Rob Mechem

Director of DB Business Development

01737 233 307 - Rob.Mechem@wearejust.co.uk 

• Leads the business development, transition and marketing team
• Joined from Aviva in 2014
• Qualified life insurance actuary
• Outside work Rob is a keen marathon runner

Martin Parker

DB Business Development Manager

01737 308 739 - Martin.Parker@wearejust.co.uk

• Responsible for a panel of key advisers
• Joined in 2012 and previously worked in bulk annuities at Prudential (business development) and Mercer (advising trustees)
• Has worked in bulk annuities since 1993
• Outside work Martin supports Southampton and loves music

Prashant Mehta

DB Business Development Manager

01737 233 349 - Prashant.Mehta@wearejust.co.uk

• Responsible for a panel of key advisers
• Joined from Aon in 2012
• Qualified pensions actuary
• Outside work Prash focuses on his young family

Peter Jennings

DB Business Development Manager

01737 827 381 – Peter.Jennings@wearejust.co.uk

• Responsible for a panel of key advisers and our streamlined quotation process
• Joined from another part of Just Group in 2017
• Previously individual annuity product manager
• Outside work Pete can be up at all hours following American football, looking after his twins and cycling

Andrea Collins

Senior DB Business Development Manager

01737 308 992 - Andrea.Collins@wearejust.co.uk

• Supports our existing clients through their de-risking journeys
• Responsible for relationships with Independent Trustees
• Leads the transition team who manage projects through the data cleanse period
• A qualified actuary, joined from the Pension Protection Fund in 2019
• Outside work Andrea is keen on socialising with good food and wine

David Phelps

DB Business Development & Marketing Manager

01737 308 902 – David.Phelps@wearejust.co.uk

• Responsible for DB marketing including website, events, literature and social media
• Joined from Prudential in 2017
• Agency and client side experience for consumer and adviser FS campaigns
• Outside work David cooks, cleans, manages his allotment and fits in road cycling where possible

Tasnia Choudhury

DB Business Development Support

01737 827 218 – Tasnia.Choudhury@wearejust.co.uk

• Initial point of contact for tender management queries from EBCs
• Joined Just in 2020
• Coordinates creation of our beauty parades and prepares scheme data for our pricing team
• Outside work, Tas loves baking 

Lucy Loughborough

DB Business Development Support

01737 827 466 – Lucy.Loughborough@wearejust.co.uk

• Initial point of contact for tender management queries from EBCs
• Joined Just in 2022
• Coordinates creation of our beauty parades and prepares scheme data for our pricing team
• Outside work, Lucy is a keen aerohooper and bakes a mean Victoria sponge 

Louise Ellisdon

Client Relationship Transition Manager

01737 308 997 – Louise.Ellisdon@wearejust.co.uk

• Leads data cleanse and true-up after transactions have completed
• Joined Just in 2013, moving to DB solutions in 2020
• Previously managed the new business team in the individual annuity area
• Outside of work Louise enjoys reading, going to the gym and spending time with her dog

Tom Jobbings

Client Relationship Transition Manager

01737 827 826 – Tom.Jobbings@wearejust.co.uk

• Leads data cleanse and true-up after transactions have completed
• Joined Just in 2021, bringing 15 years of experience in retirement products and services
• Outside of work Tom spends time with his two young daughters, enjoys good food and wine and can also be found trying to hit a ball on a golf course but not always successfully

Gareth Rees

Senior Buyout Manager

01737 233 243 – Gareth.Rees@wearejust.co.uk

• Leads creation and issuing of individual polices at buy-out
• Joined Just in 2005 and has 20 years of experience in retirement products and services
• Outside of work, Gareth enjoys spending time with his family and is also a keen runner, clocking-up many miles each week

Michael Herd

Client Relationship Transition Consultant

01737 233 133 – Michael.Herd@wearejust.co.uk

• Leads data cleanse and true-up after transactions have completed
• Joined Just in 2012, moving to DB Solutions in 2015
• Previously managed the DB Solutions Underwriting proposition before moving to DB Solutions Implementations Team in 2020.
• Outside of work Michael enjoys spending time with his young family, going to the gym and dabbling in the odd bit of DIY

Alma Goyanes-Payne

Client Relationship Transition Support

01737 827 781 – Alma.Goyanes-Payne@wearejust.co.uk

• Supports data cleanse and true-up after transactions have completed
• Joined Just in 2018, moving to DB Solutions in 2021
• Previously worked in the individual annuity area as a lead administrator
• Outside of work Alma enjoys going travelling, long walks with her dog and occasionally going for a swim

