Judging Panel 2027

Robert Branagh, Experienced Pensions Professional
Lewis Brown, Vice Chair, AMNT
David Butcher, Managing Director, Communications and Content
Michael Clark, Clark Pensions
Jerry Gandhi, Director, C A P Services
Mohsin Harhara, Head of Pensions, Skanska UK
Ali Heppenstall, CEO, Climate Action for Associations
Miriam Kimber, Director of Legal, Pension Protection Fund (PPF)
Vince Linnane, Chairman, Hoffmann Reed UK
Ian McQuade, CEO, Muse Advisory
Dr Suzy Morrissey FCA, Deputy Director, Pensions Policy Institute (PPI)
Julian Mund, Chief Executive, Pensions UK
Graham Ord, Founder and Director, Aquilo Marketing
Richard Poole, Experienced Pensions Professional
Ed Protheroe, Director, Parkview Capital
Mike Smaje, Professional Trustee, BESTrustees
Matthew Swynnerton, Chair, Association of Pension Lawyers & Partner, Arc Pensions Law
Sam Taylor, Professional Trustee, Dalriada Trustees

More judges to be announced...

Robert Branagh, Experienced Pensions Professional
Robert Branagh, a senior pensions professional with 30 years of experience across diverse sectors, including outsourcing, financial services, and the public sector, brings a wealth of expertise to the table. His most recent role as CEO of the London Pensions Fund Authority, overseeing an £8bn fund and investment management business with a strong focus on climate change action and responsible investment, highlights his commitment to driving positive change. Robert is an advocate of generating return from real assets whilst providing impact via local and UK wide enterprises. He serves on the Board of the Pensions Ombudsman, the Advisory Board of the Clean Growth Fund and is a professional independent trustee on the Creative Pensions Trust.

Lewis Brown, Vice Chair, AMNT
Bio to follow...

David Butcher, Managing Director, Communications and Content
David Butcher is a communications professional who advises financial services clients on their messaging, thought leadership and reputation in the media. He launched his consultancy Communications and Content in 2017 and has worked in the sector for 25 years. He started his career in consultancies, such as Lansons, where he helped launch Citywire.co.uk and Moneysupermarket.com, before specialising in investment management and long-term savings. David has held a number of senior roles at businesses including Fidelity International and M&G Investments. He is a Fellow of the RSA, publishes the popular annual Readability Report and writes regularly on communications issues in the trade media.

Michael Clark, Clark Pensions
Michael Clark has worked with a full range of companies from FTSE 100 to SMEs undertaking a wide range of different roles and managing specific projects including professional trustee appointments, including three master trusts, providing trustee secretariat services, trustee induction and training, executive pension benefits and auto-enrolment. Michael qualified as an Associate of the PMI min 1990 and was the first professional trustee to be accredited by the Pensions Management Institute. Michael has spent much of his working career in the pension services sector where he has more than 40 years’ experience working in a variety of roles. These include leading a team of professional pension trustees after having previously worked at a major third-party pension administrator. Before this Michael gained experience working in consulting actuarial and insurance companies. Michael is a regular speaker and Chair at conferences and seminars.

Jerry Gandhi, Director,  C A P Services, Independent Pensions Professional, Professional Trustee and Governance and Strategy Specialist
Jerry Gandhi is a highly experienced pensions professional and independent trustee, with a distinguished career as a pensions manager across a diverse range of organisations. He has worked with businesses of all sizes - from small firms to some of the UK’s largest private-sector pension operations and corporate entities (UK and overseas) - delivering successful outcomes through both hands-on scheme management and strategic project delivery. Renowned for his leadership in trustee governance and operational excellence, Jerry specialises in both DB and DC pension schemes. He brings deep insight into balancing the often-competing priorities of commercial imperatives and trustees’ fiduciary duties, with a strong track record in navigating complex conflicts and aligning stakeholder interests. Jerry's expertise spans employer covenant assessment, funding strategy, and investment planning. He focuses on developing long-term, sustainable solutions that protect members' benefits while recognising the financial pressures faced by scheme sponsors. Respected across the pensions industry, Jerry is known for his collaborative approach, rapid relationship-building, and clear, decisive leadership. His ability to innovate and drive progress ensures that trustees and employers can work together to achieve balanced, mutually beneficial outcomes.

