Hymans Robertson, the leading independent pensions and financial services consultancy is pleased to announce 12 senior promotions in the firm – a new equity member and 11 partners.

Andrew Gaches, Head of Longevity has been promoted to equity member.  

Andrew joined the firm in 2008 and played a key part in the growth of longevity services at Hymans Robertson. He currently leads the firm’s longevity and demographic services to insurers and reinsurers, as well as broadening the firm’s range of support to the insurance market. He supports both established and newer UK insurers and global reinsurers as they grow their business and bring additional capacity to the market, with a particular focus on longevity and demographic risk. Prior to joining Hymans Robertson, he spent a decade working as a Scheme Actuary and advising DB plans on the full range of trustee and corporate issues.

The new partners who have been appointed are: Susan Black; Laura Finnie; Phil Hardingham; Nicola Kenyon; Alison Leslie; Kerry McClymont; Nell McRae; Ross Murray; Claire Roarty; Steven Scott and Chris Varley. 

Commenting on the promotions from across the firm, Jon Hatchett, Senior Partner at Hymans Robertson said: 

“It is fantastic to see Andrew become an equity member of the firm. He has played an enormous part in the growth of our longevity services and delivering outstanding outcomes for our clients. The leadership he brings to this area demonstrates the attributes that will make him a fantastic addition to the equity member group. We are confident Andrew will play a crucial role developing our sustainable partnership over the years to come.

“I’m also thrilled to announce the appointment of 11 new partners. Their appointment reflects the significant contributions they’ve all made to the success of our firm. The range of talented people and their breadth of skills reflects our ongoing strategic direction. They have made leading contributions helping our clients in private and public sector pensions, insurance and financial services, and to individuals with their financial wellbeing. A number of our new partners work within the technical area of Insights and Analytics (I&A), and their promotion recognises their leading contribution to our client services through leveraging the best that digital has to offer.

“Each of our new partners will bring something new to the senior leadership of the firm and I look forward to seeing them flourish and achieving great things in the years ahead.”

About the new Partners at Hymans Robertson: 

Susan Black, Head of GAP, LGPS 

Susan is part of the Actuarial Public team and joined Hymans Robertson in 2021 as the Head of Governance, Administration and Project Management. With her team, Susan supports the firm’s LGPS clients to manage their governance and compliance risks, effect change programmes and deliver benefits to scheme members in this time of frequent change. Prior to joining Hymans Robertson, Susan worked in risk within the banking sector and also in legal private practice – where she specialised in high value dispute resolution.

Laura Finnie, Head of Compliance, Hymans Robertson Personal Wealth

Laura had over 15 years’ experience working in the retail financial services industry before she joined Hymans Robertson in 2021. She helped to launch Hymans Robertson Personal Wealth and currently leads on compliance. Through regulatory change programmes and collaborative working Laura’s focus is on ensuring that we deliver consistently good outcomes for our clients through the delivery of our financial wellbeing services.

Phil Hardingham, Head of Digital Strategy (Investment), Insights & Analytics

Phil joined Hymans Robertson in 2018 as a Risk & Modelling Consultant and is now Head of Digital Strategy for DB Investment business. He leads the formation and implementation of the digital strategy underpinning the firm’s DB investment services. Phil is passionate about harnessing modelling and technology to support our clients in navigating their investment decisions.

Nicola Kenyon, Head of Insurance Investment and ALM, Insurance and Financial Services

Nicola joined Hymans Robertson in 2021 and leads the Insurance and Financial Services’ Investment and ALM pillar at the firm. She and her team support their clients in a variety of areas including credit risk, market risk, matching adjustment, investment strategy, illiquid assets and ESG. Nicola leads her team in their work supporting clients to optimise and model their assets and ALM strategies.

Alison Leslie, Head of DC Investment

Alison joined Hymans Robertson in 2021. She is Head of DC Investment and leads on Master Trust trustee consulting, advising some of the UK’s commercial and non-commercial Master Trusts helping to drive better outcomes for millions of savers across the UK. She supports clients with the key issues facing the DC pensions space in a number of ways including thought leadership on various topics such as investment, governance and responsible investment.

Kerry McClymont, Senior Actuarial Consultant, DB 

Kerry joined the firm in 2013. She is a Scheme Actuary and Client Director to a number of both long-standing and newer clients and has a genuine passion for supporting scheme members. She also looks after delivery of GMP equalisation to our actuarial clients, with responsibility for ensuring we have the people, processes and systems available to implement this important project at the right time for our clients. In previous roles at the firm, she has delivered large business transformation projects, and led one of our Glasgow actuarial teams.

Nell McRae, Partner, Investment DB

Nell works with a range of DB and LGPS clients to help them make strategic decisions to achieve their funding objectives. Since joining the firm in 2012, she has worked with different business units and teams in the business, including the Insights and Analytics (I&A) team collaborating with the risk transfer teams on projects. She works closely with clients to help them develop clear beliefs and objectives and monitor risk management frameworks including the integration of longevity risks.

Ross Murray, Head of Longevity Consulting, Insurance and Financial Services

Ross joined Hymans Robertson in 2020 and leads the firm’s longevity consulting offer within Insurance and Financial Services. He works closely with insurer and reinsurer clients, helping them to better understand the longevity and demographic risk of the products they sell. Ross works closely with clients in the risk transfer market. Along with his team, he guides them on longevity assumption setting, capital modelling and risk management for their annuity portfolios.

Claire Roarty, Associate Business Unit Head, DC Consulting 

Claire joined Hymans Robertson in 2010, working in the actuarial practice for a number of years before moving to the DC Consulting team. She became Associate Business Unit Head in 2022 and works to support the Head of DC Consulting, while also looking after the operational side of the business unit. Claire is member of the Provider research team and specialises in reviewing and selecting pension providers, as well as supporting her clients with the ongoing governance of their DC arrangements.

Steven Scott, Partner, LGPS

Steven first joined Hymans Robertson in 2011 and re-joined the firm from XPS pensions in 2022. He is Fund Actuary to five LGPS funds, including large County Council Funds. He is also Chair of the Quality Control & Risk Management (QCRM) group, leading the team’s work in managing operational risk in the delivery of actuarial services. He leads key accounts for the firm and will continue to spearhead internal initiatives.

Chris Varley, Head of LGPS Digital Strategy, LGPS, Insights and Analytics

Chris first joined Hymans Robertson in 2015 as part of the Risk Modelling Consulting Practice – now the Insights and Analytics team. He leads our Actuarial Public Client Application team spearheading digital strategy for the firm’s public sector clients. He drives digital innovation and transformation initiatives to meet the challenges that affect the sector and our clients.