How did you find your way into the investment world and was it planned or unexpected?

Completely unexpected. My parents were schoolteachers, so the City wasn’t something I grew up around or even really knew existed. Compared to today’s graduates, who often specialise early, I went to university in the UK at a time when you could still study something broad, follow your interests, and, luckily, still pivot into a range of careers afterwards. I studied Geography — a subject that, little did I realise, was shaping some of my later thinking: human–environment interactions, global development, and emerging markets.

Towards the end of my degree, I started looking at graduate programmes simply because it seemed the logical next step. I joined PricewaterhouseCoopers, earned my CFA qualification, and eventually moved into a fund selection role at Aon where I researched global and emerging market equity funds. In hindsight, it was a series of small decisions driven by curiosity and chance rather than a grand plan.

Looking back over your career, what are some of the most significant changes you have seen in the industry?

There’s been a big cultural shift. I caught the tail end and saw glimpses of a prior City culture, certainly more divisive personalities, louder environments, maybe more hierarchical, and on average, you’d have to say less inclusive. When you look around now, you see very different personality types succeeding in all sorts of roles, which I think is a good thing. It’s been interesting to see my generation move into leadership positions with a slightly different mindset, and I also think COVID spurred the shift.

For a time, with everyone remote, there was nothing to measure individual performance but the quality of output, and far less about optics. Some of that must have remained, and the industry feels healthier for it. But the most profound change has to be technology. There was always evolution, more outsourcing, better tools, but the biggest shift is happening now with AI. Many of the tasks that I recall doing in the early years of my career can be eliminated entirely. It’s exciting but disorienting, and it raises questions about what the industry will look like in ten years, especially for the groups aspiring to enter it now.

How important is effective communication in today’s investment landscape?

It’s critical. As a fund selector, I confidentially used to think I’d “find” the best managers regardless of how well they communicated. Hopefully I got some, but the uncomfortable truth is: how many did I miss, and how many were given too long simply because they were, consensually, seen as ‘impressive’? The industry is hopelessly oversupplied, and standards are generally high. After you’ve hit the standard research prerequisites, you need to be seen as doing something different. If the manager doesn’t know it or convey it or the selector doesn’t find it themselves for whatever reasons opportunities are missed.

Better investment decisions would be made with better communication. The window with a fund buyer is also quite narrow. You need to avoid pitfalls, deliver the essentials, and still make your USPs memorable enough for them to retell your story internally. And all of that sits on top of behavioural biases, inertia, confirmation, anchoring, and familiarity, which shape decisions far more than we like to admit. Effective communication can help navigate some of these challenges.

What made you want to work with JPES Partners?

Several things. First, the chance to work with people who’ve built genuinely successful careers in the industry …. I feel privileged to work among them. Second, perhaps a nod to my manager research background and a quest for the supposed “truth”… I enjoy being on the same side as the manager.

It’s more transparent, more collaborative, and you can have honest conversations that actually move things forward. JPES is also entrepreneurial, which suits me. I spent more than a decade championing boutiques, so it’s refreshing to work within one. And, perhaps most importantly, there’s a lot to be said for simply working with nice people.

Tell us about a professional moment you are particularly proud of?

Working with JPES is certainly one! But beyond that, I’m proudest of helping smaller managers be invested in. When you’ve spent years watching how hard boutiques have to fight — the behavioural biases that favour the familiar, the easy critique of the small and unestablished, the inertia in decision-making, the preferences for certain AUM levels or long track records, it’s very rewarding to see a genuinely differentiated manager break through. I enjoyed doing that earlier in my career and still do now, albeit in different guises.

What advice would you give someone starting out in the industry today?

Networking matters more than you think; but not, probably as I used to interpret such advice, in the clichéd “work the room” sense. It’s about building genuine connections over time. Regardless of your level, when you meet people in a work context, whether they are senior or early in their careers, connect with them, stay in touch, and be curious. Most people are far more willing to help than you expect, and all of my portfolio activities have come about in this way.

I’ve also learned that how you treat people has a long half‑life; being helpful, responsive, and decent is almost always remembered further down the track and comes back in positive ways. And as AI reshapes the industry, the roles that survive will be those that combine technical understanding with judgement, communication, and empathy.

Favourite book, film or podcast that has left an impression on you?

I’ve just read ‘the Ickabog’ to my children, who are six and eight, and it has more food for thought on societal choices and some uncanny parallels with the post‑truth world than I expected from a make-believe (….or is it!?) monster bedtime story. But if I’m being sensible, I’d point to The Rational Optimist. In a world where media narratives often skew negative, it’s a refreshing, evidence‑based reminder that progress is real and the world is, in many ways, better than we give it credit for. It offers a great sense of perspective and is a useful antidote to doomscrolling.

Finally, any favourite destinations to travel.

I was lucky to travel quite a bit during my studies and early career. Guatemala stands out — it felt genuinely authentic and, at least then, felt like stepping back in time. I spent a memorable summer there living with a family and learning Spanish…. though don’t test me on that now. I’m hopeful to take my children there later this year, so I’ll see how it has evolved. And secondly, I can’t not mention the mountains. My family and I moved to the Geneva area in 2019, and the Alps have become a big part of our lives. If you get to the right places, you can find solitude and see the power of nature, which can be inspiring and even frightening. And at other moments, you see the visible fragility from the effects of climate change. It’s humbling and grounding in equal measure.