The CFA Society of the UK (CFA UK) is delighted to announce the appointment of seven new Fellows.
- Sally Bridgeland,
- Graham Cook, CFA,
- Robert Gardner,
- Deborah Gilshan,
- Joanna Munro, ASIP
- Paul Smith, CFA and
- Gillian Tett
The CFA UK Fellowship designation (FSIP) is awarded to leading investment professionals who have made an outstanding contribution to the investment profession. Our Fellows embody our mission, which is to educate, connect and inspire the investment community to build a sustainable future. Fellows provide counsel and guidance to the Society, and act as representatives of best practice in terms of how to contribute to the sector’s development. There are now 98 Fellows.
Our new Fellows drive professionalism across the investment sector. They’re changing the business model for investment consulting, holding the sector to account and implementing positive change across the investment businesses they have led. They are also characterised by their common involvement in aspects of sustainable investing.
Deborah Gilshan has demonstrated a deep commitment to corporate governance, investment stewardship, sustainability and DEI in all of her professional roles and has been a strong advocate for the role of asset owners in the investment chain. Joanna Munro has led the development of new investment capabilities focused on the transition to a net-zero economy. Sally Bridgeland led the investment consulting industry’s responsible investment journey, supported the actuarial profession’s embrace of sustainability and now chairs one of the leading sustainable investment firms. Rob Gardner has set up RedSTART, a leading financial literacy charity, and recently co-founded Earth Rebalance Earth, a fund to accelerate the flow of private capital to protect and restore nature at scale. Graham Cook, CFA is a past vice-chair of CFA UK and helped the society to focus its efforts in the sustainable investing space, while also contributing to the development of sustainable investing at the Environment Agency and now Phoenix. Paul Smith, CFA, was CEO of CFA Institute from 2015 to 2019, overseeing a period of rapid global expansion and the Institute’s first concerted efforts to incorporate sustainable investing considerations into its work. And Gillian Tett brought her knowledge of anthropology and finance to bear in reporting and writing on the investment world, including setting up the FT’s first dedicated coverage of sustainable investing in the Moral Money column.
Says Richard Dunbar, CFA, FSIP, Chair of the Fellowship Committee: “We are always delighted to welcome new Fellows. Fellowship allows us to build and cement bonds with experienced individuals who have contributed significantly to the investment profession and can provide us with guidance and feedback. Professionalism and ethics remain critically important to the reputation and the proper functioning of our sector. All of our Fellows have demonstrated the highest standards of professionalism across their careers, notably with respect to sustainable investing.”
Adds Will Goodhart, Chief Executive of CFA UK: “We’re honoured to be able to welcome this year’s new Fellows into the Fellowship. We have worked with all of them over recent years on different aspects of sustainability – from DEI, to nature, climate and impact – and across different channels – the media, professional bodies, NGOs, investment firms and our own organisation – and have benefited greatly from those associations. We are delighted to be able to give something back in the form of this recognition.”
About the new Fellows:
Sally Bridgeland
Sally Bridgeland is an actuary with pensions and investment experience as an adviser, trustee and non-executive director. Sally is Chair at Impax Asset Management Group plc and at BelleVie Care and a non-executive director at insurers Pension Insurance Corporation and Royal & Sun Alliance.
Her non-executive portfolio has included roles at the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, NEST Corporation and the Lloyds Bank pension schemes and as Chair of the first local government pensions pool, Local Pensions Partnership Investments (LPPI) Limited. She was CEO of the BP Pension Scheme in 2007-14 after 20 years with Aon Hewitt working as a pensions consultant and in investment research and innovation.
Sally was the first lady Master of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries from 2016-2017. She serves in a voluntary capacity as a member of the Royal Society’s Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME) and Chairs the Strategic Advisory Board for the Centre for Mathematical Cognition at Loughborough University, launched in early 2020. She is an Honorary Group Captain with 601 Squadron RAuxAF
Graham Cook, CFA
Graham is a past vice-chair of the society, was first chair of the sustainability committee and is a past chair of the IMC Panel and the E&E Committee. He remains a member of the society’s Asset Owner Council. He is Responsible Investment Strategy Lead at Phoenix Group and has more than 25 years industry experience in the UK, Europe and Australia, primarily helping asset owners efficiently implement their investment strategy.
