There are many who will read this article and feel the better for Nest- I am one of them!

There was a generation of bright actuaries and in Andrew Warwick-Thompson (a lawyer who was honoured as one) working at Bacon and Woodrow from the 1980s though to the 21st century.

Sally Bridgeland was one of them, the darling of my male friends but someone who along with a few other young women turned around a very masculine history so that today your gender does not prohibit your progress. When I look at some of the leading lights in what Bacon and Woodrow became (ultimately Aon) I do not think it exceptional that a leader is a woman.

There are still many of this progressive young group who helped me understand the job of the actuary, developing that job but Sally is really stand out for what she has achieved and she is not doing for age (as she has done for gender).

Maybe 10 years ago she told me that she was getting out of pensions with her quirky smile and I didn’t believe it. She has done many things in her fifties and sixties to raise the profile of her professions but I never thought that the business of paying people a wage, would be one she would abandon.

So I am pleased that a woman who has worked in the past as the CEO of BP is now chairing the Nest invest subsidiary board. The new governance structure will replace Nest Corporation’s existing investment committee, which is being disbanded.

Nest told anyone who’d listen (me – they have my money!) that NEST Invest received regulatory approval to launch back in January 2020 with the intention of implementing a “more sophisticated way of investing on behalf of its members”.  Things can move slowly!”

She is not the kind of person to stand in the way of. She is an Honorary Group Captain in 601 Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, introducing some new  ideas to the way that the Senior Leadership Team of the RAF think and work.

I expect nothing less from Sally, I am pleased there is some recognition in the reporting that all has not been perfect at the outfit she’s joining

Before Bridgeland’s appointment, there was no chair, instead, the NEST board had a subsidiary investment committee, which will now be disbanded in light of the increased delegation to the executive and evolution of the NEST Invest board following Bridgeland’s appointment.

Bridgeland, as the chair of the NEST Invest board, will provide independent oversight in this new governance structure and will be responsible for overseeing the ongoing evolution of NEST Invest into a “world-class investment function”.

Thanks to Nest and to IPE for this. I have no idea what the internal politics at Nest mean for my money,  but I have every hope it will be good.  The business of my pension’s investment managers is to increase the value of my investments as well as protect it.  Nest has not been that good at doing that.

I hope that I can send this challenge from the blog’s friend Byron McKeeby

I know you have skin in the game with NEST and I do hope they deliver well for you, Henry. Same goes for Richard Smith.

But do you not think The good people at NEST seem to suffer from paralysis by analysis?

I wasn’t able to join your coffee morning chat with Paul Todd .. but I gather he promised some solutions by 2027, i.e. 17 years in.

I like to think trustees of DC or DB in the private sector would have come up with their “solutions” in their early years, not this long after starting out.

I wonder what happened to someone who was, say, ten years from retirement in 2010? Presumably NEST declined to consolidate any other pension savings they may have had elsewhere?

Having a captive (default) membership and a billion pounds plus in loan funding from UK taxpayers may be factors in why NEST seems to this passive onlooker (who has no skin in their game) to go at a snail’s pace.

Nest’s performance has not been that great and the implementation of good ideas seems to take a long time. Sally Bridgeland, please make it happen at mid 21st century pace!

Sally Bridgeland – a champion for my generation!