Employee spotlight: Troy Clutterbuck, Managing Director

• Tell us a little bit about your background?

I've got an accidental background in pensions. By that I mean I didn't start my career with a burning desire to work in pensions (not sure who does?).

I'm a Chartered Accountant by trade, starting with KPMG in Melbourne straight out of university. Since moving to the UK in 2000, I’ve predominantly worked in pensions and employee benefits. I spent 15 years at JLT doing all sorts of things like CFO, COO, and Head of Global M&A. At one point, I managed to wrangle a fantastic role looking after businesses in Canada and Latin America which essentially involved a lot of exotic travel! Didn’t take long until they figured me out...

• What do you do at Cushon and what do you enjoy most about it?

OK, that's a hard one. I tend to have my hand in all sorts of things!

I've been described as a 'hat stand' which is one of the nicer things I've been called (before the watershed at least!). Given my background, I've got a clear focus on finance and also M&A which has kept us pretty busy over the last few years (and promises to continue to do so in the years to come).

Having a wide focus which touches on all parts of the business is what I enjoy most, never a dull moment...

• What would you say the hardest part about your role is?

The flip side of the above! Lots of hats and sometimes not enough time to devote to each one.

I like to do the things I do well, so it's annoying when you know, with a bit more time, you could have done something better.

• What has been your most memorable moment at Cushon and what are you most excited about?

Too many to mention!

I would say each of the acquisitions, culminating in the 'ultimate' transaction which saw NatWest Group purchase a majority stake.

Each acquisition is different, and you need to navigate lots of phases from initial conversations, through to commercial negotiation, through to detailed legal wrangling and execution. These transactions develop over many months and end up ‘consuming’ you, which can be both good and bad!

The NatWest Group deal was of course the big one, a different level of transaction and very meaningful for all of our team which made it even more important to get it done and get it done right. I like to think we've done that.

• How would you describe the company culture at Cushon?

Ever evolving!

Culture is so important – you can't dictate what it is, it just is. It's how we work, how we act with each other and what we value.

For me, Cushon's culture is all about having each other's back, taking responsibility and ownership, being respectful but demanding of each other and importantly, having a laugh along the way and trying to not take ourselves too seriously.

• What do you enjoy doing outside of pensions?!

Here is where I list all of my cool and interesting hobbies right? Rock climbing, surfing, paragliding? Sadly, I’m a bit light on those type of things.

Outside of work I like to eat and drink (too much clearly by the burgeoning size of my waistline) and travel whenever we can. We try and get away at least for the weekend once a month and have been known to spontaneously decide to have a weekend abroad over a glass of wine (or two).

• Tell us an interesting or little-known fact about yourself?

I dressed as a paper bag when working in a supermarket as a teenager in my small hometown in Australia (the paper bag was the 'mascot' of the supermarket chain).

I was relatively tall so was bigger than the paper bag outfit. As a result, the top of my head stuck out the top of the bag and as I walked around the supermarket handing out sweets to children (I know, these were different times!), everyone I passed said, 'Hi Troy, why are you dressed as a bag?'

Tough workplace initiation for a 15 year old! Beat that!

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Article by

NatWest Cushon