Net Zero Investor’s Defined Contribution Forum

Nico Aspinall FIA is a is a recognised DC investment leader who has held senior investment roles in the largest Master Trusts, Consultancies and Asset Managers. He is a free-lance consultant having previously been CIO of the Peoples Pension; and Head of Investment Consulting and CIO of Lifesight while at Towers Watson. In his new company he advises Asset Managers and Providers on building DC products and market position in DC. Qualifying as an actuary in 2009 Nico is a long-standing volunteer for the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Chairing its Sustainability Board, sitting on Council, the ultimate governing body of actuaries in the UK, and co-authoring papers on the sustainability of the financial system. More recently his twin passions of DC and Climate change have been coming together and Nico is a powerful advocate for climate change in DC and for actuaries in both fields.

Cléo is Head of Responsible Investing and leads PIC’s Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) efforts.

Cléo is responsible for integrating ESG into the investment process, assessing ESG opportunities, embedding ESG into the overall investment strategy and ensuring PIC is an active member of the sustainable financial industry.

Cléo has 12 years investment experience and holds a dual Masters degree from the London School of Economics and ESADE business school in Barcelona.

James has 12 years experience in DC investment, with a specialism in provider defaults, platform selection and DC investment strategy. The first 5 years at P-Solve (now Schroders) he was responsible for setup of their Delegated DC proposition, which won a PIPA award in 2015. Since then James has worked as Head of DC Investments at Aon until the end of 2022, where his responsibilities included the Aon Master Trust, DC Investment strategy advice to Trust and Contract DC and where he has been a member of the Productive Working Finance Group.

Faisal has 8 years of experience within the DC investment space, across areas such as creating and reviewing default strategies, fund manager selection, strategic and tactical asset allocation reviews, E, S and G integration and transition management.

Faisal is the in-house Investment Analyst at Evolve Pensions, taking a lead role in overseeing all investments within Crystal, a Master Trust product of Evolve Pensions, who are the sponsoring Employer.

Faisal has played an important role in the integration of ESG within Crystal’s main and alternative default, as well as the launch of Crystal’s Responsible Investment Fund within their self-select range. He takes a lead role in the regular stewardship and engagement activities for Crystal, from supporting the Trustee forming beliefs and policies, to engaging with asset managers to ensure alignment.

Faisal is an engaged member of the Occupational Pensions Stewardship Council (OPSC) on behalf of Crystal to actively help asset owners to promote and facilitate high standards of stewardship of UK pension scheme assets through pooling to learn about, act proactively and improve reporting of stewardship activities. A collective engagement for which Crystal was a signatory was to encourage asset managers to accept Trustee Expression of Wishes (EOW) in their voting activities.

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.

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

Prior to joining Redington, 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.

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

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. 

Raymonde is an FPMI through the Pensions Management Institute (PMI) and is a qualified Independent Trustee. He has wide experience managing large and complex pension arrangements in his time at 2 major Benefit consultancies.. He was also a Pensions Advisory volunteer for 27 years, on SPP committees and a PMI tutor. Raymonde oversaw Governance and technical at JLT for many years delivering solutions. Currently Raymonde sits on the PMI advisory Council as well as , in a personal capacity, he is a pro bono Trustee of a learning disabled children’s charity and heads their Finance Committee.

As a Trustee, Raymonde Chairs several schemes and sits on the board of a £4.5b multi-employer scheme. . Raymonde also chairs several other schemes as well as sitting as a Scheme Strategist for the Worker’s Pension Trust.

He is also a co-trustee on several Sole Trustee cases. He also chairs several subcommittees to manage such matters as Investment, Communications, and discretions.

Alexandra is a manager within the Pension ESG team at PwC and is responsible for delivering strategic ESG guidance for Trustees, corporates, and providers across DB and DC pensions.

Alexandra has specialised in ESG for pension schemes over a number of years, having previously led ESG strategy and governance development, and specialist training, at 20-20 Trustees. Prior to this, Alexandra was Investment Manager & Sustainability Lead for Marks & Spencer Pension Scheme, where she established and chaired the ESG committee, defining the Scheme’s ESG and net zero ambitions.

Alexandra has a PhD in Psychology from University College London.

Jerry is a pension and benefits professional with over 40 years’ experience.

He works with small and large pension operations in many diverse environments. His experience covers significant change projects, hands on management and delivering to both Trustees and Company. He is a leader in the field of Trustee Governance and operational excellence for both DB and DC schemes. He fully appreciates, and has extensive experience in, managing the conflicts between Company/commercial economic impact Vs Trustees member/fiduciary responsibilities underpinned with a focus on improving member outcomes.

He is known for effective decision making, being innovative and with a strong focus in driving the agenda to ensure the Company and Trustee Board work collaboratively towards achieving a win-win solution to protect and deliver the benefits promised by the schemes he has worked with.

