Appointments: Independent Governance Group, Gallagher, Buck

Professional trustee firm Independent Governance Group (IGG) has hired senior staff from Aon and the Pensions Regulator (TPR).

Tim Giles joins from Aon as a trustee director, while Luke Wilcox joins from TPR as an associate director.

Giles has more than 30 years’ experience in the pensions and investment industry, most recently as head of investment at Aon, responsible for the firm’s investment consulting and fiduciary management businesses.

Wilcox, meanwhile, held several leadership roles in regulatory compliance and market oversight at TPR, including taking a leading role in some of the regulator’s most significant cases. He led TPR’s first dedicated team responsible for regulating the funding of all DB occupational pension schemes.

IGG has also hired three assistant associates – Gerson Portugues, Jack Pearce and Kymani Watson-Samuels – meaning the firm now has more than 200 pensions professionals across four UK offices.

Gallagher boosts benefits leadership team

Consulting group Gallagher has appointed three executive leaders to its Benefits & HR Consulting Division. All three are from Buck, the pensions consultancy group it acquired last year, which it is now integrating into the company.

Lee Cook takes over as managing director of pensions administration services. He previously led Buck’s administration team and has more than 30 years’ experience in the pensions sector. In his new role, Gallagher said he would be responsible for the services provided to more than 170 pension scheme clients with 430,000 members between them.

John Deacon is now head of corporate consulting for employee benefits. At Buck he was head of employee benefits. Gallagher’s corporate consulting team also includes specialist groups serving small businesses.

Meanwhile, Vishal Makkar has been named managing director for UK wealth consulting. He was previously head of retirement consulting at Buck, and has over 20 years of experience in the sector. In his new role, he will oversee DB pensions consulting, actuarial, investment, and secretarial consulting teams.