The National Association of Pension Funds will have its first ever female chairman later this year.
The organisation has revealed that Lesley Williams, group pensions director at Whitbread, will take on the role.

Ms Williams said: “I am very pleased to be the first woman to chair the NAPF.”

She has held a non-executive directorship / director role at the NAPF since 2011 and is currently chair of its Defined Contribution Council.

She has worked in the pensions industry for over 20 years, with previous positions in Gateway Foodmarkets, Abbey National, the Pearl Group. She was head of pensions with the Henderson Group.

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Ms Williams will succeed Ruston Smith, whose two-year tenure ends at the NAPF Annual General Meeting on 16 October.

She said: “We have seen an almost unprecedented amount of change in pensions in the past two years, but one thing remains sure – pensions will continue to be a hot topic, both socially and politically, for many years to come. The NAPF is in a unique position to inform that debate and to make sure the views and interests of schemes and their members are heard.”

She added: “I’m delighted to become the next chair of the NAPF and to succeed Ruston. I would like to thank Ruston for his guidance, expertise and tenacity during a very busy time for pensions in the UK.”

Mr Smith said: “Lesley has an infectious passion for pensions and always has the interests of members at the heart of everything she does. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will be of considerable value, particularly at this important juncture of retirement savings in the UK, and will make sure that NAPF members' views will continue to be heard in Whitehall, Westminster and Brussels.”

Mr Smith joined Tesco as group pensions director in December 2002.

In this role he is accountable for the running of the group's many schemes, including the in-house administration of benefits for over 350,000 members in the UK Pension Scheme and the investment of the £10bn of UK assets managed by Tesco Pension Investment, an internal FSA-approved company.

He is also a director of Standard Life's Master Trust Company, a director of GroceryAid Trust, a governor of the Pensions Policy Institute, a Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute and a Fellow of the Institute of Management.