Episode 215: Debbie Fielder of Clwyd Pension Fund at Flintshire County Council: Local Vision and National Impact

Debbie Fielder is deputy head of Clwyd Pension Fund at Flintshire County Council, where she has spent over 27 years. She is a leading voice on the LGPS investment circuit having been an early adopter of broad diversification and a founding member of the Welsh Pensions Partnership. Our conversation traces her start in local government and finance functions and how this led to a role in pensions.  We speak about her early mentors and the process and advice that led to Flintshire being an early adopter in many alternative asset classes.  Debbie did not realize at the time that this aspect of the approach taken in Flintshire was somewhat unusual among LGPS peers and her experience in this area led to her being a unintended thought leader in this respect. We speak about the pooling process then and the launch of the Welsh Pensions Partnership and the vision for LGPS pooling and how it may enable scalable local investment in Wales.  This is another one of Debbie’s passions and we discuss this in some detail.  This podcast is part of a collaboration with Crispin Derby Limited.  Series 5 of 2023 is sponsored by With Intelligence, which connects investors and managers to the right people and data to raise and allocate assets effectively. The music in this podcast series - provided by Julia Kwamya - is available on her album on Spotify: Feel Good about Feeling Bad https://open.spotify.com/album/7lTQWSHeaVo3xHuF9q8ilv?si=uvGJZX7FQ9-2wX-0e951ZA&nd=1