Affiliates

If you would like to become an Affliate member of Pensions for Purpose and help get capital to flow to impact investments then please join us as a member. You should join as an Affiliate if you are an asset owner, trustee, independent adviser, researcher, journalist or government body. It is free to join and you will have access to both public and exclusive Affiliate-only content. You will also have the ability to network with peers through our member forums and events. Please click here to complete the Affiliate form.

Full details of all our membership categories can be found here.

Adrian brings over 30 years’ professional experience in the industry, combining recent investment management and advisory experience with earlier consulting and corporate transaction experience. He is an independent investment adviser to Dyfed County Council and the Wohl Foundation, non-Executive director of a Blackrock investment Trust and  Chair of Trustees for the ATS foundation (a charity supporting a London school).

Adrian became an independent adviser in 2019, following 13 years as a client facing portfolio manager/Managing Director on global equity and multi-asset portfolios (at AllianceBernstein and, most recently, JPMorgan), advising institutional clients on their investments. He has worked with over 20 UK LGPS schemes over this time, as well as large corporate pension schemes, providing both ongoing investment advice and trustee training.

He has worked with a number of institutional clients in tailoring portfolios to meet ethical and ESG goals, and helped set up a sustainable equity strategy. He has acted as a panel member for Pensions for Purpose and has worked with clients in defining their beliefs. He retains a strong interest in sustainable investment, particularly in understanding what can be achieved while satisfying Trustees’ other fiduciary constraints.

Adrian holds an MA from Cambridge University and MBA from INSEAD.

Anthony is an FCA registered Adviser to Institutional Pension Funds. He has over 30 year’s professional experience as a Fixed Income Investor and Portfolio Manager. 

In 1996 Anthony joined the Fixed Income team at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, which as a result of takeover in 2005, became part of Aberdeen Asset Management.  In this role he was responsible for investment strategy and tactical asset allocation for fixed income and multi-asset clients with benchmark driven and total return objectives.  Anthony’s clients, included; LGPS and corporate, pension schemes; sovereign wealth funds; insurance companies and charitable foundations.

For the last 5 years of his time at Aberdeen Asset Management he was a member of the Consultative, and Chair of the Investment, Committee of the Group Pension Plan.  Responsible for investment policy and monitoring performance.

Anthony is currently “Independent Investment Adviser” to Derbyshire and Surrey County Council Pension Funds.

He is interested in background research on impact investment. 

Brunel Pension Partnership (Brunel) brings together £28 billion investments of 10 likeminded Local Government Pensions Scheme funds. We believe in making long term sustainable investments supported by robust and transparent process. We are here to protect the interests of our clients and their members. In collaboration with all our stakeholders we are forging better futures by investing for a world worth living in. 

As an affiliate of Pensions for Purpose, Brunel is actively able to participate in thought leadership discussions and enhance the general understanding of impact investment within our community and in the wider investment community. In addition, through discussion with other affiliates, including asset owners, government bodies, independent advisers and journalists, we are able to deepen our knowledge of this important topic for Brunel.

Brunel is one of eight national pooled funds, and will manage the investment of the pension assets for the funds of Avon, Buckinghamshire. Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Environment Agency, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire Funds. 

The Church Commissioners for England exist to support the work and mission of the Church of England. The Commissioners manage the endowment fund of the Church of England, using the money they make to contribute towards the cost of mission projects, diocese in low-income areas, bishops, cathedrals, and pensions. The Commissioners invest in a responsible and ethical way, which includes impact investment. They are pleased to be an Affiliate of Pension for Purpose to share learning and collaborate with other investors in this fast moving and critical space.

