A leader in charity investment

Oliver joined Sarasin & Partners in September 2008 having previously spent his 20-year fund management career at HSBC (formerly James Capel & Co) where he was Head of Charities. In addition to managing charity portfolios, he sits on the Corporate Responsibility Committee. Oliver is a Trustee for the Hume Castle Preservation Trust, having previously been a trustee of I CAN, a specialist speech and language charity for children with communication difficulties, as well as the Prostate Cancer Research Centre. He is an Associate of the Securities Institute and is on the Board of the Charity Investors’ Group (CIG).

Ruadhri has over 20 years in the fund management industry where he has operated as both a fund manager and a charity trustee. After leaving the Army he started work with Leopold Joseph and Sons where he completed his fund management exams. In 1999 he moved to Newton Investment Management, where he worked within the charities department for over 12 years, managing charitable funds. Ruadhri is an associate of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment and holds a number of charity trusteeships

John joined Sarasin & Partners in early 2011 after a career in the Army where he saw varied operational service. Much of his experience has been multinational in the climate of military, civilian and interagency cooperation. He managed his Regimental Charities and remains a trustee of The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Charity. He has considerable experience in human resources, operational planning, risk management, event planning, instruction and training.

John reaches out and supports the charity sector through, events, editorials, training, sponsorship and CSR initiatives.

James is responsible for the management of portfolios on behalf of charities and UK institutions. He is also a member of our Investment Policy Committee, co-author of the Sarasin Compendium of Investment, and co-chairs our D&I Steering Committee.

Prior to joining Sarasin & Partners in October 2012, he spent seven years at GAM London Limited where he was a Portfolio Director.

James has a degree in Business Management from the University of Newcastle and is a qualified Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. He also holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) and has passed CFA level 1.

Katherine joined Sarasin & Partners in March 2020. Prior to Sarasin, she worked at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in the Global Insurance Solutions team covering insurance companies in Europe and Asia. She has also worked at Société Générale Private Bank as an Investment Advisor and has completed internships at Goldman Sachs and NatWest. Katherine graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a degree in Economics and completed the Sustainable Finance course at the University of Cambridge.

Katherine sits on the Sarasin Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee and the Diversity Project’s Steering Group.

Therese is responsible for undertaking rigorous analysis on the financial implications of ESG factors for specific stocks as well as on a sector/industry basis. She also supports and leads company engagements and voting.

Prior to joining Sarasin & Partners in 2019, Therese worked as a senior research analyst at Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS), a provider of governance and responsible investment solutions to the financial community. Prior to ISS, she worked at ShareAction, a UK organisation that promotes responsible investment.

Therese has an MSc in Corporate Governance and Business Ethics from University of London, and a BMath in Actuarial Science from the University of Waterloo, Canada. She is also a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA).

Julia Kochetygova is the Ownership Lead at Sarasin & Partners. She is responsible for engaging with, and voting at, portfolio companies with a focus on driving sustainable change in their environmental, social, and governance performance.

She joined in January 2022 from Northern Trust Asset Management where she was the Head of EMEA Stewardship, with engagement and voting responsibilities for companies in EMEA. Prior to that, Julia was the Senior Sustainable Investing Research Analyst for Northern Trust Asset Management. In that role, she was responsible for ESG thought leadership and product innovation.

Her past positions include Head of Sustainability Indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices, Head of the Corporate Relations function at MDM Bank in Russia, and Head of Corporate Governance Services at S&P Ratings.

She holds a PhD in Economics from the Institute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences, and MSc in Economics of Industry from the Moscow Institute of National Economy. Julia graduated from the INSEAD Executive Education Program; she holds a Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) credential from SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) and a Climate Change Financial Risks and Opportunities credential from Imperial College Business School.

Natasha is currently a Partner and Head of Stewardship at the asset manager Sarasin & Partners LLP, where she steers the firm’s stewardship work, ensuring effective engagement, voting and public policy outreach in order to promote the creation of sustainable value. Since 2017, she has spearheaded Sarasin’s flagship Climate Active strategy.

