The Association’s policy direction is determined by an elected Council, whose members are experienced professional trustees (see below), many with a wide experience of working in the pensions industry or in senior executive roles. The Council is supported by a Secretariat which administers the day to day running of the Association. The Council has adopted a Charter that guides them in the governance of the Association.
Rachel Croft (APPT Chair)
Rachel is a director of Independent Governance Group, where she leads professional trustee appointments for schemes with assets between £20m and £2.5bn, both defined benefit and defined contribution. Rachel is also ITS’s people director.
Prior to joining ITS Rachel was UK Governance Leader with a large employee benefits consultancy. As well as being a fully accredited professional trustee Rachel is a qualified solicitor and a Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute.
Jane Foley
Jane has specialised in pensions since qualifying as a solicitor in 2005. Since moving from her role as a pensions lawyer with Brodies LLP to join ProPensions Ltd in June 2021, Jane has been providing support on ProPensions’ professional trustee appointments and working towards gaining accreditation as a professional trustee.
Throughout her career, Jane has worked with trustee boards and employers from a wide range of sectors across the UK on both DB and DC schemes and has advised on the full range of issues faced by schemes and their sponsors. She has a particular interest and focus on professional trustees taking a holistic approach to pension scheme operation and management. Based in Edinburgh, Jane is a fully accredited professional trustee as well as a qualified solicitor (qualified in Scotland).
Sarah Marshall
Sarah focuses on providing Independent Trustee services and acts as Trustee on several Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution schemes at Pi Partnership. Her combination of technical knowledge with a clear and concise manner adds value to a trustee board. She is frequently appointed as a sole trustee and has extensive experience in streamlined scheme management and working closely with the employer in this role.
She has also developed member engagement programmes for Defined Contribution schemes, including holding Q & A sessions with the membership and increasing the visibility of the trustee role.
Vassos Vassou (Vice Chair)
Vassos Vassou joined APPT Council in July 2018. He works as a professional Trustee at Dalriada Trustees Limited. At Dalriada, Vassos works as a co-Trustee, Chair of Trustees and as part of several teams servicing Sole Trustee appointments.
Vassos is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and has been working in the pensions industry since 1995. Prior to becoming a professional trustee, Vassos worked as a Scheme Actuary and consultant at two leading employee benefits consultancies.
Christopher Wheeler
Christopher Wheeler has over 9 years of Pension Trustee experience and has governed Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution schemes across multiple countries. He is an experienced international advisor who has had Finance Director and HR Director roles in the UK and overseas. He is both a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. He has also been a Senior Advisor to the Pensions Regulator for 2 years.
His involvement with pensions started 30 years ago when he audited Pension Funds and has subsequently included, for example, the conversion of Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution style arrangements, the oversight of pensions in acquisitions and disposals and the leadership of pension negotiations with Unions, employees and other external political, regulatory and trade related bodies.
Christopher is Chairman of the Standard Life Staff Pension DB and DC Scheme with over 15,000 members as well as being Chairman of the Investment, Administration & Risk, Governance and DC Committees. In addition, he is an independent trustee to a £1.4bn DB Scheme with 6,800 members, a £180m DC Scheme and Chairman of another £700m DB Scheme with 7000 members.
Before joining BESTrustees, Christopher enjoyed a career of over 30 years culminating in 23 years at Standard Chartered Bank where he was a member of the Group Pensions Risk Committee overseeing all pensions arrangements across over 70 countries including the UK Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution schemes – where he is also a Trustee Director.
Julia Yates
Julia Yates is an accredited pension trustee at Vidett, acting as chair, co-trustee and part of a sole trustee team across a range of scheme sizes, funding levels, covenant strength and maturity.
She enjoys working with all stakeholders to agree and implement long term strategies that deliver member benefits and support the employer’s sustainable growth. She also has over 17 years of advisory experience, including leading PwC’s covenant practice in the Midlands.
Tova Docherty
Tova works as one of the two trustees that Capital Cranfield assign to each of their sole trustee cases to ensure that material decisions are properly considered, advisers are challenged and there is consistency of governance, including clear audit trails, across our sole trustee portfolio. She has worked widely across DB, DC and hybrid benefit structures and has extensive experience of both on-going schemes and those approaching their ‘end game’.
Tova previously worked as a scheme secretary, involved in all aspects of the day to day running of schemes with a significant focus on governance issues, and gained Key Person with responsibility for leading the wind up of several schemes.
Kim Nash
As Managing Director of ZEDRA Kim has a unique blend of technical, commercial, and strategic skills to provide valuable input to APPT. An actuary by qualification she blends in-depth technical knowledge with a collaborative approach. Her approach is to focus on practical solution and how to get things done.
As our market continues to evolve at pace we need to ensure that we balance current needs with future resilience and that decisions are made with accountability and long-term thinking.
James Rickards
James represents Law Debenture across a number of different schemes both as Chair, co-trustee and as Corporate Sole Trustee. His background as a pensions lawyer (he practiced as a barrister at the Pensions Bar and as a lawyer at the Pensions Regulator) gives him a strong communication and analytical skill set.
In particular, he enjoys working collaboratively with fellow trustees, sponsors and advisers and reducing the complex into the simple.
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