Guest Speakers
Torsten Bell MP Minister for Pensions
Torsten Bell is the Labour MP for Swansea West, and has been an MP continually since 4 July 2024. He currently holds the Government posts of Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury), and Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions). Torsten Bell MP was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in HM Treasury and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Work and Pensions on 14 January 2025.
Dominic Harris Pensions Ombudsman
Dominic Harris is the Pensions Ombudsman and the Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman. He was appointed by the Secretary of State with effect from 16 January 2023, for a term of five years. As well as being the Ombudsman, as the Chief Executive of the organisation he is also a member of the Executive and the Corporate Board. Dominic is a solicitor advocate, who has been specialising in pensions law for the past 22 years. He originally trained and qualified at Nabarro, before moving to CMS and becoming a partner in the pensions team in 2012. He has experience acting for members, trustees and sponsors. Immediately prior to taking up his appointment, he was the Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers' Investment & Defined Contribution Committee and also holds an MBA from IMD Business School in Switzerland.
Jonathan Hawkins Propositions Lead EMEA Bravura
Jon, Propostions Lead - EMEA, has over 25 years’ experience in the areas of pensions, platforms and business focused technology. His career started in pensions admin with Towers Perrin (now WTW) where he moved to implementing pensions systems with various key industry players including Xafinity (now XPS)/Equiniti, Aquila Heywood and ITM, and advising big names in the UK pensions and wealth markets. He's the architect behind Bravura’s ISP solution for pensions dashboards, and Bravura's next-generation workplace pensions and savings technology strategy. You’ll often find him ‘imagineering’ what consumer-led pensions products and services might fill the gaps in terms of knowledge, advice and quality of service for savers, and challenging the status-quo. Jon is a global Diversity and Inclusion lead within Bravura. He was named Pension Age’s Pensions Personality of the Year 2023. Jon was appointed to the Pensions Administration Standards Association board in July 2024.
Paul Johnson CBE Economist and Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Paul is a professional economist who has been director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies since 2011. He is a columnist for The Times, and a regular contributor to other broadcast and print media. He is a visiting professor in the UCL Policy Lab and at the UCL department of economics. Paul was appointed CBE in the 2018 birthday honours. Previous roles have included time as chief economist at the Department for Education and as director of public spending at HM Treasury, where he also served as deputy head of the government economic service. Paul’s book Follow the Money: How Much Does Britain Cost? was published in February 2023.
Tessa Page Partner and UK Wealth Strategy Leader, Mercer
Tess leads strategy for global Mercer’s UK Wealth business, and advises some of Mercer’s largest and most ambitious institutional investor clients. She chairs the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) DC Pensions Committee and is a member of its Climate Risk Group. She chaired the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ working party on retirement savings, and is passionate about improving outcomes for savers. Tess has given evidence to the UK Government’s Work & Pensions Committee on pension scheme matters, and is currently engaging with the Treasury, DWP, and FCDO on pensions and investment reforms. Having started her career in the industry in 2002, Tess joined Mercer in 2011. During her career at Mercer, Tess has held leadership roles across investments, funding, and DC. Tess has a Master’s in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. Outside of work Tess is a Trustee of a GM4Women 2028, a charity focused on improving equality for women, girls, and the community. Tess runs “the World Cup of” series on Twitter and is considering a World Cup of Pensions Acronyms.
Kim Toker Co-founder Clara Pensions and Director Future Focused Advisory
Kim is a founder, advisor, and strategist with over 25 years’ experience in financial services. She co-founded Clara Pensions, the first and only UK Defined Benefit Pension Superfund, which played a pivotal role in reshaping the pensions landscape. As an independent consultant, Kim partners with businesses to focus on strategy, digital transformation, and the transformative potential of generative AI. She also chairs an AI Pensions round table, where Pension advisors collaborate to build a shared understanding of generative AI’s potential and current limitations. This aims to help schemes and advisors enhance operations, governance, and member engagement across the pensions industry. In addition to her work in pensions, Kim advises start-ups and scale up companies, leveraging her expertise in innovation, growth strategy, and finance. Her unique blend of experience in traditional financial services and AI innovation positions her as a leading voice in the industry.
