John Feely
John is an actuary with over 35 years' experience in pensions, investment, and trusteeship. He acts solely as an independent professional pension trustee for a portfolio of large Irish and multinational pension fund clients, with over €7Bn assets on behalf of over 37,000 members.
John's client portfolio comprises an equal number of defined benefit and defined contribution schemes.
Previously John was with Willis and served as a Director of its pension trustee companies. He co-founded Trustee Principles, a professional trustee services firm, in 2009. This trustee business was acquired by Willis in May 2012. John left Willis, following its merger with Towers Watson, in 2016 to continue to provide independent trustee services.
John is a past chairman of the Irish Association of Pension Funds.
Michael Madden
Michael was a senior consulting actuary and partner at Mercer for over 20 years. In this role, he was Scheme Actuary for many DB schemes, both large and small. He was also heavily involved in DC schemes, providing advice to employers and trustees on their governance and operations.
Michael acted as Relationship Manager for some of Mercer’s largest clients, which involved responsibility for the delivery of all of Mercer’s services to these clients. This included not only actuarial valuations and funding and risk management assessments, but also plan administration, fund accounts, pension payroll, legal and documentation, member communications, investment advice and investment solutions, including fiduciary investment management and Master Trusts. He therefore possesses a very detailed knowledge of the entire spectrum of pension plan services.
Laura Eyres
Laura is an actuary with over 15 years’ experience, holding various leadership roles across the pensions and insurance industry. During this time, she worked for Mercer as a Relationship Manager to a variety of both DB and DC pension schemes. She advised clients on strategic redesign alongside establishing robust governance and administrative structures. More recently, she led Mercer’s Group Risk and Healthcare team.
Laura’s experience covers a wide range of benefits and services, including pension scheme valuation, governance, reform and administration. The extensive knowledge gained in this time has given her a comprehensive understanding and expertise in the spectrum of benefits within pension schemes and their management with consideration for the various stakeholders’ objectives.
John Finnegan
John qualified as an accountant in 1990. He spent his entire working career in the Financial Services industry in Ireland in companies regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
John spent over 20 years in the domestic life market, working chiefly in financial roles, including a number of years as CFO. In 2008, he moved to Allianz Darta Saving to head the finance function, moving to become CEO from 2014 to 2021.
John has served on numerous Boards during his career, all in the insurance and funds arenas. Since 2016, he has served as a pension fund trustee. He also sits on the Board of AxaMPS dac, where he chairs the Remuneration and Audit Committees.
Carole Ryden
Carole is a senior actuary and professional trustee. Her experience spans pensions, investment, insurance, corporate governance, financial risk management, private consultancy, project management, academia and the charity sector.
As a professional trustee, Carole has acted as Chair on both DB and DC schemes, large and small, including a large DC Master Trust. She has also taken on the role of trustee representative for Corporate Sole Trustee appointments.
Carole’s work demonstrates a combination of creativity and professionalism. She uses her strong communication skills and logical thinking to bring the focus of risk management and good governance to all her work. Her varied experience means she can offer support on all the main areas of attention for the trustees such as actuarial, investment, insurance, risk management and governance.
Carole has been active within her profession and has served as a member of council of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Board of Actuaries.
