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Our Philosophy

Being a trustee of a pension scheme is a significant responsibility, which requires expertise and industry wide experience. Trustees are often faced with challenging decisions as they attempt to balance the interests of sponsoring employers and beneficiaries while running their scheme in an ever-changing legislative environment. These trustees are responsible for ensuring that their scheme is adequately funded and for investing vast sums of money. Therefore, it is vital that they are cognisant of regulatory requirements and investment markets while understanding how to balance risk with expected returns. Trustees need to mandate their advisors with clear unambiguous objectives and ensure they operate unhindered by any conflict of interest

Our Philosophy

Being a trustee of a pension scheme is a significant responsibility, which requires expertise and industry wide experience. Trustees are often faced with challenging decisions as they attempt to balance the interests of sponsoring employers and beneficiaries while running their scheme in an ever-changing legislative environment. These trustees are responsible for ensuring that their scheme is adequately funded and for investing vast sums of money. Therefore, it is vital that they are cognisant of regulatory requirements and investment markets while understanding how to balance risk with expected returns. Trustees need to mandate their advisors with clear unambiguous objectives and ensure they operate unhindered by any conflict of interest

Managing Director

Jim Foley

Non-Executive Director

Paul Kenny

Executive Director

Gerard Keane

Executive Director

Danny McGill

Executive Director

Brian Macdonald

Managing Director

Jim Foley

Jim Foley, Managing Director, has worked in the Financial Services, Education, Telecommunications and Pensions sectors in Ireland and the UK. He has over 30 years of experience, and is an established expert and industry leader in the pension sector.

Prior to joining Trustee Decisions in 2015, Jim previously worked with Eircom, the National Australia Group, the Institute of Public Administration, and the Central Bank of Ireland.

Jim is a former Chair, Director, and Council Member of the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) and was a Non-Executive Director of IPUT plc for 10 years. He is a Director of the Irish Forestry Unit Trust which is regulated by, and subject to the fitness and probity regime of, the Central Bank of Ireland.

Jim became a member of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants in 1986, has a primary degree in Financial Services, a Masters in Business Administration, a post grad in Corporate Governance and is a Qualified Pension Trustee QPT (IIPM Law and Governance programme for Trustees).

Non-Executive Director

Paul Kenny

Paul Kenny, Non-Executive Director, spent more than thirty-four years in the pensions industry before being appointed Ireland’s first Pensions Ombudsman in 2003. Paul retired as Pensions Ombudsman in May 2016.

Paul was a founder Fellow of the Irish Institute of Pensions Management (IIPM) and a Director for ten years of the Retirement Planning Council of Ireland (RPC) and its Chairman for three years.

Executive Director

Gerard Keane

Gerard has over 30 years of experience in the pensions industry and is Managing director of Newcourt Retirement Fund Managers Ltd since 2007. He has served as both Chairman and Treasurer of the Association of Pension Trustees in Ireland (APTI). Gerard is actively engaged with legislative submission/changes relating to all areas of pensions law and regulation. He is a Revenue approved Pensioneer Trustee, a Qualified Financial Adviser (QFA) and Pension Trustee Practitioner (PTP).

Executive Director

Danny McGill

Danny has over 20 years of experience in the pensions industry and is Managing director of Newcourt Pensioneer Trustees Ltd. During this time, Danny has developed extensive technical expertise in all areas of pension planning.

Danny holds a Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning and has also obtained the internationally recognised Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) designation. He holds a Certificate in Pensions and Applied Trusteeship from the Law Society of Ireland, is a Qualified Financial Advisor (QFA), a Pension Trustee Practitioner (PTP) and is a Revenue approved Pensioneer Trustee.

Executive Director

Brian Macdonald

Brian is an independent professional trustee and is the Director of Operations at Newcourt Pensioneer Trustees and Newcourt Retirement Fund Managers. He is a recognised pensions expert having worked in pensions technical knowledge roles throughout his career. He has over 30 years of experience in the life and pensions industry both in Ireland and the UK working with all types of pension arrangements. Prior to joining Newcourt, Brian was the head of the Life and Pensions Technical Support area for New Ireland Assurance leading a number of expert teams (pensions technical advisory, pensions risk and compliance, agency management and financial planning).

He is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, Licentiate of the Compliance Institute and he also holds the Pension Trustee Practitioner (PTP) qualification of the LIA.

Brian was recently appointed chairman of the Association of Pension Trustees in Ireland (APTI) and is also the current chair of the Pensions Working Group of the Compliance Institute. He sits on the DC Committee of the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) and was previously chairman of Insurance Ireland’s Pensions Committee.

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