Paulo Almeida – Tufton Investment Management
Paulo is the CIO of Tufton, which he joined in 2009. He was among the winners of the Marine Money 2013 M&A deal of the year for the transactions that created Hafnia Tankers and the 2017 IPO of the year for Tufton Oceanic Assets (SHIP.LN). Before joining Tufton, Paulo worked for nine years in investment banking and fund management at UBS and Macquarie.
Rachel Beagles – Mercantile Investment Trust; Witan Investment Trust
Rachel has over 15 years of experience as a non executive director (NED) including six years as an AIC board member, with three as Chair. She came to the sector with a background in equity research and sales. Since 2005, she has had roles as a NED within the asset management, fintech, charity, and social housing sectors as well as at investment trusts and VCTs. She is currently a non executive director of Witan Investment Trust, The Mercantile Investment Trust, Gresham House and Cushon Group.
Emma Bird – Winterflood Securities
Emma joined the Investment Trust research team at Winterflood in September 2015, after working for the Wealth Management Association for a year, and became Head of the team in August 2022. She graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2014 with an Economics degree and is a CFA® Charterholder.
Mark Boggett – Seraphim Space
Mark is a pioneer in Space Tech investment having co-founded Seraphim Space and invested into a portfolio which includes three companies that have achieved billion-dollar valuations. Previously, Mark was a director at YFM Equity Partners, the firm behind the high profile British Smaller Companies VCT 1 & 2. He also worked at Brewin Dolphin and Williams de Broe.
Michael Bonte-Friedheim – NextEnergy Solar
Michael founded NextEnergy Capital Group in 2007. Michael has over 30 years of experience in the European Power & Energy sector, Banking and Finance industries. He was formerly a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs in Energy & Power Investment Banking Group; leaving in 2006 to found NextEnergy Capital. Michael previously held senior roles in the investment banking departments of Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Nick Brind – Polar Capital
Nick joined Polar Capital in September 2010 following the acquisition of HIM Capital, and is co-manager of the Polar Capital Global Financials Trust plc.
Prior to joining HIM Capital, Nick worked at New Star Asset Management. While there he managed the New Star Financial Opportunities Fund, a high-income financials fund investing in the equity and fixed-income securities of European financials companies. Previously, Nick worked at Exeter Asset Management and Capel-Cure Myers.
Georgina Brittain – JPMorgan UK Smaller Companies & JPMorgan MidCap
Georgina is a portfolio manager within the J.P. Morgan Asset Management International Equity Group. She has been with the firm since 1995 after joining as a graduate trainee. She obtained a MA in Classics from the University of Oxford, and earned a Diploma in Law from City University, London. She is a qualified barrister.
Kyle Caldwell – interactive investor
Kyle is interactive investor’s Collectives Editor, in charge of fund, investment trust and exchange-traded fund (ETF) editorial content. He regularly interviews fund managers on camera, writes analysis articles, and co-hosts the On The Money podcast. Kyle has been a financial journalist for over a decade, and won numerous awards, including twice winning National Investment Journalist of the Year when he worked at The Daily Telegraph. He is often quoted in the mainstream media as a spokesperson for ii.
Myrto Charamis – Berenberg
Myrto is the Co-Head of Investment Companies at Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG. She is a research analyst who has covered investment companies for the past 10 years with 25 years of experience in finance. She specialises in listed alternative investments covering listed infrastructure including renewables, private equity, private debt and other specialist private assets. Before Berenberg, Myrto was a Director, Investment Companies Research at Numis and the Alternative Funds team at Liberum.
John Citron – JPMorgan Emerging Markets
John is a portfolio manager within the Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific Equities team. An employee since 2009, he previously worked as a research analyst on the EMAP team, responsible for technology and industrial sectors, and before that as a research analyst within the European Equities Research team, responsible for the capital goods, aerospace and defence. John obtained a B.A. (Honours) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and is a CFA Charterholder.
