DC Asset Allocation Forum

Martin is responsible for the L&G’s Private Market Access fund – a semi-liquid global private market fund designed for UK pension investors – as well as a range of DC-focused diversified growth funds. He is a member of L&G Asset Management’s Multi-Asset Funds team. As an asset allocator and fund manager, he has over 15 years of experience with alternative asset classes and the management of fund-of-funds. Prior to joining L&G in September 2012, Martin was a senior investment consultant at Towers Watson where he was a member of its Global Investment Committee and UK Portfolio Construction Group. At TW, his responsibilities included asset class and manager research on liquid and illiquid alternatives. Martin previously worked as a manager at Ernst & Young in its Financial Services Risk Management. He has a PhD (summa cum laude) in economics and finance from the University of St Gallen, graduated from the doctoral programme of the Swiss National Bank at Gerzensee and was a visiting PhD student in economics at UC Berkeley. 

Natalie is an accredited professional pension trustee and director of Law Debenture Pension Trust Corporation Plc.  She is trustee to DB, DC and hybrid schemes. Her trustee appointments include SEI MasterTrust, Tesco, Syngenta and DHL.

Natalie has worked in pensions for over 25 years with roles in pensions actuarial, investment consulting and asset management.  She is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and a CFA Charterholder.  She was awarded Fellowship of the CFA UK for her services to the investment industry.  She is a past Chair of the CFA UK.  She was shortlisted this year for a lifetime achievement award by Professional Pensions. 

She is a Partner and Head of Investment leading the Master trust market for Hymans in developing thought leadership in this space from an investment and governance perspective. Passionate about Responsible Investment, she works as part of the Hymans Responsible Investment team and is part of the Influence workstream of the Investment Consultants Sustainability Working Group working with regulatory bodies such as TPR and FCA to develop policy thinking and change.

James is a Workplace Investment Director looking after FutureWise Target Dated Fund Strategy and a number of key strategic IO clients since February 2023. He comes with 13 years DC Investment industry experience from Aon, where he was Head of DC Investments for 8 Years and is qualified as a Regulated Financial Planner, with a specialism in DC investment strategy design, sustainability, less liquid asset integration and provider market knowledge. His responsibilities included working on the Bank of England’s Productive Working Finance Group, governing the Aon DC Product (including the Aon Master Trust), reviewing the investment and bundled proposition of pension providers and advising Employers and Trusts on their workplace investment strategy.

Helyne supports clients with reviewing the suitability of default and self-select arrangements for DC pension schemes.  On a day-to-day basis, this includes investment strategy reviews, monitoring of fund performance, advice on making changes and advice for selecting new funds or default strategies. For many clients, alongside her specialist asset transition colleagues, Helyne also provides support and oversight with transitioning assets between funds and providers.

Martyn James is the Director of Investment for now:pensions, the UK master trust provider.

Martyn is responsible for leading the investment strategy for the business, with a focus on improving returns and retirement outcomes for its members whilst ensuring the portfolio has a real-world impact on creating a sustainable future for its members.  He is an advocate of making sure the scheme assets are stewarded in a way to help progress the transition to net-zero by 2050.

Martyn joined now:pensions in April 2024.  Prior to joining now:pensions, Martyn spent 22 years at Mercer, most recently as a Partner within Mercer’s UK DC business, but also with a recent two and a half year secondment leading Mercer’s Wealth (Pensions and Investments) business in Latin America.

Niall is Head of Investment Strategy in the Investment Proposition team at Aegon UK and is responsible for building a strategy and development roadmap, and implementation of investment solutions to drive growth in Aegon’s Workplace and Adviser channels to deliver the best possible investment outcomes for Aegon’s customers.  Niall has been with Aegon for 4 years having spent 16 years with Royal London in a variety of pension and investment roles ending his time there as a senior investment actuary. 

Olly Hughes is a Managing Director and a member of the Forestry Investment Committee at Gresham House since January 2019 leading the Forestry Division. He is responsible for managing the growth and development of Gresham House’s forestry

activities including acquisitions, fund and private client management and forestry asset management. Prior to joining Gresham House, he was a Partner and Head of Infrastructure at Oxford Capital for six years where he built and managed a portfolio

of over £300m of solar and wind renewable energy assets. He started his career at ING Barings in 1995 focusing on asset backed structuring and since then has focused his career on real asset investment management.

Olly has over 20 years of investment experience and holds a Bachelor of Arts and a master’s degree from the University of Oxford in Biological Science. He also obtained the Investment Management Certificate from the CFA Society in the UK.

Jonathan has worked in the workplace pensions and savings industry for over 20 years.  He is currently a Managing Director at Gallagher and Head of the DC.

Prior to joining Gallagher, Jonathan held senior positions in pensions (Head of Investment Strategy for Zurich Corporate Savings), consulting (senior consultant for Willis Towers Watson) and asset management (Head of EMEA DC for Dimensional Fund Advisors).    

In addition to his role at Redington, Jonathan is an independent trustee on Aviva’s Master Trust, a position he has held for 5 years.  He also chairs the Investment Committee and is a member of the Audit & Risk Committee.

Jonathan is CFA charterholder (2005) and holds the Diploma in Financial Planning.  He graduated from Bristol University with a BA (Hons) in Ancient History.

Rahil Ram is Head of Investment Strategy at Cushon. He joined from Fulcrum Asset Management, where he was Head of Climate Investing and served as a director in the absolute return investment team, responsible for idea generation, portfolio construction, portfolio management and risk management. Prior to that, he was a multi-asset strategist at Legal & General Asset Management, where he worked across strategic asset allocation, tactical asset allocation, portfolio design and quantitative analysis. Rahil is a qualified actuary and holds a master’s degree with distinction and a first-class undergraduate degree from Bayes Business School.

Callum is a DC Investment Partner at XPS with nearly 18 years’ experience in investment consulting and driving defined contribution strategy and proposition. A qualified actuary, he is well known for his focus on improving member outcomes, sustainable investing, and the effective use of private assets. He pioneered the ‘10‑10‑10’ rule for illiquid investments and has played a key role in evolving major DC investment propositions, including at Standard Life. At XPS, Callum leads strategic growth within the DC investment business.

Nikesh Patel is a multi-award-winning chief investment officer for a UK asset manager and a founder of Greycross Partners, a boutique consultancy to asset managers, asset owners and their sponsors. He is a trustee and the chair of investment committee for both the Church of England Pensions Board and the Smart Pension Master Trust, overseeing the retirement savings of over 2 million people. He is also the IC chair-designate overseeing the endowment funds for one of the UK’s largest charities. He is an actuary by training, with specialist focus on pensions, investments and enterprise risk.