Stuart Southall has been elected as chairman of the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA), taking office on 1 June 2010.

Southall, chairman and principal of Punter Southall Limited, succeeds Hewitt's Keith Barton as chairman, and said now is the "time to get positive" on pensions.

"This is a very challenging time to take on the chairmanship role. I will be taking over as a new Government shapes its plans for the new Parliament and it is to be hoped those plans will encompass serious reforms to maintain and promote good pension arrangements, over and above the new but basic NEST arrangements," he said.

The ACA, he promised, will continue to be "vigorous", and argue the case for reforms that will make it easier for employers to offer attractive pension benefits while capping costs in difficult economic conditions and as longevity improves. "The architecture to protect members' pensions is now bedded in - but the need to stimulate good occupational pension provision must now take off once again."

He said it is encouraging to see organisations seeking the advice of consulting actuaries in traditional areas of pensions, investment and insurance work and beyond this into new disciplines. "This speaks well for the versatility of our consultants in applying actuarial techniques and it will be one of my aspirations to promote this wider role for our members during my tenure as ACA chairman."

The ACA's recent AGM saw Mercer's Andrew Vaughan re-elected honorary secretary and KPMG's David Fairs elected honorary treasurer. Jeremy Dell (Lane Clark & Peacock), Mark Duke (Towers Watson), Richard Cousins (PwC), Rob Harper (Hymans Robertson), Graeme Muir (Barnett Waddingham), Phil Simpson (Milliman) and Phil Wadsworth (JLT) were also elected for 2010-2011.

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