Net Zero Investor’s Defined Contribution Forum

Nico is a sustainability advocate, focused on communicating Newton’s approach to responsible investment and sustainability both internally and externally. Nico joined Newton in July 2023 and has previously held several roles in pensions investment for consultants, asset owners and asset managers, including being the first chief investment officer of The People’s Pension, a leading UK defined contribution (DC) master trust.

Nico holds a Master’s degree in Natural Sciences specialising in Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge and is a qualified actuary.

Nico volunteers extensively for the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, contributes to research papers, and is currently the deputy chair of the Institute’s Finance and Investment Board.

In his free time, Nico co-hosts VFM pensions, a podcast about DC pensions.

Mark is the Climate and Sustainability Lead within 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 some 30 years of experience working predominantly in the public sector.    

 Mark is actively involved in work across government and the sector from the Climate Financial Risk Forum to the Transition Plan Taskforce in support of sustainable finance and better outcomes for savers.  Prior to joining TPR, Mark worked for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) within the Defence Infrastructure Organization where he led on climate change and sustainability.  During his time with the MoD, Mark contributed to the Defence Climate Change and Sustainability Review which ultimately led to the publication of the Climate Change and Sustainability Strategic Approach in 2021. In tandem he developed a Defence Energy and Emissions Strategy and was involved in work to facilitate the mobilization of third-party capital to invest in renewables across the Defence estate, before attending COP 26 as part of the Cabinet Office’s COP 26 Unit.  Just before leaving the MoD to join TPR, he was busy supporting cross sector work to integrate climate risks into sustainable land management practices and specifically brownfield land development. 

Mike has spent over 35 years managing and investing for public, private and, charity sector pension schemes.  He is an Accredited Professional Trustee at Pi Partnership and the longstanding independent Chair of Trustees of the Institute of Cancer Research Pension Scheme. Mike is also performing a number of complementary non-executive, advisory and consulting roles within the UK pensions and investment management industries. 

In his executive career Mike’s most recent role was as CEO of LGPS Central Limited. Under his leadership assets more than doubled to c£30bn, with several multi-billion-pound fund launches and the establishment of investment fund vehicles spanning both public and private markets asset classes. He drove the responsible investment agenda and delivered the investment performance and cost savings to support long-term pension payments by Partner Funds to their scheme members.

Prior to this Mike was CEO of the Pensions Infrastructure Platform. PiP was a specialist UK infrastructure investor established and funded by UK pension schemes which owned and managed over £1.5bn of assets across healthcare, energy, transport and utility sectors. He also spent 5 years as the Chief Investment Officer for the pension schemes of DMGT plc which maintained significant asset allocations to UK real assets.

I am a sustainable investment specialist with over 15 years’ experience, most recently with the United Nations supported Principles of Responsible Investment, where I led a team supporting 1400 investors to implement environmental, social and governance criteria into investment strategy, decisions and stewardship. At Redington, I am responsible for leading the firm’s global sustainability strategy, integrating this across different business channels, and expanding the organisation’s capabilities across new global markets and with a broader class of asset owners including endowments, foundations, and charities.

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.

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.

Portfolio Construction, Strategic Asset Allocation, Quantitative Strategies, ETFs, Passive, Smart Beta, Factor Investing, Equity Derivatives, Optimisation, Option Pricing, Fund Linked Solutions, SAA, Option Based Strategies, QIS, Indices, Indexing, Data Science

Samantha Chew is Stewardship Lead in the Investment Proposition team at Aegon UK, a long-term pension provider, where she contributes to their responsible investment practices. Samantha has almost a decade of experience as a board and company adviser and is a subject matter expert on corporate governance and sustainable finance. She is also a chartered accountant and called to the Bar of England and Wales.

Shipra Gupta joined Scottish Widows in 2020 to focus and lead on the firm’s Stewardship strategy and initiatives. Shipra brings with her over 20yrs of global experience working in Management Consulting, Financial Services, Healthcare and also a Social Enterprise. Of these she has spent the last 10yrs specifically focussing on integrating ESG/Sustainability in business-as-usual, and helped develop new propositions in the sustainable finance & impact space. She has also served as a Trustee on the Board of ShareAction, Chairs the Governing Body of her local community school, is a Trustee at The Conservation Volunteers and is involved in Investment Committees.  

Keith Guthrie is the Head of Sustainability for Cardano UK and for NOW: Pensions, a member of our Sustainability Policy Committee and a partner in the firm. He focuses on the development and integration of sustainability into Cardano’s investment offerings for UK clients and for NOW: Pensions, working closely with our inhouse teams, clients and trustees. Prior to moving to the Sustainability Group in 2023, Keith spent 15 years co-leading Cardano’s investment teams. Prior to joining Cardano in 2008, Keith worked at GAM and RMB International managing a variety of multi-asset portfolios. Keith graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, with a BSc (Hons) in Statistics & Actuarial Science and is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Bobby is a Senior Pensions leader who has over twenty-five years of experience in advising both the Trustees and Employers of Occupational Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution 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.

Tim Horne is the Head of UK Institutional Defined Contribution at Schroders, responsible for sales and marketing of Schroders’ DC Solutions to UK defined contribution pension schemes and their consultants. He joined Schroders in 2011 and is based in London.

Tim was a Senior Investment Consultant at Towers Watson from 2009 to 2011.

He was a Client Director, Defined Contributions at Fidelity International from 2008 to 2009.

He was a UK Asset Owner and Sales Consultant at MSCI Inc from 2006 to 2008.

