News About us Governance Contact us Sign in Sign up MembersEmployersAdvisersInstitutions About us › Hugely experienced team Smart Pension is a fintech company that's run by teams of pension and technology experts. We'd like everyone to benefit from the best of both worlds - pension schemes that work hard with modern digital tools that make them easier to manage. Smart Pension Limited Board of Directors Meet the team helping members save for the future Ruston Smith Chairman of the board of directors Ruston has been working in pensions and investments for more than 30 years. He spent 14 years as the Group Pensions Director at Tesco. Ruston's experience includes taking care of the strategy, governance, investment and operations for a wide range of UK funds. He co-chaired the Automatic Enrolment Advisory Board for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2017, leading on engagement, which is a key part of our long-term strategy. More recently, he inspired us to deliver a simplified annual statement - making it easier for everyone to understand their savings. Andrew Evans Group Chief Executive, co-founder and board member Andrew's ambition is to make it easier for people to save and access their savings. Previously, he was an international managing director with roles in banking and finance. He also works with innovation foundations – awarding funding and offering advice to promising UK fintech companies and social entrepreneurs, including those who work with open banking. Will Wynne Group Managing Director, co-founder and board member Will is the driving force behind Smart’s disruptive technology. He is also the Chairman of Trulience (a futuristic, digital human innovator), and co-founder of highly successful ecommerce business ArenaFlowers.com (officially the UK's most ethical florist). Will previously helped eBay UK scale from 3m to 18m members over three years. He has also mentored for the Octopus Group. Jamie Fiveash UK Chief Executive Officer and board member Jamie is passionate about transforming pensions to make sure that they bring greater value and help improve later life for all people. He was previously COO at B&CE where he was instrumental in the design and delivery of The People’s Pension, before joining Smart in 2018 as COO and Executive Director and was recently appointed as CEO for Smart's UK operation. With a background in accountancy and more than 27 years' experience in financial services, Jamie is an experienced and skilful pair of hands to efficiently lead Smart's pension and platform businesses into further significant growth. Mark Zinkula Independent Director Mark was appointed as Chair of Smart USA Board early this year and now joins the Smart Board. He served as CEO of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), a role he held from 2011 to 2019. During Mark’s tenure, LGIM was one of the fastest-growing asset managers globally, as assets under management (AUM) tripled to over $1.5 trillion including a significant expansion across the US, Europe and Asia. He positioned LGIM to become the largest manager in both the UK defined benefit pension market, with over 30% market share, and the UK defined contribution pension market, with over 20% market share. Mark also established LGIM as a global leader in responsible investing, developing widely-recognised and innovative ESG investment solutions, as well as an industry-leading corporate governance team. Karen Roberton Non-Executive Director Karen joins the Board of SPL from 11 March 2020. She is managing director and Global Head of JPMorgan’s Consultant Sales Team. She has been an employee of JPMorgan since 1995, and she is responsible for coordinating their sales efforts with consultants for their Global business. She also manages a number of consultant and client relationships in the UK. Karen is also the co-sponsor for Culture & Conduct for EMEA at JPMorgan. Prior to her current role, Karen was a Client Account Manager, responsible for numerous client relationships, with a particular focus on DC. Karen obtained an LLB Hons degree in Law from the University of Westminster and has successfully completed the Law Society Final Examinations at the College of Law, London Dee McGrath Non-Executive Director Dee is Chief Executive Officer of Retirement and Superannuation Solutions at the Link Group. She had more than 20 years’ experience working across financial services, technology and consulting before taking up this role, having previously been the Managing Partner of IBM Global Business Services for Australia and New Zealand, with responsibility for IBM’s consulting, professional services and digital businesses. She also held the role of Vice President of Financial Services for IBM Asia Pacific, and was a member of the board of IBM Australia. Dee has also held executive roles at Visa, HP Enterprise Services and National Bank of Australia. Dee is a Director of numerous Link Group entities, including being the Chair of Link Advice, a Director of Smart Pension and a member of Chief Executive Women. She was also a founding member of the Advisory Board for Women in Payments in Australia. ‍ Smart Pension's leadership team Meet the experts making sure this scheme works for you Sam Barton Chief Technology Officer Sam's the driving force behind our technology. He knows there's more to customer satisfaction than clicks-and-ticks in online services. Everything about your Smart Pension has to be easy and accessible. So, with more than 20 years experience, he's the best person to make sure we're using the right technology to be the 'best in class' provider. Michelle Darracott Chief Strategy Officer Michelle leads Smart’s strategy in the UK, and our global commercial proposition for Platform as as Service. Michelle moved to Smart in 2018 from Legal & General Investment Management where she was leading the digital