Simon Daniel Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
Simon is a Partner in our pensions group. He advises on all aspects of the law and regulation relating to occupational pension schemes, with a particular focus on asset investment and bulk annuity transactions. Simon's clients include a number of large corporate sponsors of £1bn pension schemes and trustees of schemes with assets ranging from over £700m to under £100m. Chambers & Partners has ranked Simon as a "Recognised Practitioner" for and Legal 500 ranks him as a "Next Generation Lawyer" who "handles potentially difficult situations with sensitivity, which typically contributes to a collaborative outcome" (2018) and who "combines excellent technical knowledge with a strong commercial awareness" (2019). Simon's recent experience includes: supporting numerous trustee clients with their investment into multi-asset credit, private debt, infrastructure, commercial property and LDI funds; supporting schemes with their transition into fiduciary management with providers including Aon Hewitt, Cardano, Mercer, Schroders and Willis Towers Watson; and leading on a £200m pensioner buy-in for a £3bn pension scheme (a transaction noted in the pensions press in 2018) and supporting a £1.2bn scheme with a £415m pensioner buy-in. T: +44 161 831 8286 E: simondaniel@eversheds-sutherland.com
Jeremy Goodwin Head of Pensions, Eversheds Sutherland
Jeremy is the head of the Eversheds Sutherland international pensions team. He has a wide range of experience over 25 years advising companies and trustees in relation to all types of pension plan, both in the UK and internationally. He is currently spending a lot of time helping clients address ESG-related requirements and on how they should best de-risk their pension schemes, often in the context of defined benefit funding surpluses. Jeremy is a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers and sat in its key committees for more than a decade. He is a member of the Society of Pension Professionals' DB Committee, and leads the firm's relationship with the 100 Group. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (for his work in connection with CDC schemes). His articles are regularly published in the pensions press, and he often talks at conferences and seminars. Jeremy was named as one of The Lawyer's Hot 100 lawyers for 2011. He is a leading individual for pensions law in Chambers, and has been for over 15 years. Legal 500 2024 states that Jeremy is "highly rated for his pensions work and is active in ESG-related mandates". Jeremy has previously been an elected member of Eversheds Sutherland's Global Management board for 6 years, and was the firm's London Senior Office Partner until 1 May 2024 (when he became Head of Pensions). T: +44 207 919 4564 E: jeremygoodwin@eversheds-sutherland.com
Emma King Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
Emma is a partner and leads the 13 strong Birmingham pensions group and sits on the national pensions management team. She advises trustees (such as Voca, Wales & West Utilities and Morrisons) and corporates (such as Siemens, Rolls-Royce and TRW). Recent experience includes advising on liability risk reduction for legacy defined benefit pension schemes, scheme design change, consolidating pension arrangements and advising on new developments in relation to freedom and choice in pensions. Emma originally trained as a litigator and retains an interest in disputes. She is a key member of Eversheds' pensions litigation team and supervises a number of pensions litigators who sit in the FSDI team. She regularly advises on Pensions Ombudsman cases, deals with court applications (including professional negligence claims) and frequently handles representative beneficiary (Part 8) cases. She also deals with matters that come before the Pensions Regulator. For example she advises the Trustees of the Box Clever pension scheme in relation to an appeal by ITV against a financial support direction issued by tPR. Over the past couple of years Emma has been advising the BHS Trustees and participated in the high profile Joint Select Committee hearing in June 2016. Emma is the graduate and trainee partner for the Birmingham office. She is a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers and acts as Treasurer for the West Midlands branch of the APL. She is a regular speaker at seminars and co-authors a chapter on occupational pensions for "Tolleys - Pensions Law". Emma is ranked in Band One for the Midlands by Chambers and Partners and is described as being "very knowledgeable but also extremely practical in the way she explains legal concepts". T: +44 121 232 1829 E: emmaking@eversheds-sutherland.com
Simon Lightman Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
Simon is a Partner in the Eversheds Sutherland company commercial team and advises on a wide range of commercial, technology and data transactions with a particular focus on the insurance and pensions sector. Simon also has deep experience of advising a wide variety of pension schemes and trustees, along with suppliers to the pensions sector, on a wide variety of commercial contracts, including pensions administration, consulting and technology services. Simon has advised on some of the largest and most complex third party administration and technology arrangements in the insurance and pensions space, over a period of 20 years. He has particular experience advising on contracting for new and disruptive technologies in the insurance and pensions sector including robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence and most recently pensions dashboards. Simon previously served as Divisional Legal and Commercial Director for Capita’s Insurance and Benefits division, bringing a unique perspective, in particular when acting for customers in the procurement of new technologies and services. T: +44 207 919 0777 E: simonlightman@eversheds-sutherland.com
Ele Lovering Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
Ele is the Senior Office Partner of Eversheds Sutherland's Manchester office, co leads the Gender Network in Manchester and is a champion for flexible working. A partner in our Employment, Labour and Pensions Group, she leads the 16 strong Manchester pensions team and is the Managing Director of our Independent Trustee company. Ele's key focus is on helping pension scheme sponsors and trustees to define and then achieve their strategic objectives in the most efficient way. An expert in her filed, she advises on the full range of pensions services including: risk, debt and liability management; pensions insurance and de-risking; pensions issues on corporate restructurings (including in distress scenarios); scheme funding solutions and scheme mergers. Key clients include Electricity North West, United Utilities, and pension schemes sponsored by the Co-operative Group, the MAN UK Group, the INEOS Group, the Manchester Airport Group, the Homes and Communities Agency and the English Football League. Some highlights over the last 12 months include advising the trustees of the Reebok Scheme on the implications of the sale of Reebok out of the adidas group, the English Football League on closure, the Outokumpu group on achieving full security of member benefits as part of a project to ensure the scheme sponsor is sale ready and Electricity North West Limited on its GMP conversion project. Ele is well-known in the North West pensions market and is a regular speaker at industry events. Ele is a regular speaker at Pensions Briefing seminars. She is a former chair of the local Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, and the former secretary of the North Western branch of Association of Pensions Lawyers. T: +44 797 981 4678 E: elenorlovering@eversheds-sutherland.com
Amanda Small Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
Amanda is a partner in our pensions group in Manchester. She has over 15 years' experience of advising trustees, employers and providers across a wide range of defined benefit and defined contribution arrangements, with a particular focus on commercial master trusts and bulk annuity transactions. She is recognised in legal directories as an "associate to watch" and a "rising star" where she is described as "practical, very experienced in pensions and always available" and "offers clear, practical advice". Amanda advises a number of DC master trusts, both trustees and providers, and has extensive experience advising on governance issues, regulatory compliance, decumulation, switching funds and default structures. Her recent experience involves advising on template documentation to support the onboarding process, switching funds and inadvertent defaults, member communications and complaints, auto-enrolment compliance and service provider agreements. She has also recently advised on the establishment of a new master trust and several master trusts on TCFD compliance. Amanda also has significant experience advising on insurance de-risking matters and has recently advised a number of trustees on bulk annuity transactions where the total premiums have exceeded £1bn. Amanda is a regular speaker at industry events and provides training to trustees, employers and other industry groups on topical pension issues. T: +44 161 831 8145 E: amandasmall@eversheds-sutherland.com
Resources
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