The board of Standard Life’s defined contribution (DC) master trust has welcomed its first apprentice trustee, Priya Kainth. She is among the first people to complete the Pensions Management Institute’s (PMI) Trustee Accelerator Programme, designed to train new trustees.
Kainth is a director of the global markets credit team at Bank of America, and joins the board along with three other ‘apprentices’ who are joining sub-committees. The others are Dean Dennis, a managing director at Verizon; Tom Dibble, a communications specialist at Standard Life; and Danielle Devoy, risk business partner lead at Standard Life.
The master trust provider launched the two-year Trustee Accelerator Programme in 2024 in partnership with the PMI. The PMI is taking over leadership of the programme this year and has brought on board three additional master trusts – Scottish Widows, Aviva, and LifeSight.
“The Trustee Accelerator Programme is about getting people like me into the trustee boardroom, so our voices are heard… It has opened doors I never thought possible.”
Priya Kainth, Standard Life Master Trust
The programme is designed to “develop a more diverse pipeline of future pension scheme trustees” through a combination of formal studying and practical experience, including taking part in board meetings.
Kainth said: “The Trustee Accelerator Programme is about getting people like me into the trustee boardroom, so our voices are heard. We represent a big part of the membership pool, but we’re not represented in decision-making. It has opened doors I never thought possible.”
Donna Walsh, head of master trust at Standard Life, added: “It was hard to imagine how transformational the original pilot would become. It has changed the lives and career paths for many of our trainees and opened specific opportunities for the trainees while creating a pool of talented, trustee-ready candidates for existing trustees and their boards.
“With the first cohort of trainees graduating this month, I am delighted to be handing over the post-pilot programme to the PMI, and confident that under its stewardship it will be equally successful in diversifying and developing the trustee boards of the future to better serve all scheme members.”
