NEST Corporation today (6 September) announced the appointees to its Employer Panel and Member Panel.
NEST's Panels will provide a forum for employers and members to give their perspectives on NEST and contribute to a range of issues and activities that may affect them now and in the future.
Each Panel will be a sounding board for ideas and suggestions proposed by NEST and provide recommendations on key issues, ensuring that any concerns are raised at Trustee level.
The appointees are:
Employer Panel Members
* Jim Bligh
* Alison Heywood
* Ronke Lawal
* Ian Naylor
* Francesca Okosi
* Phil Orford
* Stephen Smith
* Karen Thomson
* David Yeandle OBE
Member Panel Members
* Naomi Cooke
* Malcolm McLean OBE
* Stella Okeahialam MBE
* Doug Taylor
* Wendy van den Hende
Paul Jagger MBE, Chair of NEST's Employer Panel said:
‘NEST has been designed for employers of all sizes and sectors and we expect it to be used by employers in every region of the UK, including some of the very largest. It's vital that employers' issues and concerns can be fully represented to the NEST Trustee. The Employer Panel will play a critical role in ensuring the scheme works for all the employers that use it and in helping us to make sure NEST understands employers' needs.'
Museji Takolia CBE, Chair of NEST's Member Panel, said:
‘The Member Panel is an essential part of the framework that helps ensure NEST is run in the interests of its members. The Member Panel will have a critical role in ensuring that issues affecting NEST members can be represented. I am very pleased with the range of expertise and backgrounds we have in our initial appointees. This is a great starting point for the Panel, which over time will grow to represent millions of workers from around the country.'
Employer Panel profiles
* Jim Bligh is Principal Policy Advisor at the CBI, leading the employment relations and pensions team. The team lobbies on industrial relations, pensions, equality and diversity, welfare, unemployment, business responsibility, human rights and anti-bribery policy. Jim leads the CBI's major project on reducing unemployment and a project on the role of business in society. Jim joined the CBI in 2007, having previously worked for a parliamentary candidate.
* Alison Heywood is currently working as the Pension Director for Balfour Beatty plc. She has been responsible for all aspects of pensions for approximately 35,000 UK employees throughout the Group since 2007 and looks after various pension plans with total assets amounting to around £2.5bn. She has more than twenty years' experience in the pensions industry and prior to joining Balfour Beatty, Alison spent most of her career as a pension consultant at the global consultancy firm Towers Watson where she advised a variety of corporate and pension trustee clients on a wide range of pension issues. Alison is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, is a former examiner for the Institute's pension examinations and has served on the regional groups committee of the National Association of Pension Funds.
* Ronke Lawal is Chief Executive of Islington Chamber of Commerce. She is the founder of RSL Management Services, a London-based marketing, PR and brand development firm which Ronke set up in 2004. In 2006 Ronke also became a partner at the Simone Williams fashion label. In addition to running two businesses, Ronke was appointed Chief Executive of the Islington Chamber of Commerce earlier this year and is also a Non-Executive Director at The Hoxton Apprentice - a commercially run restaurant owned by the charity Training for Life.
* Ian Naylor is the UK Legal (& Public affairs) Director for Randstad, the global recruitment company. He is a qualified solicitor with 15 years' experience, spending much of this time working as an in-house lawyer - 11 of which in the recruitment sector. He also sits on the Employment Policy Committee of the REC, the UK recruitment trade association, which considers and debates key legislative and other issues faced by the recruitment industry. This includes key legislation such as the Agency Worker Regulations and the Pensions Act.
* Francesca Okosi is the Director of Corporate Resources at the British Transport Police. She has held a number of senior roles in central and local government and the not-for-profit sector, including Director of HR & Consultancy Services at Brent Council and Director of Change and Strategy at Defra where she oversaw a wide-scale change programme. She has also previously held a number of non-executive roles and was a past President of the Public Sector People Managers' Association.
* Phil Orford is Chief Executive of the Forum of Private Business. He is also a member of the Secretary of State for Wales Business Advisory Group, a member of the Minister for Business and Enterprise's Small Business Economic Forum and a member of the CBI's Small and Private Business Forum. He also sits on the British Bankers Association Taskforce group. Previously, Phil has run his own small businesses for over 25 years and has also served as a Non-Executive Director of the United Kingdom Council for Access and Equality.
