I am delighted to be a PMI mentor and to have the opportunity to share my expertise and experience. I have worked in the pensions industry for over 30 years and have been Chief Executive Officer at B&CE since 2012. Our auto-enrolment workplace pension – The People’s Pension – is one of the largest Master Trust workplace pensions in the UK.

I have found being a mentor an extremely rewarding experience. My mentee, Sarah, works in pensions administration, so there has been a good deal of common ground to our discussions.

Our focus, so far, has been on leadership, management and career development rather than the more technical aspects of pensions administration.

Sarah has worked through the ILM modules, which has enabled a good mix of practical and personal experience to be reflected in our discussions.

Our meetings have always been relaxed and informal, although we have had to meet virtually due to the pandemic. We’re hoping to be able to meet up face-to-face soon.

I have found it enjoyable to talk through different scenarios I’ve faced throughout my career and to reflect on what I would do now in similar situations. Sarah is very committed to putting ideas into practice, and we talk through how she has found that and any learnings from the experience.

While the mentoring process has enabled me to share my experience, I have also had the chance to reflect, which I have found immensely worthwhile. When first considering being a mentor, you might think about how much time it would involve, however I have found it very rewarding to step out of the day job periodically, not only to support the career development of my mentee, but also to gain a different perspective.

I would encourage anyone thinking of being a mentor with the PMI to sign up, and to enjoy the significant benefits to both mentee and mentor.