I am not a member nor have ever worked for the LGPS, its funds or employers or even their members. But I have worked with many people who do and hope that we will offer these stakeholders in public sector funded pensions, help in the years to come.
My friend Robert Gardner pointed out the South Yorkshire pension fund as an example of what a pension fund can do, it is helping the east coast of England repopulate oysters and thus improve the natural culture – its “infrastructure” as Gardner calls it.
When I go to talks by LGPS,I am greeted by this man – George Graham. He is always prepared to give me some time – ignorant that I am. Now he is on the cusp of retirement, he has this to say of a talk he has recently had.
Great to be able to have a proper chat with my long term colleague Aoifinn Devitt, from whom I’ve learnt so much about the world of investment. Also good to be able to look back at what I’ve learnt from mistakes as well as successes because we probably learn more from the former than the latter. I still think I got into this game accidentally, but maybe my route to here will give someone else an idea to follow.
I feel the same way towards Aoifinn who interviewed me in the same way – many years ago. She is an investment consultant who helps the likes of me and George Graham. Someone who touches everyone with her good will and her good sense.
The importance of pooling
From “superannuation to pensions” has been a long journey for Graham and the Funds of LGPS. He promotes the “pooling” of the investment funds to get better value (a hat tip to Chris Sier) and better expertise than relying on a City based fund industry.
While George Graham has worked with the City his career has mostly been in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Graham is to retire but his retirement sounds more busy than the working day of many of us.
Here to end is Aoifinn’s tribute to George Graham
A master of the City and a legend in the north
💬George Graham is Director and Head of Fund at South Yorkshire Pensions Authority. He has spent a long career in public service, culminating in the last 8 years at SYPA, and prior to that he spent his career in various finance roles at Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Chorley, Lancashire and LPP. He is Governor and Vice Chair of Barnsley College as well as Independent Chair of the Local Pension Board at Lincolnshire County Council.✨George will be retiring from his role as Head of Fund at SYPA at the end of the year, and this discussion was an opportunity to reflect on a career in which public service dominated, and against which a dramatically changing market backdrop cast a long – and positive – shadow.✨We track his early insights into the challenges of local government, and how his finance roles started to overlap with the investment function. This sight of the investment function led him to be an early mover in local government pooling – starting with the Lancashire and LPFA merger a decade ago – and he explains why the rationale is, for him, so clear cut as the demands of institutional investing have grown.
✨We speak too about his commitment to local investing as well as to a sustainability agenda, which, as in many of his endeavours has been bold and ahead of its time. Finally we reflect on learnings from a long and varied career, about the development of a leadership style, about learning to go against a natural tendency to be more introverted and deliberately reach out to team members to support them.
✨We end with a discussion of legacy, which in George’s case will be a long and impactful one.