of six DB schemes and three DC schemes and the launch of a contract based scheme.

As well as running several large DB schemes during his career, other significant pensions projects he has lead include the merger of three schemes in Belgium, the introduction of a new international pensions strategy for expatriates and the running of a TPA for external pension clients. James is FPMI, ACII and a member of TPAS. He is currently a member of the Investment Governance Group, chairing the small schemes sub-group.

James will also be participating in one of the conference panels as a panelist.

Chris Curry

Research Director
Pensions Policy Institute

Chris joined the PPI as Research Director in July 2002. At the PPI Chris has authored and presented a number of research reports analysing pensions (both state and private), pension reform and personal accounts.

Prior to this, Chris was Senior Economist at the Association of British Insurers where his pension background led to work on the analysis of stakeholder pensions, the Pension Credit and annuities.

Chris started his career at the Department of Social Security (now the Department for Work and Pensions) as an Economic Adviser. Work at the DSS included analytical support for the Pension Provision Group, and working on the subsequent Pensions Green Paper published in December 1998.

Colm Deasy

Group Pensions Manager
Electrocomponents plc

Colm completed degrees in Chemistry and Maths in Dublin before gaining valuable experience in the world of commercial banking in Dublin and Saudi Arabia.

He started his career in UK Pensions in 1999 working with Prudential and Hewitt before moving in-house as Pensions Operations Manager for Allianz (Cornhill). At Allianz he was responsible for two DB schemes with approx £650m in assets, the company's flexible benefits offering and payroll.

Colm joined Electrocomponents three years ago, where he is the Group Pension Manager, looking after 17 pension arrangements in 26 territories. The scheme is proud of it’s many notable achievements, including a new highly innovative investment strategy, better governance (including a reduction of 40% in operating costs) and a sustainability project which resulted in the scheme moving to a fully funded position. Although, inevitably the recent turmoil in the markets has 'temporarily' moved it back to a small but manageable deficit position. The scheme was also recognised as Pension Scheme of the Year in 2008.

His aspiration is to make pensions sustainable for companies and appreciated by members!

Steve Delo

Chief Executive
PAN GovernanceSteve is Chief Executive of independent trustee firm, PAN Governance and Immediate Past President of the Pensions Management Institute. His experience includes senior roles in investment/retirement consulting and asset management. Prior to PAN, he was co-founder and Managing Director of asset manager, Escher TEAMS (latterly Close Investments), specializing in investment manager selection and monitoring.

Steve is a popular conference speaker and a regular press commentator. He was named Pensions Personality of the Year at the 2009 UK Pensions Awards.

Under PAN Governance, Steve takes on independent trusteeships and chairmanships, interim CIO appointments, investment committee positions and investment governance/review work.

Sylvia Doyle

Director
Reward First

Sylvia is a director of Reward First People Consulting, a UK based independent reward consultancy she established five years ago. Sylvia advises organisations across industry sectors and her focus includes total reward; employee benefits and managing the reward and performance relationship.

Prior to establishing Reward First, Sylvia was Head of European Compensation & Benefits for McCormick, the global leader of spices, seasonings and flavours. She is a member of the steering committee of CIPD Reward Forum and Personal Tutor and Tutor on the CIPD’s Advanced Certificate in Reward Management.

Sylvia is on the remuneration committee of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, in a non-executive capacity and on the governing board of a Further Education College. Sylvia speaks regularly on reward issues at UK and international conferences and is a past pension schemes trustee.

Robin Ellison

Partner and Head of Strategy, Pensions
Pinsent Masons

Robin is a partner at Pinsent Masons, a UK law firm specialising in the development of pensions and related financial services products for insurers and other providers, and in European and international pensions, pensions trustee law and pensions in matrimonial matters. Robin is a director of the boards of a number of companies, including as chairman of Pendragon Professional Information, publisher of Perspective, the electronic regulatory and legal publisher to the pensions industry, chairman of London & Colonial Insurance, the company behind the Open Annuity, and is a trustee of several pension funds, both as independent trustee and as chairman. He also practices as a commercial mediator.

For some years he was a member of the Occupational Pensions Board (until its dissolution), and is a member of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) Pensions Panel. He was a founder of the Association of Pensions Lawyers, being awarded its Wallace Prize in 1995. In 1997 he was elected the first solicitor Honorary Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute. He is the author of numerous books on pensions including a four volume loose-leaf Pensions Law and Practice, (Sweet & Maxwell), the Pension Trustees Handbook (Thorogood) and Family Breakdown and Pensions (Butterworths 2001, 2nd ed) and is editor of Pensions Benefits Law Reports. He is Visiting Professor in Pensions Law and Economics at Cass Business School, City University London, and a frequent broadcaster on radio (especially BBC Radio 4 Moneybox) and television on pensions matters. He is the past Chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds.

Robin Ellison will also be participating in one of the conference panels as a panelist.

Maggie Craig

Director of Life and Savings
Association of British Insurers

Maggie joined the ABI in July 2007, from Standard Life Assurance Ltd. Maggie had two stints at Standard Life, as Head of Pensions Policy from 1989-2000 and as Head of Public Affairs and Communication from 2003-2007. In between, she was Pensions Development Manager for Scottish Equitable. All these roles involved a wide variety of lobbying, policy and media work.

