Trustee Directors
The Role of the Trustee
The 'Trustee' of the Scheme is a limited company – Invensys Pension Trustee Limited – that is governed by a legal trust deed arrangement with Invensys.
The Scheme's pensioners nominate five Directors, who must be members of the deferred, pensioner or spouse pensioner populations. Four Directors are nominated by Invensys Ltd. This brings the total membership of the board, when at full strength, to nine. Together, these Directors are known as the ‘Trustee’ of the Scheme.
The Trustee's role is to administer the Scheme in accordance with the Scheme rules in the interests of all Scheme members.
This includes:
Receiving contributions from Invensys when required
Investing the Scheme's assets
Paying the beneficiaries of the Scheme
The rules of the Scheme state that the Company determines its level of contributions after considering the advice of an actuary. The actuary also ensures that these contributions at least meet the minimum requirements of the Pensions Act 2005.
The Trustee must also make decisions about individual cases. These include the payment of benefits, such as lump sum payments after the death of a pension fund member, children's pensions and ill-health pensions.
The Trustee is also responsible for setting out the key elements of the Scheme's investment policy. This is produced after consultation with Invensys and appropriate advice from advisers. The Trustees then appoint investment managers to deal with day-to-day investment decisions in line with their investment policy and any other restrictions on investments contained in the Scheme rules.
Kathleen O'Donovan, Chairman
Kathleen has been a member of the Board since 1991 and was appointed Chair of the Board in February 2003. As Chief Financial Officer of BTR and Invensys between 1991 and 2002, she has been deeply involved in the Scheme for many years. Previously a partner with Ernst & Young, Kathleen has held a number of non-executive directorships, including at ARM Holdings plc, Prudential plc, the Bank of England and O2 plc. Kathleen has been a member of KPMG’s Public Interest Committee since 1 July 2019.
Michel Picot
Michel has been a trustee of pension funds linked with French parent companies since 2007. He started his career as an auditor with KPMG and held various international Financial and Executive positions in listed groups, both in France and abroad. He is a Strategy and Management Consultant for High Tech developing companies and sits on various boards as independent director. Michel is a representative of Vidett Trustee Services Limited, an independent UK Trustee Firm, which was appointed to the Board on 1 November 2018.
Trevor Lambeth
Trevor joined Schneider Electric in 1988 and has held various finance and systems roles throughout the local and global businesses. From 1 April 2024 he was appointed as UK and Ireland Pensions Director, working with the UK and Ireland HR Team. As part of this role he oversees a number of pension arrangements in the UK and Ireland. Trevor is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. He was appointed to the Board in 1 November 2018.
Andy smith
Andy previously worked for the Trustee as its Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining IPS in 2012, he was the Chief Financial Officer at Rothesay Life and at Paternoster, two bulk annuity specialists. Andy's pension experience was built up at the Prudential, where he qualified as an accountant before ultimately becoming director of the Prudential's pensions business. He was appointed to the Board on 1 November 2020 and became deputy Chair on 15 June 2023.
Palwinder hare
Palwinder qualified as a solicitor in 1989 and moved into industry in 1992. He was Commercial Solicitor at BTR between 1996 and 1999. He was VP and Regional Legal Director, EMEA at Motorola before joining Standard Chartered Bank in 2007. Until April 2025, Palwinder headed the M&A legal team and was responsible for legal support for the Bank’s own account M&A transactions and corporate matters. Palwinder is a Trustee Director of Standard Chartered Pension Fund. He was appointed to the Board on 1 October 2022.
Find out more about Palwinder here.
Will Spinney
Will joined Invensys in 2000 and worked in the treasury department in the London HQ, first as Deputy Treasurer, then as Group Treasurer. He was heavily involved with the major refinancings in 2004 and 2006 and dealt with pension issues as part of those. He was a fiduciary of the Invensys US pension scheme while he was Group Treasurer. From 2007 to 2021, when he retired, Will worked for the professional body for corporate treasurers, writing and teaching extensively. Will was appointed to the Board on 6 December 2018.
alison morris
Alison has been a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development for over 20 years. She was employed by a leading global agricultural company as HR Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, based in the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK for over 15 years. In the late 1990s, Alison was responsible for HR at Crompton Instruments Ltd, at that time a subsidiary of the BTR Group. Her career has included Compensation and Benefits responsibilities during which she built up her pensions knowledge and governance experience. She was appointed to the Board on 1 October 2022.
Find out more about Alison here
Peter vos
Peter is a Chartered Accountant and a trustee with financial and governance responsibilities for various charities. He retired in 2012 from Parker SSD Drives, a former subsidiary of Eurotherm, where he worked for 31 years. As a Member-Nominated Trustee Director since February 2013, Peter has substantial pension experience, both with his former employer’s schemes and subsequently has served on the Scheme’s Investment and Pensions Governance Committees. He regularly attends a wide range of pension industry seminars to broaden his pensions knowledge.
kevin smith
Kevin was Group Financial Controller at Invensys from 2005, leaving in 2015 following the acquisition by Schneider Electric. He originally joined the Siebe finance team in 1987 and became part of Invensys following the merger with BTR in 1999. His tenure at Invensys provided extensive exposure to the Invensys Pension Scheme. After leaving Invensys he was Group Financial Controller at Sage for three years. He is also an Advisory Board Member at the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He was appointed to the Board on 24 September 2020.