Vidett, a leading professional trustee and pension governance firm, has announced that Mike Birch will be joining them as a client director in April 2024 from The Pensions Regulator (TPR).

His role with Vidett will see him move into professional trusteeship with a primary focus on defined benefit (DB) schemes with employers experiencing distress or undergoing corporate transactions.

Mike has spent over eleven years at TPR and is currently Director of Supervision. In this role, he is responsible for a team of 80 delivering regulatory supervision of all types of pension scheme.

Commenting on Mike’s appointment, Naomi L’Estrange, Co-Chief Executive at Vidett, said: “We have worked with Mike for many years in his role at The Pensions Regulator and are genuinely excited to soon be able to work with him as a professional trustee colleague. His knowledge and experience are extensive and unique – and will be of great benefit to Vidett’s clients and our team.

Mike’s decision to join us is a great endorsement of Vidett – our culture, our approach, our team and our vision for the future. Pension schemes, their trustees and their sponsors face a huge array of challenges – Mike’s expert knowledge of the regulatory environment will help us find effective solutions to those challenges.”

Mike Birch added: “I am very excited to be joining the talented, market leading team at Vidett. I am looking forward to the opportunity to apply my experience from The Pensions Regulator and, before that, from working in corporate restructuring to being a trustee.”

Vidett is a privately owned business, independent from any other provider of services to corporate pension and employee benefit schemes. With an unrivalled knowledge bank to support client needs, Vidett currently looks after over 475 clients with total assets in excess of £142bn and over 2.5 million scheme members.