Who manages your money

Mark Fawcett OBE, CEO Nest Invest 

Mark joined Nest as CIO in 2008 to design and shape Nest’s investment strategy and has been responsible for investments as AUM have grown from 0 to over £40bn. In 2019 he became CEO of Nest Invest, the FCA authorised investment subsidiary of Nest Corporation while relinquishing the role of CIO in 2023.

Mark has been an investment manager for the 37 years and has managed money at a variety of institutions including as Head of Japanese Equities at Gartmore and CIO at American Express Asset Management International.

Mark has an MA Maths & Philosophy from Oxford University and an MSc Management from London Business School. He received an OBE for services to pension saving in 2023.

Elizabeth Fernando, Chief Investment Officer

All of our investment decisions are based on ongoing evidence, research and analysis of the markets and best investment practice, as well as detailed insight into what our members need and expect from us. This helps us identify where to put our members’ money, spreading it over a wide range of investments around the world.

Elizabeth’s team are responsible for gathering evidence that helps shape the strategic decisions we make about where, when and how much to invest. She also takes final responsibility for selecting the right fund managers to help deliver our investment strategy. Before joining Nest, Elizabeth was head of equities at USS and had executive-level responsibility for its responsible investment activities. Elizabeth started her career as part of the portfolio management team at Lloyds Investment Managers before spending 25 years at USS.

Elizabeth has an MA degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University. She also holds an Associate of the UK Society of Investment Professionals (ASIP) qualification from Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) UK, a membership body that awards qualifications for investment professionals. She recently passed CFA’s Investing in ESG Certificate.

You can watch Elizabeth’s take on the latest market movements in her quarterly video updates, where she explains how we’ve been managing your money.

Paul Todd, Director of Investment Development and Delivery

Paul is part of the leadership group within Nest’s investment team, working with the chief investment officer and the Trustee Board to set the strategic vision for Nest’s investment approach and ensure the delivery of that vision. He works to develop our investment proposition and makes sure that what we’re offering is the right approach for our members.

Paul has built up a team of experts that take responsibility for Nest’s responsible investment approach, for developing our sophisticated retirement fund, for assessing governance and policies, as well communicating what we do to everyone.

Paul worked in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions before he was seconded to DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equality at the European Commission as a national expert on pensions and social security in Europe. He joined Nest in 2008.

Charlotte Griffiths, Head of Investment Strategic Delivery

We’re responsible for managing money in our members’ best interests, so all the decisions we make are intended to provide our members with a good return. Charlotte’s team manage a rigorous process to make sure all investment decisions are properly documented and overseen by the right governance groups, like the investment committee, who meet quarterly to formally review and approve investment operations and decisions.

Charlotte joined Nest in 2019 when Nest decided to create an investment subsidiary with FCA authorisation. Her team navigated the entire process and is now responsible for helping us uphold the standards and regulations set by the FCA.

Jiwei Dong, Head of Market Risk and Asset Allocation Manager

Understanding, monitoring, and managing investment risk is key to getting the best returns for members and achieving the objectives of each of our funds. Jiwei and his team are responsible for managing the overall risk taken in our portfolios and making recommendations as to how our investments could be adapted to improve risk-adjusted returns for members.

Jiwei gained a BA in Economics from Peking University, China and an MSC and PhD in Finance, Lancaster University, UK. He holds Chartered Financial Analyst accreditation (CFA) and financial risk manager (FRM) designations. Prior to joining Nest, he was a quantitative researcher on global macro strategies at two different asset managers, Barclay Global Investor and Auriel Capital. He started his career in investment management as a quantitative analyst at Crosby Capital, covering fund manager research.

Diandra Soobiah, Head of Responsible Investment

All our members’ money is invested responsibly. A core part of our investment process involves assessing how the companies, sectors and economies we invest in are run, and their impact on people and the planet. Diandra’s team is responsible for setting the strategy and overseeing how we do this. Her team ensures all Nest’s investment decisions factor in material environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities.

Diandra’s team also works closely with our fund managers to make sure we fulfil our role as a responsible steward of our members’ assets, for example through voting at company annual general meetings (AGMs) and engaging with company boards, to deliver the best financial outcomes for our members. Diandra has more than 18 years of investment experience, including at Nedgroup Investments and Russell Investments.

She holds a BA (Hons) in Business Studies and French from Queen Mary University of London and has chartered alternative investment analyst (CAIA) level 1 and CFA UK’s investment management certificate (IMC) certification.

Mike Smith, Head of Fund Administration

It’s important that we get the right market information and make the right investment decisions. It’s just as important that we carry out these decisions accurately and efficiently. We work with our scheme administrator Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) and fund administrator State Street Bank to get the job done.

