BT Pension Scheme appoints three trustees

Emily Clark, Nigel Cotgrove and David Viles will join the BTPS trustee board from 1 April 2020, replacing Billy McClory, Jim McInally and John Wroe who are retiring at the end of March.

Clark has been the chief economist of BT Group since 2016. Prior to joining BT, she was a director at a City law firm providing economic advice and analysis on a range of competition matters, particularly to clients in the technology, media, telecom and financial sectors.

Cotgrove is a national officer of the Communication Workers Union and was its lead officer on all BT pension issues between 1999 and 2019.

Viles joined BT in 2018 as director of risk, compliance and assurance. Prior to joining BT, he was a senior adviser in the risk management practice at Deloitte.

Commenting on the appointments, BT Pension Scheme chairman Otto Thoresen said: "I'd like to warmly welcome Emily, Nigel and David to the trustee board. Their depth of knowledge and broad expertise will be invaluable as we continue to improve the service we provide to members whilst navigating the complex challenges facing the scheme.

"My thanks to Billy, Jim and John for their many years of dedicated service and expert counsel."

BTPS is the UK's largest private sector pension scheme with over £50bn of assets and around 300,000 members. Each year, the scheme pays out some £2.5bn in pension payments to the 200,000 members of the scheme who are retired and their beneficiaries.

From 1 April, the BTPS trustee board will include the following members:

• Otto Thoresen (Chairman)
• Emily Clark (Employer-nominated trustee)
• Nigel Cotgrove (Member-nominated trustee)
• David Felder (Professional trustee)
• Andy Kerr (Member-nominated trustee)
• Ben Marshall (Member-nominated trustee)
• Keith Nichols (Employer-nominated trustee)
• Beryl Shepherd (Member-nominated trustee)
• David Viles (Employer-nominated trustee)