2025 JUDGES

Amanda Burdge is a Partner at Quantum Advisory and Head of Investment. She was awarded the prestigious Professional Pensions Women in Pensions “Woman of the Year” Award in 2024.

As Head of Investment at Quantum she oversees the development and delivery of innovative investment solutions and advice. True to Quantum’s values, Amanda puts her clients at the heart of everything she does. She ensures trustees receive effective and relevant advice in a timely way, allowing them to take advantage of any change in market conditions.

Amanda is passionate about the pension and investment industry and helped set up the Women in Pensions Network South-West last year. The network is focused on support and development for women in the industry at all stages of their careers. She also volunteers as a mentor.

In her spare time, you will find Amanda reading, walking her dogs, judging these awards(!), and volunteering as a trustee for the Wales Air Ambulance Charity, where she is currently Vice-Chair and Chair of the Finance Committee.

Clare has over 20 years experience in financial services and law.  She is a qualified lawyer and Notary Public and has many financial services exams including the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners diploma in trusts and estates. Post qualification Clare spent five years at Aegon Scottish Equitable in the legal department before moving to Pinsent Masons LLP in November 2007. While at Pinsent Masons, Clare acted for many different pension providers before moving to Prudential for over six years and ended up leading the pensions side of the external facing technical team. 

Clare joined Royal London in April 2018 and is responsible for the technical and marketing compliance teams as well as presenting, writing articles and commenting for the press and developing adviser and consumer facing content.

Clare is also involved in consumer and wider industry issues and is Royal London’s pension and tax expert and appears frequently on the BBC talking about a range of topics. Clare is a mum of 3 and enjoys running, going to the gym and volunteering with young people.

Daniel is a seasoned pensions administration professional with over 25 years of experience. As Client Director at Trafalgar House, he leads the company's client service strategy, ensuring exceptional support and service levels. Daniel has held senior roles in operations, quality assurance, and business development, managing third-party administration operations and pioneering innovative technology solutions to enhance client experiences. Before joining Trafalgar House in 2017, he was Head of Administration Services at another leading pensions administrator, overseeing the delivery of high-quality services to a diverse client base. His expertise and commitment to excellence significantly contribute to Trafalgar House's success.

Girish is a recognised authority in the UK pensions sector, with 15+ years of experience shaping policy, governance, and innovation for schemes, trustees, and employers. A trusted voice in UK pensions media, he has delivered actionable insights on challenges like Pensions Dashboard, auto-enrolment expansion, and aver education.

As a Director of the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) and PMI Advisory Council member, he champions operational excellence and innovation in governance, working with policy makers to enhance saver outcomes. He is regularly featured in media for actionable insights on pensions regulation, resourcing challenges, and technology trends. Authored technical articles and thought leadership pieces that influence industry standards. He has a Masters in Management from the London Business School.

Helen has worked in the pensions sector for almost 20 years. She is currently Chief Strategy Officer at the PMI, responsible for the delivery of the PMI’s strategic approach as well as its policy, advocacy and communications functions. She was previously head of TPR's regulatory communications and market engagement function where she is responsible for engaging effectively with the market to understand the risks and opportunities facing the sector, delivering engagement and targeted communications to drive better outcomes for the saver. Prior to that she led policy at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association for 5 years with specific responsibility for the defined benefit pensions team and Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) policy. Helen began her career at the Department of Work and Pensions where she was responsible for taking through key pensions legislation and was latterly head of pensions external engagement.

Jo Phillips is General Manager of Aviva Consumer Wealth; a £4.5bn high-growth digital business that is a major part of Aviva's capital-light growth plans. Consumer Wealth aims to simplify life's financial decisions, so people can save and invest for their future with confidence; whether it's investing in funds, tracing/consolidating pensions or accessing affordable hybrid financial advice all via our user-friendly digital platform. Throughout her career Jo has built teams and products that have grown businesses and transformed customer experiences.  Prior to joining Aviva she held multiple executive leadership positions at American Express and BlackRock; with career highlights including include transforming American Express’ billion-dollar B2B payments platform and re-imagining BlackRock’s award-winning web and mobile ecosystem.

Julie is our Head of Administration and has 30 years of industry experience, both in-house and with a third party provider.

As Head of Administration her role is to ensure efficient and accurate administration of pensions, in line with client and member demand. Julie builds an understanding of the client, their business and expectations and, where appropriate, meets with clients to capture requirements and discuss improvements in the delivery of work.

Part of Julie’s role is to actively seek to develop the team’s performance, skills and knowledge to maximise potential.

Julie originally joined the Pensions Administration Team at Godwins (which later became Aon) in 1983 and worked on a variety of client schemes. In 1990 Julie joined Schlumberger Plc to obtain in-house experience and worked her way up to the Deputy Pensions Manager role. Julie rejoined Aon Hewitt as a Team Leader in 2002 and was promoted to an Operations Manager in 2009. In March 2014 Julie joined Cartwrights and is now responsible for the pension administration services in both the Farnborough and Chelmsford offices dealing with a portfolio of DB, DC, Care and Hybrid schemes.

