Rising Star of Pensions 2019
Smart Pension's Michael Watkins (right) receives the Rising Star of Pensions accolade from Rhys James.
Michael was praised by judges for his role in the creation and launch of NextGen Now as well as his work on the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) policy board and his various roles on Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) steering groups.
London Stock Exchange Group's Ava Lau (right) collects the Pensions Manager of the Year award from Rhys James.
Judges described Ava as a "future leader of pensions" and praised her for "consistently going the extra mile in her career".
Capital Cranfield's Lukshmi Selvarajah (right) was joint winner of the Trustee of the Year award, which she collected from Rhys James.
Judges said the accolade reflected Lukshmi’s work as an independent trustee and commended her for helping schemes navigate tricky challenges – praising her work with schemes with financially distressed employers, those facing difficulties agreeing a recovery plan, and instances where The Pensions Regulator is involved.
Accenture Retirement Savings Plan trustee Anna Darnley was named as joint winner of the Trustee of the Year award. Tim Phillips of Smart Pension right) collected the award from Rhys James on her behalf.
The winner of the Adviser of the Year category was Aon’s Oliver Walker (right), who received his accolade from Rhys James.
Judges praised Oliver for significantly building the corporate practice of his firm and becoming one of its youngest ever senior partners.
PwC’s Katie Lightstone (right) was commended in the Adviser of the Year category. She collected her award from event host Rhys James.
Judges praised Katie for her covenant advisory work and cited her ability to contribute to pensions more broadly, both through a secondment to The Pensions Regulator and participation in a regulatory working group on funding.
The winner of Trainee of the Year was PwC’s Chloe Priestley. Dan Gilmour (right) collects the award on her behalf from Rhys James.
Chloe joined her firm as part of its school leaver programme in 2014 and has been promoted twice since. She became a chartered accountant last year and plays a significant role in PwC's Northern pensions team.
The Pension Protection Fund's David Rix (right) collects the accolade for Administrator of the Year from Rhys James.
David was praised for his work on the insourcing of a new pension scheme of around 60,000 active payroll members.
XPS Pensions Group’s James Farrel (right) collects the accolade for Administration Trainee of the Year from Rhys James.
Judges praised James' willingness to support colleagues and his success with clients.
The winner of the Actuarial/Advisory Trainee of the Year was Hymans Robertson’s Iain Church. His award was collected on his behalf by David Hutchings (right) from host Rhys James.
Judges praised the way Iain had advanced in his career since he began his training in 2015 – praising him for taking on a leadership role very early in his career as well as his passion for pensions.
Buck’s Leanne Carpenter (right) was commended in the Actuarial/Advisory Trainee of the Year. She collected her award from event host Rhys James.
Judges said Leanne had demonstrated "huge passion and commitment" in her role.
Mercer’s Deborah Wardle (right) was named as joint winner of the Investment Manager of the Year category.
Cardano’s Paras Shah (right) was named joint winner of the Investment Manager of the Year category.
The Excellence in Customer Service and Communication award was presented to the PPF’s Sara Protheroe (right) by Rhys James.
Judges said Sara had demonstrated "an exceptional commitment to customer service" – leading both a successful insourcing project and delivering the PPF's vision to put members at the heart of everything it does.
The winner of Mentor of the Year was Aon’s Karina Klimaszewski (right). She collected her award from award host, Rhys James.
Karina was praised for her caring approach to helping her colleagues succeed, and for leading a number of initiatives to help others grow their support networks. They also cited her broader work with the NextGen committee and her support for the Institute and Faculty of Actuary’s Girls Count On Us event.
Guinevere Taylor (left) was commended in the Mentor of the Year category. She collected her award from event host Rhys James.
Judges felt Guinevere had demonstrated her "passion for helping others succeed".
Richard Gibson (left) and Danny Wilding (centre) receive Barnett Waddingham's Award for Supporting Development from Rhys James.
Judges said Barnett Waddingham demonstrated a “strong commitment” to employee learning and development through a clearly set-out strategy.
Sara Protheroe (left) and Sharon Godfrey (right) receive the Pension Protection Fund's award for Training Scheme of the Year from Rhys James.
The judges commended the PPF for the range of training schemes it provides to staff – praising, in particular, its apprenticeship and internship programmes and the way it has partnered with the Institute for Customer Service to accredit its bespoke member services training programme.
