Smart Pension appoints industry-leading technology strategist to head up tech development division

Smart Pension has appointed ex-Capita and JLT product strategist Martin Freeman to head up its technology product development division.

Freeman, who spent four years as a senior DC consultant responsible for online engagement in Capita's employee benefits department and before that three years as a director at JLT, will drive the development and direction of Smart products.

Freeman said: "Smart Pension is a breath of fresh air in the pensions industry, and joining the team was one of the easiest decisions I've had to make."

"Auto enrolment is making pensions more democratic and Smart, with its technological foundation, is at the forefront of this."

"Its desire to bring pensions up to new modern levels of service is a very strong proposition – and something that incumbent firms will find hard to compete with."

Martin will report directly to Smart Pension's chief technology officer, Sam Barton.

Barton said: "Martin's wealth of pension market experience seen from a technology perspective is a natural fit into our organisation."

"As our business grows, we're adding new products to our platform and Martin is the perfect match to work with us on our busy technology roadmap. He's also a great chap to have about!"

Will Wynne, MD and co-founder of Smart Pension said: "Martin's expertise will help us deliver the next generation of technology products that will empower our members to more easily explore and interact with their own data and investments."

"This approach is essential to make pension interaction frictionless and enjoyable for savers in order to build successful retirement outcomes."

Freeman has a background in the worlds of both pensions and technical development. He spent 13 years at pensions administration software firm Profund Solutions, latterly as head of development before moving to JLT, first as head of EB technology product and then as the director.

Martin's appointment to Smart Pension's management team follows that of Jamie Fiveash, TPP's former chief strategy and marketing officer as its COO last month, and Paul Budgen, NEST's former director of business development earlier in March.

Smart Pension recently launched its secure Alexa skill which enables members to ask their device to display their savings balance and generate reports on their pension contributions in real time. It also allows them to make instant changes to their employee contribution percentage.

The firm is MAF-accredited and has been awarded a 5-star Defaqto rating every year since it was launched. In June 2017 it was named as Fintech Innovation of the Year and overall winner in the Digital Leaders 100 Awards. It has an average score of 4.4 out of 5 in Google reviews from its customers.