SPRING INVESTMENT SEMINARS 2025

Alex is Head of Sarasin Bread Street, Sarasin & Partners’ private markets business, where he is a Partner. He previously co-founded Bread Street Capital Partners and held senior investing roles at Janus Henderson, Aberdeen Standard Investments (now abrdn) and Deutsche Asset Management. He became Head of Private Equity at Aberdeen in 2009, and subsequently Global Head of Private Markets Investment Oversight. He has managed several investment companies (Aberdeen Private Equity Fund Ltd; Henderson Alternative Strategies Trust plc) and has run portfolios for corporates, local authorities and endowments. Alex is an Alderman of the City of London, has held various non-executive directorships and chaired multiple governance structures including the City’s Audit & Risk committee. Holding an MA in Economics and Accountancy from Aberdeen University, Alex has passed Säid Business School’s Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme and is an associate member of the UK CISI.

Georgie is an Equity Analyst primarily responsible for global equity research. She joined Sarasin & Partners in April 2021 from the University of Exeter where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Geography.

Georgie is a CFA® charterholder and she is currently studying Health Economics & Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Alex has been with Sarasin & Partners since 2007, working primarily with the Global Equity franchise and is global equity portfolio manager for the Equity Opportunities fund. Prior to joining Sarasin in 2007, Alex spent four years at US hedge fund Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder working with global long only and alternative equity strategies, based in both New York and London.

From 1996 to 2003 Alex worked at Morgan Stanley as a sell-side equity analyst covering the capital goods sector and subsequently the aerospace sector. Whilst at Morgan Stanley, Alex qualified as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA, 1999) and from 1999 to 2003 was consistently ranked, with his team, in the top three by surveys such as the Institutional Investor Magazine - being top ranked both in Europe (2002) and globally (2000).

Alex is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, holds a BA in Economics and Statistics from the University of Exeter and has taken courses at the London Business School and Harvard Medical 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.

 

Guy Monson, Chief Market Strategist and Senior Partner of Sarasin & Partners LLP, has over 35 years of investment experience having joined the company in 1984. In 1988, he became manager of Sarasin’s flagship GlobalSar (now Multi Asset) family of balanced investment funds, winning awards for investment performance and risk profile. He has pioneered the use of thematic investment in the management of global equity portfolios and today leads the firm’s global investment and markets strategy for a wide range of charitable, endowment and private clients.

Guy writes regularly in the international financial press and appears on Bloomberg and other financial channels. He is also a member of the London School of Economics IDEAS Advisory Board and a Foundation Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University.

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.

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.

Tom Santa-Olalla is a Senior Associate Partner with over 15 years of industry experience, responsible for managing discretionary portfolios for charities, foundations and endowments.

He was previously a senior investment specialist at Close Brothers Asset Management and prior to that he advised high and ultra-high-net-worth individuals across all facets of wealth management at HSBC Private Bank.

He is a Chartered Wealth Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments.

Julia Shatikova 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.

Subitha is responsible for long term investment strategy and tactical asset allocation.

Prior to joining Sarasin & Partners, Subitha worked at UBS in Zurich, Switzerland, as a Senior Economist for Asia in Global Markets Research and then as a Macroeconomist for Asia in Sovereign Research. She has been a project Director at the Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector, Washington DC, USA and also worked as a research assistant at the World Bank’s Middle East Department.

Subitha holds a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College, Hanover NH, USA and an MA and Ph.D. in Economics from Duke University, Durham NC, USA.

James is a Partner in Sarasin & Partners LLP and co-heads Sarasin Bread Street, a specialist private markets business formed in 2022.  Prior to this he co-founded Bread Street Capital Partners, held senior investment, product and capital markets roles at Aberdeen Standard Investments (now abrdn), SVG Advisors, Nomura and Merrill Lynch, and started his career at Dresdner Kleinwort in 1985.

James has a long track record of private market investing and has launched and managed investment funds for all types of institutional and professional investors. These include innovative private equity collateralised fund obligations and Aberdeen Private Equity Global FOF plc, an Irish Stock Exchange listed fund. At Aberdeen he was responsible for all European clients’ private markets portfolios, with then over £8bn of assets. He is a Non-Executive Director of Oxford Capital, an award-winning venture capital firm investing into early stage UK companies in the Digital and Artificial Intelligence sectors.

James attended St Catharine’s College, Cambridge University, and graduated with an MA in Natural Sciences. He has an MBA from London Business School.