Director talk: Lucy Costa Duarte

In the boardroom

How would you explain your role to somebody who was new to investment trusts?

The directors are there to represent the trust’s shareholders and to safeguard their investments. It is the board’s job to ensure that the best possible team of managers and advisers are doing all they can to bring about the most positive outcome possible for shareholders.

What’s the number one skill you bring to the board?

I have been involved in marketing investment trusts for over ten years and have tried and tested most of the potential avenues for attracting and retaining shareholders. This means I can actively monitor and add value to the marketing activities of the trusts I am involved with.

Who’s been the biggest influence on your career?

Having started life as an investment banker, my early career was in equity capital markets specialising in IPOs and secondary offerings of emerging market companies. We were often structuring and executing innovative deals in countries that had nascent capital markets. My then boss Nick Kaufmann taught me that there is always a solution if you have enough tenacity and perseverance to find it.

My investment trust career was shaped at International Biotechnology Trust where the two fund managers, Ailsa Craig and Marek Poszepczynski, taught me everything I know about running an investment trust portfolio. I find this experience invaluable in understanding and monitoring the fund management activities at my trusts.

What’s the most challenging part of your job as a trust director?

Reading the board packs! I am quite a quick reader but it always takes me longer than I think it will as there is so much to absorb.

What advice would you offer to new directors?

Make sure you really have enough time to do it properly. You never know when something will happen that will significantly increase the amount of time needed. We moved MIGO Opportunities Trust to AVI (Asset Value Investors) in my first year of being a non-executive director and that required substantial additional attention from the directors.

Away from work

What’s your number one desert island disc?

With or Without You by U2. Still my favourite band of all time and sadly one of the few of my favourite bands that I have not yet managed to see live.

Of all the places you have visited on your travels, which comes top of the list and why?

I spend time every summer on Inishcoo Island off the coast of Donegal. It sits in a cluster of small islands, sheltered from the worst of the Atlantic weather by a larger island called Aranmore. It has beaches (and bogs) galore and when the sun shines, there is nowhere more beautiful in the world.

What food couldn’t you live without?

I do love doing a big roast on a Sunday for my family.

What is a hidden talent that few people know you have?

I speak Russian. I did Russian at University, including an academic year spent in Siberia. It’s rather rusty now, but I still manage to communicate with my Russian friends in Krasnoyarsk.

What do you do for fun?

I have three teenagers (19, 18 and 16) and three dogs (a labrador, a cavalier King Charles spaniel and a working cocker spaniel) so my house is always lively. I love having friends over and hanging out in the garden with a glass of rosé.