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  • trusted advice,
    across the generations
  • trusted advice,
    across the generations
ben fowler
ben fowler
Founder and Managing Director

Ben has more than 20 years’ experience of managing and consulting on UK and international pension arrangements. He joined the Vestey Group in 2001 and led their highly successful long-term strategy to transfer more than £500m of pension liabilities to the regulated insurance market with a series of bulk annuity transactions.

In 2015, with the support of the Vestey family, Ben established Western Pension Solutions with the purpose of helping other family businesses de-risk their legacy pension arrangements and provide highly effective pension arrangements for current and future generations of employees.

Ben continues to hold senior management positions for Vestey Holdings, including strategic HR and reward roles for the Group’s international food businesses. He is also the Non-Executive Chairman of K3 Advisory, a specialist bulk annuity broking business and a Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute.

An active member of the family business community, Ben is the co-founder of the Heritage Library, a collection of books that celebrate the history and heritage of family-owned firms in the UK and overseas.

julian lyons
julian lyons
Director

Julian is an enterprise risk actuary who helps private companies set and meet strategic objectives. He has advised family businesses as well as UK and overseas trustee and corporate entities for over fifteen years. He joined Western Pension Solutions in 2016 from Lane Clark and Peacock.

The first part of Julian’s career was spent advising pension scheme trustees. He uses this experience to help guide business owners in negotiations with trustees and scheme actuaries. As well as providing strategic actuarial advice, Julian has detailed knowledge and experience of the pensions insurance market. He acts as lead advisor in transactions, helping family businesses get the right deal for their scheme.

Julian is a specialist in executive pensions, having been co author of LCP’s Executive Pensions Survey, an annual report on the pension benefits provided to FTSE350 executive directors.

jon sharp
jon sharp
Director

Jon has 15 years’ experience of advising family businesses on all aspects of pensions strategy. He joined Western Pension Solutions in 2017, having worked at PwC and KPMG, where latterly he was a Pensions Director focused on advising privately owned organisations.

He has helped family businesses design and implement pension strategies that align with their values and corporate strategy. This has included leading projects on all the key areas of focus including investment strategy, benefit design, scheme funding, accounting, liability management and insurance solutions.

Jon’s expertise has enabled him to put in place a number of complex restructures and to find a way forward in circumstances where the pension scheme has become too large for the company. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and a member of the Institute of Family Business working party on pensions.

david dickson
david dickson
Non-Executive Chairman

David was the Senior Partner of Garbutt & Elliott until June 2015 having joined from KPMG in 1989. As part of his role in the Family Business sector he specialises in strategy, corporate governance, succession planning and, where appropriate, exits.

He is a non executive director and trusted business advisor to a portfolio of successful family businesses. He is a member of the Institute of Family Business and has a strong network of contacts in banking and capital markets. He recently joined the Advisory Board of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. He is a member of the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership Board and chairs its Regional Infrastructure Board.

He holds a Fellowship in Family Business Advice, is a member of the Expert Witness Institute and a Fellow of the ICAEW. David is a member of the Family Assembly and Chairman of the Family Business Committee of Shepherd Group.

Helen Miller
Helen Miller
Executive Assistant

Helen is an Executive Assistant with over 10 years of experience providing senior level executive support within the financial industry. She joined Western Pension Solutions in January 2019, having previously worked at Macquarie Capital and Barclays. Helen’s role involves supporting the Directors and team with all administrative duties.

Emma Ramsamy
Emma Ramsamy
Consulting Actuary

Emma is a qualified actuary with 10 years of experience working as an actuarial consultant providing advice to sponsors and trustees in relation to their pension arrangements.

She joined Western Pension Solutions in July 2018, having previously worked at Willis Towers Watson.  Her role involved helping sponsoring employers of differing sizes and sectors manage their pension funding commitments and risks in areas such as developing funding and investment strategies, executing liability management exercises and introducing scheme design changes.

The extensive experience and skills Emma has gained over the years in strategic solutions for schemes means she is well placed to guide family owned businesses on how to tackle their pension issues through the delivery of appropriate actuarial analysis and robust advice.

Ben Vickers
Ben Vickers
Actuary

Ben is a qualified actuary with eight years of experience, providing pensions advice to both trustees and sponsors of differing sectors and sizes.

He joined Western Pension Solutions in August 2019, having previously worked at EY and more recently PwC. During this time, Ben helped to support both trustees and sponsoring employers manage their pension commitments covering liabilities from £2m to over £1b. This support included the implementation of liability management exercises and scheme design changes, funding strategy and valuation assistance, transaction of insurance solutions and the design and application of journey plans to help set and meet targets.

Through the skills Ben has developed, together with his wide-ranging experience, he is in a strong position to provide actuarial advice and support family owned businesses in designing and implementing strategies for their pension arrangements that reflect their values and targets.

Edmund Vestey
Edmund Vestey
Actuarial analyst

Edmund belongs to the fifth generation of the Vestey family and, having graduated from university with a degree in Sound Technology, has since spent time in other subsidiaries of Vestey Holdings, developing a deeper understanding of the operations and dynamics of a multi-generational family businesses. Edmund joined WPS in September 2019 as an actuarial analyst and is gaining valuable experience in the practice of family business consultancy, whilst also finding time to progress through the actuarial exams.

Western Pension Solutions
1 King’s Arms Yard
London
EC2R 7AF

+44 (0)20 7726 2718
pensions@vestey.com

WESTERN PENSION SOLUTIONS LIMITED IS A LIMITED COMPANY REGISTERED IN ENGLAND. COMPANY REGISTRATION NO. 11717816.

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REGISTERED OFFICE: VESTEY HOLDINGS LTD,
29 ULLSWATER CRESCENT, COULSDON, SURREY, CR5 2HR.

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