Appointments: Pension Dashboard Project names new chief

The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has appointed Iain Patterson as its new “senior responsible owner”, the person designated to lead the organisation’s activities as it prepares to begin connecting schemes and providers to the dashboards ecosystem. 

Patterson joins from the Cabinet Office where he was senior strategic technology adviser in the Central Digital and Data Office. He has held a range of public and private sector positions in a variety of sectors including utilities and aerospace. He also played a role in helping to deliver the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Chris Curry, PDP’s current senior responsible owner, will remain at the PDP as principal. The organisation said Curry would continue to lead the programme’s engagement with industry “to maintain the successful collaboration on delivering dashboards”. 

Read Chris Curry’s interview with Pensions Expert on the dashboard project. 

Smart Pension hires for business development role
Claire Misata has joined Smart Pension as business development director, responsible for relationship development with trustees and consultants. 

Misata joins from Northern Trust where she was a client executive and managed a number of defined benefit and defined contribution pension scheme clients. She has also worked at BNP Paribas, JP Morgan and Citi.  

Scottish Widows appoints Cairns to responsible investment position
Scottish Widows has hired Eva Cairns as head of responsible investment and stewardship. 

She joins from Abrdn where she was head of sustainability insights and climate strategy, responsible for leading the firm’s sustainability research team and climate strategy for investments over the past six years. 

Cairns has also co-authored several climate-related papers on subjects such as net-zero investing, climate scenario analysis and the credibility of net-zero targets. 

Fintech hires Dickson for pensions sector push
Pensions industry veteran Andy Dickson has joined fintech firm Engage Smarter AI in the newly created role of market strategy director. He is tasked with developing the firm’s strategy for the UK workplace pensions market. 

Engage Smarter AI aims to help pension providers bridge the financial guidance gap through artificial intelligence solutions. 

Dickson most recently worked on strategic development projects with the Aegon and SEI master trusts. Before that, he spent 25 years at Standard Life Group in the company’s corporate DC business and as an investment director within its asset management arm. 

Dickson said: “Providing personalised guidance to pension scheme members cost effectively is a very real challenge for providers, DC master trusts and trustees. It is genuinely thrilling to see how our smart technology provides a solution to this perennial problem and I very much look forward to working with potential partners to deliver it.”