Graham is past CIO of the Environment Agency Pension Fund, where he was responsible for overseeing the investment management arrangements of the £4.6bn portfolio, and for ensuring that EAPF remained a global leader in investing to address the challenges of climate change. Prior to joining EAPF, he helped establish, and led, the London based Portfolio Solutions team at Macquarie Group, where he focused on LGPS pooling. Graham is on the Board of the IIGCC and is also a member of the Responsible Investment Advisory Group to the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board.
Graham has qualified as chartered Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Robert Gardner
Rob Gardner is the co-CEO and co-founder of Rebalance Earth, which redirects the flow of capital to protect and restore nature at scale. He believes nature is our most valuable asset, and investing in nature will improve companies' resilience to climate change and nature loss whilst creating economic prosperity for local communities. Rob founded Rebalance Earth after leaving his role as Director of Investments at St James's Place. He joined SJP from investment consultancy Redington Ltd, which he co-founded with Dawid Konotey-Ahulu in 2006. In 2009, Robert also co-founded Mallowstreet, the online pensions community that continues to grow with a presence and support from the industry. Both Redington and Mallowstreet are B-corps. Rob is a campaigner for financial education for young people, writing the children's book Save Your Acorns and a book for young adults FR££DOM - earn it, keep it, and grow it and founding the charity RedSTART. He began his career in financial services at Deutsche Bank before joining Merrill Lynch in 2003, working as a director in their Insurance and Pensions Solutions Group.
Deborah Gilshan
Deborah Gilshan has 25 years of experience in financial services focusing on corporate governance, sustainability, diversity and investment stewardship. In July 2023, Deborah joined AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest pension fund, to lead their work on ESG and stewardship in Europe. Prior to this, she ran her own business for four years, providing strategic advice to clients across the investment chain. Deborah also chaired the Vote Reporting Group convened by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and served on the Advisory Panel of the UK Financial Reporting Council. Previously, Deborah was an ESG Investment Director at Aberdeen Standard Investments and Head of Sustainable Ownership at Railpen, having started her career in responsible investment at the UK’s Co-operative Insurance Society. She initially worked in corporate tax at EY and read Mathematics & English at the University of Manchester.
In October 2011, Deborah founded The 100% Club, a multi-sector networking alliance dedicated to gender equality. She is an Ambassador of the 30% Club, the global market initiative to improve gender diversity, having been instrumental in building its UK Investor Group and now serves on the 30% Club’s Race Equity Group. Deborah has been recognised for her work on diversity and has served as a judge for Citywire’s Gender Diversity Awards. In March 2023, she was named as one of the UK’s top 50 trailblazers on gender equity by WeAreTheCity.
Deborah is a Fellow of the UK Chartered Governance Institute and holds the Institute’s professional award in corporate governance as well as CFA UK’s Investment Management Certificate. She chairs the Nomination Committee of the International Corporate Governance Network. Deborah is the lead author of two publications: The Ethics of Diversity for the UK’s Institute of Business Ethics (2020) and Say on Pay: Six Years On – Lessons from the UK Experience for Railpen with Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (2009). Her work has featured in the Financial Times, Sky News and other mainstream financial media.
Joanna Munro, ASIP
Joanna Munro is CEO for HSBC Alternatives, based in London and is a past Board member of CFA UK.
Her most recent role at HSBC Global Asset Management was as Global Chief Investment Officer (from September 2019 to June 2021) and prior to that Global Head of Stewardship and Fiduciary Governance (from 2014) and Chair of the UK asset management business (from 2016). Joanna's previous roles included Regional CEO for HSBC Global Asset Management in Asia and CEO for HSBC Multimanager. She joined HSBC in 2005 as Global Chief Investment Officer for HSBC Investments, including Multimanager, Liquidity, Asset Allocation and Solutions.
