Sri Chandran is a product specialist for Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity, based in the UK. In this capacity, he is responsible for representing the investment team across a range of equity strategies and ESG, in addition to product design and management.
Prior to joining Franklin Templeton in 2020, Sri worked for Aegon Asset Management as a product manager for equity and ethical products serving as the technical expert for this range including commercial analysis, positioning and messaging. Prior to Aegon, Sri was an analyst at Metropolis Capital where he conducted bottom-up research of globally listed equities, and latterly played a growing role in client facing distribution and marketing.
Sri holds a Master of Finance degree from University of Cambridge in the UK, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in the US. He also holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Bharathiar University in India.
Tom Ham founded Calton in 2020 to build a business that sets new standards for the financial planning profession. He believes that real financial planning, with a focus on deep client relationships and delivering expert guidance with clarity, can change lives.
After beginning his career at a well-known insurance and investment company, Tom worked as a senior financial adviser at a national law firm, serving on the committee overseeing the investment proposition and processes.
Tom is committed to nurturing the next generation of professional talent, building a team of experts working towards shared goals. He believes in harnessing technology to streamline processes, allowing advisers to devote more time to their core activity, meeting and empowering clients.
Kim McAllister is a freelance business journalist and communications consultant at Connect. She presented seven series of Clever About Cash on BBC Radio Scotland and contributes to a number of BBC shows including Radio 4’s Inside Science. She writes for newspapers across Scotland and hosts conferences across the UK plus once in Belgium, which allowed her to use her French! She lives in Edinburgh with her husband and two sons.
Ben is a Director and investment specialist for Baillie Gifford’s US Equity Strategy and Scottish Mortgage. Before his career in finance, Ben was an Infantry Officer in the British Army where he completed two combat tours of Afghanistan. Ben has a Masters in International Development focusing on sustainable investments from The University of Birmingham.
Mark McSherry has decades of experience as a financial editor, publisher and reporter, having worked around the world for Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, London Evening Standard, The Independent, London Sunday Times, The Scotsman, The South China Morning Post and The New Zealand Herald.
His journalism has also appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times and The Washington Post.
McSherry has worked in New York, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, London, Hong Kong, Auckland, Frankfurt and Dublin.
He is also a professor of journalism and communication arts.
McSherry gained an MBA at the University of Edinburgh and graduated in Global Affairs in the International Programs at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. He completed his MBA thesis on The Marketing Of Investment Trust Companies (closed end mutual funds).
Ola is on a mission to modernise the investment experience for financial advisers and their clients through Fundment, a digital-first wrap platform which launched in 2018.
He spent several years in the world of asset management – first with Aberdeen Asset Management, then with BlackRock and the iShares ETF business – but it was an insight into the “poor technology culture” he observed in the world of platforms that inspired the launch of Fundment.
Ola believes the best way to build a platform that can support the spectrum of advice models is to create a community of advisers who can inform and influence the evolution of Fundment.
Mark Beaumont spent the first 15 years of his career building teams around sporting success and is best known as an athlete and BBC broadcaster. He still holds the 18,000-mile circumnavigation cycling record in a time of 78 days. Mark’s degree education was in Economics & Politics, and for over thirteen years he has also worked a leading UK’s mid-market private equity firm, before becoming a partner at Eos Advisory in 2019 to focus on impact investing in early-stage Scottish science and technology.
Rhona Campbell is Chair of Investing Women Angels, an all-female syndicate focused on the advancement of female-led businesses and female investors through support, education, and investment. To-date IWA has invested over £2.3m in 25 companies.
Rhona is an expert in global product management and marketing, with over 25 years’ experience working with SMEs and multinational technology companies to achieve growth and success in global markets. She has helped companies to commercialise and launch new products, enter new markets as well as develop and implement international product and marketing strategies.
Rhona set up her own consultancy working with start-up and investor-funded technology companies to assess commercial feasibility of new products, formulate product strategy and take leading-edge technology to market.
Rhona has been a member of Investing Women Angels since its inception and has invested in and mentored a number of early-stage, female-led companies as well as represents IWA on company boards.
Lucie is a Multi-Asset and Income investment specialist in the Clients Department. She joined Baillie Gifford in 2021. Prior to this she spent nine years at HSBC Private Banking where she focused on investment advice for private clients. Lucie has an MA in International Economics from IHEID in Geneva.
Andrew is a founding partner in Par Equity, an Edinburgh-based investment firm. Par Equity invests in venture capital and natural capital on behalf of its clients, which range from business angels to EIS funds to institutional funds.
Matthew joined Waverton in August 2019. Matthew is a fund manager in the Multi-Asset team working on the Multi-Asset and Alternative Funds. He is a key member of the team managing the award-winning Waverton MPS. In addition, Matthew contributes to the firm-wide Asset Allocation Committee. Before this, Matthew worked at Janus Henderson Investors as a Multi-Asset Analyst. Matthew graduated from Loughborough University in 2015 with a degree in Psychology, holds the Investment Management Certificate, and is a CFA charterholder. In April 2021, he was chosen as a Citywire Top 30 Under 30.
Claire Armstrong is an investment funds and corporate finance partner with leading global law firm, Dentons. She leads the firm's Investment Funds and Asset Management practice in Scotland and is Head of Listed Funds. She is also Dentons Managing Partner for Scotland.
Tom started his career in the financial technologies space in London before making the move to estate agency, and Edinburgh, in 2016 to follow his passion for property.
He joined the Savills at the start of 2022 and is a key member of the ‘Town’ team, specialising in residential property within the Scottish Capital and providing clients with advice on buying and selling some of the world’s most beautiful homes.
Neil McIntosh was appointed Editor of The Scotsman in 2021. Previously he worked in a variety of editorial and digital roles for the Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC. A graduate of Edinburgh Napier University and the Open University Business School, he lives in Edinburgh with his wife, family and unruly border collie.
Connor is an Investment Analyst. He holds a First-Class BEng (Hons) in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, where he received the Jacobs Prize after finishing first in his year.
Following his undergraduate degree Connor was awarded the Edinburgh University Business School Scholarship, to study an MSc in Finance at the university. Connor went on to achieve a Distinction in his MSc receiving Edinburgh University’s Academic Excellence Award after finishing top of his year. His masters research thesis centred around the link between employee welfare and company performance. In the coming years he aims to undertake his CFA exams.
Connor is a keen traveller and keeps active playing touch rugby.
Rosemary manages commercial content and campaigns, from print to online, for The Scotsman. She is passionate about food and drink and has lots of expertise in the whisky industry. She was previously Head of Communications for the Scotch whisky industry trade body and has written extensively on Scotland's national drink.
