Wednesday 26th November
Devil’s Advocates | Afternoon
Joanne Donnelly, CEO, LPFA
11:15 – 12:00
Registration and coffee in the Sandringham Suite
12:00 – 12:05
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Chair
John Harrison
Adviser
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership
12:05 – 12:15
Presentation: A word from our editor
Pensions Expert editor, Nick Reeve, looks back at some of the key themes dominating the pension headlines in 2025.
Speaker
Nick Reeve
Editor
Pensions Expert
12:15 – 14:00
Lunch and 2025 Budget
Join us for lunch as we sit down and watch Rachel Reeves’ second Budget.
14:00 – 14:40
Keynote: Delivering a modern regulatory system that drives better outcomes for savers
In this keynote session, the CEO of the Pensions Regulator outlines their evolving approach to regulating the UK pensions sector, moving towards a new prudential approach.
Speaker
Nausicaa Delfas
CEO
The Pensions Regulator
14:40 – 15:20
Panel: Navigating a minefield – delivering better pensions and investments in a world of policy and regulatory upheaval and change
Our opening panel will look at the economic, political and regulatory context and unpack what this all means for the pensions sector and savers. How will geopolitical events affect the investment environment that schemes operate in? Will the domestic political agenda help or hinder schemes in delivering better outcomes for members? And how will the ever-changing face of regulation impact on how scheme’s deliver for members. Join our panellists to discuss all this and more.
Moderator
John Harrison
Conference Chair
Panellists
Philip Brown
Director of Policy
NEST
Melanie Duffield
Chief Strategy and Stakeholder Officer
USS
Guy Opperman
Former Pensions Minister
15:20 – 15:40
Coffee in the Sandringham Suite
15:40 – 16:00
Presentation: Navigating geopolitical volatility: a strategic approach to emerging markets debt
In an era of heightened geopolitical volatility, managing risk in emerging market debt requires more than proactive positioning, it demands a disciplined, research-driven framework. This presentation examines how active portfolio management can navigate uncertainty, maintain resilience, and uncover opportunities.
Presenter
Laura Reardon
Fixed Income Institutional Portfolio Manager
MFS Investment Management
16:00 – 16:20
Interview: Scaling innovation, securing futures: pension investment for a productive Britain
Scientific innovation is the next big economic growth driver. The UK is a “superpower” in higher education, with world-class universities and research quality that ranks amongst the best in the world. Indeed, UK university deeptech spinout’s already generate the most value within Europe. Yet, despite the institutional quality of the investment opportunity and ample capital deployment opportunities, we have a “cliff edge” in UK sourced funding. This increasingly challenges companies from scaling and remaining here, putting the UK at serious risk of becoming a “sandbox economy”, with other countries reaping the rewards of our innovation. We need more UK institutional capital support for companies at the scale-up stage of the commercial lifecycle. If we deliver this, the impact of capitalising on our strengths could be enormous for investors, our economy, and society.
Interviewer
John Harrison
Conference Chair
Interviewee
Greg Smith
Chief Executive Officer
IP Group
16:20 – 17:00
Panel: Investing in private markets – panacea or red herring?
Private markets are the talk of the town, but it’s talk that splits opinion. Some see private markets as the silver bullet for delivering better risk-adjusted returns. Others are more sceptical and see investments riddled with risk, fees, and opacity. This panel will cut through the noise and ask the real questions. Who actually benefits from the private markets push: members, or managers? Are trustees and schemes equipped to oversee these assets in scale and detail? Does access to private markets represent real innovation or is it just marketing spin? And is the regulatory system ready for the shift away from public markets?
Moderator
John Harrison
Conference Chair
Panellists
Martin Bailey
Head of Strategic Engagement
City of London Corporation
Richard Tomlinson
CIO
LPPI
Speaker to be confirmed
Patria
17:00 – 17:30
Keynote: Budget reaction
17:30 – 17:40
Devil’s Advocate Summaries
17:40 – 17:45
Closing Remarks
Chair
John Harrison
Conference Chair
19:00 – 21:00
Dinner in the Windsor and Eton
Thursday 27th November
Devil’s Advocates | Morning
Paul Guilliotti, Director of Financial Services, Wandsworth Pension Fund
Nemashe Sivayogan, Head of Treasury and Pensions, London Borough of Merton
Peter Wallach, Director of Pensions, Merseyside Pension Fund
08:15 – 09:00
Coffee and Registration in the Sandringham Suite
09:00 – 09:05
Opening Remarks
Chair
John Harrison
Conference Chair
09:05 – 09:45
Panel: Investing for a better Britain
Moderator
John Harrison
Conference Chair
Panellists
Julia Diez
Head of UK Productive Assets
Railpen
Patrick Heath-Lay
CEO
The People’s Partnership
Wyndham North
Managing Director
British Growth Partnership
09:45 – 10:05
Presentation: The case for real estate debt
Presenter
Tom Jones
Principal
Savills Investment Management
10:05 – 10:25
Presentation: Logistics: Building for the future
Up to 2022, the logistics sector saw exceptional returns, with almost any asset classified as a shed performing strongly. Following a period of rationalisation, new demand drivers are attracting occupiers to modern facilities, even as supply remains tight. This evolving dynamic presents a compelling opportunity for UK pension schemes seeking long-term, inflation-resilient assets with stable income potential.