The Climate Change Collaboration was established in 2011 by four of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts; The Ashden Trust, Mark Leonard Trust, JJ Charitable Trust and Tedworth Charitable Trust. The group came together in 2011 to support, pilot and research projects to find ways of reducing CO2 emissions quickly. It sees collaboration as essential to accelerating change. In 2015 it co-established Europeans for DivestInvest as a way to catalyse thinking among asset owners about how to accelerate the transition to a zero carbon economy, thereby addressing the broad financial and societal risks of climate change and specific threat posed by remaining invested in a twilight industry. The charities are acutely aware that they have a particular legal obligation to ensure their investments align with their charitable purpose. The trusts have been involved in impact investing since 2010, and welcome the chance to deepen their knowledge as affiliate members.

Clwyd Pension Fund is a £2.3bn Local Government Pension Fund based in North Wales and a member of the Wales Pension Partnership. The Fund’s strategy is very diverse and has only 20% in listed equities but 27% in Private Markets including Timber and Farmland, Infrastructure, Impact and Local investments.

The Fund has been investing in Infrastructure since 2000 and dedicated renewable Funds since 2009. An analysis of the infrastructure portfolio has shown that 20% of the core portfolio is also invested in renewable projects.

The Fund started investing in “Impact” mandates in 2006 through a UK Regeneration Fund and Environmental Technology Funds and now has 20 investments within its 4% allocation to Impact / Local across Private Equity, Private Debt, Property and Infrastructure.

The Fund has also identified that many of its Private Market managers, whilst not classed as Impact, do map their investments against the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Clwyd Pension Fund Committee have recently agreed to adopt a 2050 Net Zero ambition for the Investment Strategy which will include a move to Global Active Sustainable Equities. We have also agreed, that in line with our ambition, we will look for investments in Impact and Sustainable Private Markets.

We are pleased to be an affiliate of Pensions for Purpose and continue our journey with likeminded Funds and Managers. 

Collegia is the only personal, workplace, self-employed and Auto Enrolment pension in one, making it the only truly flexible pension product in the market.
 
Our default investment strategy excludes, or minimizes the exposure to, controversial industries while increasing finance to companies aligned with the UN 2030 SDGs. As a result of a global commitment to the delivery of these goals, our view is that these companies will benefit from the necessary global policy efforts and tremendous investment driven by market forces and/or government intervention. 
   
The Collegia App allows members to take control of their pension. It provides real time information, enables them to make online contributions, and incorporates old pension schemes without needing to move the pension and thus losing valuable benefits. 
  
Our retirement planning tool – based on the contribution rates members are comfortable with and the ethics they care about – shows what kind of retirement members can expect, down to how much they’ll have to spend on groceries and holidays. They can see how their pension is performing and how their expected retirement lifestyle changes over time.

The Cornwall Pension Fund is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), with £2.3bn in AUM (at the 31 March 2023), and approximately 59,700 members.

The Fund aspires to be at the forefront of Responsible Investment best practice, and regularly engages with its members on its Responsible Investment approach. The Fund is committed to providing clear and transparent reporting, and recently became a signatory to the Stewardship Code 2020.

The Fund is widely recognised for its award winning Social Impact Portfolio, the first of its type in an LGPS Pool. Designed and implemented in partnership with the Brunel Pension Partnership, the high-level brief for the Portfolio is to look at impact investment opportunities in Cornwall, in addition to wider regional, national, and potentially international opportunities, with investments defined by alignment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). The Fund has recently increased its allocation to the Portfolio to 7.5%, with the first commitments having being made to £65m of affordable housing in Cornwall, and £50m to UK renewable energy income, £25m of which will also be in Cornwall.

The Cornwall Pension Fund is delighted to be a member of Pensions for Purpose, and hope the sharing of ideas will lead to an increased focus on impact investing and the positive outcomes that can be achieved.

Cushon is an online workplace pension and savings platform provider, offering the world’s first net zero now pension. So, our members are not only saving for the retirement they deserve but they’re also helping to tackle climate change. And it’s not just about the climate crisis. Through our market-leading mobile app, employees can have a say in the way the companies their pension and savings are invested in manage other ethical issues that are important to them. We’re getting employees connected and feeling proud that their money is a force for good in the here and now; it’s the key to getting younger employees engaged.

