Room151’s LGPS North 2025

Paul joined the Durham County Council Pension Fund in 2019, and as Head of Pensions is responsible for the management of all aspects of the Fund’s activity which is concerned with the management of a £3.8bn Pension Fund with over 60,000 current and former members. The Fund is part of the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, founded to manage the investments of like-minded Local Government Pension Funds, which is now the UK’s largest asset manager outside of the traditional London and Edinburgh centres. As well as working collaboratively on development of Border to Coast sub-funds and undertaking oversight of investment performance; Paul exercises the Council’s shareholding in the company. Under Paul’s leadership, the Durham Fund provided the cornerstone funding for the £90m North-East Regional Investment Fund which supports growth companies across all sectors, stages and transaction types which are headquartered or have significant operations in the North-East region. Previously, he was a senior manager at the Tyne and Wear Pension Fund. In addition to his role at the Fund, Paul is a non-executive director on the board of Chapter Homes and is a Board Member of the Bishop Auckland & Shildon Area Action Partnership.

Max is Head of Investment Strategy, undertaking both advisory work and implementation of client strategic asset allocations and overlays. Max joined LPPI in 2016 from London Pensions Fund Authority, one of LPP’s founding clients, where he was an Investment Manager for liquid strategies, focusing on internal global equity management and hedge fund due diligence. Max has over 17 years investment experience; prior to working in pensions he had a background in quantitative research across FX, rates and options markets. He graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering.

Jo has been Head of Pensions at Lincolnshire County Council since 2008. She is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund, including investments, governance, fund accounting, the Pensions Committee and Local Pension Board and the client role for the pensions administration function, delivered through a shared service with West Yorkshire Pension Fund. Lincolnshire Pension Fund is a Partner Fund within Border to Coast Pensions Partnership.

Andrew Davey is the Fund Manager of the CBRE Affordable Housing Fund, overseeing the Fund’s investment strategy and capital deployment. As part of the UK Residential Investment vertical, Andrew leads the implementation of strategy, sourcing and execution of UK residential transactions with a focus upon the UK Affordable Housing Fund.

Andrew joined CBRE IM in 2018 from a UK based private property Investment Manager. As part of his role he focused on residential development, planning, rezoning, and financing of a variety of housing schemes. This also included strategic partnerships with REITS and joint ventures with registered providers.

Prior to this, Andrew spent 10 years at Aviva Investors where he was primarily focused upon fund management, strategy and acquisitions for a range of residential and long income funds. Andrew was part of the team responsible for the launch of Aviva’s flagship Social Housing Fund and subsequently held the position of Fund manager on this Fund. Prior to this he was the Assistant Fund Manager on Aviva Investors alternative asset portfolio, responsible for the management of assets including residential PRS assets, general needs affordable housing, retirement housing and shared ownership assets.

Andrew is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and has held his Investment Management Certificate since 2007. Andrew graduated from Cass Business School, at the City University in 2007 where he obtained a BSc (Hons) degree in Real Estate Investment and Finance.

Prior to joining Muzinich, where he leads the Manchester office, James worked at RBS for eight years as a Director in their Structured Finance team covering the North of England.  During this time he was responsible for leading the origination, structuring and execution for privately owned and private equity backed businesses across a diverse range of sectors predominately focused on the UK lower mid-market.  James graduated from Warwick University with a BSc in Economics and holds an AMCT Diploma in Treasury.

As part of the investment management team at Merseyside Pension Fund Adil is involved in asset allocation, risk management and portfolio construction decision making and developing investment strategies that align with long-term objectives of the Pension Fund focusing on generating stable returns while managing risk effectively. Adil is also member of the Fund’s Investment Committee.

Bio Below:

Matthew is Head of Pensions at the Gloucestershire Pension Fund. Matthew joined Gloucestershire in 2020 from the Brunel Pension Partnership where he was Client Relationship Director. Before joining Brunel, Matthew spent 11 years with the Cornwall Pension Fund working across both benefit administration and investments. In his current role, Matthew is responsible for the total management of the Gloucestershire Pension Fund, including the Fund’s strategic allocation, governance, day-to-day investment and administration operations. Matthew is committed and enthused to continue the future development of the Fund, in all aspects of its activities, for the benefit of the members and employers who are the Gloucestershire Pension Fund.

