BIOGRAPHY

Karen Shackleton has over 25 years' professional investment experience. She started her career at County Natwest Investment Management, specialising in quantitative fixed income and derivatives fund management for pension funds. She later introduced currency dynamic hedging, tactical asset allocation, quantitative added value products and option writing strategies. She was also responsible for client servicing, marketing and business strategy in the UK, USA and Japan. In 1991 Karen joined BZW Investment Management, heading up the Client Service Team within the Quantitative Investment Group. Her responsibilities included client relationships, marketing and trustee training.

Karen became an Independent Consultant in 1995 providing a range of services including trustee training with a particular focus on hedge funds and quantitative strategies. She carries out market intelligence research for pensions' providers and, over the years, has discussed a range of topics with more than 650 institutional and high net worth investors. She is the independent investment adviser for the London Borough of Islington and London Borough of Hounslow pension schemes and in 2010 became AllenbridgeEpic's Chief Executive.

BIOGRAPHY

Bill Horwood has over 30 years’ investment experience, mainly at Phillips & Drew Fund Management, later UBS Global Asset Management. He was made a Partner of Phillips & Drew in 1982 and elected a member of the London Stock Exchange. He subsequently became a director of PDFM, following the UBS takeover, and was responsible for a wide range of segregated funds, in excess of £2 billion, within both the public and private sectors.

Bill was a consultant to the World Gold Council between 2000 and 2003. He is an Associate Member of the Society of Investment Professionals, the CFA Institute, Securities Institute and Independent Trustees Group.

Bill is a co-founder of AllenbridgeEpic and, under its umbrella, currently advises three private sector funds. He has also assisted the NAPF in trustee training.

BIOGRAPHY

Ian Morley was founding Chairman of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA). More recently he was CEO at DDO, a leading Fund of Funds, and Chairman of Corazon Capital. He is currently Chairman of Allenbridge Hedgeinfo, the hedge fund rating and consultancy company, and director of Wentworth Hall, a consulting and Private Equity company, among many other non-exec positions held.

An economics graduate of the LSE, Ian has published numerous articles, including comment pieces for the FT and Times, Morley’s Laws of Fund Management, and has lectured throughout the world on derivatives and alternative investments. He works closely with a number of trade and regulatory organisations and has advised the Bank of England, the Central Bank of Ireland, the OECD, the EU and other international institutions about the managed derivatives and Hedge Fund industry. In 2011 he received the Hedge Funds Review lifetime achievement award in recognition of his service to the hedge fund industry.

BIOGRAPHY

Alan Saunders is currently an investment consultant, advising pension funds on behalf of AllenbridgeEpic while also advising private clients and charities at Allenbridge Ltd, where he chairs the Investment Committee.

Alan is currently the independent adviser to Dorset County Council pension fund and chairs the Investment Committee of Hays Group plc pension fund where he is a trustee. He is also an independent trustee of the ICL Fujitsu pension fund. Outside the world of pension funds, he is Chairman of the JP Morgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust and sits on the Client Board of ING Real Estate Asset Management.

In a varied career in the financial markets and international industry, Alan has been a stockbroker and partner in Simon & Coates, Chief Economist of Royal Dutch Shell, Investment Director at Lazards and a Managing Director at UBS, responsible for international private clients.

BIOGRAPHY

John Arthur has over 25 years' experience within the defined benefit pension industry, most recently as Director of Client Services at Aerion Fund Management and previously as a Fund Manager covering UK and international equity markets.

At Aerion Fund Management, the in-house Fund Manager for the £14bn National Grid UK Pension Scheme, he was responsible for communicating directly with the Scheme's Trustees, advisers and Secretariat regarding all investment matters, including long term strategy for matching the Scheme's liabilities and managing the scope and terms of agreement with investment managers. During this time, John was also a member of the Investment Group responsible for agreeing all investment processes used within Aerion and a Member of the Management Committee of the in-house Fund Manager.

As Investment Director of International Equities, he was responsible for a team of investment professionals managing £2bn in overseas (ex UK) equities and directly managing a portfolio of £1bn in European equities.

BIOGRAPHY

Grant Ballantine qualified as an actuary with Scottish Widows and, after a short spell working overseas, joined the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD). For a large part of his 30 year career at GAD, he led the teams of actuaries providing GAD’s actuarial advice on occupational pension schemes. These included some of the largest UK pension schemes, both in the public and private sectors. Other clients included overseas governments and supervisory bodies.

