
BESTrustees is delighted to announce the recruitment of Russell Baird as a Professional Trustee. Russell is a qualified actuary with over 30 years’ pensions and investment experience and joined on 16 September. He will be based in Edinburgh.
Russell joins BESTrustees from Aegon Asset Management in Edinburgh where he was Head of UK Investment Solutions. His appointment is part of our strategy to expand even further BESTrustees’ visibility and presence in Scotland. Russell was attracted by BESTrustees’ unique offering of unbiased and independent expert advice and is excited to be able to bring his breadth and depth of pensions and investment experience to support the increasing challenges inherent in managing modern pension schemes.
Russell began initially as a pension scheme actuary & senior consultant, then took on client director and senior investment positions at blue-chip companies including Scottish Amicable, Prudential and Aon Consulting before moving to Aegon Asset Management. An experienced client director and chair, he has led and delivered key actuarial and investment projects, including scheme restructures, sale & purchase, risk management and governance projects for a diverse portfolio of clients ranging from £1m to more than £10bn.
“We are delighted to welcome a pensions professional like Russell to our ranks of professional trustees. This is a very dynamic time for the professional trustee market, especially for the truly independent conflict-free firms like BESTrustees. We have always had a strong presence in Scotland, but Russell will help us consolidate and grow our footprint there even more.”
Ann Rigby, Chair of BESTrustees“I am thrilled to be joining BESTrustees at such a crucial time. Scotland is an exciting market for pensions and my goal is to communicate BESTrustees’ exceptional reputation to the industry here and to ensure we are in the strongest possible position to help schemes support the delivery of positive outcomes to their members.”
Russell Baird
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