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.

Paul Wharton is Director and Head of Relationship Management for Russell Investments. In this role, he has responsible for the entire UK client book. In addition, Paul has a small number of client relationships.

Paul has worked in the field of pension scheme investment since 2000. Prior to joining Russell Investments in September 2016, he was head of UK clients within Mercer’s fiduciary management team for four years. In this role he had oversight for more than 150 fiduciary clients, as well as team management.

He spent 11 years at Mercer, formally as an investment consultant before becoming involved in the fiduciary business. Prior to Mercer, he worked at Cushman & Wakefield Investors and Watson Wyatt.

Cyprian is a Client Strategy Director responsible for formulating and delivering strategic investment advice to occupational pension schemes in the UK and Europe. His role includes co-ordinating and managing the day to day client relationship between SEI and the trustees. He is responsible for client deliverables including development and evolution of the investment strategy, reporting and all aspects of implementation. He also provides ongoing trustee training.

He has a wealth of industry knowledge, with proven experience of proactively helping schemes achieve their long term targets whether that is self-sufficiency or buy-out. Cyprian is also a leading member of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) working party on LIBOR reform and a member nominated pension trustee of the SEI Master Trust.

Prior to joining SEI in 2010, Cyprian worked at Mercer as an Investment Consultant and at Aon as an Actuarial Consultant with both roles focused on understanding pensions liabilities and delivering investment advice and solutions. He is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Cyprian is also a leading member of the IFoA working party on LIBOR reform and a member nominated pension trustee of the SEI Master Trust.

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.