With our innovative mobile app in the palm of their hands, employees can access and manage their pension and other savings on the go. They can change contributions, transfer in other savings, change beneficiary nominations and so much more; the reems and reems of paper normally associated with pensions and savings are gone and employees are able to manage their finances just like they manage most other things – through a mobile app anywhere and anytime. We’re all about getting employees engaged and making sure they’re on track with their savings goals.

David has 35+ years’ experience as an investor working for both institutions and a UHNW family office across a variety of asset classes. He co-founded Beagle Partners in 2004 a boutique asset manager for Global Emerging Markets and Disruptive Technologies. He now provides investment ideas and investment and business consultancy services. 

David has a particular interest in frameworks that help execute responsible, sustainable and positive impact investment. In particular helping to link asset owner mandates to processes that align with the values and co-benefits they seek in terms of impact and sustainability. Both for long term financial returns but also to deliver the desired impact on Natural, Human and Societal capital a framework and clear articulation of the investment outcomes is called for.

ESG and sustainability have always been part of his investment and risk management approach as they are central to successful making long term investments. In the last decade or so the pressure on global resources and climate change issues has driven a secular shift in areas of potential long term sustainable growth. As a result he has been active in identifying emerging technologies that meet the challenges of climate change and confront unsustainable economic trends. 

East Sussex Pension Fund has just over £4.5bn of assets and around 130 employers. The Fund has been making significant changes in its responsible investment approach, particularly focusing on climate strategy.

The Fund believes strongly in collaboration; sharing best in class practices as well as to improve engagement though the power of the collective voice. The Fund has made changes to its investment strategy to implement two Paris aligned equity funds and a resource efficient fund into its portfolio, as well as making investments of £480m into climate solutions. The Fund is part of the ACCESS LGPS pool and the chair is the ESG spokesperson for the pool.

We believe we generate stronger financial returns by investing in companies that contribute to the long-term sustainable success of the economy and society as a whole. This belief has been at the heart of how we have invested for nearly 20 years.

Since the inception of our private market impact fund in 2014, we have invested in companies around the world which deliver strong sustainable and financial outcomes. We have been encouraged by the increasing opportunities we see becoming available.

We have 38,500 members who share our commitment to sustainability. They want to see their pension fund act with ambition and urgency to tackle climate change.

We are an open defined benefit pension scheme serving the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL). We have assets worth approximately £5 billion and are part of the Brunel Pension Partnership.

Friends Provident Foundation is an independent charity that makes grants and uses its endowment towards a fair, resilient and sustainable economic system that serves society.

Our aspiration is that all our investments should generate both financial returns and positive social and environmental returns. We believe that our decisions on what to invest in, what not to invest in, how we exercise our stewardship responsibilities as a shareholder, and how we engage with asset managers and the financial system as a whole, should contribute to our charitable objectives.

As part of the integration of our investments with our mission, we currently allocate up to 10% of our endowment to impact investing. We are pleased to affiliate to Pensions for Purpose as an important collaborative initiative to share learning and increase understanding of the benefits of impact investment.

Gwynedd Council is the Administering Authority for the Gwynedd Pension Fund. The Fund administers the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) on behalf of around 49,600 members which comprises Gwynedd, Anglesey and Conwy Councils, Snowdonia National Park Authority, Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales, Cartrefi Conwy, Adra, various town and community councils, and other scheduled and admitted bodies.

The Committee recognises that the Fund’s assets are invested globally, and across many sectors, which means reducing the Fund’s carbon emissions is more challenging than it would be for an individual organisation. However, the Committee has committed to set a goal for the Fund to be net zero by 2050, supported by an undertaking to assess the feasibility of the Fund reaching net zero 5, 10 or 20 years earlier.

HESTA is the largest superannuation fund dedicated to Australia’s health and community services sector.