Jerry is well known in the pensions market, works energetically to build strong relationships quickly and works collaboratively with all stakeholders and advisers.

Julien is Head of Pension and Corporate Solutions at BNP Paribas AM having joined in April 2018 from Mercer where he spent 6 years as Principal. Prior to that Julien worked for Goldman Sachs, Aon, P-Solve and Lazard. With investment banking and consulting experience stretching over 26 years Julien has spent over 15 years advising institutional clients on structuring and implementing pensions and insurance solutions for national and cross-border clients.

Callum is a senior FCA-regulated consultant and Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries responsible for some of Hymans Robertson’s most prominent . He has more than fourteen years’ of pensions, actuarial and investment experience and is passionate about integrating sustainability and the opportunities that exist to improve outcomes for DC savers. Callum is Hymans Robertson’s Head of DC Investment having previously led DC responsible investment research and development.

Callum leads our advice to some of our largest Master Trust and single-employer clients. He has been instrumental in advising clients to improve the sustainability of their pensions, including advice on the inclusion of illiquid assets. He has been an active contributor to the Investment Consultants’ Sustainability Working Groups, more recently focussing on principles for asset managers aiming to raise standards with regard to climate change and diversity & inclusion.

Callum was instrumental in co-founding the Climate Impact Initiative along with leading industry voices including Reach Pension Plan Trustees Limited, Pensions for Purpose, the Impact Investing Institute and Make My Money Matter. The industry action group aims to give up to 4 million DC savers the choice to invest in more impactful climate funds and has seen substantial progress in the first year.

He has also been an active supporter of the role of illiquid assets in improving outcomes for DC savers, taking an active role in the Bank of England’s Productive Finance Working Groups driving for change in the industry.

Andrew is a board level financial services sector leader with experience in both the private and public sectors. He has expertise in strategy development, change management, board effectiveness, operational governance, regulatory compliance, and sustainable investment strategies, including in alternative asset classes.

Prior to becoming a professional trustee and non-executive director in 2020, he was the CEO of LGPS Central Limited, an asset pool for eight Midlands Local Authority pension schemes with combined assets of c£45bn, the Executive Director for Regulatory Policy at The Pensions Regulator, where he was responsible for formulating the regulator’s DB, DC, AE and international policy, and a Partner at Aon Hewitt where he held a variety of management consulting roles within the firm’s pensions, insurance and investment practices.

Currently, he Chairs the Scottish Widows Master Trust, is a Co-Trustee of the Cushon Master Trust, and the Independent Chair of the Guiide Governance Committee and of the MyCSP Limited board. Previously he was Chair of the Mencap Pension Plan.

He is a member of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and the Pensions Management Institute, and an Accredited Professional Pension Trustee.

Will Martindale is Co-Head of Sustainability at Cardano Group and Head of Sustainability at NOW: Pensions. Will provides specialist input on all aspects of Cardano’s and NOW: Pensions’ sustainability activities, including on NOW: Pensions’ priority sustainability issues, climate action, gender equality and living wages. Will participates in PRI’s global policy reference group and legal framework for impact project, and co-chairs IIGCC’s policy advisory group.

Will sits on Cardano’s Steering Committee on Sustainability, which oversees the sustainability approach of all parts of Cardano’s business, comprising Cardano Investment Management, Cardano Advisory, NOW: Pensions and ACTIAM.

Previously he was Director of Policy and Research at PRI, the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment. Will led PRI’s global regulatory affairs and public policy activities. Will has a background in banking, joining JPMorgan’s graduate programme in June 2004. In September 2010, Will joined French bank, BNP Paribas, as a business manager for their credit trading desk.

Will holds a MSC in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and a BSC in Maths from King’s College London. Will is chair of GROW Movement, which provides bespoke remote coaching for entrepreneurs across the world, with a focus on lower income communities and countries.

Tim Currell, CFA, is a partner in our global investment practice.  He has over 20 years’ experience advising a wide range of institutional investors including pension funds, corporates, charities, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies, in the UK and globally. 

Tim has extensive experience of advising clients regarding their ESG and related issues.  He was a member of the Expert Group that initially developed the UN Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) and was Aon’s Global Head of Sustainable Investment & Corporate Governance.

Tim has a Theoretical Physics Degree from Durham University and he has previously worked in media and education.

Gemma James joined Chronos Sustainability in February 2022 where she leads the firm’s biodiversity and nature programmes with investors, companies and NGOs. She advises clients on a range of nature related topics such as on data and disclosure, integrating nature with climate, deforestation and the circular economy. Prior to that, Gemma spent almost seven years at the Principles for Responsible Investment where she held positions including Senior Lead and Head of Environmental Issues where she was responsible for overseeing investor initiatives, research and engagements on environmental themes including biodiversity, plastics and water. Gemma previously worked for the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). She worked on water, biodiversity and climate change issues with mining companies to develop and share good practice.