He was a Regional Account Manager at Mellon Global Investments from 2004 to 2006.

Qualifications: CFA Charterholder.

Joanna is a Partner in Aon’s Investment Practice and the Chief Investment Officer for Aon’s DC
Solutions. She has over 20 years’ experience in the pension and investment industry and is a Fellow of
the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.
Joanna is responsible for the development and implementation of delegated investment solutions for
DC pension schemes, working closely with Aon’s UK delegated team. Joanna also leads the
development of Aon’s house views around DC investments, in particular default and lifestyle strategies,
and sits on the UK DC Investment Committee.

For the last seven years, Jonathan works at XPS and is the investment adviser to the NPT Trustees. During that time there have been two formal investment strategy reviews leading to changes in the Default Arrangement. The most recent change led to the equities being invested in line with the Transition Pathway Initiative, and bonds invested in line with UN SDGs and LGIM Future World philosophy.

This has led to higher levels of engagement and stewardship by the Trustees with the investment managers, as well as setting out plans in their TCFD framework document to align the portfolio with a 1.5°C temperature alignment by 2050. Work in the coming years will involve a more active approach to ensure the best outcome for members regarding climate change, returns, and risk.

Further work is being carried out to ensure high levels of member outcome in retirement.

Gerald is an Accredited Professional Trustee and Client Director of Vidett Ltd, a leading UK provider of pension governance services. He has over 35 years’ experience in the banking industry and 19 years as a pension trustee.

He acts as trustee, sole trustee and trustee chair together with investment subcommittee positions at a variety of DB and DC schemes which include two DC Master Trusts and one IGC membership. His areas of particular focus are investment and financial markets alongside his broader-based trustee activities.

Simon brings over 20 years’ experience working in client facing roles at financial institutions. He was previously working at Japaninvest / Haitong International before joining our team where he was the Executive Director – Equity Research, ESG, Execution and Capital Markets Sales. Simon holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and is a member of the CFA Society of UK.

Marian is the Global Head of Risk & Sustainability at GFG Alliance – a global steel manufacturer with an ambition to be carbon neutral by 2030. Marian was previously Managing Director at Redington and, before that, led Deloitte’s Trustee Advisory business. Marian is a Fellow of the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries and a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals, with a certificate in Sustainability & Climate Risk Management. Marian also sits on the Board of USS Limited and Chairs their Pensions Committee.

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. 

Robert joined Federated Hermes in 2020 after spending 2019 at the firm on secondment. He is responsible for the construction of innovative sustainable and impact investment strategies underpinned by the interdisciplinary integration of ecological, climatological, social, economic and financial models. Robert recently led the collaborative development of the firm’s Nature-based Solutions Climate Impact strategy and the build out of acquisition and valuation models at both portfolio and asset level across NbS asset classes. He is a Director on the strategy’s investment management team.

James is the Head of Investment Proposition for Smart Pension. He is responsible for building and running Smart Pension’s £2.5bn investment solution for its master trust. As part of this role, James and the investments team will be delivering Smart Pension’s net zero pledge for its members, using leading and innovative ESG investment products.

Prior to joining Smart Pension, James spent nine years at Mercer, where he was the lead investment strategist for Mercer’s UK DC delegated investment business, including the Mercer Master Trust. In this role he was responsible for the strategic direction of the delegated investment solution, Mercer SmartPath, with over £12bn of assets.

James is also a CFA Charterholder

Louis Ryall is a Senior ESG Analyst at Nest pension fund. Louis joined Nest in January 2021 after graduating from Imperial College Business School with a master’s degree in climate change management and finance. He leads Nest’s proxy voting efforts, natural capital research, and provides support on ESG research and engagement.

I have spent 20 years in leading roles in stewardship and ESG integration. First at Hermes, where I helped create and build the world-leading stewardship business Equity Ownership Service (EOS), and latterly as the first global head of governance – stewardship at Aberdeen Asset Management. For the last three years, I’ve been an independent consultant advising asset owners and fund managers on ESG issues, and leading projects for investor organisations including the PRI, Investor Forum, CFA UK, PLSA and ICGN.

Will Martindale is co-founder at Canbury. Canbury supports investors, companies and NGOs with decision-useful sustainability data sets, experienced advice, research and stewardship. Previously, Will was head of sustainability at Cardano, and from 2013 to 2020, Will was director of policy and research at PRI, leading PRI’s global regulatory affairs and public policy activities. Will has a background in banking, joining JPMorgan’s graduate programme in June 2004. Will holds a MSC in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and a BSC in Maths from King’s College London.

David is the Chair of the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI), which assesses companies’ preparedness for the transition to a low carbon future, supporting the efforts of investors in addressing climate change.  

Prior to this, David was the Head of Responsible Investment at the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the largest UK pension, where he worked from 2001 to 2023. He led USS’s RI team from 2006, which included all USS’s ESG integration and stewardship related activities across both public and private asset classes, including ESG and climate related reporting.

David is a former Board member of the PRI, is an advisor to the Board of the IIGCC, and until June 2023 was on the Board of the International Centre for Pensions Management.  

More broadly, David is a member of the FTSE Russell Sustainable Investment Advisory Committee, and was also a member of the UK Investment Associations’ Sustainability and Responsible Investment Committee.

Prior to joining USS, David worked as an Environmental Manager for a UK retail company, and was for five years a University lecturer in Environmental Management.  He has a Masters Degree in Environmental Impact Assessment.