HESTA now has over 870,000 members (more than 80% are women) and manages more than $52 billion in assets invested around the world.

HESTA is committed to creating a real difference to the financial future of every member. As a responsible steward of members’ retirement savings, HESTA focuses on achieving strong, sustainable, long-term returns while making a positive difference to the world members will retire into.

I work with asset owners, financial professionals and campaigners to help them understand how the financial system intersects with society and the environment.  The climate emergency is the most pressing issue for most organisations I deal with, however, I also have experience in other environmental issues and purely social investment.  In addition I am an early stage environmental investor (member and shareholder in Green Angel Syndicate) and provide grant assessment services.

My background is in fund management having worked at various firms in the City, including the Henderson responsible investment team at the turn of the millennium.  I moved to Bristol to take on a corporate finance role at Triodos where I was responsible for raising capital for social and environmental organisations. Most notably, I ran the first share issue for Cafedirect and the first bond issue for Mencap’s housing arm.  

London CIV (LCIV) is the Collective Investment Vehicle for London’s 32 borough councils and the City of London Pension Funds. As part of our fiduciary duty, we believe that Responsible Investment and Engagement is not just a moral imperative but an economic necessity.

We are committed to protecting the interests of our clients and members by acknowledging that climate-related risks and broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are a source of financial risk.

We aim to make long-term sustainable investments supported by data-led and transparent processes. As an affiliate of Pensions for Purpose, we participate in thought leadership discussions to enhance and share our knowledge of impact investment.

LCIV’s vision is to be a best-in-class asset pool that delivers value for Londoners through responsible investment strategies. In collaboration with all our stakeholders we are building better futures by investing for a world worth living in.

The LPFA is a defined-benefit LGPS with over 93,000 members, 123 active employers and, as at 31 March 2022, £7.6 billion of assets. Its assets are pooled via Local Pensions Partnership (LPP) together with those of the Lancashire County Pension Fund and the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund. LPFA and Lancashire County Council are also shareholders of the Local Pensions Partnership. LPFA is a Tier 1 signatory to the UK’s Stewardship Code, a signatory of the Climate Action 100+, a member of the LAPFF and is a participant in the C40 Cities Divest Invest Forum. The LPFA’s Investor Climate Action plan can be found here.

Nick is a Resource & Environment investment actuary. Most recently he led the strategic advice for large EMEA institutions at Russell Investments and was their EMEA lead on Responsible Investing. He has since created Gordian Advice, a sustainable advisory boutique, focusing on integrating long-term environment, societal and governance (ESG) influences into investment strategies and portfolios.

Nick believes pension funds are a tipping point in defining their purpose. He sees that leading pension funds are not only reflecting on integrating ESG influences but are actively seeking opportunities that both generate returns and also deliver a positive impact for society. Those funds are reflecting on their purpose, the meaning of long-term investing and how they best understand their members’ preferences. They consider that all their beneficiaries have a vested and financial interest in the society they retire into. As a consequence, those leading funds are demanding more from their investments requiring them to generate both returns and impact. They typically find that such demands can be met with no material increase in risk nor loss of returns and that these approaches can even be risk/return enhancing.

Finally, Nick is a passionate believer on the importance of values & culture and an advocate for aligning the asset management industry with a broad societal purpose. He was Co-chair of Russell Investments’ EMEA Diversity & Inclusion committee and is an Ambassador for the Diversity Project.

North Yorkshire Pension Fund is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with assets of around £4 billion. We have investments in equities (50%), bonds and cash (27.5%) and private markets including property (22.5%).

The Fund is a member of Border to Coast.  There is a strongly aligned vision of responsible investment across all eleven members and Border to Coast itself.  Consideration of ESG issues is embedded into investment processes across all of our managers and asset classes as we believe better run companies will produce better returns over the long-term.  ESG issues represent long term financial risks to the Fund and we see climate change being one of the most significant of them.

