I lead our award-winning pensions advisory team and provide employer covenant and IRM advice to DB scheme trustees and sponsors. I have nearly 35 years of professional experience – initially focusing on corporate finance and restructuring advisory work before developing an employer covenant specialisation over 15 years ago. Before joining the firm in 2018, I was a partner at another leading accountancy firm for 11 years, before working for eight years at a large industry-wide pension scheme in a number of senior roles.
I specialise in advising on the impact of transactions and other corporate events on DB schemes such as M&A, refinancings, financial restructurings, and group reorganisations. I have advised on various complex multi-creditor complex restructurings and refinancings involving diverse lenders and multiple jurisdictions, together with major sponsor acquisition, disposal and joint venture transactions. Scheme sponsors have ranged from privately-held groups, including private equity, to major global groups.
I set up and was the first Chair of what is now the Employer Covenant Practitioners Association and am a regular contributor to the association’s publications – such as recent papers on sponsor longevity and climate change. I was a member of EIOPA’s Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group and contributed to an IRM working party of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries from an employer covenant perspective. I have chaired a committee considering employer covenant-related matters for a major industry-wide scheme.
Outside of work, I am undertaking a part-time PhD and am a passionate aerobatic and glider pilot.
- CTA (Chartered Tax Adviser)
- FCA
- MSc, Taxation
- MCSI (Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment)
- PGDip (Financial Strategy)