Personality of the year

This award (voted for by our readers) aims to recognise those individuals that have truly made their mark in the European pensions space in recent years. The winner will be announced at the European Pensions Awards gala dinner on 3 July 2025 at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square. Book your table here.

VOTE HERE

DEADLINE FOR VOTES: 23 May 2025

European Pensions Personality of the year 2025: Meet the candidates

Lisa Brüggen, Executive Director, Netspar and Professor of Financial Services, Maastricht University
Lisa Brüggen is the Executive Director of Netspar, the Network for Studies on Pension, Aging and Retirement; Professor of Financial Services at Maastricht University; and Endowed Professor of Retirement Communications and Decision Support at Tilburg University. She is an internationally recognised expert in retirement communication, decision support, and financial wellbeing. As Director of Netspar, she bridges academic research and practical applications in the pension sector to improve communication and member engagement. Her research has been published in leading scientific journals and has earned several prestigious awards and grants.

Rosanne Corbett, Director, Muse Advisory
Rosanne Corbett is a Director and owner of Muse Advisory, leading Muse’s governance and risk management business. She is a passionate advocate for driving improved member outcomes through effective governance and management of risk. She completed the UK’s first Own Risk Assessment (ORA) in 2023 before the Regulator’s General Code came into force in 2024 and supports Ireland’s largest private DC Scheme as its Risk Manager. She has spent the last four years helping shape the UK pensions market’s understanding of what good risk management and a good ORA looks like to drive strategic success for trustee boards and ensure operational resilience in scheme operations. The schemes she works with can demonstrate significant improvement in their governance, risk management, operational resilience and efficiency in business-as-usual processes. Having worked as Head of Pensions on an outsourced basis, she understands the internal challenges and complexities of running large pension schemes and is always pragmatic in her advice. Rosanne is also an experienced facilitator and has helped many trustee boards plan their future strategies, ensuring collaboration across advisers and stakeholders to drive the right outcomes, as well as enabling those boards to be as effective as possible in how they operate. She is a regular speaker at events and thought leadership contributor and seeks to inspire others to shape their own fulfilling careers in pensions.

Joe Craig, Development Lead, Quietroom
Joe Craig is a communication specialist, a best-selling author and screenwriter. Since Joe joined Quietroom in 2017, he has worked on and developed communications strategies for pension schemes, investment firms, insurers and other financial institutions, big and small. Joe moved from the content team to the relationship side of Quietroom. You’ll find him across the industry connecting people and ideas. He’s often on stage at industry events discussing how to make complicated or difficult messages more meaningful to more people.

Ian Gordon, Partner, Pinsent Masons
Ian qualified as a solicitor in 1981, initially as a private client lawyer before transitioning to corporate law. Leveraging his expertise in trusts, he built McGrigors’ pension practice, becoming a leader in the Scottish market. Ian's practice includes documenting pension schemes, resolving disputes, and engaging with the Pensions Regulator. His contributions to Scots law are highlighted by his involvement in landmark cases like J&A Ferguson and Plumbing Pensions. Known for his intelligence and practical solutions, Ian is highly praised by peers and clients alike. As he prepares to retire, his legacy in the pensions industry remains profound and influential.

Petra Hielkema, Chair, EIOPA
Petra Hielkema is the Chairperson of EIOPA and has been leading the Authority since September 2021, following her appointment by the European Council on 27 May 2021 after confirmation by the European Parliament on 18 May 2021. In 2025 Petra is chairing the Joint Committee (the role rotates between the ESA Chairs). In that capacity she is also deputy Vice Chair of the ESRB Steering Committee and the ESRB General Board in 2025. Petra was appointed as Vice Chair of the IAIS Executive Committee in December 2024. Besides that, she is the Champion of the IAIS Fintech Forum. Prior to this role Petra was Division Director of Insurance Supervision at De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB, the Dutch Central Bank) as well as Alternate Member of the EIOPA Board and Chair of the EIOPA Policy Committee. Petra joined DNB in February 2007 as a policy advisor, contributing to the development of Solvency II. In 2013 she became Head Insurance Policy and in 2015 she was appointed as Head of the DNB Expert Centre for Fit & Proper assessments. In February 2017 Petra started as Director of Payments and Market. Prior to joining the Dutch Central Bank fulfilled several roles working in Central Asia.

Paul Kitson, UK Pensions Consulting Leader, EY
Paul Kitson leads a team of over 100 actuaries, investment consultants, governance professionals and data scientists. With a career spanning over two decades, Paul has been at the forefront of some of the UK’s largest and most innovative pension transactions and strategy projects. He is often sought after for his insights and is a commentator and presenter on pension-related topics. Additionally, Paul serves as an Actuarial Expert Witness and an Independent Longevity Specialist. Pensions are at the forefront of retirement and intergenerational wealth challenges. Paul is proud to have supported clients in managing their pension offerings for employees. He has helped safeguard the legacy of their longstanding commitments. He has also created innovative structures that can reallocate excess assets beyond what is needed for sustaining the established legacy pensions of senior generations, to improve the retirement benefits for the younger demographic. With a challenging future ahead, with potential pension gaps looming for the next generations, Paul is dedicated to delivering better outcomes for pension members, which, in turn, benefits sponsors and the wider society. 

Bobby Riddaway, Founder, Trustee, Sustainability Working Group
Bobby Riddaway is Managing Director of HS Trustees and a Professional with over 30 years’ experience in pensions and investments. He founded and chairs the recently formed Trustee Sustainability Working Group, a cross industry working group aiming to improve sustainability practices and policies. He is currently Chair of Trustees on the DB Scheme of a London based firm of Lawyers and on a small hybrid DC scheme in the process of wind-up. He is a regular speaker on DB, DC and ESG/ Stewardship issues and is looking to assist both the industry and his Pension Schemes develop in these areas. He is also currently an asset owner member of the AIMSE Europe council and past Chair of the ACA Investment Committee. During his career Bobby has worked with some of the largest and smallest pension schemes in the UK across all areas. He is an actuary by profession and has worked as both an Investment Consultant and a With-Profit Actuary.

Paul Torsney, Head of Pensions in Ireland, Law Debenture
Paul is a Trustee Director and Head of Pensions in Ireland. Following almost 15 years as a consulting actuary he joined LawDeb to bring its marketing leading pensions proposition to Ireland, aiming to show schemes how LawDeb’s independent and robust, but collaborative, approach to trusteeship could help secure members’ benefits into the future. Since then, Paul has worked, with the support of the wider LawDeb team, to help schemes improve governance standards and manage the transformative changes being brough about by the introduction of IORPs II to the Irish market. He, along with a growing team, have had great success in helping dozens of clients meet the challenges facing modern day schemes in a positive, and member focussed, way. His client schemes range from modestly sized schemes looking to manage the increasing requirements to some of the larger schemes in the country. Paul leads on a core group of about 10 defined benefit, defined contribution and master trust schemes and provides supports and insight on numerous others. Colleagues describe Paul as pragmatic, responsive, and committed to fostering positive working relationships. He collaborates closely with all stakeholders, including fellow trustees, advisors and sponsors, ensuring their voices are heard while focussing on the ultimate aim – positive member outcomes. Paul is a frequent attendee and speaker at industry events, sharing his insights and knowledge to help raise standards in the industry. Paul is a former Chair of the Pensions Committee, and Council member, of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland. Paul's passion for advancing the pension industry and the success of LawDeb’s Pensions offering in Ireland is evident in the growth of the business in a relatively short period of time.