Mohsin Harhara, Head of Pensions, Skanska
Mohsin Harhara is the head of pensions at Skanska and a director, sitting on a number of the UK pension schemes trustee boards and sub-committees, and the DC governance committee. He was previously the head of pensions at Evelyn Partners and head of pensions at Mott MacDonald, where he was responsible for pension strategy and overall management of the pension schemes including governance matters in the UK and Ireland. Prior to this, Mohsin has held pension and employee benefits consultancy roles with various advisory firms which include WTW and PwC, advising companies ranging from SMEs to FTSE100s, helping them with their strategic plans and managing various projects in areas such as DB liability and risk management, auto-enrolment, and pension scheme and benefit design.

Ali Heppenstall, CEO, Climate Action for Associations
Ali Heppenstall is founder and executive director of Climate Action for Associations (CAFA) and managing director of b2b. CAFA is the only resource and network dedicated to sustainability and net zero for the membership sector. With more than 25 years’ experience, Ali has worked with more than 70 memberships, including PMI, IACEW, CIPD, CIPP, CIPS, FSB and British Chambers of Commerce to help them to grow, increase reach and impact, generate alternative revenues and be sustainable. Her work with climate change NGOs, industry, and business net-zero working groups has enabled the development of CAFA’s best practice framework and certified net zero association programme of support specifically for associations and their members, is speeding up climate leadership, systems and sectoral climate action.

Miriam Kimber, Director of Legal, Pension Protection Fund (PPF)
Miriam Kimber joined the PPF in 2009 and runs the legal team which works across a wide range of legal work including pensions and investment. Miriam is passionate about working for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and initiated the PPF Working Families’ Alliance and also leads the PPF's Race Action Group. Miriam won Lawyer of the Year at the Women in Pensions Awards 2023 and was Highly Commended in the same category in 2024. She volunteers as a moot judge for the charity BVL, is a trustee of a music charity that champions composers from underrepresented groups and is a member of the Conduct in Sport panel for Cricket Scotland.

Vince Linnane, Chairman, Hoffmann Reed UK
Prior to taking up the role of Hoffmann Reed UK Chairman, Vince Linnane was chief executive of the Pensions Management Institute (PMI) for a decade between July 2006 and May 2016 when he stood down from the position. Vince has a BA (Hons) from Newcastle University in English and History. Achievements have included winning the 2016 Professional Pensions Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2016 Pensions Age Pensions Personality of the Year Award. Vince was included in the most 50 influential people in UK pensions by Pensions Insight for 2012-15.

Ian McQuade, CEO, Muse Advisory
Ian McQuade has over 30 years’ pension experience, covering the management and administration of DB & DC schemes. He advises Trustees and Companies on a wide range of strategic, operational and governance related issues, including advising on strategy, operational and administration effectiveness, and leading clients through the review, selection and implementation of administrators and advisers, including supporting master trust selection exercises.

Dr Suzy Morrissey FCA, Deputy Director, Pensions Policy Institute (PPI)
Suzy Morrissey joined the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) in 2024. In addition to being the deputy director, she also manages the PPI's research programme. Suzy brings over 20 years' experience from both the public and private sectors. After leaving the UK following university, she started her career working for global consulting firms in Australia and New Zealand, providing taxation advice to multinational organisations. She then moved to the public sector and held several senior positions in the New Zealand civil service, including at Treasury and the Retirement Commission. She has been a regular presenter and commentator on pensions, including the gender pensions gap, as well as on broader issues related to older people and welfare, and on wellbeing economics. In 2018, Suzy was conferred Fellowship (FCA) by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the profession. Last year, Suzy was appointed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to be the Independent Reviewer for the Third State Pension Age Review, which is expected to be completed next year.

