Jersey Teachers Superannuation Fund: Chairman: Appointment

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A decision made 30 May 2014:

Decision reference: MD-C-2014-0064
Decision Summary Title :	Appointment of the Chairman of the Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund		Date of Decision Summary:	30th May 2014
Decision Summary Author:	Project & Research Officer		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Chairman of both the Public Employees Contributory Retirement Scheme (PECRS) and the Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund (JTSF)		Date of Written Report:	27th March 2014
Written Report Author:	Project Director - Pensions		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Appointment of the Chairman of the Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund
Decision(s): The Deputy Chief Minister appointed Mr Gordon Pollock as Chairman of the Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund Management Board following the Minister for Treasury and Resources’ recommendation. The States Assembly approved the appointed Mr Pollock as Chairman of PECRS on 22nd May 2014.
Reason(s) for Decision: The current Chairman of the Management Board of the Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund (JTSF), Mr Ron Amy, OBE, will be stepping down at the end of June 2014. The new Chairman will be appointed from 1st July 2014 for a period of five year. The Chairman of the Management Board of the JTSF is appointed by the Chief Minister on the recommendation of the Minister for Treasury and Resources. This recommendation may only be made with the support of 3 of the member representatives and 3 of the employer representatives. This recommendation was made by the Treasury and Resources Minister and was supported by the Management Board representatives at the JTSF meeting held on 25th March 2014.
Resource Implications: There are no resource or manpower implications arising from this decision
Action required: The Pensions Project Director will inform Mr Pollock of his appointment as Chairman of the JTSF once the Chief Minister has signed the ministerial decision.
Signature:		Position: Senator B I Le Marquand Deputy Chief Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Jersey Teachers Superannuation Fund: Chairman: Appointment

PROPOSITION

The States are asked to decide whether they are of opinion –

In accordance with Regulation 3 of the Public Employees (Contributory Retirement Scheme) (General) (Jersey) Regulations 1989 –

a) To appoint Mr Gordon Pollock as Chairman of the Public Employees Contributory Retirement Scheme from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2019, that date being 5 years from the date of his initial appointment as Chairman as agreed by the members of the PECRS Committee of Management.

REPORT

Regulation 3 of the Public Employees (Contributory Retirement Scheme) (General) (Jersey) Regulations 1989 set out the composition of the Committee of Management and the Chairman of the Committee.

Article 4 of the Teachers’ Superannuation (Administration) (Jersey) Order Administration 2007 of the Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund (JTSF) likewise set out the appointment of the Chairman of the Management Board.

Background

The current Chairman of both the Committee of Management of the PECRS and the Management Board of the JTSF, Mr Ron Amy, OBE, will be stepping down at the end of June 2014. A replacement is therefore required to take on the role prior to the current postholder’s retirement.

The Chairman will be required to give leadership and direction to the PECRS Committee of Management and JTSF Management Board, and to ensure effective governance of the Funds.

The Chairman of the Committee of Management for PECRS is appointed by the States on the recommendation of the Minister for Treasury & Resources. Any such recommendation shall be supported by a majority of the member representatives and a majority of the employer representatives. The fee to be paid to the Chairman from the assets of the scheme shall be decided by a simple majority of the member and employer representatives.

The Chairman of the Management Board for JTSF is appointed by the Chief Minister on the recommendation of the Minister for Treasury and Resources. This recommendation may only be made if it is supported by at least 3 of the member representatives and at least 3 of the employer representatives. The fee to be paid to the Chairman from the assets of the scheme shall be decided by a simple majority of the member and employer representatives.

The Order to appoint the new Chairman is made by the Chief Minister under the Ministerial Decision process.

Appointment Process

The candidate search for the Chairman was performed both locally and in the United Kingdom with the assistance of 2 recruitment consultants, both of whom provided a proposal for approval.

 Birkett Trust Associates (UK search);

 Thomas & Dessain (advertised both locally and in Guernsey)

There were a large number of candidates for the positions (7 recommended candidates from Birkett Trust, 7 candidates from Thomas and Dessain.

Interviews for the role of Chairman were held over two separate dates (due to candidate availability) under the auspices of one panel. The candidates were assessed against a robust framework in line with the candidate specification and were questioned on their technical knowledge, inclusive of the Jersey context, assessed on their skills in relation to leadership and change, their experience of building positive relationships and overall political astuteness.

