Standard Life has appointed the first trustee apprentice, Priya Kainth, director, global markets credit at Bank of America, to its Master Trust Board following the successful completion of its Trustee Accelerator Programme pilot.
Kainth has joined the board in a developmental role designed to support the next stage of her trustee career. Meanwhile, Dean Dennis, managing director at Verizon, Tom Dibble, communications specialist at Standard Life, and Danielle Devoy, risk business partner lead at Standard Life, have secured positions on board sub-committees covering investment and sustainability, administration, communications and engagement and risk and governance.
The Trustee Accelerator Programme was launched in 2024 in partnership with the Pensions Management Institute. It aims to build a more diverse pipeline of future pension trustees through a combination of formal study, mentoring and board-level shadowing.
Kainth says: “TAP is about getting people like me into the Trustee boardroom, so our voices are heard. We represent a big part of the membership pool, but we’re not represented in decision-making. TAP has opened doors I never thought possible.”
Standard Life Master Trust Board chair Helen Dean CBE says: “It’s been wonderful to see the Trustee Accelerator Programme make such a positive impact, by bringing fresh talent into the pensions industry. We’re absolutely delighted to welcome Priya Kainth as our first apprentice to the Standard Life Master Trust Board and three further graduates from the programme to the Board’s sub-committees. Priya’s appointment, alongside those of Dean Dennis, Tom Dibble and Danielle Devoy, is a brilliant reflection of the programme’s success, and we’re excited to support them as they continue their development. I’m sure we will all benefit from the energy, insight and fresh perspective they will bring to the boardroom and committee discussions.”
Standard Life head of master trust and programme sponsor Donna Walsh says: “It was hard to imagine how transformational the original pilot would become. It has changed the lives and career paths for many of our trainees and opened specific opportunities for the trainees while creating a pool of talented trustee ready candidates for existing trustees and their boards. With the first cohort of trainees graduating this month, I am delighted to be handing over the post-pilot programme to the PMI, and confident that under its stewardship it will be equally successful in diversifying and developing the trustee boards of the future to better serve all scheme members.”
The programme’s first cohort of trustee trainees are set to graduate at the PMI’s annual conference in June 2026.
