Local Pension Board
The Local Pension Board (LPB) oversees the management of Wiltshire Pension Fund.
The Board's role is to assist the Fund in ensuring the efficient and effective governance and administration of the LGPS. This means ensuring that the Fund is compliant with relevant legislation with the aim to safeguard the interest of all Pension Fund members and associated employer organisations.
The LPB sits alongside the Wiltshire Pension Fund committee in an oversight role, to assist by reviewing governance arrangements of the Fund and ensuring policies and procedures are correctly implemented and followed. The Board consists of:
3 scheme member representatives, and
3 employer representatives
1 non-voting Independent Chair
Full details of the Local Pension Board meetings, agendas, papers and minutes can be found via our Wiltshire Council (opens new window) pages.
The current board members
Mark Spilsbury IPFA, BA(Hons) -Former Head of the Gloucestershire Local Government Pension Fund.
Prior to being appointed as the Independent Chair of the Wiltshire Local Pension Board, Mark has spent 40 years working within Local Government. Having joined Herford and Worcester County Council in 1980, he qualified as a CIPFA accountant in 1983, and then took on various audit roles within the Council until 1988. Mark was then appointed as the Force Finance Manager at the Gloucestershire Police Authority, taking responsibility for all aspects of financial management within the authority. Following two years in this role, he was appointed as the Head of Audit and Risk Management at Gloucestershire County Council. Here he oversaw the provision of internal audit services to the County Council and Police Authority for around 15 years. Mark then began to take responsibility for the management of other financial functions within the Council until, in 2008, he was appointed as the Deputy Chief Financial Officer, responsible for the delivery of all core financial services. Finally, in 2016, Mark took flexible retirement and moved into the Head of Pensions role at Gloucestershire County Council, initially on a job share basis, before taking over the full role in 2017. Hence, he has four years' experience of running a Local Government Pension Fund, and was involved in the initial establishment of the Brunel Pension Partnership. He also chaired the Oxfordshire Local Pension Board. Having retired from Gloucestershire County Council in early 2020, Mark is delighted to now have been given the opportunity to use his skills and experience in the roles of the Independent Chair of the Wiltshire Local Pension Board, and the Cornwall Local Pension Board, to which he has also been appointed as the Independent Chair.
Karl Read- Housing Finance Manager, Swindon Borough Council
I am a professional and motivated individual that enjoys the challenge of learning about new services and collaborating with others. I have worked for SBC since June 1988 undertaking a variety of roles including Senior Accounting Technician, Senior Auditor and since 2015 the role of Housing Finance Manager. I have qualifications with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy & the Association of Accounting Technicians and have also been Treasurer of a number of bodies including Investment Clubs and Branch Trade Unions.
I have managed teams, have strong management skills and an open communication style. As part of my experience of Local Authority Finance, I have presented complex and detailed financial information to a wide range of audiences, all of which I feel enables me to serve the membership and scheme employers of the Fund as an employer representative.
Laura Fisher - HR Pay and Reward Consultant
Laura joined the former Wiltshire County Council in 2007 working as a Project Officer within the HR team. Her current role as the HR Pay and Reward Consultant involves managing pay and grading policies for all staff including pay and grading reviews, incremental progression and the implementation of pay awards across all terms and conditions of employment. This also includes oversight of all reward related polices and frameworks including staff benefits. Laura acts as the professional HR lead for the LGPS.
George Simmonds - Chippenham Town Councillor
George earned his diploma in financial planning in 2021, having worked in the finance sector since 2015. His professional interests include green finance, ESG investments and tax-friendly advice. In 2021 he was elected to Chippenham Town Council and now sits on the finance and HR committees. He took his degree in philosophy.
Marlene Corbey - Union Representative - Retired Scheme Member
Originally an analytical chemist, Marlene moved into local government, on the relocation of her husband to Wiltshire in 1970, when she joined Wiltshire County Council. Marlene's initial post was with Health Department but, following local government reorganisation in 1974, she moved to Education, first in County Hall, then into school administration. From 1982 - 2007, Marlene was a member of the Senior Leadership Team, and was Principle Administrative Officer at Devizes School throughout the transition from local management to Grant Maintained status. Marlene has been a Unison member from 1970 - to date, and now an active member of the Wiltshire branch retired members committee, where she has represented at national conferences. Marlene continues to take every opportunity to develop her knowledge of public service management including law, finance and IT which she will apply to support our LGPS members. Marlene is an elected member of the Cooperative Group National Members Council. She is married with 2 sons and 3 young grandchildren and lives in Salisbury.
Mike Pankiewicz - Union Representative - Retired Scheme Member
Mike has been a member of the Wiltshire Pension Fund since 1988. For the past 28 years he has been an observer representing the Scheme Membership. Over this time, he has gained a significant amount of knowledge and understanding of the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committee and the Local Government Pension Scheme. Mike is a qualified accountant. He has also represented Unison at National Pension Conferences and Roundtable discussion events.
James Nicholson - Director of Finance and Deputy Chief Executive
James has been the Director of Finance and Deputy Chief Executive of The Park Academies Trust since January 2023 when he became a member of the Wiltshire Pension Fund. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and has a wealth of experience in Finance, ICT, Estates, group procurement and legal issues.
He has previously worked in large academy trusts and was instrumental in having a previous organisation's Financial Notice to Improve lifted just 12 months after joining them. At another he turned around a history of multi-million pound annual losses into an annual surplus whilst at the same time the educational team raised pupil outcomes.
James has been an academy trust Chief Financial Officer since 2003 and a Trustee since 2007. At various points he has also worked with the Department for Education and The Education Skills Funding Agency on finance and governance issues.
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