LOCAL PENSION BOARD

Andy has worked in the pensions industry for over 12 years in a variety of roles covering the breadth of the administration and governance functions across two Local Government Pension Funds. 

He currently works for Gloucestershire Pension Fund and also acts as the independent chair of Avon Fire Authority's Local Pension Board (LPB) as well as for the LPFA LPB. 

He has a degree in Mathematics and has previously worked as a Teacher of Mathematics and also in the banking industry for Nationwide Building Society in the area of regulatory capital (solvency risk).

Stephen is Chief Operating Officer at London Councils. He is responsible for corporate governance, including member services, HR and corporate policies. He is also responsible for London Councils’ public-facing services. These include the Freedom Pass concessionary fares scheme, the administration of the London Tribunals service (parking, moving traffic and environment), as well as a number of other services. Stephen has worked at London Councils since 2012 and held the roles of Head of Grants and Community Services, Chief Contracts Officer and Director, Transport and Mobility.

Prior to working at London Councils, Stephen worked as Managing Consultant for Greater London Enterprise, where he initiated partnerships with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and 25 London boroughs, raising £44 million of finance for the implementation of welfare-to-work strategies to assist over 12,000 individuals into employment. He holds an MBA (distinction) from Cass Business School and specialised in strategy and finance. His interest in pension funds was sparked while studying investment management during the final year of his MBA course.

Luke is a Reward Specialist at the Greater London Authority (GLA), with responsibility for strategic reward policy, covering pay and other benefits. He previously worked as a senior policy adviser to the London Assembly, where he led the scrutiny of pension and budget provision in the GLA. Since starting his career in local government as a graduate trainee in 2015, Luke has held a mixture of policy roles at two London Boroughs and a central government department.

Outside work, Luke sits as a magistrate in the Adult and Youth Courts in London. In 2022, he was appointed by the senior judiciary as the Lead Diversity and Community Relations Magistrate for England and Wales. In this role, he is a co-opted member of the Magistrates' Leadership Executive, which provides strategic leadership of 12,000 magistrates. Luke is also an Independent Person for Standards at the London Borough of Islington. He was previously a trustee of a national charity and a school governor.

Jasbir is a Chartered Accountant (FCPFA) and the Chief Finance Officer at Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, a functional body of the Greater London Authority. Her background is in Local Government, specifically in Finance, Governance, Risk and Assurance. Alongside Jasbir’s senior management experience, she has previously held non-executive positions and is currently a Trustee at Solace Women’s Aid, where she Chairs the Finance and Resources Committee.

Amy is the Group Financial Controller at Poplar HARCA, a housing association in the East End of London. Her key skills include ensuring financial controls, financial governance and good financial practices are achieved through designing and implementing policies and procedures.

Amy’s career started at Paddington Academy, a non-selective United Learning academy in West London as a Finance Officer. From there she joined RSM, a provider of audit, tax and consulting services, as a Senior Internal Auditor before taking the role at Poplar HARCA. For two years Amy served as an elected staff governor at Paddington Academy. Amy is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). 

Mike retired as Managing Director of the London Pensions Fund Authority at the end of March 2018 having originally joined the pensions section of the former GLC in 1982. During his 36 years involvement with the Local Government Pension Scheme, he was involved in all aspects of fund administration, helping to improve the accuracy of data, information flows and communications with members and employers. Scheme governance, fund valuations, risk management and investments were other areas where he played an active and influential role during his career.

Mike was also a key player in the setup of the Local Pensions Partnership, working closely with Lancashire County Pension Fund, the LPFA Management Team and the Board to achieve this, and in his role as Managing Director helped oversee the successful transition to the new arrangements. In his career he worked closely with a number of bodies involved with the LGPS including PLSA, the Scheme Advisory Board and was a member of the CIPFA Pensions Panel. 

James has spent over two decades working in the pensions industry, beginning with eight years working for the LPFA where he serviced the London Fire Brigade and City of Westminster members. The majority of his career has been spent working in the private sector for in-house pension schemes. James now works for an investment company where he oversees the retirement and protected benefit processes for over 500 defined contribution workplace schemes. James holds a number of pension qualifications covering various aspects of the industry including Retirement Provisions and Providing for Retirement, both from Pensions Management Institute (PMI), FA2 certificate in pension provision from Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), and Advanced Diploma in Pensions Management from Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP).

Natalie is an experienced public sector governance professional with decades of experience working for organisations in Local Government and Higher Education. Now semi-retired, her career has spanned senior governance roles at a number of Further Education colleges, Wandsworth Borough Council and Westminster City Council.

Surendra graduated from University of Northampton with a degree in Computing and has a post graduate diploma in public sector management from Warwick Business School. He began his career with Northamptonshire County Council covering a variety of roles and projects including the introduction of county-wide Best Value regime & corporate performance improvement and the development of county’s first Local Transport Plan.

Moving to London in 2001, Surendra spent over 17 years working for Transport for London. As a Senior Programme Manager, he was responsible for the initiation, development and management of a number of projects and change management programmes including the redevelopment of the bus station at London Bridge, the feasibility and initiation of Low Emission Zone and later the ‘Clean Air Fund’ programmes aimed at reducing pollution in London and the introduction of the Legible London pedestrian way-finding system. Having taken early retirement from Transport for London, Surendra is a freelance Senior Associate at Gargan Limited, a general management consultant helping public and private sector organisations transform and achieve their goals.

Surendra is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (FCILT) and a Member of Transport Planning Society (MTPS). He joined the LPFA’s Local Pensions Board in October 2021.