Employer Panel

NEST's Employer Panel

The Employer Panel enables employers to give their perspective on NEST and contribute to a range of issues and activities.

These issues will vary over time, but could include providing input on whether communications aimed at employers are appropriate and ensuring that specific employer concerns are raised at Trustee level.

Employer Panel Chair

Paul Jagger MBE is Chair of NEST's Employer Panel.

Paul is currently Chair of Barnsley LIFT Company and a Non-executive Member of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce as well as Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council at Bradford University. He has significant experience of negotiation and working in partnership with other business organisations.

Panel Members

• Jim Bligh
• Alison Heywood
• Ronke Lawal
• Francesca Okosi
• Phil Orford
• Stephen Smith
• Karen Thomson
• David Yeandle OBE

The Employer Panel will also be consulted whenever the Statement of Investment Principles (SIP) (PDF, 218KB) is reviewed. This document outlines the Trustee Members' approach to how they will manage members' money.

Employer Panel profiles

• Jim Bligh is Principal Policy Advisor at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), leading the employment relations and pensions team. The team lobbies on industrial relations, pensions, equality and diversity, welfare, unemployment, business responsibility, human rights and anti-bribery policy. Jim leads the CBI's major project on reducing unemployment and a project on the role of business in society. Jim joined the CBI in 2007, having previously worked for a parliamentary candidate.
• Alison Heywood is currently working as the Pension Director for Balfour Beatty plc. She has been responsible for all aspects of pensions for approximately 35,000 UK employees throughout the Group since 2007 and looks after various pension plans with total assets amounting to around £2.5 billion. She has more than twenty years' experience in the pensions industry and before joining Balfour Beatty, Alison spent most of her career as a pension consultant at the global consultancy firm Towers Watson, where she advised a variety of corporate and pension trustee clients on a wide range of pension issues. Alison is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, is a former examiner for the Institute’s pension examinations and has served on the regional groups committee of the National Association of Pension Funds.
• Ronke Lawal is Chief Executive of Islington Chamber of Commerce. She is the founder of RSL Management Services, a London-based marketing, PR and brand development firm which Ronke set up in 2004. In 2006 Ronke also became a partner at the Simone Williams fashion label. In addition to running two businesses, Ronke was appointed Chief Executive of the Islington Chamber of Commerce earlier this year and is also a Non-Executive Director at The Hoxton Apprentice - a commercially run restaurant owned by the charity Training for Life.
• Francesca Okosi is Director of Corporate Resources at the British Transport Police. She has held a number of senior roles in central and local government and the not-for-profit sector, including Director of HR and Consultancy Services at Brent Council and Director of Change and Strategy at Defra where she oversaw a wide-scale change programme. She has also previously held a number of non-executive roles and was a past President of the Public Sector People Managers' Association.
• Phil Orford is Chief Executive of the Forum of Private Business. He is also a member of the Secretary of State for Wales Business Advisory Group, a member of the Minister for Business and Enterprise's Small Business Economic Forum and a member of the CBI's Small and Private Business Forum. He also sits on the British Bankers Association Taskforce group. Previously, Phil has run his own small businesses for over 25 years and has also served as a Non-Executive Director of the United Kingdom Council for Access and Equality.
• Stephen Smith is Chief Executive and one of the founders of EMB, an economic development company providing a range of business improvement services to companies both through government contracts and commercially. Over the last five years these include Investors in People, UK Trade & Investment, Leadership & Management and Business Link, plus around eighty different programmes, some of which are EU-funded initiatives. Stephen is Board Director of North Northants Development Company and Princes Trust East Midlands, and was Chair of Invest Northamptonshire. He has also served at Explore Northamptonshire, Catalyst Corby and the main board of the British Chambers of Commerce.
• Karen Thomson is Associate Director of Policy, Research and Strategic Visibility for the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP). Working for the CIPP for more than eight years, Karen has responsibility for engaging CIPP members on government and research consultations. Karen's main remit is to ensure that the CIPP members'/employers' voices are heard on a range of issues including payroll, business or pension matters. Karen is a tutor for both the CIPP Foundation Degree and the Masters in Payroll & Business Management. She is also a member of the Admin Burdens Advisory Board, and also currently co-chairs the HMRC Employment Consultation Forum.
• David Yeandle OBE is the Director, Government Relations, of the European Employers Group and a member of the Council of the Pensions Policy Institute. He is also a member of the National Employer Advisory Board of the Reserves of the Armed Forces and the Executive Council of the Involvement and Participation Association. David was previously Head of Employment Policy of EEF, the manufacturers' organisation for UK manufacturing companies, where he represented the views of manufacturers on employment and pensions issues to the UK Government and the European Union. David was also one of three experts asked by the Coalition Government in 2010 to undertake an independent review of automatic enrolment. David has also been the Director, Personnel, of Pirelli Cables, the UK manufacturing part of the international Pirelli Group and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a Fellow of the RSA.