Vidett, a UK leading professional trustee and pension governance firm, has appointed four new people – including Mike Birch who is now in post following the announcement in February he was joining Vidett as client director from The Pensions Regulator (TPR).

Mike acts as a professional trustee with a primary focus on defined benefit (DB) schemes with employers experiencing distress or undergoing corporate transactions.

Mike spent almost eight years at TPR establishing and leading the Supervision Directorate and was involved in many of TPR’s high profile scheme engagements. He has deep experience of negotiating mutually beneficial solutions to complex situations, particularly those related to corporate distress or mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Other new recruits include Bobby Dillon, who joins as manager in Reading from Barnett Waddingham where he worked for over 10 years implementing DB pension schemes, as well as facilitating and monitoring client governance initiatives.

During his pension career, spanning 25 years Bobby has also worked in a variety of pension administration roles at Quantum Advisory LLP, Hymans Robertson and HBOS (formerly Equitable Life) and brings a great deal of knowledge and expertise to Vidett.

Cat Lowe joins as senior business development executive in Birmingham with a remit to support the business development team and ensure client’s get maximum value.  Cat has 14 years’ experience working in marketing and business development, joining from law firm, Shoosmiths LLP where she worked for nine years, most recently as new business manager. She has also worked for Capita Hartshead and Gately plc.

Julia Palmer joins in Birmingham as a manager, bringing 25 years of pensions experience to the team. She joins from Hymans Robertson where she worked for 10 years, first as a project consultant, and latterly as an audit specialist where she project managed and coordinated external audits, mainly AAF and PASA; plus ran internal self-audits.

Julia has also worked in third party administration teams dealing with cradle to grave administration at Arthur Anderson, SBJ Benefit Consultants, HSBC and Hewitt Associates, as well as in a governance role as an associate consultant providing scheme secretarial support whilst at Hewitt Associates (now AON).

Commenting on the appointments, Wayne Phelan, Co-Chief Executive at Vidett, stated: “Vidett attracts top talent from across the industry, which is tantamount to our unique culture and vision for the future. Mike is a well-known expert and has built a deep understanding of the issues facing defined benefit (DB) schemes of all sizes, along with master trusts, collective defined contribution (CDC) and superfunds that will be of immense value to our clients.

“Bobby, Cat and Julia also bring a great deal of knowledge to the firm. In his previous role Bobby looked after a number of demanding DB pension schemes and acted as principal contact with The Pensions Regulator, whilst co-ordinating Scheme Returns completions companywide, providing training and support where necessary.

 “Cat will be using her business development skills to support the team in understanding our clients, their goals and how we can best help them, and Julia will be using her attention to detail, organisational skills and pride in her work to ensure clients get the very best service from us. We’re excited for our next phase of growth and look forward to the contributions that Mike, Bobby, Cat and Julia will make to our success.”

Vidett is a privately owned business, independent from any other provider of services to corporate pension and employee benefit schemes. With an unrivalled knowledge bank to support client needs, Vidett currently looks after over 475 clients with total assets in excess of £142bn and over 2.5 million scheme members.