Steve Clark – Round Hill Music Royalty
Steve joined Round Hill Music just before the Company’s IPO in November 2020. Since then, the Investment Manager has gone through positive organisational change and consolidation, while growing its staff base by almost 50% to provide a full music service for all assets under management. Previously, Steve was at Warner Chappell Music where over 21 years his responsibilities covered all copyright and royalty administration across Europe before being appointed EVP, Head of Global Operations.
Martin Connaghan – Murray International
Martin is co-manager of Murray International Trust PLC and an investment director on the global equities team at abrdn. Martin began his career at Murray Johnstone in 1998 and joined the company via the acquisition of Murray Johnstone in 2001. Martin has held a number of roles including Trader, Credit Analyst and ESG Analyst, however he has been focused on the management of global equity portfolios for the last fifteen years.
Mary Anne Cordeiro – Albion Technology & General VCT
Mary Anne has been in her role as an NED of Albion Technology & General VCT for almost 20 years which gives her a unique insight into the issues associated with impact investment in early-stage technology businesses. She is also SID and Chair of the Remuneration Committee. Mary Anne founded Science to Business in 2003, focused on the commercialisation of disruptive, game-changing. She is also an experienced investment banker in corporate finance with a fifteen-year career at Goldman Sachs, Bankers Trust and Paribas.
David Cornell – India Capital Growth
David joined Ocean Dial in January 2010 from Henderson Global Investors. He is based in London having been resident in Mumbai for three years until July 2013. He started his career in 1995 covering India for Robert Fleming Securities, ran the BDT Emerging Market Fund from 2004 to 2008 and then co-managed New Star’s Institutional Emerging Market Fund. He has a degree in English and History from the University of Durham and was in the British Army from 1991-1995.
Job Curtis – City of London Investment Trust
Job a Portfolio Manager at Janus Henderson Investors, a position he has held since 2006. He has managed the City of London Investment Trust since 1991 and is also co-manager of the Global Equity Income mutual fund strategy. Job joined Henderson in 1992 following Henderson’s acquisition of Touche Remnant, where he had served as a unit trust and investment trust manager since 1987. Previously he was at Cornhill Insurance and a graduate trainee at Grieveson Grant stockbrokers.
Francesca Ecsery – F&C Investment Trust
Francesca is a non-executive director of F&C Investment Trust and is also on the AIC Board. She has worked in consumer-facing/marketing-led business during most of her 25+ years’ executive career, including being commercial director at Radio Rentals and Going Places, and MD/GM at If You Travel, STA Travel and Cheapflights Media. She is also currently a NED of Air France, Marshall Motors and The Share Centre.
Luke Finch – HgCapital Trust
Luke is a partner at Hg and responsible for leading the client services team. He focuses on investor coverage across Europe, Asia and the US, fundraising, co-investment syndication and other client service management, and firm-wide strategic initiatives. Luke joined Hg in 2010, with seven years of experience in M&A and various types of capital-raising at Lazard in London, across their Private Fund Advisory Group, their Global Private Placements and ECM Advisory team.
Emily Fletcher – BlackRock Frontiers
Emily is a portfolio manager and a research analyst on the Global Emerging Markets Equities Team within BlackRock’s Fundamental Equity Group. She is responsible for co-managing the BlackRock Frontier Investment Trust, the Emerging Frontier hedge fund, Emerging Markets Sustainable Equity and the Emerging Market Equity Income strategies. Prior to moving to her current role in 2008, Emily was a member of the Multi-Asset Portfolio Strategies group and the UK Equity team.
Chris Gaydon – Octopus Renewables Infrastructure
Chris joined Octopus Energy Generation as an Investment Director in 2015 and manages Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust. He originated and led one of the largest wind farm portfolio acquisitions in the UK. Prior to joining Octopus, Chris was Business Development Director at Falck Renewables where he had a range of roles, including leading greenfield development in France and Poland.
