Board

Patrick Thomson is Chief Executive Officer for EMEA, J.P. Morgan Asset Management based in London. He is Chair of the Board of the Investment Association, representing UK’s investment management industry, and a Member of the UK Government’s Treasury Task Force. Patrick joined J.P. Morgan Asset Management in 1995 and worked in Singapore 2000-2005 as global head of sovereigns, with extensive experience in reserves management in Asia and the Middle East, and has worked with many of the largest asset owners in the world.

Before taking up her current position, Michelle was at Columbia Threadneedle Investment, which she joined as CEO EMEA in 2017. She’s also a member of the executive leadership team of Ameriprise Financial. Michelle was previously Chief Risk Officer at M&G Investments and before that had an extensive career at Blackrock (previously Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Mercury Asset Management), where she was a member of the European Executive Committee and held several senior roles across the business.

Sean is responsible for leading the operations and distribution efforts of the European business. He relocated to London from Vanguard’s global headquarters in the United States in 2016. Since joining Vanguard in 1997, he has been head of Corporate Strategy and head of Retail Marketing and Communications, and he has held various management positions in Vanguard’s institutional business. Before Vanguard, he worked for PNC Bank and Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. Sean earned a B.B.A. from St. Bonaventure University and an M.S. in communications from Villanova University. He also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Chris joined the IA in 2016 from TheCityUK, which he set up and ran as CEO for seven years. He sits on the Treasury’s Asset Management Taskforce, the Board of EFAMA (European Fund & Asset Management Association) and is the President of IIFA (International Investment Funds Association). He is also Chairman of Just Finance Foundation. He was previously a member of the FCA’s Regulatory Decisions Committee and the FCO’s Diplomatic Excellence Panel.

Alexandra has 28 years’ experience in the wealth and asset management industry across Europe, Asia and the US. She previously spent four years as CEO of Sandaire Investment Office, a UK multi-family office, where she led the business integration process after Sandaire acquired Lord North Street Private Office. Alexandra is a CFA Charterholder and member of the CFA UK Advisory Council. She is also a founding member of the Advisory Committee of The Diversity Project, an ambitious initiative to promote diversity in all its forms across the UK asset management sector. Alexandra is the current Chair of the Investment Association’s Business Forum.

Stephen was appointed Chief Executive Officer of abrdn in September 2020. Previously, Stephen served as chief executive officer of global consumer banking at Citigroup from 2015, retiring from the role in November 2019. His responsibilities encompassed all consumer and commercial banking businesses in 19 countries, including retail banking and wealth management, credit cards, mortgages, and operations and technology supporting these businesses. Prior to this, Stephen was chief executive for all of Citigroup’s Asia Pacific business lines across 17 markets, including India and China.

Stephen is a member of the Global Executive Committee and chairs the EMEA Executive Committee. Before taking up this role in April 2021, he was Head of iShares & Wealth business and Index Investments in EMEA, responsible for leading BlackRock's relationships with wealth management firms and platforms, the development and distribution of technology, data and investments, and overseeing the firm’s index portfolio management capability in the region. He previously served as Global Head of Fixed Income Indexing for BlackRock, where he led the iShares fixed income business and oversaw the fixed income index investment group.

Marie Dzanis heads Northern Trust Asset Management in EMEA. With 25 years of experience in investment management, she is a recognised industry leader. Her multifacted career began as a financial advisor and subsequently includes experience in securities lending and trading, product development, product sales, sales management and branch management. Prior to joining Northern Trust in 2011, she held executive and leadership positions at iShares/Blackrock, JPMorgan Asset Management and Smith Barney.

Hassan is Managing Partner and Lead Portfolio Manager at Independent Franchise Partners, LLP. He has over 30 years of experience managing equity portfolios for institutional clients. Prior to co-founding Franchise Partners, Hassan was a managing director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Hassan holds an AB in Economics and an MBA in Finance, both from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the CFA Institute. Hassan served as member of the board of directors at Human Rights Watch for 12 years, including six years at co-chair of the board.

