Adviser platform and SIPP provider Nucleus has appointed pensions guru Andrew Tully as technical services director.

He will join the platform later this week and will be responsible for the analysis and interpretation of regulation, legislation and taxation issues.

Mr Tully replaces Neil MacGillivray, who is retiring as head of the technical support unit after a successful 25 year career with James Hay and Nucleus.

Mr Tully has 35 years of experience working in pensions and retirement, most recently at Canada Life where he was technical director.

He was made redundant by Canada Life due to a restructuring programme. He was technical director and responsible for pensions, retirement and protection expertise. Prior to Canada Life he held senior roles within several pension providers including Standard Life and Aegon.

At Nucleus Mr Tully will have a particular focus on helping shape Nucleus’s retirement propositions, working with industry groups and lobbying regulators and Government.

He will report to Chris Williams, Nucleus’s propositions director.

Mr Williams said: “We welcome Andrew to Nucleus and are thrilled to have attracted a true industry heavy-hitter to our growing team. He has an impressive track record of championing the retirement causes of interest to advisers and their clients, and is one of the best known and most respected pensions names in the industry.

“He’ll also help us shape our retirement proposition, ensuring that our priorities are aligned with those of advisers and that we support them in every way we can to help their customers plan for retirement.”

Mr Tully added: “I’m delighted to be joining Nucleus at this exciting time in the platform’s evolution, as it cements its position as a scale player in the industry with a very clear purpose to help make retirement more rewarding.

“I’m looking forward to working with the team to play my part in helping to build the best retirement platform for advisers and their clients, and to improving understanding of pensions so that more people can look forward to a secure and rewarding future.”

Earlier this week Nucleus completed its £242m acquisition of SIPP and SSAS provider Curtis Banks to create a retirement-focused adviser platform with approximately £80bn in Assets Under Management.

The two companies will continue to operate separately for the time being, but Curtis Banks will eventually be rebranded under the Nucleus banner.