Sarah Bates named new chair of John Lewis Partnership scheme | News

Sarah Bates has been appointed to succeed Dame Jane Newell as chair of the John Lewis Partnership Trust for Pensions effective 1 August.

A department store brand, John Lewis is the UK’s largest employee-owned business, with the employees called partners.

Bates is a veteran of investment management with specialist expertise in pensions. She rose from being a fund manager to becoming CEO of the UK institutional business at Invesco, which she left in 2003. She has since then held a variety of trusteeships and non-executive director positions. 

She is currently an independent member of the investment committees of the BBC Pension Scheme and the Universities Superannuation Scheme, and was previously chair of the pension fund investment committee for Cancer Research UK and chair of trustees for the Stena Line UK pension scheme.

Away from pensions, she is chair of Polar Capital Technology Trust and Merian Global investors, and non-executive director of the Worldwide Healthcare Trust.

She is also a co-founder of the Diversity Project and chair of the Diversity Project charity.

Newell is stepping down after having been chair of the John Lewis pension trust since 2013. She has also been chair of Royal Mail’s pension plans, the Dixons Group pension scheme; and the United Utilities Pension Scheme. 

The John Lewis Partnership pension scheme now only has an open defined contribution scheme, with the defined benefit section having been closed at the end of March following a year-long review and consultation with the retailer’s partners.