During his career, Grant was also involved in providing advice to some countries in Eastern Europe and Africa. This included the Russian authorities following the fall of Communism and, in 2000-2001, he helped to establish pension provision in Kosovo after the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Grant is currently Chairman of Trustees of a private sector pension scheme and sits on the investment committee of a funded public sector scheme .

BIOGRAPHY

Jonathan started his career in 1981 with the Times Newspaper and then joined Ogilvy & Mather in investor relations. In 1986 he founded Falcon Asset Management and in 1993 joined the Committee of the European Federation of Financial Analysts (EFFAS) for the Edinburgh conference. He developed the concept of assessing Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) issues and analysing them in terms of risk to market value.

Jonathan is the founder of SERM (Safety and Environmental Risk Management) Rating Agency, a member of the Centre for the Study of of Financial Innovation (CSFI) Advisory Council and has become a leading authority in reputational risk assessment.

BIOGRAPHY

Nick Broadhead worked at Baring Asset Management for 29 years and was appointed a director in 1986. Over this period he was exclusively involved with UK pension funds and charities; initially for 18 years as an investment manager with a wide range of institutional UK clients, then subsequently as a senior director responsible for client and consultant relationships.

With assets under management in excess of £2 billion, his client responsibilities included local authorities, private sector and charity schemes. In addition to investment management Nick frequently worked closely with clients on a wide range of projects including strategic asset allocation, product design, and trustee communication and training.

Nick is a founder member of AllenbridgeEpic.

BIOGRAPHY

Alastair Haddow provides AllenbridgeEpic with significant experience in investment management and consultancy, in-depth knowledge of global financial markets and practical experience of managing multi-asset and specialist portfolios. Alastair spent 30 years with Murray Johnstone as an investment manager and investment director. From 1993-2000 he was Chief Investment Officer for the group and managed a number of investment teams running investment funds worth £5 billion.

After Murray Johnstone was acquired by Aberdeen Asset Management, Alastair became a Senior Investment Consultant with Hymans Robertson, providing investment consultancy advice and recommendations to occupational pension schemes in both the public and private sectors. He is a trustee of a number of pension schemes and investment consultant to an offshore trust.

BIOGRAPHY

Philip has over 30 years’ experience in the securities industry. He was with Charterhouse Securities (formerly Tilney & Co) for 20 years and was appointed as a Director in 1992. Whilst there he was a member of the UK Equities sales team, responsible for marketing the firm's analytical output to a wide range of institutional clients. He also acted as an investment adviser to a major local authority pension fund.

In 2000 Philip joined Merseyside Pension Fund as Head of UK Equities, responsible for research and portfolio structure decisions for the internally managed portfolio; managing over £2bn of assets. He was also involved in the monitoring process for the Fund’s external investment managers and advising on the risk profiling of the Fund, including asset allocation.

Since 2010 Philip has been providing independent specialist advice to quoted companies in the areas of Corporate Governance, Investor Relations and Business Structure. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Aberdeen Private Equity Fund, and Treasurer and Investment Adviser to Chester Municipal Charities.

Philip is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and a Member of the Institute of Directors.

BIOGRAPHY

Stuart entered the fund management business in 1980 after having qualified as a chartered accountant in 1979. After a few years with both Barings and Hambros banks managing institutional portfolios, he joined Gartmore in 1987 where he was a director responsible for a wide range of private and public pension funds in excess of £2bn. He had both stock selection and asset allocation responsibilities.

In 2001 Stuart joined Charles Taylor Consulting PLC, having previously been a non-executive director, establishing and running an equity hedge fund until 2009.

BIOGRAPHY

John Heskett worked for the Baring Group for 30 years, initially in corporate finance and later investment management. He was a founding member of the Baring Asset Management Board and has considerable experience of asset allocation, having been responsible for the management of balanced portfolios and having acted as CIO of fixed income and currency management. Baring clients included leading UK and US plans, central banks and insurance companies. His last position, from 1997-2002, was Group Head of Sales, Business Development and Client Service.

Since leaving Barings, John has been Chairman and senior non-executive director of Heartwood Wealth Group, one of the leading independent private client wealth management companies in the South East of England, where he consulted principally on investment and product development issues. His association with Heartwood ended in July 2011.

John is a trustee of the Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association (CABA), formerly its president, and serves on its investment committee. He is also a trustee of Practical Action and chairman of its pension scheme; trustee of the ING UK pension fund and chairman of its investment committee; and sits on the investment committee of the School of Oriental and African Studies.

BIOGRAPHY

Peter Murray held senior executive positions within the UK pensions industry for over 14 years.

