Our board of directors

Ruston Smith

Chairman of the board of directors

Ruston has over 30 years' experience in the pension fund and investment industry, including 14 years as the Group Pensions Director at Tesco. He's held senior positions with responsibility for strategy, governance, investment and operations for a wide range of UK funds. In 2017, he co-chaired the Automatic Enrolment Advisory Board for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2017, leading on engagement – an issue that is a key point of Smart Pension's long-term strategy. In 2018, he led the initiative to create a simplified annual statement for all schemes and providers to adopt. This uses consistent language and numbers – making it easier for savers to understand their statement.

Executive directors

Andrew Evans

Group Chief Executive, co-founder and board member

Andrew co-founded Smart to give real people simpler ways to save and access their savings throughout their lives. As the company has grown, world-leading institutions and governments have partnered with Smart, allowing us to help more people with their money. Previously, Andrew was an international managing director, with roles in banking and finance. He also works with cutting edge innovation foundations – awarding funding and offering advice to promising UK fintech companies and social entrepreneurs, including those who work with open banking.

Will Wynne

Group Managing Director, co-founder and board member

Will is behind Smart’s technology strategy, innovation and global vision. Starting with a solid background in private equity, Will moved to eBay's marketing department where he grew their members from three to eighteen million in three years. He also created the business case for eBay's charity arm, which raised several hundred million pounds for good causes. Will is the co-founder of ArenaFlowers.com, one of the UK’s leading flower and gift delivery businesses, and oversees fintech acceleration programmes run by Octopus Investments. Will is also Chairman of Trulience, a futuristic, digital human software firm.

Jamie Fiveash

Chief Executive Officer, Smart UK and Ireland

Jamie is passionate about transforming pensions to make sure that they bring greater value and help improve later life for all people. He was previously Chief Operating Officer at B&CE, where he was instrumental in the design and delivery of The People’s Pension, before joining Smart in 2018. With a background in accountancy and more than 27 years' experience in financial services, Jamie is an experienced and skilful pair of hands to efficiently lead Smart's pension and platform businesses to further significant growth.

Non-executive directors

Mark Zinkula

Independent Director

Mark was appointed as Chair of Smart USA Board early this year and now joins the Smart Board. He served as CEO of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), a role he held from 2011 to 2019. During Mark’s tenure, LGIM was one of the fastest-growing asset managers globally, as assets under management (AUM) tripled to over $1.5 trillion including a significant expansion across the US, Europe and Asia. He positioned LGIM to become the largest manager in both the UK defined benefit pension market, with over 30% market share, and the UK defined contribution pension market, with over 20% market share. Mark also established LGIM as a global leader in responsible investing, developing widely-recognised and innovative ESG investment solutions, as well as an industry-leading corporate governance team.

Dee McGrath

Non-Executive Director

Dee is Chief Executive Officer of Retirement and Superannuation Solutions at the Link Group. She had more than 20 years’ experience working across financial services, technology and consulting before taking up this role, having previously been the Managing Partner of IBM Global Business Services for Australia and New Zealand, with responsibility for IBM’s consulting, professional services and digital businesses. She also held the role of Vice President of Financial Services for IBM Asia Pacific, and was a member of the board of IBM Australia. Dee has also held executive roles at Visa, HP Enterprise Services and National Bank of Australia. Dee is a Director of numerous Link Group entities, including being the Chair of Link Advice, a Director of Smart Pension and a member of Chief Executive Women. She was also a founding member of the Advisory Board for Women in Payments in Australia.

Karen Roberton

Global Head of Consultant Sales, J.P. Morgan

Karen has been with J.P. Morgan Asset Management for 25 years and is the Global Head of the Consultant Sales team. Throughout her career, she has always been client focused, working with both Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Pension Schemes and their advisors. She has a Law degree from the University of Westminster and has successfully completed the Law Society Final Examinations at the College of Law in London.

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For the latest around Smart and COVID-19, read our COVID-19 update here. If you're a member and would like to learn more about how coronavirus will affect your pension savings, read our latest article here.