Michelle Ostermann, Chief Executive Officer
Michelle Ostermann joined us as our chief executive officer on Monday 1 April 2024.
She brings over 30 years of pension investment and senior leadership experience. She’s the chair of the global pension industry association, International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) and is widely recognised for her outstanding global network and knowledge of pension systems.
Michelle has held several other senior positions at leading firms, including the managing director of Railpen Investments in the UK and most recently senior vice president and global head of capital markets at PSP Investments in Canada.
“Having long admired the PPF’s astute approach to investing and its profound impact on the UK pension system, as evidenced by its award-winning investment and administration businesses, it is both an honour and a privilege to now contribute to shaping its future."
Barry Kenneth, Chief Investment Officer
Barry is responsible for setting our investment strategy and making sure we invest our assets in line with it. This is to make sure we have enough money to pay our members for as long as needed.
Barry's previous role was at Morgan Stanley, where he was managing director and head of UK fixed income institutional and pensions coverage.
Prior to this, he was director at the Royal Bank of Scotland advising on risk management and balance sheet management solutions for large corporate clients. He later specialised in pensions and insurance companies.
Barry holds a BA (Hons) in Accounting from the University of Abertay.
Dana Grey, Chief Governance, Risk and Legal Officer
Dana joined the Pension Protection Fund in 2009 and became head of legal in 2013.
Before joining us, Dana was a pensions lawyer in private practice at City firms including Mayer Brown and Taylor Wessing. One of her first achievements with us was establishing and heading up the operations solutions team, responsible for process improvement, pensions technical support, high-profile/complex schemes and panel management.
Dana then led the establishment of the Compliance & Ethics function at the PPF becoming director of Legal, Compliance & Ethics and the organisation’s data protection officer on its completion.
Dana is also the of chair of the PPF’s Diversity and Inclusion Sponsorship Group. She co-founded the inaugural employee network group for gender and is a co-lead of the PPF’s Race Action Group. Dana is also a Steering Group member for the diversity project.
Outside of the PPF, Dana is the chair of Croydon BID.
Kirsty Bowman-Vaughan, Chief of Staff
Kirsty is Chief of Staff, serving as a key adviser to the CEO. Her role spans the full breadth of the organisation, supporting the CEO in both strategic and operational leadership, and helping to drive alignment, delivery and impact.
Kirsty has over a decade of experience delivering strategy, policy and innovation to improve financial wellbeing at scale, most recently leading corporate policy at the Money & Pensions Service. She began her career in financial services before moving to central government working in a range of strategy, partnerships and delivery roles at the Cabinet Office and Foreign Office.
She is driven by helping people achieve better financial outcomes at every stage of their life and supporting the UK’s ambition for inclusive growth. In her spare time, Kirsty is a Board Trustee for Croydon Citizens Advice.
Richard Beaven, Interim Chief Operating Officer
Richard is responsible for overseeing our corporate functions, ensuring they support the seamless operation of our organisation.
Before joining us, Richard was the managing director of an insurance broking business running day-to-day operations and accountable for a programme of acquisitions.
Prior to this, he held several senior positions at firms in the financial services sector, including global head of change at Thomson Reuters, operations director at Lloyds Banking Group and chief operating officer at Brightside Insurance.
Richard previously served on the board of LGBTQ+ rights charity, Stonewall.
Sara Protheroe, Chief Customer Officer
Sara is responsible for overseeing the assessment and transfer of pension schemes to the PPF, the processing of Fraud Compensation Fund claims, and looking after more than 400,000 PPF and FAS members. She was previously PPF’s director of strategy and policy, where she had responsibility for developing strategy and policy in relation to all aspects of the PPF, including the levy.
Before joining the PPF as a founding employee in 2005, Sara undertook a number of roles in the DWP, including private secretary to a former Pensions Minister, the late Malcolm Wicks and was a pivotal member of the DWP team who designed the PPF.
Sara was awarded an OBE in October 2020 for services to pensioners.
Shalin Bhagwan, Chief Actuary
Shalin Bhagwan joined the Pension Protection Fund in 2023 as our chief actuary.
Shalin brings extensive pensions, insurance and investment experience having worked across the sector for many years. He started his career in South Africa in life insurance pricing and reserving and then transitioned into liability valuations for defined benefit pension funds.
In addition, he brings significant LDI, derivative and credit portfolio management experience and has advised some of the UK’s largest pension funds on their LDI strategies both as a consultant with Mercer and portfolio manager with Legal & General Investment Management..
He is a member of the advisory panel at the Financial Reporting Council. He recently served as a member of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries' Finance and Investment Board and as an advisory member for the task force to boost socio-economic diversity at senior levels in both the financial and professional services sectors.