investment team. She's a member of many industry steering committees and is an award-winning fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. Eamon Mulholland Chief of Staff Eamon ensures that Smart’s ambitions, governance and processes are optimised for efficiency. He’s a safe pair of hands to guide Smart through strategic projects as it experiences rapid global growth. He also manages our board arrangements and investor relations. Eamon joined Smart in 2018, after 35 years in a variety of senior banking roles. As COO of several banking units at Lloyds, he oversaw the creation of new business areas in mortgages, operations, risk management and financial markets. Sue Whittington Director of Operations Sue is our guardian of 'customer first' in everything we do as a business. She loves evolving strategies to underpin strong commercial foundations, and was previously head of distribution services at Zurich Insurance. Richard Dallas Chief Growth Officer Richard's focus has always been on banking, insurance and retirement. He specialises in transformation propositions, developing global platforms, and launching technology platforms - and his work takes him all over the world on our behalf. Before joining Smart, Richard held senior positions at Charles Schwab, Lloyds and Barclays, and Aegon/Transamerica. Paul Bucksey Managing Director, Smart Pension UK Paul is responsible for the overall strategic and corporate management of the Smart Pension Master Trust, Smart's award-winning multi-employer UK occupational pension scheme. Before joining Smart Pension in 2019, Paul was a Managing Director at BlackRock (and subsequently Aegon), leading their UK defined contribution workplace pension business. He has also held senior positions at Fidelity, AXA and PwC. Paul Budgen Director of Business Development Paul has been working with leading workplace pension providers in the UK for more than 26 years. Before joining us, in 2017, Paul led the development of the government-funded NEST scheme, and helped institutional marketing and sales teams to create and distribute pension schemes. Today, he leads our business development team. Dan McLaughlin Director of International Dan heads up work on our global savings technology platform. He joined Smart in 2016 as Head of Public Affairs and International, with a focus on driving Smart's overseas opportunities and relationships. Dan holds an MBA and, before joining Smart, he was a policy adviser at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. Tim Phillips Director, Smart Middle East Tim is Director of Smart's Middle East business, as well as the current elected Vice President of the Pensions Management Institute in the UK. Based in Dubai, UAE, Tim works with Smart's platform clients to deliver digital platforms, in order to drive innovation and efficient operations in the running of DC Master Trusts. He has worked in the pensions industry for 17 years, including in the DC Master Trust space for the past seven years. Darren Philp Director of Policy and Communication Darren is well known for his work lobbying for change in pensions and financial services. He joined Smart in 2018 after working on policy at The People’s Pension, Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) and at HM Treasury. He helped to develop the architecture of the UK’s flagship auto enrolment initiative. He chairs steering committees at the PLSA and Pensions Management Institute (PMI) and is governor of the independent Pensions Policy Institute (PPI). Kate Ross Director of Delivery Kate's role is to take our technology ideas into production. She ensures our design and engineering teams are running smoothly, producing high quality products for customers and partners around the world. Before joining Smart, Kate held high-level roles in technology that included positions at Vodafone, Allen and Overy, Morgan Stanley and Linklaters. Ian Digby Head of Regulatory Affairs Pensions are complex. Regulation is vital. Ian oversees all our regulatory affairs, making sure we abide by the rules. As the former architect of the Master Trust Assurance Framework (MAF) and guardian of industry standards in his role at The Pensions Regulator (TPR), Ian underpins our evolution as a leading provider in auto enrolment and the wider defined contribution pensions market. Martin Freeman Head of Product Martin's deep knowledge of the pensions industry makes him one of its most respected technology leaders. During his career, he's been responsible for technology managing the pensions of more than 21 million people. Today, as our Head of Product, Martin makes sure Smart's design and engineering teams are producing market-leading, valuable, innovative products. Michael Watkins Director of Retirement Propositions Michael is Director of Retirement Propositions at Smart. He is responsible for the overall definition, design and delivery of Smart's global retirement solutions in order to achieve Smart’s strategic and commercial business objectives. Michael is also co-founder of NextGen Now, an initiative that promotes and encourages the next generation of pensions and savings professionals, a member of the PLSA Policy Board and master trust committee, and non-executive director for mypensionID, a pension-specific identification and verification start-up and a trustee director of the Natwest Retirement Pension Scheme. Dr. Harry Brignull Head of UX Innovation With a PHD in Cognitive Science, Harry heads up Smart’s user experience innovation team. This means he leads a team to super-test every aspect of our customer-facing systems and services, making it easier for people to make their pension savings work harder. Harry’s previous experience runs from Spotify to the award-winning gov.uk website, and he's a noted expert in digital patterns and online behaviour. 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