Meet the Trustee - GSK pension plan.

Chair of the Trustee Board - Mark Ashworth

Chair of the Trustee Boards, responsible for all GSK pension plans including:

GSK Pension Fund
GSK Pension Scheme
Glaxo Wellcome Contracted-out Money Purchase Scheme (GWCOMPS)
SmithKline Beecham Pension Plan
SmithKline Beecham Senior Executive Pension Plan

Contact the Chair via the Secretary to the Trustees.

Secretary to the Trustees
Carolina Lyons

carolina.n.lyons@gsk.com

GSK House,
980 Great West Road,
Brentford,
Middlesex,
TW8 9GS

Trustee Biographies

Mark Ashworth (Law Debenture)

Role: Independent Professional Trustee and Chair of the GSK Pension Plans Trustee Board and the Defined Benefit Investment Committee.

Appointed: May 2004

Mark qualified as a Barrister before entering the pensions industry in 1994, where he took the role of Head of Group Pensions for Natwest. Mark now serves on trustee boards of differing sizes and has chaired the GSK Trustee Board and Investment Committee since 2012.

Pavan Bhardwaj (Independent Governance Group)

Role: Independent Professional Trustee of the GSK Pension Plans Trustee Board, Chair of the DC Committee and member of the Defined Benefit Investment Committee.

Appointed: February 2023

Pavan is a senior Trustee Director and the investment and funding lead at Independent Governance Group.

Paul Blackburn

Role: Company Nominated Trustee of the GSK Pension Plans Trustee Board and member of the Defined Benefit Investment Committee and the Audit, Risk and Operations Committee.

Appointed: January 2022

Paul joined SmithKline & French in 1977 and took on various financial positions within the firm, eventually becoming Group Financial Controller for GSK. Paul also sits on Boards for number of other pharmaceutical companies.

Outside of work Paul enjoys the theatre, playing golf, walking, going to the gym and spending time with the grandchildren.

Louisa Yates

Role: Member Nominated Trustee of the GSK Pension Plans Trustee Board and member of the Audit, Risk and Operations Committee

Appointed: January 2024 (associate member from August 2023)

Louisa joined Wellcome in 1995 and her current role at GSK is Director of Global Medical Risk Management. Outside of work, Louisa is a keen runner and hiker.

Geraldine Flavell

Role: Member Nominated Trustee of the GSK Pension Plans Trustee Board and member of the DC Committee.

Appointed: November 2021

Geraldine joined Smith Kline & French in Mundells, Welwyn Garden City in 1980 to complete her training as a pharmacist. After a number of production and marketing roles, her final job at SmithKline Beecham was working for the international division at SB House delivering strategic and marketing planning training to staff across the world. Following a career developing and delivering continuing professional development for pharmacists, Geraldine continues to provide professional practice training to pharmacy undergraduates. She is a trustee and treasurer of her local village hall and WI and enjoys Mahjong and Rummikub, listening to podcasts while walking, and eating tapas/canapes/meze-type food, earning the wrath of her children by asking superior restaurants for nibbly party food.

Tom Houston

Role: Company Nominated Trustee of the GSK Pension Plans Trustee Board and member of the Defined Benefit Investment Committee.

Appointed: October 2002

Tom Joined Beecham Group in 1974 having qualified as an Accountant (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) with the Ministry of Defence. He had a number of roles with Beecham, followed by SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoSmithKline, mostly in Finance but also led major Supply Chain and Manufacturing integration projects during the mergers of SB and GSK.

Tom retired in 2008 and qualified as an Independent Professional Trustee working with Capital Cranfield until 2018.

Outside work, Tom enjoys sport, especially rugby, choral singing, and eating and drinking good stuff!

Josephine Osikena

Role: Member Nominated Trustee of the GSK Pension Plans Trustee Board and member of the DC Committee.

Appointed: August 2023

Josephine joined ViiV Healthcare in 2018 and is an active member of the GSK Pension Plan. Her current role is as Director of Public Policy and Advocacy to support ViiV Healthcare’s public health mission to leave no person living with HIV behind and its global vision to end the AIDS epidemic. Prior to this, Josephine worked for a London-based, not-for-profit, foreign affairs think tank.

When not working, Josephine is an active member of the Clapham Society and enjoys jazz fusion and improvised music.

Rob Pullinger

Role: Member Nominated Trustee of the GSK Pension Plans Trustee Board and member of the Audit, Risk and Operations Committee

Appointed: August 2023

Rob joined GSK in 2005 and is an active member of the GSK Pension Plan. His current role in GSK is Serialisation Platform Lead, Pharmaceutical Engineering in Global Supply Chain, with previous experience in manufacturing, procurement, audit & assurance and programme management roles. Rob also has experience as a Trustee for a number of charities.

Outside work, Rob enjoys walking (with or without his dog and family), reading and tasting new Real Ales and Craft Beers.

Keith Scott (Law Debenture)

Role: Independent Professional Trustee of the GSK Pension Plans Trustee Board and member of the Defined Benefit Investment Committee.

Appointed: July 2020

Keith brings a wide perspective to the board, having been a trustee, a corporate pension director and investment manager. He has considerable investment experience, gained over more than 25 years in the industry as a client director at BMO Global Asset Management and as director of the European pension team for IBM. He is currently an independent trustee on nine boards and chairs a number of investment committees. He is a chartered accountant and CFA charterholder.

Dave Wiggins

Role: Company Nominated Trustee of the GSK Pension Plans Trustee Board and Chair of the Joint Audit, Risk and Operations Committee.

Appointed: September 2018

Dave worked at the Worthing Manufacturing site for over 30 years and carried a variety of roles during that time. Since retiring from GSK he has been a Lay Member of the Employment Tribunal Service and also served as a Magistrate for 9 years. Dave left the Magistracy at the then compulsory retirement age of 70 and since that time has been a Pension Trustee. Outside of work Dave enjoys walking, reading and holidays with the family.