Jerome Johnston

Client Relationship Transition Support

01737 827 823 -Jerome.Johnston@wearejust.co.uk

• Supports data cleanse and true-up after transactions have completed
• Joined DB Solutions in 2021
• Previously worked in market research
• Outside of work Jerome enjoys reading, playing football and seeing live music

Pretty Sagoo - Managing Director of DB Solutions

Pretty leads our DB business and is a member of the Group Executive Committee reporting to David Richardson. She’s a subject-matter expert in bulk annuities and the pensions risk transfer market and has significant practical experience in driving change, innovation and creating sustainable growth.

She joined from Athora in 2022, the specialist insurance and reinsurance group, where she was head of new business and pensions. Prior to this, her roles included head of pricing and execution for Pension Risk Transfer at L&G and head of insurance and pensions solutions at Deutsche Bank.

Rob Mechem – Director of DB Business Development

Rob leads the business development, transition and marketing teams. His team are the initial point of contact for trustees, their advisers and our clients.

He joined Aviva in 1998 and led their bulk annuity pricing team prior to joining Just in 2014.

A qualified life insurance actuary, Rob’s actuarial expertise helps ensure we’re asking the right questions to focus our expertise so we maximise value for trustees and advisers.

Rob views transition as an extension of the new business process, so the tender and transition process to true-up are controlled by his team. He’s active in the pensions media ensuring trustees understand the importance of rigorous preparation of their member data before approaching the market, especially if they’re smaller schemes.

Outside work Rob is a keen marathon runner.

Phillip Sturgess - Director of DB Commercial

Phil leads our proposition and pricing team. Prior to joining, he held a number of senior actuarial roles at de-risking specialist Lucida covering pricing, longevity and reporting. He has also worked at Guardian, Milliman and Aviva in roles that often had an annuity focus.

The proposition team are responsible for product innovations in response to trustee and adviser needs. For example, the team completed our first DB Partnering transaction in early 2020 and have recently enhanced our deferred member proposition to strengthen our buy-out capability in response to demand from trustees.

The pricing team manage development of quotations and when we’re appointed, they calculate the ‘true-ups’ that are required.

Outside work Phillip enjoys a range of sports including snowboarding, golf and running.

Laura Pertile - Director of DB Operations

Laura leads our operations and administration functions. Prior to joining in 2020, she held senior operations roles at Equiniti, was head of customer services at Retirement Advantage and worked at L&G.

Following completion of the transition process, her team deliver a comprehensive package of ongoing support including managing the monthly payment cycle at buy-in, the implementation of buy-outs and the management of our administrator Mercer.

Outside work Laura enjoys sailing, travelling and cooking having discovered a recent passion for gardening.

Heather Vaughan - Director of DB Operational Developments and Strategy

Heather joined us in 2012 to establish our operations and administration functions, handing-over to Laura in 2020.

Prior to joining she held senior operations roles at Prudential, Paternoster and Rothesay Life.

She has extensive industry experience in managing pension schemes of all sizes and has managed operations for 200 transactions at Just, ensuring a great experience for our trustee and individual policyholders.

As more schemes approach their end-games, her current focus is to deliver scalability at the same time as maintaining service quality.

Outside work Heather enjoys travelling, skiing and mountain biking.

Suhasini Gunasena - Lead Legal Counsel, DB 

She has significant pensions experience gained from top tier law firms including Allen and Overy, Freshfields and Mayer Brown.

Her team have specialist expertise in the complex legal issues surrounding de-risking and so they’re able to identify the legal requirements of each transaction early on, allowing us to manage any issues quickly and bring contract negotiations to a swift conclusion.

Outside work Suhasini enjoys travelling, theatre and ballet.

Asset Sourcing and Investment Team

This team support DB Solutions by investing the premiums from bulk annuity transactions and managing the assets.

They are responsible for asset sourcing, asset allocation decisions and the operation of our £23bn annuity asset portfolio to meet the requirements of Solvency II. They help ensure we can meet our liabilities to policyholders whilst delivering returns that enable us to offer attractive bulk annuity pricing to trustees.

Our portfolio of investments are selected and managed against a set of ESG criteria to ensure they’re sustainable which is important given the relatively long duration of DB liabilities.