About us

Elaine Alston is a managing director of relationship management at MFS.

Elaine joined MFS in 2007, following nine years at Barclays Global Investors, where she served in a variety of roles, most recently client manager. She began her career in the financial services industry in 1991.

Elaine earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from The University of Auckland and has a Diploma in Marketing from The Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK). She holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) from the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI) and holds the CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing.

She was DCIF Chair in 2021 and now sits on the DCIF Advisory Board.

Mark is the current Chair of the DCIF (2024). Mark is the head of the UK in the institutional investor business looking after principally pensions and insurance clients.

Marks background is based in the servicing, management and stewardship of retirement assets having worked at an asset manager with a significant pension market share and two asset servicing institutions predominately servicing the UK and European defined benefit and defined contribution markets.

Mark is also the executive sponsor l on new sales to major or strategically important asset owners and managers in both the pension sector, and the insurance market as well.  Mark has been with Northern Trust for 12 years.

Andrew leads the Defined Contribution business at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, with responsibility for strategic relationships, business development and investment proposition. Andrew started his career at Henderson Investors, where he held a position in the UK Equity team, prior to a Product Manager role at Interactive Investor. He is a frequent commentator on pension and investment matters.

Andrew holds a BSc in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

Stephen recently joined LCP (June 2020) and is a Principal in LCP’s DC team. Stephen’s role is to lead the future development of LCP’s DC investment proposition and research, while continuing with client advisory work to help support LCP’s fast-growing DC client base.

Stephen has worked in the pensions industry focusing on consulting on defined contribution plans for over 20 years. During his career, he has worked with a number of the largest sponsored DC pension schemes in the UK covering asset sizes ranging from the very smallest to those in excess of £4bn of member savings. His work with several of these schemes received two innovation awards from Professional Pensions in 2018. Stephen has also worked with six of the largest master trust arrangements during his career, including the main auto-enrolment solutions as well as three insurer-led master trust offerings.

He is actively involved in a number of industry organisations and taskforces which share the same ambition of improving member outcomes. This includes working with the DCIF on their Advisory Committee and also broader industry roles such as the consultant input to the Patient Capital initiative work with HM Treasury

Andy Dickson, Aegon UK Investing

Master Trust Strategic Development Director

Andy has an established track record of driving DC strategies to meet the requirements of the UK’s largest employers. Prior to his current role of Master Trust Strategic Development Director at Aegon UK Investing, Andy was at Standard Life Group for over 25 years working within the Group’s DC Corporate business and the Asset Management arm as an Investment Director. Latterly he was Head of Market Strategy at Atlas Master Trust. He is a regular pension trade press contributor and presenter at pension and investment conferences in the UK and overseas and former chair of the DC Investment Forum.

Jon has represented abrdn within the DCIF over the last 2-3 years.  Jon is a Director within the Client Group at abrdn and has been with the company since 2003.  Working within the Client Group at abrdn, Jon’s role involves looking after a wide variety of clients ranging from LGPS Schemes to large corporate schemes, covering both DB and DC.  Within his role he has also spent a considerable amount of time working with the DC clients of one of the UK’s largest pension providers.  Jon has a BSc (Hons) in Financial Economics from the University of Dundee.

Outside the world of DC Jon spends most of his time either on the golf course, playing football or watching the Mighty Raith Rovers with his son.

Hilary Inglis is Head of Strategic Relationships for Octopus Energy Generation, as specialist renewables and energy transition asset manager. Hilary has worked with a wide range of clients, globally, and has been extensively involved in the UK DC market over the last eight years following time working in the Australian Superannuation industry in Sydney. Hilary has an MBA from Heriot Watt and is currently the Chair of the UKSIF Membership Committee.

She was Chair of the DCIF in 2020 and now sits on the Advisory Board.

Lorna is the current immediate past Chair of the DCIF(2024). Lorna joined Baillie Gifford in 2000. She is a Director in the Clients Department, is responsible for UK DC strategy and sits on the Investment Association’s DC committee.

Vivek Roy, is Senior Manager in AXA IM’s Global Financial Institutions and Consultant Relations team. Vivek is responsible for institutional business development for pension fund (DB, DC), insurance companies and large financial institutions with a focus on building partnerships and providing thought leadership. Vivek joined the AXA IM in February 2015. Before joining AXA IM Vivek worked at Willis Towers Watson (now WTW) for six years, managing pension fund investments for some of UK’s largest pension funds and was involved with setting up WTW’s initial fiduciary client base. Vivek has also previously worked for UBS’s M&A division and before that for HSBC. Vivek has been involved with the DC Investment Forum since 2015. He was also Vice Chair and Chair of the DCIF from 2018 and continues to sever on the advisory board. Vivek holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Accounts from Manchester Business School.

Priti has worked in the pension provider arena for over 25 years. She has considerable experience working with trustees, employers and their advisers. She uses her experience and expertise to build strong, collaborative relationships.

Her recent experience involved heading up the DC Client Relationship team at Legal & General, which included being responsible for the L&G Master Trust relationship for a period of time. Prior to that, Priti was a Senior Client Director at BlackRock/ Aegon where she managed both DC and DB client relationships.

Priti has experience in DC contract, single trust and master trust arrangements. She has overseen the setup of new DC pension schemes as well as the transition of Trust schemes to Master Trust arrangements.

Priti’s focus has always been on the member, and she holds a strong interest in the communication journey a member goes through. She has been involved in many propositional developments leading to enhancing the member experience throughout her career.