The Association of Professional Pension Trustees (APPT) has appointed Rachel Croft to be its new chair.
Croft is a trustee director at IGG and was already an APPT council member. She succeeds Harus Rai, who has led the Association since 2021. The APPT has also appointed Vassos Vassou as vice chair, saying this new role reflected the organisation’s growing scale and increased activity.
Over the past three years the number of accredited professional trustees has risen to 435. The APPT has also reviewed and strengthened its accreditation programme for trustees over this period, and published new standards and a code of practice for Professional Corporate Sole Trustees (PCST),
The APPT has also advanced its representation role, now meeting quarterly with TPR and the Department of Work & Pensions, on top of making consultation responses. It also remains an active member of the Joint Industry Pensions Forum.
Croft has been on the APPT Council since 2021, and is an active contributor to pensions industry thought leadership and isa regular speaker on webinar panels. She is particularly focused on external affairs and furthering the role of professional trustees, having regular interaction with TPR and DWP. Croft represented the APPT Council in front of the Work & Pension Select Committee when it investigated the workings and future of fiduciary duties in the light of ESG challenges.
Vassou, who works at Dalriada, joined the Professional Trustee Standards Working Group (PTSWG) in 2017 and APPT Council in 2018.
Croft says: “On behalf of the APPT Council and its members I would like to thank Harus for his leadership through a time of real change and growth in the professional trustee sector.
“With the current Pensions Review, as well as the ongoing challenges of adequacy of DC member outcomes, agreeing long term end games for DB schemes that have optimal outcomes for all stakeholders plus the Government’s drive towards consolidation and investing in UK assets, our members have a pivotal role to play.”
Vassou adds: “The APPT has grown very significantly in both membership and profile since I joined in 2018. I see the next phase of this growth as incredibly important for us as a fledgling profession and for the wider pension sector we work with.”
At the APPT’s AGM two new members joined the Council: Tova Docherty from Capital Cranfield and James Rickards from Law Deb.
Aside from Croft and Vassos other council members include Alison Bostock (Zedra), Jane Foley (Pro Pensions), Sarah Marshall (Pi Partners), Christopher Wheeler (BESTrustees) and Julia Yates (Vidett).