All of the Fund’s managers have committed to a Net Zero 2050 or sooner target with challenging interim targets to reduce carbon emissions.  The Fund is committed to global decarbonisation and believes this can be achieved through a robust approach to responsible investment, including engaging with companies to effect real world change.

The Oxfordshire County Council Pension Fund is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme. We have more than £3bn in AUM and a membership of over 68,000 people from nearly 200 employers.

The Fund is committed to being a responsible investor and has recently become a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code. We see investing sustainably as fundamental to fulfilling our mission of delivering long term, sustainable benefits to our members.

We do not currently have a specific impact investing allocation, preferring to integrate this approach into our investments into various asset classes. We have recently increased our allocation into a global sustainable equities portfolio, which includes companies working on climate solutions, taking our overall portfolio investment to around £450m. Through our property investments we invest into an affordable housing fund and have allocated funds to a social and environmental impact fund. We also have significant exposure to renewable energy assets through our infrastructure investments, with the next infrastructure cycle set to have a minimum commitment of 70% to renewables. We are also exploring the potential to invest into an energy transition fund with a focus on assets in the local area.

We are very pleased to have joined Pensions with Purpose as a member and look forward to working with other members to help develop the approaches taken by pension funds to delivering positive impact through their investments.

Penfold is the modern, flexible pension built for how we live and work today. We’re a digital alternative to traditional pension companies, and we allow our customers to set up, manage and track their pensions online. At Penfold, we help savers keep their pension sustainable and socially responsible in 3 ways.

First, we have our Sustainable plan, a pension fund managed by BlackRock that prioritizes investments with a high ESG rating. This strategy uses a mix of exclusion, removing companies and sectors with negative environmental or social impacts like tobacco or weapons, and a focus on socially responsible investing. This means actively investing a larger percentage of the fund in companies with the highest ESG rating compared to peers.

Next, our Explore Your Pension feature. We believe transparency is a vital part of sustainable investing - savers should know exactly where the money in their pension is, so they can align their investments with your ethics. Explore Your Pension gives savers complete visibility into their pension, highlighting which industries and countries their plan invests in, as well as which individual companies are included.

Finally, we also make it easy to vote by proxy. With Explore Your Pension, savers can opt-in to be notified anytime companies they're invested in hold their Annual General Meetings. Then, when the boards discuss issues like climate change or social responsibility, savers can have their say, right from our app. If enough do the same, their opinion will be aired at the AGM by a fund representative.

As a pension investor, we aim to achieve an optimal return for our clients while maintaining a responsible risk profile. Within this core task, we pay particular attention to responsible investment based on the conviction that this can reduce risks and offers opportunities to make a good return with investments that contribute to social and environmental solutions. This is especially true in the long period in which the money of our clients is entrusted to us. We also want to contribute to a liveable, more sustainable world, in which our clients’ participants receive their pensions.

Radek Stech (PhD) is the Founder/CEO of the Sustainable Finance, the Law and Stakeholders (SFLS) Network and a senior academic at the University of Exeter Law School. He has more than 13 years of solid research, consultancy and advisory experience in sustainable finance, banking and environmental law. Through his various research projects, Radek has collaborated with PGGM, the US Chamber of Commerce, the World Bank, the Welsh Government, WWF UK, PGGM and many leading international law firms. He has held fellowships at George Washington University Law School, the World Bank Group, and the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV). He is a member of The Bretton Woods Committee. Radek led beneficial owners (such as BlackRock and PGGM) towards a principle-based approach to sustainable securities lending during 2018-2019.

In 2020, he founded the Global Principles for Sustainable Securities Lending (Global PSSL) community interest company that takes this work to a new level. He is convinced that sustainable securities lending will play an essential role in the success of the Global Sustainable Finance Market. Radek co-founded the International Securities Lending Association Council for Sustainable Finance (ICSF). Despite the recent social and economic turbulence, Dr Stech has grown ICSF membership and forged strong partnerships around the world.