Andrew is Assistant Director – Investment Strategy for the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority and is responsible for overseeing SYPA’s £11bn of assets.  As a resident of Sheffield, Andrew was delighted to join SYPA in October 2024 following his second stint with Legal & General Investment Management.  He has also previously worked at Border to Coast (Head of Customer Relationships) and in investment consulting roles at Towers Watson and KPMG.  Andrew is a qualified actuary, music nerd and barely adequate junior football coach.

Siobhan is head of ESG and joined Baillie Gifford in 2022. Siobhan has spent much of her professional career working with and inside stock exchanges on various aspects of ESG including defining the role of stock exchanges in enhancing corporate ESG disclosure and promoting sustainability more broadly. In addition to stock exchanges, Siobhan has worked with NGOs, UN bodies, investors and listed companies on a range of topics including biodiversity, gender equality, human rights, and climate change. Prior to joining Baillie Gifford, Siobhan served as a member of the technical expert group of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and worked with the Science Based Targets Network as their interface with the finance sector. Siobhan has an MSc in Climate Change from King’s College London, an MBA from the University of Cape Town and an MA in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Prior to that, Sarah has been a Fund Director at Livelihoods Venture for the last 7 years, where she led the design, structuring and portfolio management of two carbon fund strategies (LCF2 and 3) working with a range of corporates and businesses to finance and deliver high impact carbon projects across agriculture, forestry and rural energy.  Previously Sarah held commercial roles in a multinational chemical fertiliser company and has also worked in the World Bank and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cairo.

Sarah has a Master’s in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from Harvard and a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo.

Tim Manuel is Head of Responsible Investment at Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, a UK LGPS pool responsible for managing and overseeing £52bn on behalf of 11 Partner Funds. Tim leads Border to Coast’s Responsible Investment team in delivering meaningful outcomes for Partner Funds and 1.1 million pension beneficiaries. Tim is passionate about using responsible investment to drive real-world impact while staying closely aligned with the needs of stakeholders. Before Border to Coast, Tim spent 18 years as a pensions and investment consultant at Aon, and for the last seven years as Head of Responsible Investment.

Darran leads the Alternatives team at West Yorkshire Pension Fund to deliver diversified, risk-adjusted returns aligned with long-term themes and beliefs critical to the Fund and its members.

Philip has worked in Local Government Finance since 1987 and has been involved in various roles for the Clwyd Pension Fund since 1996.  During this time he has worked with an in house team and external advisors who have recommended and implemented changes to the Clwyd Fund’s governance, funding, investment and administration strategies. Over the 27 years the value of the Fund has increased from £300m to over £2.3bn and the investment strategy and approach to managing investment risk has significantly changed.  Recreationally, Phil can be found supporting Everton and Chester FC or making investments at various racecourses.    

Allan Marchington is the Head of Life Sciences at Intermediate Capital Group PLC (ICG), a FTSE 100 asset manager with over $82Bn under management. The ICG life sciences team was recently announced as one of two recipients of the UK Government LIFTs initiative.  Their strategy is focussed on investing in life science companies developing medicines to treat diseases for which there are no, or limited treatment options available for patients. Allan has been a Life Science investor for the last 20 years. Prior to joining ICG, Allan was formerly a Founding Partner at Bridge Valley Ventures, prior to this was at Apposite Capital, and Abingworth. Allan has also had several operational roles during his career and was Senior Vice President at Millennium Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Mass. Allan joined Millennium following their acquisition of the company he founded, Cambridge Discovery Chemistry, where he was CEO. Allan began his career working for seven years in R&D at Pfizer. Allan serves on the BVCA Pensions and Private Capital Expert Panel. 

Iain leads Hymans Robertson’s investment consulting advice to LGPS funds. In this role, Iain covers the vast array of challenges clients face, including investment strategy, pooling and responsible investment. Iain’s experience spans over a decade, including time spent working within the LGPS as an inhouse investment manager at Greater Manchester Pension Fund.

Iain loves building strong relationships with his clients and prides himself on his ability to communicate clearly, taking the endless complexity and jargon within the investment world and distilling it into easily understandable language for his clients.