Julian Mund, Chief Executive, Pensions UK
Julian Mund joined Pensions UK as Commercial Services Director in 2013 and became Chief Executive in 2017. Pensions UK is the voice of pensions in the UK, trusted and heard by the government and the pensions industry. For more than 100 years they’ve delivered influential thought leadership, practical guidance and research; pro-actively solving the sector’s biggest issues and setting the future direction. They are a not-for-profit organisation, exist for the benefit of their members, and aim to deliver the best possible outcome for savers in the UK, so they can retire in confidence and with dignity.

Graham Ord, Founder and Director, Aquilo Marketing
Graham Ord has 25 years' experience in marketing, the majority of it within the pensions industry. He began his career at Capita, where he was head of marketing for Capita Hartshead, before joining Aon. There he held UK, EMEA and global marketing leadership roles across pensions, health, talent and risk, and was appointed UK Chief Marketing Officer in 2021. In 2024 he launched Aquilo Marketing, which provides fractional marketing leadership, strategic advice and delivery to financial services and professional services firms, including pensions and employee benefits consultancies. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and speaks and writes regularly on business-to-business marketing strategy.

Richard Poole, Experienced Pensions Professional
Richard Poole was the pension and benefits lawyer for Royal Mail Group, which has a number of pension schemes in the UK. He advised on the administration and management of the group’s pension schemes since 2000, including the transfer of the group’s historic pension liabilities to government, ongoing pensions reform and the introduction of a CDC scheme. Richard is a trustee of a charity, the Rowland Hill Fund.

Ed Protheroe, Director, Parkview Capital
Ed Protheroe is a seasoned investment professional with over 40 years of experience, having held a number of senior positions in the City. He founded consultancy Parkview Capital in 2017, where he leverages his extensive industry knowledge to help companies with messaging and communications, commercial strategy and business development. Formerly an award-winning fund manager, Ed has a strong background in equities and also real estate, having worked at notable companies such as Aberdeen and M&G.

Mike Smaje, Professional Trustee, BESTrustees
Mike Smaje joined BESTrustees in 2020. He has over 30 years’ pensions experience, as a former scheme actuary and investment consultant before becoming a professional trustee. He currently represents BESTrustees on ten pension schemes. His clients range in size from £100m to c. £4bn. Mike specialises in funding and investment matters.

Matthew Swynnerton, Chair, Association of Pension Lawyers & Partner, Arc Pensions Law
Matthew Swynnerton is the current elected Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers. He is also a partner in the London office of Arc Pensions Law and has three decades of experience advising on all aspects of pensions law. Matthew has advised on a number of significant transactions in the pensions risk transfer market, and has developed unrivalled expertise in relation to advising gig economy sector entities on their pensions duties and negotiations with the Pensions Regulator. He has been described by a leading pensions KC as having "an extensive knowledge of pensions law and practice, very sound legal judgement and good commercial sense” and by clients as being "able to demonstrate a deep knowledge of pensions law which he deploys with great pragmatism". Matthew has recently been selected to join a group of 13 industry experts to form a technical working group to support the UK government in developing statutory guidance for trustees in relation to their fiduciary duty and investment decision-making in the context of long-term and systemic matters. Matthew has also been a member of the Pension Scams Industry Group since its inception in 2015, involved with the drafting key legal sections of the Combatting Pension Scams Code of Good Practice, as well as working directly with DWP policymakers on legislation in this complex and evolving area.

Sam Taylor, Professional Trustee, Dalriada Trustees
Sam Taylor is a Professional Trustee at Dalriada Trustees, with a background spanning professional trusteeship and investment consulting. Prior to joining Dalriada, Sam advised pension schemes on investment strategy, risk management and governance matters at leading consultancy firms, including PwC and Lane Clark & Peacock. His experience helping trustee boards navigate strategic investment decisions, alongside his current trusteeship responsibilities, provides a unique perspective on governance, innovation and long-term value creation. Sam's blend of investment and trustee expertise enables him to assess submissions across a broad range of award categories.