The Association of Professional Pension Trustees (APPT) has announced that council members, Christopher Wheeler and Julia Yates, have been appointed as co-chairs.

Wheeler and Yates succeed APPT current chair, Rachel Croft, and current vice chair, Vassos Vassou, who have both completed their terms as council members. Wheeler is an accredited professional pension trustee and experienced scheme chair, with more than 15 years of trusteeship experience and a 30-year executive career spanning international banking, finance, human resources, mergers and acquisitions, risk and governance. He has served as a professional trustee with BESTrustees Limited since 2016. Meanwhile, Yates is an accredited professional pension trustee at Vidett, acting as chair, co-trustee and as part of sole trustee teams across a range of benefit structures, scheme sizes, funding levels, covenant strengths and journey plans. She is also chair of Vidett’s Trustee Oversight Board. She has over 20 years of experience in pensions, governance and advisory roles. Before becoming a professional trustee in 2019, she led PwC's covenant practice in the Midlands. The appointments are effective from 21 October.

Festina Finance has appointed Liam McGrath as its first UK chief executive officer (CEO).

The appointment comes as the European provider of pension administration technology enters the next phase of its growth and long-term investment in the UK market. McGrath joins from Procentia, where he was group CEO, having previously held senior leadership positions including group chief operating officer and CEO EQ digital at Equiniti Group. Alongside McGrath’s appointment, Dan McLaughlin, who has led Festina Finance’s UK market development since its launch, will become chief strategy & revenue officer, supporting the company’s wider growth strategy and commercial development.

Zedra has announced that Sam Burden will lead the firm’s Governance Advisory Arrangement (GAA) as head of GAA.

Burden has worked for Zedra for four and a half years and has more than 27 years of experience in the pensions industry. He has held senior roles at WTW, KPMG and Standard Life advising trustees, sponsors and other stakeholders across a range of pension matters. Zedra’s GAA is a solution for smaller, non-complex contract-based workplace pension and investment pathways providers to meet their requirements for a value for money assessment.

---