Stuart Gray – Alliance Trust
Stuart is a portfolio manager at Willis Towers Watson, focused on managing equity portfolios. He joined in 2003 and has experience in researching long-only and long-short equity managers in all geographies around the world, as well as constructing and managing portfolios for a range of client types globally. Stuart's role is to identify the highest calibre equity managers and ensure that these managers are well-represented in investors' portfolios. He is responsible for the portfolio construction and management of the 'Better Equity Solutions' concentrated portfolios within WTW.
James Harries – Securities Trust of Scotland
James is the Senior Fund Manager responsible for the Trojan Global Income Strategy. He has 23 years’ investment experience, and has managed global equity portfolios since 2002. James is manager of the Trojan Global Income Fund, co-manager of the Trojan Ethical Global Income Fund and became manager of Securities Trust of Scotland in November 2020. Joining Troy in 2016 to establish the Trojan Global Income Fund, James was previously a Fund Manager at Newton Investment Management.
James Hart – Witan Investment Trust
James was appointed as Investment Director of Witan Investment Trust plc in April 2015. Previously he worked at Cayenne Asset Management Ltd as a Portfolio Manager specialising in listed investment companies and as an emerging market specialist and Head of Funds at Bank Julius Bar (London) Ltd. Prior to investment management, he worked in institutional sales and as a Research Analyst at a boutique stockbroker.
James Henderson – Lowland, Henderson Opportunities & Law Debenture Corporation
James has worked for Janus Henderson Investors since 1982. He has successfully managed a number of investment companies since 1990 including Lowland. He has also managed Law Debenture since 2002 and Henderson Opportunities Trust since 2006. He joint manages them with Laura Foll. James graduated with an MA (Hons) in economics from Cambridge University. He has 40 years of financial industry experience.
Peter Hewitt – CT Global Managed Portfolio
Peter is a director and fund manager in Global Equities and is responsible for managing the CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust, which was listed in 2008. He joined Columbia Threadneedle through the acquisition of BMO GAM (EMEA) in 2021, having previously been with BMO since 1999. Between 1983 and 1996 Peter was a fund manager with Ivory & Sime, working initially in the US team and from 1986 in the UK team, where he was responsible for a variety of pension fund and investment trust clients.
Alexandra Lindsay – Maven Capital Partners
Allie recently joined Maven Capital Partners as an Investment Director in their London office, primarily responsible for growth investing via Maven’s VCTs. Prior to joining Maven, Allie worked at Calculus Capital for thirteen years where she executed and completed EIS and VCT transactions across the healthcare, software, media and energy sectors. She has a degree in History of Art from University College London and is a CFA charterholder.
Aidan Lisser – JPMorgan Emerging Markets
Aidan is a non-executive director of JP Morgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust, where he is chair-designate, Henderson International Income Trust and the Edinburgh Investment Trust. From 2010 until 2020 he worked for Investec Wealth & Investment as chief marketing officer and subsequently as head of strategy. Before this he had various marketing roles at Allianz Global Investors, Standard Chartered Bank and Unilever.
Kenneth MacKenzie – Target Healthcare REIT
Kenneth is the founder and Chief Executive of Target. He is a Chartered Accountant with over 40 years of business leadership experience with the last fifteen in healthcare. In addition, Kenneth leads the creation and management of Target’s client funds and oversees fundraising and investor liaison. In 2005 he led the acquisition of the Independent Living Services, Scotland’s largest independent domiciliary care provider and grew this business acquisition putting in place a new senior management team before exiting via a disposal to a private equity house.
Eduardo Monteiro – VH Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities
Eduardo is a Managing Partner and co-CIO of Victory Hill Capital Partners LLP. Prior to Victory Hill, he built and was responsible for Mizuho Bank’s Natural Resources Corporate Finance Advisory Unit of which he was Head for EMEA. Eduardo was also one of the founding principals of Mizuho's Energy Special Situations Group. Prior to this, he was a senior member of the team responsible for building the M&A Advisory in Chemicals and Oil & Gas at Société Générale.