He has held the position of Chief Executive of the Railways Pension Trustee Co Ltd and Executive Chairman of Railways Pensions Management and Railpen Investments Ltd. He also chaired the Investment Committee of the Trustee Board which had responsibility for the investment of total assets of £20 billion. Prior to that he served on the Investment Committee of the Unilever Superannuation Fund (assets circa £4 billion). He is a past Chairman and former member of the Council of the NAPF.

Peter currently serves on the Investment Committees of three UK pension funds.

BIOGRAPHY

Keith Percy has many years of experience in the financial world and has spent the past 28 years managing portfolios for institutional clients in the public and private sectors in the UK and abroad. He is currently Chairman of Brunner Investment Trust, the Senior Independent Director at The Children’s Mutual, where he also chairs the Investment Committee, and a non-executive director of F&C Asset Management.

Previously, Keith was Executive Chairman at Société Générale Asset Management UK, and CEO of Morgan Grenfell Asset Management. Keith began his career as an investment analyst with Phillips & Drew, where he became Head of Research and was Chairman and Chief Executive of Phillips & Drew Fund Management from 1983-1990.

BIOGRAPHY

Peter Scales is a chartered public accountant with over 40 years’ experience in local government finance, 20 of these within pensions. He has built a governance advisory capability with AllenbridgeEpic and currently works with three pension funds, two in local government and one in the private sector.

Within the wider pensions industry, Peter maintains a role in seeking to develop good practice on investment governance through association with Communities and Local Government and the CIPFA Pensions Panel. He was a member of the Investment Governance Group – LGPS Sub Group until it was disbanded and was, until recently, pensions policy adviser to the Local Government Association.

Peter advises on conference programmes and chairs events. He also chairs the Pension Fund Service and the Marathon Club, is chairman of trustees of the Scout Association Pension Fund, and a trustee of the Life Academy and the Occupational Pensions Trust.

Until December 2006, Peter was Chief Executive of the London Pensions Fund Authority, administering a scheme valued at £3.5 billion and with over 73,000 members. This included leading the restructuring of investment strategy, the introduction of SIPS, funding strategy statements and the practical application of the Myners principles for local government pension schemes.

BIOGRAPHY

David Somers has extensive knowledge of the investment business, having held senior positions in the industry for over 30 years.

David began his career with the ICI Pension Fund. In the 1980s he was Managing Director of Manufacturers Hanover Investment Management Ltd and in the 1990s Managing Director of Nikko Capital Management UK Ltd. In 2000 he joined Clerical Medical Investments Group to head up their institutional pension fund business. This company re-branded to become Insight Investment.

David is Chairman of Trustees for the Doosan Babcock Energy Pension Scheme and Chairman of the Investment Committee for the Fujitsu Technologies International Pension Fund. In addition, he is a non-executive director of ACE Europe Life plc and a non-executive director, plus Chairman of the Audit & Risk Committee, for Europe Arab Bank plc.

David has an Honours degree in Economic Studies, is a qualified accountant (FCCA) and is a CFA (ASIP) member.

BIOGRAPHY

Alick is a Senior Adviser with AllenbridgeEpic and has worked with a variety of public and private sector pension funds over the last few years, including the Imerys Pension Fund, the London Borough of Newham where he was the Independent Investment Adviser and the Hypovereinsbank (UK) Retirement Scheme.

Prior to joining AllenbridgeEpic, he was Director of Investments at the Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund from which he retired in September 2008. Prior to MNOPF, Alick ran his consulting business between 1998 and 2002, specialising in interim treasury management services and before this was Treasurer (EMEA) with Nortel Networks (UK) Limited for nearly fifteen years. He was appointed a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers in 1991. Between 1985 and 1998 he was a Trustee of several Nortel Pension Schemes and a Trustee Director of ICAN, the national charity for young people with speech and language handicaps between 1996 and 2001.

Alick is a member of the NAPF Investment Council, sits on the T-Charter Steering Group and is a regular speaker on the pension fund circuit .

BIOGRAPHY

Philip Williams currently acts as an independent investment adviser to pension schemes and charitable and endowment funds in both the public and private sectors. Philip spent 25 years at Phillips & Drew/UBS, during which time he concentrated in particular on global bond markets and, latterly, was Head of Debt Derivative Products. In this regard, he formed a department drawing on wide resources within Phillips & Drew and UBS Securities to deliver interest rate and currency swaps, asset swaps, OTC options and exchange traded futures.

From 1993 to 1999, Philip was Deputy Managing Director at Cantrade Investment Management/Chiswell Associates and was Chair of the Risk Committee in a non-executive capacity. Philip advises a wide range of clients on strategic asset allocation and investment manager selection and monitoring across all markets.