Rachel Elwell joined Border to Coast with over twenty years’ experience of working in pensions and institutional investment, both as a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers and latterly at Royal London. In this role she was responsible for both Royal London’s own pension arrangements and for investment strategy and oversight of internal and external management of its insurance assets totalling £80 billion. Rachel is a Cambridge maths graduate and qualified actuary.

Peter was appointed Group Chief Executive in April 2016. He was an Executive Director and Head of Investment from May 2014. He began his career at Schroders and subsequently held roles at Newton Investment Management, J.P. Morgan Asset Management as Head of Global Equities and Multi-Asset and at Deutsche Asset Management as Global Chief Investment Officer. He was Chairman and Chief Executive of RWC Partners before re-joining Schroders as Global Head of Equities in March 2013. He is a Director of FCLT Global and a member of the Advisory Board of Antler Global. Peter re-joins the IA Board having previously been Chair from 2017 – 2020.

Before joining Hargreaves Lansdown Chris was employed as Chief Financial Officer by Travelex UK Ltd, CFO and Executive Director by IG Group Holdings Plc and Finance Director at VWR International LLC. Prior to that he was Principal at Arthur Andersen LLP and a Principal at General Electric International Operations.

Kirstie MacGillivray is Head of Dealing and UK CEO of Aegon Asset Management. She also chairs its Front Office Governance Committee. Kirstie joined Aegon AM in 2008 from Barrie & Hibbert where she advised companies on risk management of derivatives. Prior to this she was a partner in BCS Asset Management, a global macro hedge fund. Previously she worked for 7 years in equity derivatives sales, initially for Morgan Stanley, and, latterly, for UBS Investment Bank. She started her career at Abbey National Asset Managers as a member of the investment strategy unit. She has over 20 years’ industry experience. Kirstie studied Commercial Law & taxation at Glasgow University.

Nicolas Moreau was appointed CEO of HSBC AM in August 2019. Former head of AXA France and Deutsche Bank’s DWS unit, he replaced Sri Chandrasekharan. Following his exit from DWS, Moreau had moved into several advisory roles and launched his own company, Ladbroke Advisory, which focused on working with asset managers and fintech firms on strategy, products, distribution and takeovers.

Catherine joined Fiera as Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer in 2019 and is currently Senior Vice President and Regional Managing Partner for the Fiera Capital London office. In a career spanning more than 20 years, Catherine has held senior positions at a number of leading hedge funds and asset managers, including Sabre Fund Management (now Sabre Trium), Hermes Investment Management (now Federated Hermes), Thames River Capital, The Children’s Investment Fund and 10 years at Goldman Sachs working in both their London and Paris offices. Catherine is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales having qualified with PwC London. She has a BA (Hons) in Accounting and Finance from Nottingham.

Nick Ring assumed his current role in September 2019. He is also a member of the Executive Leadership Team at Ameriprise Financial. Nick has over 30 years’ experience in the investment industry across a variety of distribution, product, strategy and general management positions.

Mark is CEO of Aviva Investors* and a Director of the Aviva Investors Global Services Limited Board. He joined Aviva Investors in 2014 and was appointed CEO in January 2021. Previously, he was CEO for Aviva Investors Real Assets from its formation in May 2018. Mark began his career as a consultant Actuary and then gained a diverse experience across markets with investment banking roles in fixed income, equities and capital markets. He has extensive risk management and derivatives experience. Prior to Aviva Investors, he worked at Friends Life where he was CEO of the Group and MD of their in-house asset manager, Friends Life Investments. Previously, he was the CIO of AXA in the UK.

Karen Zachary joined CRUX as COO in July 2015 and became CEO on 1 October 2020. Prior to this Karen worked as a member of the senior management team at Man Group as Global Head, Client Operations and Outsourcing. Prior to that Karen was Director of Client Service Operations at Henderson Global Investors. Karen has over 20 years’ experience in Asset Management in both alternatives and traditional products and has spent the more significant periods of her career at Fidelity International (12 years) and New Star Asset Management (9 years). Karen has a Master of Business Administration degree from Durham University.