Guild of Investment Managers
Our Court Members
Our Court Members and Court Assistants can be viewed below. Click on their picture or name to see a fuller biography.
Fyona Knight
An Arts graduate, Fyona started her career in support roles before rising through the ranks by gaining hands-on trading floor experience and earning a series of financial qualifications. She spent several years as a Derivatives and Counterparty Credit Risk Analyst at Aviva Investors and is currently a Senior Credit Risk Manager for Private Equity Investments at Standard Chartered Bank.
Andrew Bell
Andrew was the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Witan Investment Trust plc from 2010 until October 2024 when he retired from the role. Prior to that, he had worked in the City since 1987.
Tim Guinness
Tim is the founder of Guinness Global Investors and Guinness Atkinson Asset Management, our sister US business. Tim is portfolio manager on the Guinness Global Energy strategy and the Guinness Global Money Managers strategy.
James de Sausmarez
I retired from my full-time role at Janus Henderson Investors in 2022 and am now combining my pro-bono activities with seeking NED positions. I am the current Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, Chair of Governors at Queenswood School in Hertfordshire and a member of St Paul’s Cathedral Council and independent member of their Finance Committee.
Robert Hughes-Penney
Robert is a Past Master of the Guild (2019-20). He is an Investment Director at Rathbones and has over 25 years’ experience managing multi-asset globally diverse portfolios for wealthy private clients, trusts, pensions and charities. He has also held several senior leadership roles within the business including 12 years on the Executive and Management Committees.
John Garbutt JP
Having obtained a BSc Econ Honours degree from the LSE, John Garbutt entered the City of London to work for Rowe & Pitman (stockbrokers). He was subsequently employed by ICI (Pension Fund); Touche Remnant (Investment Management); Schroders (Investment Management) and became a main board Director at Kleinwort Benson (Investment Management) in 1987.
Henry Pollard
Henry has spent over 30 years working in the City for a range of financial services companies. He has been involved in financial services working in Europe and Mexico as well as London in the commodity, derivatives, capital raising and fund management industries and was a founding member of EMFA (the alternative investments fund association now known as AIMA).
Melissa Longley
Melissa began her career in investment management at Lehman Brothers in London, subsequently joining DLJ (Donaldson, Lufkrin & Jenrette). She then spent five years at Kleinwort Benson Private Bank where she was a Director and Head of Advisory Fund Management.
Phil Clark
Phil holds a Bsc from Surrey University and an MA from Cass Business School. Phil has worked in the investment management industry for 37 years and holds a number of non-Executive roles across the industry.Our Court Assistants
Nick Bence-Trower
He spent his entire City career with Schroders or its subsidiary, Cazenove Capital, until leaving at the end of 2019. His roles were varied, including dealing in the forex, bond and money markets, equity investment and institutional relationship management. Nick is a member of the Drapers’ Company where he was Master for the 2014/15 company year.
Roberta Sanminiatelli
Roberta is an Italian and British national and she currently works for SparkChange a startup focused on understanding financial liabilities arising because of the exposure to regulated carbon markets. She holds an MSc in International Economics, the CFA UK Level 4 Diploma in Investment Management (ESG), and the CFA Certificate in Climate and Investing. She is the Chair of the Guild’s Education Committee and a member of the Membership Committee.
Leigh Middleton-Ross
Born and brought up on a farm in West Sussex, for the past 25 years I have worked in Financial Services in the City of London, the last 20 of which have been in Compliance and Financial Crime. For the past 5 years I have been the Head of Compliance & MLRO for a Private Client Stockbrokers, Fiske plc, as well as a serving member of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investments Disciplinary Board. I’m also the Deputy Chair of the GIM Finance Committee.
James Minett
James Minett retired in 2021 a Chartered FCSI (Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Securities Institute), having spent 41 of his 43-year Investment career working in the Square Mile of the City of London. He managed directly invested charitable and not -for profit investment portfolios for Investec Wealth and Investment (now part of Rathbones). He joined Carr Sheppards in 1995, which was taken over by Investec and helped build a successful “charities team” which increased assets under management from 38th largest to 10th largest charities team*. One of their successes was to outperform the industry benchmark in 14 years out of an 18-year period, by an average of 1% in the positive years and 2% in the negative years. James sat on asset allocation committees for 10 years and UK stock selection committees for 15 years.
Biagio Fraulo JP
Biagio started his career in the telecommunications industry with the Cable & Wireless Group, where he held various management positions including bid management and strategy. He holds an MBA from City University (now Bayes) Business School.Guild of Investment Managers