Joanna joined the investment sector in 1986, working for Prudential Portfolio Managers as an equity analyst, then BARRA Inc. as an adviser to pension funds on their manager risk, Salomon Brothers Asset Management in the multi-currency fixed income team and ABN AMRO Asset Management where she set up the fund of hedge fund capability as Head of Alternatives. In 2000, she joined AXA Investment Managers and ran business development activities globally for fixed income and the structured asset management business before, in 2003, being appointed Director, Head of UK Institutional where she led the UK sales and global consultant relations teams.
Joanna has a BA (Hons) in Mathematics and Engineering from Queens’ College in Cambridge, an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Stanford University as well as an MA in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths London. She is ASIP (Associate of the Society of Investment Professionals) and a founding member of the Diversity Project.
Paul Smith, CFA
Paul Smith, CFA, was the President and CEO of CFA Institute from 2015 to 2019 and was previously Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific region having joined CFA Institute in 2012. While CEO of CFA Institute, Smith oversaw an extension of the Institute’s relationship with its member societies and emphasized the positive role that society’s play in the delivery of the shared mission.
He is now an independent corporate director based in Hong Kong working in asset management, private wealth management and financial technology. He is an Honorary Member of the Policy Registration and Oversight Committee of the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council of Hong Kong and a member of the Products Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. He is a director and senior advisor at the Financial Modeling Institute and senior adviser at inflection Point Intelligence, a leading Asia-based online education provider in the alternative and family office industries. He is also a Director of El Dorado Asset Management SAF in Peru and trustee and Adviser to the Board of China Insight, a London-based foundation sharing analysis, knowledge and understanding of China. He is the founding member of SustainFinance – a mission-driven not for profit geared towards helping asset owners and managers integrate sustainability into their decision-making processes.
Gillian Tett
Gillian Tett is the chair of the editorial board and editor-at-large, US of the Financial Times. She writes weekly columns, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues and co-founded Moral Money, the FT sustainability newsletter. She has written about the financial instruments that were part of the cause of the financial crisis that started in the fourth quarter of 2007, such as CDOs, credit default swaps, SIVs, conduits, and SPVs. She became renowned for her early warning that a financial crisis was looming. In February 2023, her election was announced as the next Provost of King's College, Cambridge. She is to take up the post in October 2023 in succession to Professor Michael Proctor. She will continue writing for the Financial Times.
Tett studied at Clare College, Cambridge, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Archaeology and Anthropology. She then undertook a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Social Anthropology. In 1993, Tett joined the Financial Times as a correspondent from the former Soviet Union and Europe. In 1997, she was posted to Tokyo, where she later became bureau chief. In 2003, she became deputy head of the Lex column. Tett was then U.S. managing editor at the FT, before working as an assistant editor and columnist before returning to the U.S. managing editor position. She is also the chairwoman of the board of trustees for the Knight–Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism with Columbia University.
During the years 2005 to 2007, Tett applied her skills in ethnographic research to J.P. Morgan and discovered that the insular culture was leading to the creation of financial instruments that had little basis and that could cause severe economic disruption. In 2006, she predicted the financial crisis. Her 2009 book Fool's Gold recounts the lead-up to the economic crisis and the eventual collapse and won the Spear's Book Award for the financial book of the year. She also played a significant role in the 2010 documentary Inside Job about the financial crisis of 2008.
She has won numerous awards including the Wincott prize for financial journalism, Business Journalist of the Year and Journalist of the year at the British Press Awards.
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Notes to editors:
For further information or to request an interview, please contact khorne@cfauk.org
About CFA UK
CFA UK is a diverse community of 12,000 investment professionals. We are part of the worldwide network of CFA Institute member societies. We grow talent by educating, connecting and inspiring investment professionals to build a sustainable future.