The trustees

Capital Cranfield chair the Trustee board and are a leading professional pension Trusteeship and governance firm. Capital Cranfield offer true independence with a pragmatic, individual approach to meeting client needs.

Jonathan represents Capital Cranfield as Chair of The Scottish Widows Master Trust. He started working with Capital Cranfield in 2013 having worked in Pensions and Investments for the previous 25 years.  

Jonathan started working as a Trustee in 1991. Since then, he has built up a broad range of experience working with defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes, advising both trustees and corporates on pensions and investment matters.

He has been a professional Independent Trustee since 2014 and has worked on Master Trust boards since 2015.  He has always had a strong affinity with members and is a strong communicator. Jonathan's focus is on member outcomes and helping members achieve their retirement goals. He takes a keen interest in the investment strategy and how Master Trusts can provide a true to and through approach to retirement for all members. 

Before becoming a Professional Trustee, Jonathan was a Partner in a national accountancy firm, advising a portfolio of DB and DC clients. Prior to that he was a director and shareholder of a regional pensions and investment consultancy.  

Jonathan has a BSc in Sports Science from Loughborough University and remains an enthusiastic participant as both a coach and player in a variety of sporting endeavours.  

Jo is a Professional Trustee and Client Director of ZEDRA Governance Limited. She is a qualified actuary and brings 30 years of experience within the pensions industry, gained as adviser, in-house pension manager and Trustee.

She brings to the board significant experience of managing the governance and operations of large occupational pension schemes, having previously worked as the pension manager for both Tesco and Marks and Spencer. She also has direct experience of being a Master Trust client, from the point of provider selection and implementation, through to overseeing ‘business as usual’ services, and, most importantly, as a member.

She is a member of the DC Policy Committee of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), which aims to help shape future public policy decisions on DC-related matters.

Gerald is Client Director at Vidett Trust Corporation Limited (formerly PSGS Trust Corporation Limited), who are trusteeship and pension governance experts. Gerald has nearly 40 years’ experience in finance and 19 years as a pension Trustee. He acts as chair of Trustees, sole Trustee and co-Trustee on a variety of defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, including master trusts.

He brings both his experience of the master trust market and his investment focus to the Trustee table. He was previously at BNY Mellon, a leading provider of services to schemes globally through its asset management and asset servicing businesses, where he led the UK and European pensions industry team.

David Butcher has more than 40 years’ experience in the pensions and investment industry. He has been Chief Executive Officer three times including at Invesco Perpetual Pensions and both the retail and intermediary divisions of Flemings/Save & Prosper, now part of J P Morgan Asset Management. He has substantial experience having served on 11 different boards over 30 years including as a Non-Executive Director of BlackRock Pensions and a Trustee Director of the Legal & General Master Trust.

David brings significant diversity of governance experience having chaired a charity in the health sector for 7 years, a business offering a mindfulness platform and a FinTech offering risk management software, both for two years. In his executive career, David also chaired a life assurance company for 4 years.

Cheryl Black is a communications and engagement specialist with more than 25 years’ experience in customer focused roles at Scottish Water, Orange and O2 and more than 10 years experience as a Pension Trustee. Cheryl was influential in achieving number one industry status for customer satisfaction during her time as Customer Service Director at Telefonica O2. She was previously a Vice President of the Institute of Customer Service and a Non-Executive Director at UNUM Limited, a leading insurer in the employee benefits sector.