It’s been a great ride for me at Vidett during almost 10 years at the firm.
We were originally known as HR Trustees, when I joined the company straight from a career in banking. Back then I was still a trustee of the Bank of New York Hybrid Pension Plan, where I had served for 12 years – but this was a long way away from doing this as a full time professional.
As I look back at the tiny firm we were then (with just 15 employees or so, and no formal internal structure to manage the business) and compare it to the industry leading Vidett we are today, one with well-developed systems, processes, procedures and policies – it’s fair to say I have seen quite a change.
A master of trusts
After a slowish start upon joining, with the benefit of inheriting my first schemes, I was able to start winning my own appointments which were primarily for defined benefit (DB) trustee and trustee chair roles but I then got into the defined contribution (DC) Master Trust (MT) game in 2018 with National Pension Trust. This led me to winning appointments at Fidelity MT, Fidelity IGC and the Scottish Widows MT in 2020. It’s at this point I experienced a steep learning curve in all things DC and MT.
Now, no MT wants to have a trustee who serves on another MT but back then this was considered a good thing to ensure there was the necessary experience around the table. With my banking background and a personal interest in investments, I filled the investment lead slot naturally around the MT trustee table which seems to be a position with less competition in the market.
On my DB appointments, it was my long experience in financial markets that fed the stubbornness in me that made me so resistant to pressure to take on leverage to hedge interest rate risk at zero rates on young, underfunded schemes.
Thanks, then, go to Liz Truss who caused funding levels across my portfolio to soar and allow me to hedge fully funded positions on a route to fully funded buy ins. To further protect members’ interests, I’m now passing these cases onto colleagues with superior attention to detail to complete the risk transfer work!
A fond farewell
So, all in all, I feel I leave my scheme members in a good position and, together with the expiry of my five-year DC MT terms, allow me to leave Vidett at what feels like a perfect time.
Special mention goes to one scheme where I had the privilege to sit on the investment committee (with Alex Davies as trustee) where chronic underfunding has led to indulging in investment in a rich and broad assortment of private, public and synthetic assets set to cause any investment enthusiast’s heart aflutter (Sasha Jain has much to look forward to with that inheritance…).
Interesting times await
My biggest disappointment is seeing my MT appointments expire at such an interesting time, especially now that the focus (with a strong following wind from government) is on carving out allocations to private assets. Time will tell whether the high hopes of better member outcomes from allocations to illiquids will be realised and beat cheap passive equity not to mention whether the increased governance needed over more opaque assets will prove effective.
It will certainly be really interesting, as will the other dominant challenge of best serving members who’ve been in a default fund all their lives who then have to manage a pot of money to fund their retirement with no skills to do so. So interesting are these matters, in fact, that you shouldn’t be surprised if you see me doing something in the space on an independent basis in the future…
In the meantime, I will be reflecting on a happy and mentally enriching time at Vidett where I have made friends, enjoyed collaboration on schemes and worked on key strategic initiatives for the firm such as in DC where the long term future of the industry lies.
A huge thank you goes to Gerald Wellesley for his huge contribution to Vidett and the wider team. We wish you the best of luck in your next chapter… you’ll be missed by all our team!