Katie is a Client Director at Vidett, the UK’s largest professional trustee and pension governance firm by number of clients. Katie is a governance specialist and scheme secretary who has worked in the pensions industry for over 20 years and is now part of a governance team of 50. She is hugely experienced, having worked in in-house pension teams and large consultancy firms (as a governance adviser and scheme secretary) and with a range of clients, trustee boards and advisers. Katie leads Vidett’s adviser review team, supporting clients to ensure they have the right adviser, providing the right level of service at the right cost.

Katy joined the PLSA in April 2021 and leads on the PLSA’ government affairs work. Prior to this, she worked in a public affairs role at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, the professional chartered body for actuaries in the UK. She has also spent a number of years working in Parliament supporting both a MP and a Peer, and also has experience working for Local Government. Katy has a BA (Hons) in politics from the University of East Anglia.

Kim has more than 30 years’ industry experience, and is a Fellow of the PMI and Pensions Advisory Service. She created KGC, one of the few remaining independent governance consultancies, in 2002. Kim is also an Accredited Professional Trustee for Smart Pensions Master Trust where she is an advocate for developing saving solutions and leveraging technology to deliver better outcomes for pension savers. Kim also created KGC in 2002, one of the few remaining independent governance consultancies and she is President of the Pensions Administration Standards Association.

Kim has engaged with government departments and regulatory bodies on a number of initiatives to help deliver a more robust pension system. She is PMI’s Principal Examiner for Professionalism & Governance, she is also a business graduate and holds a Diploma in Business Excellence.

Laura joined Just DB in 2020. Her extensive operational expertise and caring, customer-first approach are enhancing our trustee and member experience. Laura has shaped the team, technology and processes to enable Just to grow and meet the demands of our buoyant industry.

Her philosophy is that every member counts, whatever the size of a pension scheme.  

Before bringing her skills and experience to Just, Laura was Head of Pensions Administration at Equiniti, and previously held senior operational roles at Retirement Advantage and L&G.

Her favourite hobbies include cooking, sailing and travelling.  

Lou is a Trustee Director and Head of Policy and External Affairs at IGG, having joined last year. With nearly 30 years in the pensions industry, including 17 years at The Pensions Regulator (TPR), latterly as Director of Regulatory Policy, Analysis and Advice. Louise is passionate about high standards of trusteeship delivering positive retirement outcomes for pension scheme members, and has led the development of key policy initiatives such as the DC Value for Money framework, the DB Funding Code, and the General Code. At IGG she continues to advocate for high standards and policies that deliver good outcomes for members.

Manjinder is the Managing Director of ZEDRA Inside Pensions, providing strategic leadership and direction to the business. By focusing on our employee engagement, she ensures that we provide an excellent, high-quality service to clients, fostering strong, enduring client relationships by her experience in the pensions industry to work with clients and find practical solutions to difficult problems.

Other Key Responsibilities:

• Leading proposition development, to ensure that ZEDRA remains at the forefront of the governance space.
• Having previously led the Trustee Executive team, Manjinder understands the level of strategic oversight and support necessary for your nominated personnel to thrive.
• Her legal background in pensions has given her experience of advising both employers and trustees on a range of topics which she can lean on when providing input for your team.
• Regularly engaging in industry thought leadership, she recently delivered a presentation to the Pension Research Auditor’s Group on ZEDRA’s General Code proposition.
• Driving innovation and change, such as reducing our impact on the environment by eliminating the production of paper meeting packs, whilst improving data security by using online governance platforms.
  

Having joined Phoenix Group at the end of February 2024, Mike is Retirement and Savings Director across the Phoenix Group business. He is responsible for Thinking Forward which provides insights, debate and the broader platform for thought and direction across Standard Life. As a Consumer Spokesperson connecting topical and future savings and pension issues for both the consumer and press is a top priority with learnings from a global perspective being applied.

Mike previously worked with Hymans Robertson as a Partner and Head of firm-wide proposition for 17 years, most recently overseeing the DC Master Trust consolidation for a number of high-profile corporate clients. He also advised on both M&A as well as creating one of the leading UK independent benchmarking tools on the provider market.

Rona is a Partner and highly motivated DC adviser, specialising in all areas of DC including investment, governance, and member engagement. She has 39 years’ experience in the pensions industry, the last 20 of those with Hymans Robertson. She has won several industry accolades including a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Women in Pensions Awards.

Rona advises a range of trust-based schemes as well as several governance committees of master trust arrangements. For the five years to March 2021, Rona also chaired the Governance Committee of Hymans Robertson’s own staff pension plan. She is a regular contributor to the pensions press and engages actively with The Pensions Regulator and the DWP on topical DC issues”.

Rosie is an actuary, specialising in pension scheme de-risking, predominately focusing on the bulk annuity market. She has helped a wide variety of schemes and sponsors complete bulk annuity transactions both as an adviser and as an insurer. With over 17 years’ experience in this space, she leads Barnett Waddingham's risk transfer team.