Maggie has been in financial services since graduating from Glasgow University in 1979. She has worked for an employee benefits consultancy, as an IFA and on secondment to the Department of Work and Pensions, as well as for Standard Life and Scottish Equitable. Her knowledge and experience of financial services and pensions policy issues is extensive.

Maggie has put that experience to excellent use on several ABI committees and working groups, and she represented the ABI as a member of Alan Pickering’s pensions simplification review team. She has also contributed to many other legislative and regulatory consultations, including the Pensions Act 1995 and the FSA’s Treating Customers Fairly.

Maggie is married with three daughters and a variety of animals.

Charlie Carrick

Sales Director
JLT Online Benefits, JLT Benefit Solutions

Charlie joined JLT in 2008 to develop JLT's online benefits offering in the form of BenPal which successfully launched in 2009. Charlie has extensive experience in managing relationships with large and international clients and has responsibility for the delivery of BenPal services to corporate clients. He is a key driver behind the ongoing development of the product following his experience in building a market leading online system with Orbit previously.

Having also worked for leading pension providers NPI and Britannia Life, as well as a founder of the interactive digital agency tentendigital, Charlie can offer a complete view on the pension and benefits market, understanding clients and their needs at any stage in the benefit life cycle, as well as the technology behind the delivery of a successful benefits programme in the UK and internationally.

Michael Chatterton

Head of Settlement Solutions
Watson Wyatt Worldwide

Michael is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries with over 20 years’ experience in professional services, including working for Bacon & Woodrow, Arthur Andersen and Black Mountain, where he was CEO based in its New York headquarters. In his career, Michael has worked in a wide range of roles including consulting on international pensions and broader human capital issues, developing new consulting solutions, business management, and sales and marketing.

Michael now leads the team developing Watson Wyatt’s comprehensive service offering for organisations looking to settle their pension liabilities, where ever they are along their journey to settlement.

Jonathan Clark

Communications Manager
RPMI

Jonathan is responsible for rpmi's Communications, Marketing and Fulfillment teams. He joined rpmi in 2008 and has previously worked across all elements of communications from internal to client facing within several multinational organisations including the Financial Services and Pharmaceutical industries.
As a communications professional for over 12 years and with a background in delivering organisational change communications across multiple countries and cultures, Jonathan believes audience understanding whether customer, board or shop floor is the key to effective communications.

MBA qualified, he and rpmi are passionate about engaging communications that are accessible, interactive and trigger action as a result of their activity. He works with clients to ensure their needs are met, that they receive vital audience feedback and ensures the right channel is used to communicate the right message, to the right person, at the right time.

Martin Clarke

Executive Director of Financial Risk
The Pension Protection Fund

Martin is a Cambridge-educated mathematician, actuary and Harvard Business School alumnus, his previous career was spent in retail financial services with the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS), the financial services arm of the Co-op, which he joined in 1977.

Among Martin's achievements were to develop the marketing function of the company’s insurance business and lead the CIS’s life and savings business through a period of recovery.

He is an experienced general manager used to dealing with complex and technical projects such as the development of new products, new business opportunities and major change programmes. He has a special interest in corporate social responsibility and the development of socially responsible investment.

Jason Coates

Partner
Wragge & Co

Jason joined Wragge & Co in 2003 from Linklaters. He has experience acting for trustees and major corporates on all areas of pensions law.

He regularly speaks at seminars and contributes articles to industry publications. Jason is a member of the Association of Pension Laywers’ Legislative & Parliamentary Sub-committee which reviews all draft legislation. He is also a member of the Society of Pension Consultants’ PR Sub-committee.

Jason’s recent experience includes acting for a large multinational on the merger of its 8 defined benefit scheme to create a single multi-billion pound scheme and advising trustees on an innovative buy out structure.

Allan Course

Independent Trustee
Capital Cranfield Trustees

Allan has worked in the financial sector for over 30 years since graduating from London University and has been involved in pensions for most of this time. He is an independent pension scheme trustee with Capital Cranfield Trustees, specialising in investment, risk management and governance. Prior to joining Capital Cranfield he was a Partner at Watson Wyatt, leading a trustee consulting team.

He has been an active participant in the wider pensions field for many years and currently is a co-opted member of two of the Pensions Regulator’s working groups – Governance, and Trustee Knowledge and Understanding

John Danes

Head of UK Research and Investment Strategy
Aberdeen Property Investors

John is head of UK Research and Investment Strategy, based in API’s London office. John is responsible for production of research publications, forecasts and investment strategy. He also sits on the investment committee which authorises all purchases, sales and fund investment strategies.
John has nine years of property investment experience with API and its predecessor firms, and having previously worked as an analyst at Property Market Analysis. He holds a number of post-graduate qualifications and completed the Investment Property Forum Diploma, to prize-winning standard, in 2005.
John is a member of the Investment Property Forum and the Society of Property Researchers. John graduated with a first class degree in geography from Oxford University