Here they are - the winners of the inaugural Professional Pensions Rising Star Awards...
The awards celebrate the emerging talent in pensions - recognising and identifying the sector's future leaders as well as shining the spotlight on the organisations and individuals that are helping develop and foster new talent in the industry.
Professional Pensions had an exceptional response to these awards. Over 400 organisations and individuals were nominated for the Rising Star Awards and we received a total of 260 completed entry forms - with some categories having more than 100 entries.
This year's accolades were presented at a gala dinner at Proud Embankment in London last night by comedian Rhys James.
To find out more about the PP Rising Star Awards, visit: http://events.professionalpensions.com/risingstarawards
To register for updates about next year's awards, click here.
The full list of finalists and winners is:
Rising Star of the Year
Winner:
Michael Watkins
Finalists:
Abhishek Srivastav
Alison Hatcher
Anna Darnley
Ava Lau
Caroline Escott
Caroline Hopper
Chintan Gandhi
Dan Gilmour
Diandra Soobiah
Holly Copley
Karina Klimaszewski
Mary Spencer
Michael Jones
Michael Watkins
Oliver Coe
Richard Bacon
Stephen Richards
Tom Yorath
Vikki Sutcliffe
Pensions Manager of the Year
Winner:
Ava Lau
Finalists:
Ava Lau
Holly Copley
Ian Andrews
Kirstin Lyons
Laura Briggs
Lee Spithray
Rema Behnam
Richard Law-Deeks
Sara Protheroe
Trustee of the Year
Joint Winners:
Anna Darnley
Lukshmi Selvarajah
Finalists:
Andrew Hornell
Anna Darnley
Lukshmi Selvarajah
Sophie Dapin
Matthew Simms
Venetia Trayhurn
Adviser of the Year
Winner:
Oliver Walker
Highly Commended:
Katie Lightstone
Finalists:
Andrew Hornell
Andrew Lewis
Anna Copestake
Darryl James
Emma Hudson
Hadassah Shulman
Karina Klimaszewski
Katie Lightstone
Nicholas Chadha
Oliver Walker
Rebecca Craddock-Taylor
Richard Gibson
Steve Hodder
Tom Jackman
Trainee of the Year
Winner:
Chloe Priestley
Finalists:
Chloe Priestley
Elena-Alina Puiu
Felix Mantz
Hannah Chapman
John Ming Kwong Chung
Kathryn Todd
Rebecca Page
Sian Pringle
Administrator of the Year
Winner:
David Rix
Finalists:
Abbie Elliott
David Rix
Katie Lambert
Laura Turner
Oliver Coe
Rebecca Jaques
Tamara Rimmer
Administration Trainee of the Year
Winner:
James Farrell
Finalists:
Georgina Friend
Jacob Smith
James Farrell
Katie Birch
Shelley Forrester
Actuarial / Advisory Trainee of the Year
Winner:
Iain Church
Highly Commended:
Leanne Carpenter
Finalists:
Ankush Appadoo
Iain Church
Jacob Shah
Joseph Hall
Leanne Carpenter
Lucy Smith
Michael Flanagan
Oliver Hook
Radhika Ravi
Investment Manager of the Year
Joint Winners:
Deborah Wardle
Paras Shah
Finalists:
Deborah Wardle
Jay Ions
Matthew Rees
Olivier Blin
Paras Shah
Rosalind Scott-Douglas
Excellence in Customer Service and Communication Award
Winner:
Sara Protheroe
Finalists:
Caroline Hopper
Chris Hoffman
Christopher Eyett
John Harney
Matthew King
Russell Wright
Sara Protheroe
Mentor of the Year
Winner:
Karina Klimaszewski
Highly Commended:
Guinevere Taylor
Finalists:
Andrew Marks
Andrew Young
David Weeks
Guinevere Taylor
Karina Klimaszewski
Matthew Paton
Shabana Masavi
Steve Delo
Tiffany Tai-Yan Tsang
Tony Ark
*** ORGANISATIONAL AWARD *** Award for Supporting Development
Winner:
Barnett Waddingham
Finalists:
Barnett Waddingham
CMS
Mercer
Pension Protection Fund
RSM
*** ORGANISATIONAL AWARD *** Training Scheme of the Year
Winner:
Pension Protection Fund
Finalists:
CMS
Pension Protection Fund
RSM