Venetia Trayhurn
Director
A qualified solicitor and an Accredited Member of the Association of Professional Trustees, Venetia is an experienced member of our professional trustee team. Prior to joining LawDeb in 2016, Venetia served as an Ombudsman for The Financial Ombudsman Service and held senior legal roles inhouse and in private practice. Venetia brings commercial acumen, negotiation and dispute resolution experience to the role, combined with a consensus-building approach. She is a member of LawDeb’s Pension Management Group.
Venetia was recently named the Trustee of the Year at the prestigious Professional Pensions, Women in Pensions Awards 2021 for her high profile work in the industry.
Venetia currently represents LawDeb on a broad portfolio of pension schemes for the likes of John Lewis, Taylor Wimpey and Saint-Gobain, ranging in asset size from less than £100m to over £7bn and covering occupational defined benefit, hybrid, and defined contribution schemes. She chairs the trustee boards of the Royal Mail Defined Contribution Plan and the Baker Hughes UK Pension Plan and also sits on the independent governance committee of a number of workplace personal pensions provider regulated by the FCA.
Venetia has held a number of industry body roles and management positions. She obtained an MA (Joint Hons) in Philosophy & Social Anthropology from the University of St. Andrews and in her free time enjoys the ‘good life’ in the countryside with her spaniel and her vegetable patch.
What our clients say:
Venetia has considerably strengthened our Trustee Board during the last 18 months; she is an excellent team member and is a delight to work with. We have been impressed with her general pensions knowledge and experience, her overall professionalism, but also she has this rare and excellent ability to assess key issues and get to the nub of the matter quickly and come up with suggestions for resolution. She is calm under pressure with the ability to think on her feet and respond in an articulate manner.
-Anna Edgeworth, Chair of Trustees, Taylor Wimpey Pension Scheme
Over the last few months Venetia has combined the highest levels of care, professionalism and collaboration in progressing the Scheme to this point whilst skillfully co-ordinating a number of high pressured stakeholders (fellow Trustees, members, company, regulator) and lots of advisors (actuarial, covenant, legal, investment, admin). In particular the last few days must have felt like she was working in air traffic control and all the time doing so with good humour and making it enjoyable to work with her.
-P. O'Sullivan, Managing Director, Redington Plc