John Chilman

John has had an extensive executive career, culminating in becoming the Chief Executive of Railpen in 2019. Railpen provides pension, fiduciary and investment management services to the Railways Pensions Scheme (RPS), a £35bn multi-employer plan with over 350,000 members. Previously he was a trustee, and latterly Chair, of the RPS, as well as holding several pension Trusteeships in the UK and North America.

John retired from Railpen in 2025 and now focusses on non-executive and Trustee roles. He is a member of the PLSA Board, and chairs its Policy Board, is an Independent Trustee Director of the Nestlé UK Pension Fund, where he chairs the DB Investment and DB Funding committees, having previously chaired the DC committee, and has recently been appointed to the board of Future Growth Capital, which seeks to provide investment opportunities for pension funds in private markets.

After completing a degree in Geography at St. Anne’s College, Oxford, John qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse (now PwC), before moving into finance, change and M&A roles in South West Electricity and Shell. He moved into pensions and reward in the late 1990s, with spells at FirstGroup, HBOS and National Grid prior to taking on the Railpen role.