Room151’s Women in the LGPS

Elizabeth serves as Independent Investment Advisor to the Bedfordshire Pension Fund and as an Independent Research Analyst for the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund.   She brings a background in banking, capital markets and corporate finance to her work in investment management and portfolio analysis.  With pooling, she finds increasing commonalities between corporate finance and managing LGPS fund assets, particularly in the areas of governance, oversight, accountability and responsible investment / ESG. 

Elizabeth began her career at Lehman Brothers in New York and moved to London in the late-1990s.  Subsequently she worked at Goldman Sachs International and GE Capital, where she did M&A for its European commercial finance business.

Elizabeth is a governor of two state secondary schools in London, both of which are LGPS employers.  As chair of the Finance & Premises committee for one, she tends to regard management of LGPS funds from an employer /employee’s viewpoint as well as that of an investment professional.

Elizabeth graduated from Yale University with a BA in Comparative Literature (German and French).

Jill recently joined Redington as Head of LGPS to support them with understanding the LGPS landscape and to develop closer relationships with funds and key stakeholders.

Jill worked as AD, Investments at the West Midlands Pension Fund, initially covering the broad spectrum of finance and investments for the Fund including investment strategy before moving to focus on responsible investment and investment partnerships.

Previously, working as Head of Financial Services at LB Hackney for 12 years managing all aspects of the Pension Fund and other financial services. She worked closely with others on setting up the investment pooling company, London CIV, before moving to the company as Head of Client Relations.

Previously, Jill worked for over 20 years as a fund manager concentrating mainly on equities but also being involved in strategic asset allocation and derivatives.

Nemashe Sivayogan is an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Nemashe is currently working as Head of Treasury and Pensions at the London Borough of Merton. Before Merton, she worked at the LB of Lambeth where she gained her technical knowledge and skills. Nemashe has 18 years of Local Government experience, with significant knowledge in LGPS.

Jo has worked in the public sector since 1999, firstly in Further Education, then in Local Government; 16 years as Pension Fund Manager for the Isle of Wight Council, before transferring in April 2024 to Head of Pension Fund for the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund. A strong advocate for the smaller fund, and now for those who aren’t quite 100% funded, Jo is passionate about the success of the LGPS for members, employers and funds.

Bola recently joined Harrow Council as Treasury and Pensions Manager and prior to this worked at Enfield Council as a Finance Manager (Pension & Treasury) overseeing and directing the management of the council’s pension investment strategy of £1.5bn assets and treasury strategy of some £50m of investment portfolio and over £900m of borrowing portfolio.

Previously Bola was responsible for directing and overseeing the management of £1.7bn assets of Tower Hamlets Pension Fund. Prior to joining Tower Hamlets, she worked in a similar role for over 7 years with London Borough of Lewisham Pension Fund before moving on in 2007 to oversee a private corporate pension fund, Trafalgar House Pension Trust with over 40 fund managers with investments in different asset class such as hedge funds, liability matching investments, swaps, CLOs, infrastructure, property, private equity, etc. for almost 3 years.

Bola has gained first-hand experience on a wide range of activities, such as creating and enhancing external relationships with key stakeholders, project management, procurement, performance measurements & monitoring, cash flow management, funding gap management, investment portfolio restructuring, managers’ selection, asset allocation, managing the valuation of swaps legs and collateral managements.

Bola is a frequent participant on the local government conference circuit, she is currently the chair of London Treasury Officers Forum (LTOF). Bola holds a degree in chemical engineering and an associate member of chartered institute of management accountant (ACMA CGMA).

An experienced financial journalist who was previously deputy editor at portfolio institutional. Winner of the 2023 WTW Media Awards in the category DB Pensions Journalist of the year.