John Raisin is a leading independent advisor to Local Authority Pension Funds and Asset Managers regarding governance, investment and stakeholder management.

John joined the London Borough of Barnet in 1982 and obtained his first Chief Officer appointment as Assistant Director with Tayside Regional Council in 1991. He later became Assistant Director and then Chief Finance Officer at Northamptonshire County Council and finally Director of Finance at the London Borough of Waltham Forest. From 2004 to 2011. John was Head of  the Northamptonshire County Council and then the London Borough of Waltham Forest Local Government Pension Funds.

In June 2015 John  was  appointed Independent Chair of the Merseyside Fund Pension Board (this is an individual appointment not linked to John Raisin Financial Services Limited). The Merseyside LGPS Fund is one of the largest Open Defined Benefit Pension Funds, in the United Kingdom, with Assets  in excess of £11 billion, over 200  separate Employers and approximately 150,000 individual members.

John’s overwhelming interest in Pension related issues led him  to decide to seek to build a career as an provider of independent support to Local Government Pension Scheme Funds and Asset Managers.

John, as Principal for the delivery of services at  John Raisin Financial Services Limited, leads the provision of independent services , in respect of both Investment and Governance, to the London Borough of Waltham Forest (since 2011), the London Borough of Haringey (since 2012) and the London Borough of Barking  & Dagenham (since 2015). Since 2015 John Raisin Financial Services Limited has also undertaken the role of Advisor to the Pension Board of the Nottinghamshire LGPS Fund.

John, on behalf of John Raisin Financial Services Limited, has undertaken detailed  Governance reviews  for a number LGPS Funds and presented training across the full range of topics covered by the CIPFA Pensions Knowledge and Skills framework.

Support has also been provided to a number of other LGPS stakeholders, most particularly a diverse range of Asset Managers.

John received a BA in Ancient and Medieval History from the University of Sheffield, and an MBA (with Distinction) in Public Service Management from the University of Stirling. He is also a qualified Accountant member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and holds the  (Level 4) Investment Management Certificate. In 2017 John successfully completed the Financial Times Non-Executive Director (NED) Diploma.

“Strategic and Operational Support for Pension Funds and their                                                                     Stakeholders”