The process also included a recorded media role play assessment, which tested their personal skills, gravitas, sensitivity and political astuteness.

Psychometric assessments were also undertaken by Thomas & Dessain which provided the panel with a report on each candidate’s leadership style. Ms R Dessain provided an overview to the panel at the end of the interview process.

Interviews were conducted by a main recruitment panel, consisting of the following:

Mr Edward Sallis – Appointments Commission (Chairperson)
Ms Laura Rowley – Treasurer of the States of Jersey
Mr John Mills – CBE, employer representative for PECRS/JTSF
Mr Ron Amy – OBE, Chairman of CoM and JTSF
Mr Mark Richardson – Chairman, Joint Negotiating Group and member representative of PECRS
Mr Terry Le Sueur – OBE, employer representative of the PECRS and the JTSF
Mr Gary Burton – member representative of the JTSF

The Jersey Appointments Commission is satisfied that the appointment process has been properly conducted.

All the candidates who were interviewed for the role were of a high calibre and brought with them a very strong set of interpersonal skills, technical expertise and many years’ experience in this field.

Following this rigorous and transparent selection process, the Minister for Treasury and Resources, supported by members of the Committee of Management of the PECRS, is recommending the appointment of Mr Gordon Pollock as Chairman of the Committee of Management for an initial 5 year period.

In addition the Minister for Treasury and Resources has recommended to the Chief Minister the appointment of Mr Gordon Pollock as Chairman of the JTSF Management Board as Chairman of the Board for 5 years. This appointment is also supported by the members of the JTSF Management Board.

Scheme statistics as at 31 December 2012

PECRS

13,250 members

£1.37b assets under management

JTSF

2,373 members

£326.7m assets under management

Remuneration

The remuneration level for these Chairmanships is £85,000 per annum for 40 days commitment to both schemes.

This is broken down to approximately 24 days with remuneration of £50,000 for PECRS and approximately 16 days with remuneration of £35,000 for the JTSF.

The proposed remuneration levels are regarded as appropriate given the size of the schemes and the need to attract the right calibre of individuals to the roles. The remuneration broadly reflects that of other comparable organisations.

Under the legislation the annual costs for the Chairman are paid as appropriate from each of the funds. However, having one Chairman for both schemes allows for economies of scale in relation to scheduling of meetings, expenses costs etc.

There are no manpower implications for the States of Jersey

Mr Gordon Pollock

Mr Pollock is a former Worldwide Partner and UK Chief Actuary of Mercer and an expert witness.

He joined Duncan Fraser and Company in Edinburgh in 1976 and was appointed Partner in 1983. After the firm was sold to Mercer in 1986 he advised some of the firm’s largest pension fund and corporate clients on pension issues including actuarial, funding strategy, and the impact of corporate activity. These included BT, SAUL, RAC, the Electricity Companies, PWC and Compass Group. He became Head of Mercer’s City office in 1989 for 6 years before being appointed Head of the UK Actuarial business.

Prior to his early retirement in 2011, he was UK Chief Actuarial Officer for 6 years and spent half his time in this role reviewing Mercers actuarial advice to the firm’s most complex pension fund clients.

From 2002 until 2004, he was Chairman of the Association of Consulting Actuaries, having been Honorary Treasurer since 1998. He lobbied the Department for Work and Pensions and government ministers over pension policy, including their response to the increasing number of occupational pension schemes closing due to cost and regulatory pressures and the need to encourage growth in future pension savings.

He is an experienced trustee, having been a director of the MMC UK Pension Plan (£3.3bn) for 16 years. He was a member of the investment committee which oversaw a Common Investment Fund and he chaired a sub-committee that focussed on de-risking and new asset classes. He was also Chairman of both the Audit and Risk and the Legal committees.

Since retiring from Mercer, Mr Pollock has continued to act as an expert adviser and witness in legal cases concerning actuarial and investment strategy. He was appointed as a consultant to Barnett Waddingham to help them develop the firm's capability in this field. One of the largest cases he is currently working on involves possible litigation over actuarial and investment advice given in 2006 by a consulting firm.

He has also recently been appointed as the Chairman of the Expert Witness Working Group of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and a trustee of their Staff Pension Scheme (£50mil). Gordon has been described as an ‘industry heavyweight’ and would bring considerable experience, gravitas and sound judgement to the Chair role.