Our Affiliates include asset owners, government bodies, independent advisers, researchers and journalists. As at end December 2018, we had 61 Affiliate members signed up. Most of our Affiliate members have elected to remain anonymous but those signing up have a mix of roles, including pensions managers, chairs of trustees, Local Pension Board members and staff/member representatives on the pensions committee.

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. 

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.

Minerva Analytics is a new kind of proxy advisor. Based in the UK, Minerva is Europe’s only independent provider of global proxy voting services with a sustainability-centric approach. Following the acquisition of Manifest in March 2018, Minerva offers clients a tightly-connected and carefully designed suite of services comprising electronic voting, research, bespoke ESG voting policies, and a comprehensive range of key governance data to support an evidence-based approach to stewardship. Minerva enables clients to fulfil their stewardship responsibilities with  easy to use analytical tools which offer real insight into governance practices, not just during the proxy season but all year round.

For the past two decades, Minerva has helped organisations such as the OECD, the British Government, Financial Reporting Council, academics, asset owners and managers tackle the challenges of analysing ESG and shareholder voting-related data.

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.

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.