Helen Dean, NESTThe UK’s National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) has promoted
Helen Dean to CEO, succeeding Tim Jones later this year.
Dean is currently executive director for product and marketing at NEST, having joined from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2014. While at the DWP, she worked on the initial concept behind NEST and automatic enrolment.
Jones quit as CEO in February to take on a role in the digital payments sector, but has stayed with the group to oversee the transition.
“The next few years are going to be critical ones in terms of ensuring auto-enrolment goes smoothly for small and micro businesses,” said Otto Thoresen, chair of NEST. “Helen’s frontline experience of the challenges we face will be invaluable in helping NEST to navigate that journey.”
NEST was established in 2008 to run defined contribution (DC) pensions for UK workers who are unable to access workplace pensions. The next two years will see millions of employees of small and micro businesses become members of the fund. It is set to become one of the biggest DC pension funds in Europe.
NEST’s investments are overseen by CIO Mark Fawcett, who collected the award for the best DC fund at last month’s CIO Europe Innovation Awards.
Related: Mark Fawcett, Building a DC Giant