I lead the firm's pensions advisory practice. Prior to joining the firm, I was director of trustee and client services at one of the UK's largest and most complex defined benefit (DB) schemes. In that role, I led the in-house employer covenant advisory team and was a leader in advising the trustee on integrated funding and risk management matters. I also had management responsibility for a number of teams providing support to the scheme's sponsoring employers, trustee and its committees, and chaired the risk management committee.
Prior to that, I worked at a major international firm where I was a corporate finance and restructuring partner for 11 years. Before specialising in pensions advisory work, I led a range of advisory assignments, including M&A, joint ventures, financial restructurings (both lender and corporate side) and operational turnaround.
Within the firm, our team comprising both employer covenant and actuarial professionals, provides advice to both trustees and sponsors on a range of DB scheme funding and risk management issues including:
Together, our team have worked on more than 450 assignments for trustees and sponsors over the past 10 years. Schemes have included those sponsored by multi-national groups, listed PLC’s and mid-market and owner-managed businesses.
Our team have provided advice on a considerable number of pension scheme transactions, including the negotiation of covenant enhancements such as various forms of guarantee, asset security, negative pledges, contingent funding arrangements, and bank letters of credit, together with arrangements for scheme liability management.
I set up the employer covenant working group, a technical body for senior employer covenant advisory practitioners which is highly active in publishing practice guidance. I was a member of the EIOPA Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group and contributed from an employer covenant perspective to an integrated risk management working group for the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA).
