Professional Pensions Fiduciary Management Focus

Having had a career in trade unions for over 30 years Rory has a unique combination of understanding of what Scheme members expect and the complexities of pension schemes themselves. Rory chairs 5 pension schemes (DB and DC) 4 in the UK and 1 in Ireland. He is seen as direct and innovative with a strong sense of humour.



Rory has a deep understanding and knowledge of how democratic organisations function and has brought these skills to his work as a pension trustee chair.

Bhavik Patel, CFA, Director and portfolio manager, is a member of the EMEA Multi-Asset Core Portfolio Management team and is responsible for Client Portfolio Solutions mandates.



Client Portfolio Solutions is the investment group at the heart of BlackRock's portfolio construction and asset allocation ecosystem; and brings together BlackRock's research, investment experience and technology to meet clients' needs for whole-portfolio approaches.



Prior to joining BlackRock in 2012, Mr. Patel was a portfolio manager in the Multi Asset Solutions team at HSBC Global Asset Management, supporting the formulation of strategic, tactical and manager selection decisions for both retail and institutional mandates including pension schemes and insurers.



Mr. Patel earned a BSc degree in economics with first class honours from University College London, is a CFA charterholder and holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).

Ajeet Manjrekar, Co-head of River and Mercantile Solutions



Ajeet is co-head of River and Mercantile Solutions and has responsibility for the quality and evolution of client-driven services. He focuses on working with trustees to understand their specific investment and governance needs in order to design innovative solutions to achieve their funding objectives.

•Ross leads a team responsible for working with clients and their advisers to understand their objectives and structure integrated solutions across liability hedging, fiduciary management and related solutions. He and the team are responsible for the implementation and ongoing delivery of LDI and liability cognisant credit portfolios and related overlays
•Ross joined Schroders in 2007 and is based in London
•Between 1998 and 2007, Ross was Head of Investment Strategy and a Senior Investment Consultant at HSBC Actuaries and Consultants, responsible for advising a portfolio of pension schemes on investment strategy
•Qualifications: BSc in Economics from the University of Warwick, CFA Charterholder, Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries

Tony's focus is on growing Aon’s fiduciary business, helping to build and to continually improve the services and solutions provided to our clients. Tony has over 25 years' experience in the pensions industry, as an investment consultant, Scheme Actuary and a corporate pensions adviser. His deep knowledge of both assets and liabilities means that Tony is ideally placed to help pension scheme trustees and sponsors achieve their funding goals.

James Phillips is Deputy Editor at Professional Pensions. He joined the magazine in 2016 as a Correspondent, before being promoted to Senior Correspondent in 2018, to News Editor in January 2019, and then to Deputy Editor in August 2019.



James has a focus on the law and regulation of occupational pension schemes in the UK. He is also interested in pension scheme investing in an ESG-conscious way, as well as the de-risking process for defined benefit schemes.



In 2019, James received the Trade Pensions Journalist of the Year award from Willis Towers Watson. In 2018, he was named the Society of Pension Professionals' Trade Pensions Journalist of the Year, as well as a gold winner at the MHP 30 to Watch awards. He was also shortlisted for the Headline Money Pensions Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in both 2018 and 2019.



James gradated from City, University of London in 2016 with an MA in Newspaper Journalism, and from the University of Birmingham in 2015 with a BA in Political Science and Philosophy.

He has previously been published by The Guardian, The Independent, The i Paper, The Times, and BusinessGreen.