PLSA appoints Carol Young and Dave Coplin as Non-Executive Directors to the PLSA Board

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) Board has appointed Carol Young and Dave Coplin as Non-Executive Directors (NED). Both will be proposed for appointment for initial three years terms at the PLSA AGM on 3 November 2020. Richard Butcher will also be proposed for reappointment as PLSA Chair, extending his term for a further year until autumn 2021. 

Both Carol and Dave have been selected based on their skills in developing strategy and commercial experience. Carol joins as a member NED and will bring with her an in-depth understanding of the issues facing the UK pensions market while Dave is joining as an independent NED and offers experience and insight of digital technology; a vital component in a post-Covid world.

As the PLSA welcomes both Carol and Dave to the PLSA Board it is also saying goodbye to Patrick Heath-Lay (member NED) and John Dembitz (the first Independent NED under the PLSA’s new governance arrangements). 

Carol Young, Non-Executive Director Board Member, PLSA said: “The PLSA works tirelessly to forge the way for better workplace pension provision for savers, and as the pensions landscape undergoes monumental change, the role of the PLSA is more important today than ever before.

“I am delighted to be appointed as Non-Executive Director on the PLSA Board and look forward to working with my colleagues on the Board to assist the PLSA in continuing to best serve members’ needs.”

Dave Coplin, Non-Executive Director Board Member, PLSA said: “I’m extremely pleased to have been appointed to this role and look forward to helping shape the PLSA now and in the future.

“The PLSA plays an important role for its members making sure that their views are heard at the highest levels of government and I am looking forward to continuing the fine work that has been done to date, and thinking through how our relationship with technology might augment and extend what we might make possible in both the short and long term.”
 
Richard Butcher, Chair PLSA, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Carol and Dave to the PLSA Board. Both Carol and Dave’s experiences will further strengthen and professionalise the board in a dynamic and changing environment.

“I’d also like to thank both Patrick Heath-Lay and John Dembitz for their tireless efforts as NEDs over the years. Both have played an integral role in helping the PLSA to adapt to the ever changing world of retirement savings and we’d like to wish them well for the future. 

“It is the expertise and dedication of members of the PLSA Board which enables the PLSA to successfully represent the pension schemes that together provide a retirement income to 30 million savers in the UK and invest £1.3 trillion in the UK and abroad.”

Full details of the PLSA Board can be seen here. 

Biographies:

Carol Young
Carol is Director of Reward & Employment at Natwest Group. She leads the teams responsible for Reward, Pensions, Benefits, core HR employment policies, Employment Law, Employee Relations, Industrial Relations, Business Acquisitions and Disposals and HR regulatory work.  Within this sits the flexible benefits programme for over 60,000 colleagues and DB and DC pension arrangements for over 300,000 members (over c£45bn liabilities) worldwide.

Carol’s career spans over 20 years across in house and consulting roles and includes a decade as an investment consultant. She has served as independent trustee on a number of boards, and is a trustee of the bank’s UK DC scheme.  Carol is a CFA charterholder and has particular interest in financial wellbeing, effective engagement and governance.

Dave Coplin
Dave Coplin has over 25 years’ experience working with or for the world’s largest technology companies, most recently as Microsoft’s “Chief Envisioning Officer”, providing organisations and governments around the world with strategic advice and guidance that enables them to deliver lasting growth and market relevance through the adoption of transformational technology.

Dave is an established author on topics surrounding the future of work and our relationship with technology. His first book: “Business Reimagined”, provided a view of a new working environment based on collaborative and flexible working. His second book, “The Rise of the Humans” provides a further call to action, for both individuals and organisations to harness not hate the digital deluge, to rise up and take back control of the potential that technology offers our society.

Alongside his consulting and public speaking work, Dave is also an independent non-executive director for Mitchells and Butlers plc and Vianet Group plc, helping to deliver on their strategies for growth by providing strategic advice and guidance on the increasing relevance of digital technologies across their business operations.

Mark Smith, Senior PR Manager
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Steven Kennedy, PR Manager
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