Sally Bridgeland, ex-CEO of BP Pension Trustees Limited, has been named the first female member of the 300 Club, the group announced.
She is the latest addition to the independent organization, whose members seek to raise questions about the “very foundations” of the current investment industry through a series of papers.
“We are at a tipping point; we must act in order to protect millions of investors and the integrity of the industry,” said Lars Dijkstra, chairman of the 300 Club and CIO of Kempen Capital Management. “With Sally’s considerable experience in the pensions industry, I know she will be a fantastic colleague and we are all looking forward to working with her to amplify the impact of our work.”
Bridgeland served as chief of the BP pension scheme for seven years, revolutionizing the £19 billion plan’s perspective on risk and funding and investing strategy, the club said, emphasizing her position as “a stalwart of the UK pensions industry.”
Prior to her role at BP, Bridgeland worked for 20 years at Aon Hewitt as a pensions consultant and an investment practitioner. She also founded the charity Executive Shift and serves as a member of the FTSE policy group.
Beginning in October, she will work as a senior advisor at Avida International, a consulting firm specializing in pensions, in London.
“The demands of maturing pensions funds will change considerably over the next decade and individual savers need an investment environment which they can trust for the longer term,” Bridgeland said. “The 300 Club is right to challenge current thinking and I hope to contribute to the debate which they have started.”
Other members of the 300 Club include CIOs Chris Ailman of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, Stefan Dunatov of Coal Pension Trustees Investment Ltd., Bob Maynard of the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho, and David Villa of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.
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