FFA/FIA: 1987
Area(s) of expertise:
- Product Development, Operations, Governance, Sales, Marketing (all in fund management where I have worked since 1993).
Current work:
- Responsible for development and oversight of all collective funds managed and marketed worldwide by Aberdeen Asset Management, an independent (quoted) fund management company, operating internationally. Chief Executive of Aberdeen Unit Trust Managers (a provider of open-end funds in UK) and Aberdeen Asset Management Life and Pensions (a provider of wholesale pension funds to UK pension trustees).
Other comments:
- I started my career with Scottish Provident where I found myself in the Marketing Department around the time I qualified. From there, I moved to set up a Product Development Department and became involved in project work. Scottish Provident bought a London-based fund management operation in 1993 and I took up an opportunity there. That company was bought by Aberdeen in 1997. I now divide my time between offices in London and Edinburgh;
- the biggest transition for me was moving from life assurance to the world of fund management where market cycles and developments typically have a more immediate effect on the business and actuaries are much less in evidence;
- balancing the custodial and long-term nature of the actuarial training with the commercial demands of a quoted company, attuned to relatively short-term stock market developments, is interesting and challenging.
Area(s) of expertise:
- Product Development, Operations, Governance, Sales, Marketing (all in fund management where I have worked since 1993).
Current work:
- Responsible for development and oversight of all collective funds managed and marketed worldwide by Aberdeen Asset Management, an independent (quoted) fund management company, operating internationally. Chief Executive of Aberdeen Unit Trust Managers (a provider of open-end funds in UK) and Aberdeen Asset Management Life and Pensions (a provider of wholesale pension funds to UK pension trustees).
Other comments:
- I started my career with Scottish Provident where I found myself in the Marketing Department around the time I qualified. From there, I moved to set up a Product Development Department and became involved in project work. Scottish Provident bought a London-based fund management operation in 1993 and I took up an opportunity there. That company was bought by Aberdeen in 1997. I now divide my time between offices in London and Edinburgh;
- the biggest transition for me was moving from life assurance to the world of fund management where market cycles and developments typically have a more immediate effect on the business and actuaries are much less in evidence;
- balancing the custodial and long-term nature of the actuarial training with the commercial demands of a quoted company, attuned to relatively short-term stock market developments, is interesting and challenging.