* Stephen Smith is Chief Executive and one of the founders of EMB, an economic development company providing a range of business improvement services to companies both through government contracts and commercially. Over the last five years these include Investors in People, UK Trade & Investment, Leadership & Management and Business Link, plus around eighty different programmes, some of which are EU-funded initiatives. Stephen is Board Director of North Northants Development Company and Princes Trust East Midlands, and was Chair of Invest Northamptonshire. He has also served at Explore Northamptonshire, Catalyst Corby and the main board of the British Chambers of Commerce.
* Karen Thomson is Associate Director of Policy, Research & Strategic Visibility for the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP). Working for the CIPP for more than eight years, Karen has responsibility for engaging CIPP members on government and research consultations. Karen's main remit is to ensure that the CIPP members'/employers' voices are heard on a range of issues including payroll, business or pension matters. Karen is a tutor for both the CIPP Foundation Degree and the Masters in Payroll & Business Management. She is also a member of the Admin Burdens Advisory Board, and also currently co-chairs the HMRC Employment Consultation Forum.
* David Yeandle OBE is the Director, Government Relations, of the European Employers Group and a member of the Council of the Pensions Policy Institute. He is also a member of the National Employer Advisory Board of the Reserves of the Armed Forces and the Executive Council of the Involvement and Participation Association. David was previously the Head of Employment Policy of EEF, the manufacturers' organisation for UK manufacturing companies, where he represented the views of manufacturers on employment and pensions issues to the UK Government and the European Union. David was also one of three experts asked by the Coalition Government in 2010 to undertake an independent review of automatic enrolment. David has also been the Director, Personnel, of Pirelli Cables, the UK manufacturing part of the international Pirelli Group and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a Fellow of the RSA.
Member Panel profiles
* Naomi Cooke is the National Pensions Officer for the GMB trade union representing more than 600,000 members across the public and private sector. She is a member of the EU Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group and the Policy Review Group for the Local Government Pension Scheme. Previously, Naomi has participated in the Pension Regulator's Advisory Panel, the Deregulation Review and was involved in the development of the Financial Assistance Scheme and Pension Protection Fund. Prior to joining GMB, Naomi worked for the Communication Workers Union.
* Malcolm McLean OBE joined independent actuaries and consultants Barnett Waddingham as a Consultant in April 2010. Before that, he had been the Chief Executive of the Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) for the preceding 13 years. His earlier career was mainly as a civil servant working on pension policy in the delivery of benefits. For three years he was the General Manager/Secretary to the now defunct Occupational Pensions Board.
* Stella Okeahialam MBE is Programme Director at the Institute for Sustainability with responsibility for governance, implementation, quality and risk management of the Institute's programmes and projects. Prior to joining the Institute for Sustainability, her roles included Head of Skills & Employment at the London Development Agency (LDA) and Director at Croydon Enterprise - an initiative aimed at developing and encouraging a new enterprise culture. Previous experience includes delivering various strategic programmes in economic development, regeneration and community renewal. Stella has also worked in the banking and private healthcare sectors and served on a number of boards including the Croydon Savers Credit Union Ltd, Croydon Enterprise Loan Fund Ltd and Croydon Education Business Partnership.
* Doug Taylor is the Financial Services Chief Advocate at Which?where he co-ordinates the diverse strands of the Which? personal finance campaigns. Doug currently sits on a wide range of financial working groups representing Which?Doug is also a Governor of the Pensions Policy Institute. Prior to moving to Which? Doug was the Deputy Chief Executive of the British Society for Rheumatology, and before that the National Director of the National Union of Students. He has extensive experience in the charity sector, including being a past Trustee of a national charity concerned with the welfare of prisoners abroad, and was a past member of the Executive of the Association of Chief Executives of National Voluntary Organisations.
* Wendy van den Hende was appointed as pfeg's first Chief Executive in 2000. pfeg is a finance education organisation in England which helps schools to plan and teach personal finance relevant to students' lives and needs. pfeg's projects have been funded by HSBC, the government and the Financial Services Authority as a key element in the UK's national strategy on financial capability. Wendy was previously Chief Executive for Parent Network, Deputy Director of the National Council for One Parent Families and interim director of the Camelot Foundation. She is Chair of Milton Keynes Citizen Advice Bureau and has served on the boards of a number of charities.
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