Meet the manager: Jonathan Maxwell

If you weren’t a fund manager, what job would you do?

The other side of our fund management business provides energy services to customers which, in a way, is another job. But if I wasn’t a fund manager, I would probably write a series of books to follow my first one; ‘The Edge: How competition for resources is pushing the world, and its climate, to the brink - and what we can do about it’.

What was the proudest moment of your career?

I think this was the IPO of the SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust on the London Stock Exchange. It was a feeling of incredible achievement and relief for the huge work it took to make it happen. I had the same feeling with the IPO of our New York Stock Exchange listed company, SDCL EDGE and the creation of our private funds.

What was the most difficult moment of your career and why?

Losing the bid to privatise the Green Investment Bank in 2016, given the immense effort and passion that it took to raise the £2 billion capital and the opportunity cost of coming second. However, the most disappointing feature - in not securing the scale capital to focus on resource efficient investment - became a stimulus to do it bigger and better. Which is what we have done since.

What advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?

I would always like to say not to worry as much. But it’s easier to say than to do. To achieve the same thing, I would probably advise that it’s not neurologically possible to be worried and grateful at the same time. So focus on being grateful and use your worry to help you think through whatever problems you are facing.

Away from the workplace, how do you spend your time?

I spend as much time as possible with my two children (the boys are 11 and 8) and my wife and family. The family is the focal point of my life outside the workplace. For personal time, I run almost every day, with our dog Pluto, around Hyde Park.

Tell us about the last book you read or the last podcast you listened to or music/concert you recently enjoyed and why?

I last read Ed Conway’s ‘Material World’ in preparation for the talk we were to give together at the Cliveden Literary Festival. My regular ‘one-a-week’ podcast is the All-In Podcast, which is a sweeping overview of politics, technology, business, finance and science from the point of view Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors, so a different perspective. The last concert I went to was Nile Rogers and Chic, which I took my family to, and loved because it’s an incredible journey through so much of modern music and is almost purely happy making.

Where was the last place you went on holiday and why?

My wife and I went for our first break together in four years, on the weekend of our anniversary. We went to Venice because it is our favourite European city to visit and we have wonderful memories.

In your personal life, what would you like to achieve in the next 12 months?

I would like to get back to my pre-Covid levels of fitness. I will be 50 next year, so am determined to start getting younger again!