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Our guest tonight is a life peer, political campaigner, award-winner, and leading authority on later life issues such as pensions, social care and retirement policy, and is best known to us as the former Minister of Pensions.

Baroness Ros Altmann CBE was born and raised in Tottenham to the children of Austrian refugees, and was part of the vibrant Jewish life that was the East End, and like me, is a huge Spurs fan!

After graduating from UCL with a first-class degree in economics, she went on to get a scholarship to study in Harvard and then completed her PhD from LSE in UK pension policy, occupational pensions and retirement.

Leaving her academic career for the investment world, Ros worked for 15 years at Chase Manhattan’s International Invest Operation, as a Director at Rothschild Asset Management and at NatWest Investment Management. Using her expertise, she established herself as a consultant specialising in pensions, savings and retirement, and pressured the government and the UK Treasury to reform a broken state pension system that had failed many.

Elevated to life peer for her expertise and as part of her appointment in 2015 as the Minister for Pensions, her work has left a lasting legacy by creating a simpler and more sympathetic workplace pension scheme.

Continuing to speak out and write articles on pension reform, she was rewarded as the Pensions Personality of the Year twice! She was also awarded the Industry Guru of the Year, Women in Public Life Award and The Times’ ‘Business Bigshot’. And in June 2019 she was appointed the Vice President of the Jewish Leadership Council.

Straight from voting in the House of Lords, we are so grateful she has taken time out of her busy schedule to speak to us today. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming tonight’s very special guest, Baroness Ros Altmann!