TCS collects contributions for all our members and passes consolidated trade data on to State Street Bank to invest in Nest funds on behalf of our members. Our fund administration team is responsible for advising State Street Bank of any changes made to the asset allocation by Jiwei and his team, and for making sure that the changes have been completed smoothly and efficiently. Mike also takes responsibility for daily reconciliations to make sure every change has been made correctly.

Mike has been with Nest since 2008 as part of the team who designed our investment process and model. Prior to that Mike worked for Fidelity and Friends Provident, two major companies that provide investment management services.

Nick Huntley, Head of Investment Technology

Nick’s team designs and builds bespoke IT systems that help Nest’s investment team do their jobs efficiently and securely. For example, they designed an internal software system that tracks every change we make to our funds and feeds this information into all relevant parts of the investment process.

Nick has more than 20 years of experience working in the software industry. He worked at a variety of financial institutions in a number of key positions before joining Nest in 2011. He’s worked at big asset management companies like Barclays Capital and at Reuters and J.P. Morgan’s investment banking division, where he was a core member of the team that designed and implemented a new trading system.

Nick has a BSc in Mathematics from York University and an MSc in Computer Science from the University of London.

Anders Lundgren, Head of Public Markets

We appoint world-class fund managers to help us deliver our investment strategy. We build long-lasting relationships with these managers and regularly review and monitor their performance. Anders and his team are responsible for choosing and managing the relationships with our public markets fund managers. His team plays a critical role in making sure our fund managers offer value to our members. This includes holding fund managers accountable for the objectives we’ve set them. He also advises on our public markets strategy, helping the team decide where to invest in different public markets and how much.

Anders holds an MSc in Theoretical Physics from Chalmers University, Sweden. He also holds an MBA from Imperial College, London and the Certificate in Quantitative Finance. He started his career in 1999 at Bloomberg where he worked as an analyst. In 2000 he joined Credit Suisse Asset Management as a risk analyst and later worked in the fixed income team serving a wide range of institutional and pension investors.

Stephen O’Neill, Head of Private Markets

While Anders looks at public markets, Stephen’s team provides recommendations for our private markets strategy and how to implement it. His team is responsible for researching and procuring the best fund managers to deliver our private market investments and overseeing their performance.

Stephen has worked in the investment team since 2009. Over that time, Stephen was responsible for the design and delivery of Nest’s fund choices as well as a range of other aspects of the scheme’s investment approach, including our innovative Nest Guided Retirement Fund.

Stephen is a CFA charterholder, holds the IMC and has a BSc in Physics from the University of Bristol.

Pippa Strutt, Head of External Media and Communications

We believe it’s important to be transparent at Nest. That’s why we report openly on how we’re doing through regular updates like our fund factsheets, voting and responsible investment reports. Pippa leads the team that gives our members, customers and other stakeholders accurate investment information in ways that they’ll find most useful. Pippa also oversees all external media and social media activity for Nest, developing engaging and newsworthy stories to build the brand.

Pippa joined Nest in 2022 and was previously Head of Communications, Social and Content at AXA Health. She has held Director roles at global communications consultancies including Hill & Knowlton Strategies, developing high profile campaigns for the Government and leading consumer brands.

Katharina Lindmeier, Head of Sustainability strategy

Katharina joined Nest in 2019. She has 9 years of investment experience both on the asset management and asset owner side. She started her career at Standard Life Investments (now Abrdn) and before joining Nest she worked at Railpen where she was responsible for integrating ESG and climate change risks and opportunities into the investment process.

Katharina has an MA in Philosophy and Economics from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc in Environmental Economics and Policy from UCL. Katharina is a CFA charterholder. 
 

Rachel Farrell, Director of Public and Private Markets 

Rachel has over 30 years of investment experience. Before joining Nest, Rachel spent 10 years at JP Morgan Asset Management, most recently as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Country Head of JP Morgan Asset Management Australia, responsible for all of JPMorgan Asset Management's operations in Australia and New Zealand, based in Sydney. Prior to this, Rachel was JPMAM's Head of Sovereign and Institutional, Asia Pacific ex-Japan, based in Hong Kong, and prior to this Head of South East Asia and Australia Sovereign and Institutional based in Singapore. Before joining JPMAM in 2011, she was head of Asia Pacific investor relations and distribution for Citi Capital Advisors, the alternative asset management division of Citigroup and held a number of senior positions in her 12 years at the firm. She was also head of the Global Discretionary Portfolio Management Team for Bankers Trust Switzerland AG and a member of the Global Investment Committee.

Rachel graduated with an MBA with honours in Finance and Marketing from Columbia University and a BA in International Relations from Brown University. She is also a CFA Charter Holder and CAIA Charter Holder.