Keynote

Baroness Jeannie Drake has been Labour Life Peer since 2010. She served on the Turner Pensions Commission and is now a member of the second Pensions Commission. Jeannie also serves as a trustee to several schemes and has previously chaired PADA, the precursor to Nest, and been President of the Trades Union Congress.

Carolyn joined LBG in February 2023 as Retirement Director and Platform lead. She is passionate about helping people understand their money and pensions and designing services to support people with their financial wellbeing as each stage of their life.
Carolyn has spent over 30 years working in the pension industry. She started her career with an actuarial company and realising the actuarial life was not for her moved into change management and strategy in pensions with roles at British Airways and PwC. This was followed by 13 years at Fidelity International, where she was responsible for the development of pension and retirement services and for defining Fidelity's retirement thought leadership, to provide insight into the ever more complex issues which customers face in saving for and living in retirement. As well as being executive director.
Prior to joining LBG Carolyn spent 3 years at the Money and Pensions Service as Head of Pension and Money Guidance strategy, working with government to define the strategy for how MaPS should help citizens with their money and pensions.

Charlotte Clark CBE has been the Director of Cross-Cutting Policy and Strategy at the FCA since November 2024. Her team leads on areas such as Consumer Duty, Vulnerability, Redress and Prudential Policy as well as areas such as the development of policy for AI. Prior to this Charlotte was the Director of Regulation at ABI, leading on areas such as Solvency II reform and the ESG. Her background is in the civil service where she had senior roles in HMT, DWP and DfE including being the Director for Private Pensions at DWP.

Donna is passionate about improving the experience for members. Companies and members have more pensions, wider savings and benefits options than ever before, due to recent changes in pensions and advances in technology. Donna believes that these changes provide an opportunity to innovate and design new ways to engage people with their retirement savings. She loves listening to client, trustee, adviser and member feedback to ensure that Standard Life delivers experiences that truly meet their needs. All of this is centred on helping members towards better outcomes in retirement.

Having joined Standard Life 25 years ago, Donna is a qualified actuary and has helped to design and deliver Standard Life’s Workplace developments for over 15 years. She is a regular at roundtable discussions, industry working groups and events, and loves to share ideas to help shape the future of retirement savings in the UK.

Jack Jones is policy lead for pensions at the Trades Union Congress. He joined the TUC's economics team in 2017 and has been in his current role since 2019. Before this he worked as a financial journalist.

Katya Gorbatiouk has over 20 years of experience in international capital markets. As Head of Investment Funds in Primary Capital Markets of the London Stock Exchange, Katya is responsible for driving the growth and liquidity of the market for listed investment companies, a conduit of capital into vital sectors of the economy, including infrastructure, renewable energy, high-growth sectors such as tech and life sciences, and other growth areas of private markets. Katya is one of the recipients of the 2024 ‘Jackie Beard Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry’ from Investment Week, recognized for her leadership in a group of senior market leaders who ran an industry campaign to tackle undue regulatory barriers hindering the flow of capital into this strategic area of capital markets.

Since 2024, Katya's team is also responsible for the expansion of the London Stock Exchange's ETF franchise. Under her leadership, the London Stock Exchange won the ‘Best European Exchange for Listing ETFs’ award at the 2025 European ETF Express Awards.

Since 2023 Katya is a member of the Stakeholder Insight Group of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), that acts as an external adviser to the regulator on market developments and areas of focus related to corporate governance and stewardship.

Since 2022 Katya serves on the Best Practice Committee of the Board of the Investor Relations Society. She previously served on the judging panel for the IR Society Best Practice Awards. Her articles on the evolution of investor communications and engagement were published in the recent issues of the IR Society Journal Informed.

Katya’s early career includes 14 years in investment banking at Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Barclays, in New York and London. 

Katya is a Freeman of the City of London. She has been a long-standing advisory council member of the Global Leaders Institute (Washington DC), the London Symphony Orchestra, a Trustee of the London Music Fund, and since last year Chair of the Advisory Board of UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies.

Over a decade’s experience as a pro-bono, independent and accredited Professional Pension Scheme Trustee and Board Chair across DB, DC, corporate, charity and LGPS schemes, providing governance leadership, strategic oversight and investment decision-making across funding and endgame planning.

Proven record of strengthening trustee board processes through comprehensive reviews of governance arrangements, succession planning, embedding clear decision-making protocols and improving transparency and accountability across board operations, alongside advising on investment strategy, strategic asset allocation, and integrated risk and covenant considerations.

Mithesh joined Scottish Widows in January 2025 as Head of Investment Solutions, responsible for understanding the evolving customer needs across our channels engaging with market participants, translating these into outcomes to develop innovative investment solutions. He joined from Mobius Life, where, as Chief Investment Officer, he spent 15 years playing an instrumental role in building an innovative, market-leading business focused on bespoke investment solutions for a broad range of investors, particularly institutional clients.

Mithesh brings a breadth of expertise across strategic research, asset allocation, and portfolio management, combined with deep experience in designing and implementing sophisticated investment strategies. He is a CFA Charterholder and graduated with a 1st Class Honours in Mathematics with Economics. He has a strong track record of understanding client needs and partnering with asset managers and stakeholders to address complex investment challenges, delivering solutions that drive better outcomes and create long-term value. A proven innovator in both the DB and DC marketplace, Mithesh has led the development of industry-firsts spanning from structured derivative solutions, private markets to sustainable assets.

Matt Lomas is an Investment Manager in Railpen’s Sustainable Ownership team, focusing on investment stewardship and the integration of governance and sustainability within the investment process. Railpen is the investment manager for the UK’s railways pension schemes, overseeing around £34 billion of assets on behalf of more than 350,000 members. Matt previously served as Investment Stewardship Director at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation and has a background in political risk and industry analysis across the energy, mining and consumer sectors.

Priya is Head of Research at the PPI, overseeing policy analysis and modelling delivered by the research team. She has an MSc and PhD in Social Science from the University of Southampton. Priya has 15 years of experience in conducting mixed methods applied policy research on work, income, pensions, and retirement. Prior to rejoining the PPI, Priya was Co-Director of Health and Social Care research at NatCen and Social Policy Director at RSM Consulting. She has successfully led on numerous projects and programmes for various departments and units across HMG as well as not-for-profit organisations, regulators, and private sector clients. Priya is an experienced commentator having conducted TV and Radio interviews for both national and community-based media outlets. Priya has published in renowned journals such as Ageing & Society.