The Trustee Board of Life Academy, a national educational charity, has nominated Alan Pickering CBE, Senior Consultant at Watson Wyatt, as the next Chairman of the charity.
Bob Bridges, Managing Director of Capital Cranfield Trustees, is the current Chairman of Life Academy. This November sees the end of his three-year term in the post. He commented: “I have enjoyed being the Chairman of Life Academy immensely and feel that we have been successful in taking the charity to a new level in the run up to and following the change of name last November. As my term of office comes to an end I feel that Alan is the most appropriate person to lead the continued charitable work”. Bob will remain on the Board of Trustees.
Alan Pickering said: “I have been aware of the good works of the Pre-Retirement Association, and latterly Life Academy for the last 30 years. The process of a transition from full-time employment to retirement has always been daunting, but is even more so today. Life Academy eases that transition through focused retirement planning courses.
I was honoured to be asked to join the Trustee Board back in 2004 and even more honoured recently when it was suggested that I might throw my hat in the ring to be Chairman. It was a decision that I didn’t have to spend long thinking about.”
When asked about what he hopes to achieve as Chairman of the charity, he said: “These days, rightly, ordinary people are being asked to take greater control of their financial destiny, whether it’s in terms of debt management, rainy day money or long term savings. I think that a charity like Life Academy can help people respond to these challenges and fill them with the self confidence that they need to strip away the complex marketing veneer and see that there are only a few basic questions: How much debt have I got and is it healthy? Have I got any rainy day money? Have I got any medium term money? How’s my pension stacking up?”
“So if I’m lucky enough to be elected Chairman in November, and lucky enough to be there in a couple of years time, I would like to think that the Secretariat and the Board will have ensured that Life Academy is a household name, and it’s a household name not just because Life Academy is good, but because it is tackling a contemporary issue – increased financial awareness. My goal is that when people think of increased financial awareness, they will think of Life Academy.”
The decision on whether Alan becomes the next Chairman or not will be decided at the charity’s Annual General Meeting, which takes place on 22nd November 2006, the same day as their Annual Lecture, which Alan will be delivering. Entitled “Are our Pensions Fit for Workers and our Workers Fit for Retirement?”, the lecture will emphasise that increased financial literacy and awareness of healthy lifestyles are essential if working people are to take full advantage of emerging opportunities.