Presenter
Chris Game
Fund Manager
Principal Asset Management
10:25 – 10:45
Presentation: Is sustainable led investing truly dead?
The last few months have been challenging for sustainable led investing amid political pushback, sifting capital flows and mixed performance. At the same time, we are witnessing system-level long term structural transformations in energy, industry, consumption, health and nature related sectors. In this session, we debate this area and provide examples from sustainable led equities portfolio that are benefiting from this rejuvenated phase for sustainable investing.
Presenter
Peter Burke-Smith
Portfolio Manager
Lombard Odier Investment Managers
Pascal Menges
CIO Sustainable Equities
Lombard Odier
10:45 – 11:05
Fire side chat: Alternative real estate investments – the opportunity in net lease
With over $23 trillion in property, plant, and equipment owned by IG-rated companies across the US, Canada, and Europe, the addressable market for net lease transactions is vast. Amid uncertainty on tariffs, inflation, and earnings, net lease real estate is well set to offer predictable income and strong risk-adjusted returns. In this session we discuss how net lease real estate shares characteristics of both a real estate equity and alternative fixed income strategy, protecting against downside without capping upside potential.
Interviewer
John Harrison
Conference Chair
Interviewee
Pal Sarai
Managing Director
Blue Owl
11:05 – 11:30
Coffee in the Sandringham Suite
11:30 – 11:50
Presentation: TBA
11:50 – 12:10
Presentation: TBA
Presenter
Speaker to be confirmed
Nuveen
12:10 – 12:50
Panel: The future of defined benefit pensions
12:50 – 13:00
Devil’s Advocate Summaries
13:00 – 14:00
Lunch in Hillfield
Devil’s Advocates | Afternoon
Nick Dixon, Head of Pension Fund, Avon Pension Fund
Muntazir Hadadi, Head of Pensions, First Bus
14:00 – 14:20
Keynote: Dashboards – the clock is ticking – we’re nearly there!
Dashboards will soon hit the street and this session will make sure that you are in the know. Hear the latest update from the pensions dashboard programme as the majority of providers have now connected and we are getting ever closer to dashboards becoming a core part of the UK pensions ecosystem.
Moderator
Nick Reeve
Editor
Pensions Expert
Speaker
Chris Curry
Principal
Pensions Dashboard Programme
14:20 – 15:00
Panel: How pension dashboards will change the face of member communication
With the launch of pensions dashboards getting ever closer this panel will look at what this means for how members will interact with their pensions. Are the public aware? Do they want dashboards? How will they use them? And what does this all mean for how pensions integrates with open banking and the rise of money management apps? This panel will look at pensions communications 2.0 in a world of open finance and pensions dashboards.
Moderator
Nick Reeve
Editor
Pensions Expert
Panellists
Chris Curry
Principal
Pensions Dashboard Programme
Abigail Leech
Chief Finance Officer
LPPA
Richard Smith
Independent Dashboard Consultant
15:00 – 15:20
Presentation: TBA
15:20 – 15:40
Presentation: How UK pensions is leading the way for AI adoption at Ford
In August 2024 Ford launched PensionsChat, an industry first AI tool to help answer any UK employee pensions question. Hear how the launch of PensionsChat exceed expectations in both the quantity and quality of AI conversations plus hear what can be learnt for similar AI projects and how PensionsChat is now leading the way for the development of other AI tools for Ford globally.
Presenter
Oli Payne
Reward Director, International Pensions and Data Analytics
Ford
15:40 – 16:00
Coffee in the Sandringham Suite
16:00 – 16:40
Panel: The global geopolitical and macro-economic outlook and what it means for UK pensions
Moderator
John Harrison
Conference Chair
Panellists
Charles Griffith
Head of Investment Strategy
Pension Protection Fund
Ian McKnight
Former CIO, Royal Mail Pension Scheme & NED
16:40 – 17:20
Keynote: Why pension funds should be investing more in the UK
Panellists
Will Hutton
Political Economist, Author, Think Tank and Academic Leader and Columnist
17:20 – 17:30
Devil’s Advocate Summaries
17:30 – 17:35
Closing Remarks
Chair
John Harrison
Adviser
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership
17:35 – 18:30
Drinks Reception and Canapés
19:00 – 21:00
Dinner in Parkview with After Dinner Speaker
Speaker
Rory Bremner
Rory Bremner is an impressionist, satirist, comedian, writer, and broadcaster, best known for sharp political comedy and mimicry of public figures on British television and radio.
