Helen Shay comes from a legal and financial services background. She is serving her second term of office as a non-executive director with Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd (USS), the UK’s largest private pension fund with £75bn assets. The fund is a hybrid scheme with a large defined benefit pension section, increasingly looking to responsible investment for returns and currently has almost £2bn in clean energy.

Helen is a solicitor whose legal career has spanned private practice and in-house roles across various sectors, including retail (with Next plc) and financial services (with Financial Ombudsman Service and Skipton Building Society). She was General In-house Counsel at the University of York for over twelve years, before joining the USS board in 2020, where she also serves on its Group Audit and Risk Committee and Advisory Committee.

Her work with USS involves stakeholder liaison and pension valuation as well as investment, linking with her interest in environmental and social issues. Helen has been a charity trustee with a homeless project and an organisation providing services to those with learning difficulties. She is also a Social Mobility Ambassador for the Law Society, assisting students from non-traditional backgrounds to enter the legal profession.

(Note – USS is not a member of Pensions for Purpose)