Defined contribution (DC) master trust The People’s Pension has established an in-house investment unit under the leadership of chief investment officer Dan Mikulskis.
The unit – People’s Investment Limited, or PIL – received regulatory authorisation in October from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
It has been appointed as the official “investment adviser” to the master trust’s trustee board, effectively giving it authority over investment decisions. It replaces Barnett Waddingham in this function after almost 10 years.
While it is growing its internal expertise, the master trust said it would continue to work with a panel of external consultants on a project basis “where appropriate”.
Mikulskis said establishing PIL was “an important stepping stone in building the foundations of a world class asset owner”.
“This will enable us to develop the shared bond between executive and trustee board essential to the long-term success of asset owners.”
Dan Mikulskis, The People’s Pension
“Advising our trustee board directly will enable us to find and implement new ideas more efficiently and quickly, leaving additional value in the hands of our members,” he said. “It will enable us to develop the shared bond between executive and trustee board essential to the long-term success of asset owners.”
The People’s Pension has been building up its in-house investment team over the past year and expects to have 23 investment professionals employed by PIL by the end of next month.
The team will be responsible for investing the master trust’s £32bn portfolio of assets. The People’s Pension is the second largest master trust in the market, behind Nest.
Who is on the People’s investment team?
Mikulskis, who was appointed CIO in September 2023, is chief executive of PIL, according to the FCA register. His deputy, Phil Butler, joined from M&G in December.
The investment team has doubled in size in the past year, according to People’s. It is based in the City of London in a new office opened last year.
Recent hires include Mark Smith, who is head of asset allocation and previously worked at Tesco’s in-house pensions team. Kevin Openshaw is PIL’s head of investment operations, having joined from Mobius Life, while Cassie Traeger has joined the organisation as stewardship manager from Columbia Threadneedle. Leanne Clements leads PIL’s responsible investment work.
Lara Rodriguez and Lindsay Ireland are co-heads of equity, while Chelsea Parandian and Charlotte Vincent jointly oversee the organisation’s fixed income investments. All four joined People’s last year through The Return Hub, a financial services recruitment company specialising in helping people return to the sector after a career break.
Ciarán Barr is chair of PIL. He is a member of the board of People’s Partnership, the parent company of The People’s Pension, and also sits on the boards of LGPS Central.
Other recent appointments elsewhere within The People’s Pension include: Stuart Reid, who joins this month as distribution director; Allie Jenkin and Victoria Willmott, who took up customer engagement roles in December; chief finance officer Kay Smith; director of public affairs Victoria Jonson; and Kirsty Ross, proposition director.
People’s future growth plans
The People’s Pension expects to hit £50bn in assets under management by 2030, and has invested in its internal team in anticipation of this growth.
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It also means it is diversifying its investment portfolio, with plans to deploy approximately £4bn in private markets assets from later this year – including in the UK when suitable assets are available. It has approximately 14% of its default investment fund allocated to the UK.
Mark Condron, chair of The People’s Pension’s trustee board, said: “It has been great to see the development of the investment team within People’s Partnership and we believe we are now at a stage where it is appropriate for the team to take on the primary advisory role to the trustee.”