Natasha has been a vocal advocate for reform of the accounting and audit system to promote long-term stewardship as well as action by company boards to confront climate change. Natasha is a member of the Committee of the International Corporate Governance Network, as well as the Consultative Advisory Group for the International Audit and Assurance Standards Board. Natasha sits on the Investment Committee for the Cambridge Assistants Contributory Pension Scheme and is a non-executive director at Carbon Tracker, a leading think-tank on investment and climate change.

Natasha has a background in development economics and responsible investment. Prior to joining Sarasin & Partners, she spent six years as the Senior Analyst leading ESG integration and several areas of policy work at the Universities Superannuation Scheme’s Investment Management arm; and four years in Budapest working with OTP Fund Management and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Before moving into finance, Natasha spent a number of years working on sustainable development issues in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Natasha started her career as an Overseas Development Institute Fellow, working as the Chief Economist in the Guyana Forestry Commission.

Natasha has Masters in Economics from Cambridge University, an MSc in Natural Resource Economics from University College London, and is a CFA Charterholder.

Prior to joining Sarasin & Partners in 2017, Thomas worked for Standard Life Investments managing multi-asset and absolute return portfolios for corporate pension schemes and institutions.

He graduated from the University of East Anglia in 2011 with a degree in English Literature & Philosophy. Thomas is a CFA Charterholder®, a holder of the Investment Management Certificate (IMC), the CISI Capital Markets Program, and is a member of the UK CFA Society.

Thomas is a trustee of the Jeevika Trust, an Indian poverty relief charity seeking to implement smart technologies to address rural food scarcity & mitigate the impact of climate change.

Richard joined Sarasin & Partners in 1992. He is a Senior Partner and a member of the Executive Committee, focussing on strategic investment, client management, and new business initiatives. He was Head of Charities between 2003 and 2023.

Specialising in managing multi-asset portfolios, he was responsible for growing our CAIFs from under £50m to over £3bn. Richard wrote and edited the Compendium of Investment over the past 20 years and has lectured at The Judge (Cambridge), the University of Vienna and the University of Stellenbosch. He developed our Trustee Training initiatives and is the Chairman of the St Paul’s Cathedral Investments Committee.

Prior to joining Sarasin & Partners in 2017, Tania spent two years at Conservation Capital working on the investment team and later became COO. Before this Tania spent eight years at Ruffer LLP where she was responsible for managing multi-asset, absolute return portfolios for charities, pensions, trusts, and private clients. She has over ten years of investment experience. Tania graduated with an MA (Hons) degree in Classics & Spanish from the University of Edinburgh. She holds the CISI Diploma and the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) and is a member of the UK's Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

Kamran manages portfolios on behalf of charities and not-for-profits. Prior to joining Sarasin & Partners in 2019, he worked for J.P. Morgan. He was first based in Geneva, where he supported the Head of Investments for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and then moved to London to grow the investment funds platform.

Kamran graduated with an Economics degree from the London School of Economics. He also has the CFA ESG Investing Certificate and the CFA Diploma in Investment Management.

He mentors students and recent graduates through his work with upReach, Sponsors for Educational Opportunities, and the LSE Economics department.

Melanie joined Sarasin & Partners in 2011 and was appointed Head of Charities in January 2023. She has over 25 years’ investment experience and is responsible for the management of charity and private client portfolios. Melanie speaks regularly at Sarasin seminars and was the Editor of Sarasin’s quarterly publication, the House Report, for ten years.

Prior to joining Sarasin & Partners, Melanie spent 16 years at Newton Investment Management. She qualified with a degree in Modern Languages from Durham University and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. Melanie is also a Non-Executive Director of the BlackRock Sustainable American Income Trust.

Alexander is responsible for the management of charity portfolios; a member of the Sarasin Climate Active Advisory Board and CAIF Advisory Committee, the Stewardship Steering Committee, and Ethical Committee

Alexander has over 15 years' investment experience. He joined Sarasin & Partners LLP in 2014, from Newton Investment Management where he managed international private clients and Trusts, as well as investment models.

He holds a Degree in Experimental Psychology from Bristol University, the Private Client Investment Advice and Management Diploma (PCIAM), and Investment Management Certificate (IMC). Alexander is a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.