Railpen are trusted with the safekeeping and investment of around £34 billion in assets for 350,000 members of the railways pension schemes, one of the UK's largest and longest established pension funds. We support over 100 different employers with a mixture of open and closed DB sections, DC and hybrid arrangements, supported by the RPS Trustee.

The Trustee’s mission is to ‘pay members’ pensions securely, affordably and sustainably’. Railpen supports the Trustee in delivering this through our own purpose of ‘securing our members’ future’. We recognise that members and employers trust us with a significant responsibility, and that the decisions and actions we take affect members’ future lives and wellbeing. We recognise that our investments, notably in property and infrastructure, have a dual purpose; to invest responsibly on behalf of our members and to improve the wider world they will retire into. The complex and interconnected nature of ESG risks underline the importance of taking a holistic approach to investment stewardship, building from our own culture and philosophy to effectively tackle ESG issues at a system-wide level, at a company level, and asset level for our place-based investments in property and infrastructure.

Shell Foundation (SF) is a UK-registered charity established by Shell in 2000 as an independent endowed foundation. Its work is focussed on empowering emerging market populations to earn a living income through clean energy access.

Part of its impact strategy is working as an ‘Impact LP’ – backing SDG-aligned investment strategies in emerging markets and leveraging its capital to de-risk institutional investor participation and co-create blended finance facilities.

To amplify its work, SF holds co-funding partnerships with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and MOUs with Nuveen/TIAA, British International Investment and US Development Finance Corporation.

SF has backed several fund managers over time – from boutique impact firms to large institutions – including M&G’s responsAbility and Natixis’ affiliate Mirova SunFunder.

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority is a unique organisation within the Local Government Pension Scheme as the only democratically accountable single purpose pension administering authority, created in 1988 to act as steward of the £8.5bn South Yorkshire Pension Fund. The Fund has had a long and successful history of internal management and has long treated responsible investment issues seriously being a very early member of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum. More recently the Authority has chosen to participate within the Border to Coast pool and transferred its internal investment team to the new Partnership.

The Authority believes strongly in using its financial muscle to “make stuff happen”, whether that be changing corporate behaviour through engagement, supporting the transition to a low carbon economy through investing in renewables, or achieving local impact through an allocation to local commercial property loan finance.

Tyne and Wear Pension Fund is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with assets of around £12.5 billion. The Pensions Committee believes that ESG issues represent long term financial risks to the Fund and Climate Change is one of the most significant of these risks. The investment strategy includes approaches addressing these issues for both active and passively managed assets. The strategy includes material exposure to private equity, infrastructure, climate solutions and residential property.

The Fund has committed to a Net Zero 2050 or sooner target with challenging interim targets to reduce carbon emissions. In 2022 the Fund published its first TCFD Report including its carbon footprint alongside a Net Zero Roadmap. The Fund is committed to global decarbonisation and believes this can be achieved through consideration of climate related risks across all assets and through changing behaviours with collaborative engagement rather than blanket divestment.

The Fund is a founder member of Border to Coast Pension Partnership (BCPP) and has a strongly aligned vision of responsible investment. It works closely with all of its investment managers, including BCPP, to embed ESG factors in the investment process to achieve long term sustainable returns.

The Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) is the pooling arrangement for the assets of the eight Welsh Local Government Pension Scheme funds (Constituent Authorities). The investment arrangements of WPP are overseen by a Joint Governance Committee (JGC) and supported by an Officer Working Group (OWG) and implemented through pooled funds managed by its 'Investment Managers'. The RI Sub-Group provides oversight and advice to the OWG and JGC on the development and implementation of the RI policy.

WPP recognises that responsible investment considerations pose financially material risks to the assets of Constituent Authorities held within WPP. Such considerations are relevant in relation to both the way the assets of Constituent Authorities are invested and in the exercise of stewardship responsibilities. WPP will have regard to the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, the Local Government Pension Scheme (Management and Investment of Funds) Regulations 2016 and any relevant guidance provided by the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB), the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government.

