Robert Thomas,

Date joined the Trustee Board: April 2020

Mastertrust specialisms: Chair of the Governance, Risk and Audit Committee; sits on the Investment Committee

Skill set: Financial management, governance and controls; broad spectrum of pensions matters

Bio: Robert represents the independent trustee firm Law Debenture.

Robert brings a corporate focus having worked in various financial roles at two large multinationals – Pfizer and Xerox -  for 20 years, as well as chairing each of their pension trustee boards.

He trained as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen which equips him to lead the Governance, Risk and Audit Committee’s work. He sees good practices in pensions governance through his work with other boards as a full time independent professional trustee, and in his role on the Council of the Association of Professional Pension Trustees.

Recognising that much of the population will depend on savings vehicles like the WorkSave Mastertrust for their income in later life, Robert places great emphasis on looking after the needs of members and is particularly interested in the influence of communications on savings behaviour.

Robert has a BSC and PhD from the University of Bristol in Biology. He has recently been learning the ancient rural craft of laying hedges.