Paul Niven – F&C Investment Trust
Paul is Head of Asset Allocation (EMEA) at Columbia Threadneedle Investments and is responsible for a team managing over £40bn of client assets. He has also been the fund manager of F&C Investment Trust for the last 8 years. Paul joined the firm in 1996 and has worked in Asset Allocation and Investment Strategy since 1999, after undertaking a fund management position in Pacific Basin Equities. Paul has had responsibility for the management of Multi-Asset mandates within the group since 2002 (including large portfolios for insurance clients) and is Chair of the Investment Policy Group.
Zehrid Osmani – Martin Currie Global Portfolio
Zehrid is head of the Global Long-Term Unconstrained team and is manager of Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust. He joined Martin Currie in May 2018 from BlackRock, where he was a senior portfolio manager and responsible for managing several pan-European equity funds with a specific focus on unconstrained, high-conviction, long-term portfolios, as well as being Head of European Equities Research. Prior to this, Zehrid was at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership.
Robert Peston – ITV news
Robert is ITV's Political Editor and hosts their flagship politics and current affairs show, Peston. Previously he was the BBC's Economics Editor and before that as Business Editor, he broadcast and published a series of exclusive and influential stories about the global financial situation. Before joining the BBC, Robert was City and Assistant Editor of the Sunday Telegraph and at the FT, he was a member of the editorial board
Iain Pyle – Shires Income & Murray Income
Iain has been an Investment Director in the UK & European equities team at abrdn since 2015. He is the lead manager of Shires Income PLC and is deputy manager of Murray Income Trust PLC and abrdn Equity Income Trust plc. Within his role, he manages the UK Equity High Income Fund amongst other funds and has sector responsibility for energy and banks. Iain has also been covering analyst for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
Jamie Roberts – YFM Equity Partners
Jamie is responsible for YFM’s southern based new investment team. He sits on the YFM Investment Committee and the YFM Management board. YFM has £400m+ of AUM split across the high profile British Smaller Companies VCT 1 & 2 and LP buyouts funds investing in fast growing businesses across the UK. Jamie joined YFM in 2012 having spent the prior seven years in Corporate Banking roles at Lloyds Bank.
Ben Rogoff – Polar Capital Technology
Ben joined Polar Capital in May 2003. He is lead manager of Polar Capital Technology Trust and is a Fund Manager of the Polar Capital Global Technology Fund and Polar Capital Automation and Artificial Intelligence Fund. Prior to joining Polar Capital, Ben began his career in fund management at CMI, as a global technology analyst. He moved to Aberdeen Asset Managers in 1998 where he spent four years as a senior technology manager.
Helen Steers – Pantheon International
Helen is a Partner in Pantheon’s European Investment Team and is responsible for managing the activities of Pantheon International, a FTSE 250 global private equity investment trust. She is a member of Pantheon’s International Investment Committee, European Investment Committee and Co-investment Committee. Prior to joining Pantheon in 2004, Helen held a senior position at Russell Investments. Helen has served as a Board member of Invest Europe and is co-founder of Level 20, a non-profit organisation established to inspire women to join the private equity industry.
Bruce Stout – Murray International
Bruce Stout is co-manager of Murray International Trust PLC and a senior investment director on the global equities team at abrdn. Bruce joined abrdn in 1987 via the acquisition of Murray Johnstone. Bruce has held a number of roles including investment manager on the emerging markets team. Bruce graduated with a BA in Economics from the University of Strathclyde and completed a graduate training course with General Electric Company UK.
Steven Tredgett – Oakley Capital Investments
Steven joined Oakley as a Partner in 2017, following more than 18 years of investment banking experience. Steven’s focus is fund raising, communications and investor relations for Oakley and its portfolio companies. Prior to joining Oakley, Steven was a founding partner of investment bank Liberum Capital. He began his career in 1997 at Collins Stewart.
Sam Vecht – BlackRock
Sam is Head of Emerging Europe, Frontiers and Alternative Strategies and a portfolio manager within BlackRock’s Fundamental Equity Group. He is also research pod leader of the EMEA & Frontiers pod. Sam has been with BlackRock since 2000, including his years with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, which merged with BlackRock in 2006.