WPP’s long-term ambition is to demonstrate leadership on RI practices in managing assets for and on behalf of the Constituent Authorities. WPP, in conjunction with the OWG & JGC, will update its annual business plan to ensure that sufficient time and resources are provided to implement the requirements of the RI policy. WPP recognises that the development of beliefs represents best practice for asset owners. In consultation with the Constituent Authorities, the WPP has developed and agreed the following responsible investment beliefs which serve to underpin its decision-making and governance processes.

  • The RI behaviours we want to see demonstrated by all our stakeholders must be led by WPP.
  • Integration of ESG factors, including climate change, into investment processes is a prerequisite for any strategy given the potential for financial loss.
  • WPP is most effective as an investor engaging for change from within, particularly in collaboration with other like-minded investors, as opposed to a campaigner lobbying for change from outside.
  • Our impact on corporate behaviours will be greatest when we speak with one voice.
  • Effective oversight of RI practices requires clear disclosure and measurement of comprehensive data.
Warwickshire Pension Fund administers the Local Government Pension Scheme, for employees of a variety of different employers, from councils to charities in its geographical area.

As a long-term asset owner, the Fund has an opportunity to seek positive real-world change whilst protecting and enhancing the Fund’s assets within the scope of our fiduciary duty.

William has been working in the institutional asset markets for 35 years and in various, mainly non-executive, roles with pension funds since 2009.  A thought leader within the financial industry, he has been quoted in numerous articles and papers, both media and academic, as well as in government responses to consultations.  

He acts as independent adviser to Nottinghamshire and East Sussex Pension Funds, and as independent chair to Lancashire and LPFA Pension Boards.  William has a Masters in Finance from the London Business School and is the Director of Linchpin Advisory Limited, providing independent advisory services to public and private sector institutions on investment and governance.

William is interested in how pension funds can put in place good decision-making processes so that impact investing achieves the right balance between financial returns and social benefits. 

Wiltshire Pension Fund is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with assets valued at £3.2bn.  Its investment strategy includes a relatively large allocation to equities for long-term growth, and more diversified and less correlated asset classes such as bonds, property, infrastructure, multi-asset credit and private markets, to achieve stabilisation.

The Fund has an award-winning approach to Responsible Investment, implemented through its forward-looking Strategic Vision Goals and Responsible Investment policy.  The Fund also became a signatory to the Stewardship Code 2020 in 2022 and actively engages with its asset managers, while not being afraid to hold them to account.

Commitments to Impact Affordable Housing were made in April 2022 and the Fund has begun the process of updating stakeholders on deployment and progress.  This allocation will be followed by Renewable Infrastructure/Climate Solutions and reporting on impact as well as financial factors will be an area to develop over time.

Wiltshire Pension Fund is proud to be a member of Pensions for Purpose and part of a group of innovative and collaborative pension funds, advisors and asset managers, promoting a more holistic view on investment with social and environmental impact.

Worcestershire Pension Fund has just under £3bn worth of investments and over 200 Employers. The Fund has been growing its mix of Property and Infrastructure investments since 2015 with a current target asset allocation of 15% which includes actual investment of around 7% in offshore wind farms and other forms of renewable energy. This is likely to increase further through our impending Strategic Asset Allocation review.

From an asset allocation point of view it appears to us preferable to think about impact strategies within the already well-established asset classes rather than as a standalone bucket and we will continue to seek out appropriate investment opportunities.

The Fund is a part-owner of LGPS Central, the ‘asset pool’ of which the Fund is a participating member. With the Fund’s support, LGPS Central has developed a leading approach to responsible investment and has identified climate change as one of its key stewardship themes.

The Fund believes strongly that working in collaboration and collectively with LGPS Central and Partner funds will increase the likelihood that it will be heard by the company, fund manager or other relevant stakeholder compared with acting alone and supports for instance the transition to a low carbon economy.