Training Events

Chris Wagstaff

Head of Investment Education

Chris has responsibility for particular aspects of client investment training, notably trustee training. Chris has worked in various capacities within the finance and investment industry since 1982 and has spent the past 15 years training and writing on many aspects of economics, investment, pensions and fund management.

Chris graduated in Economics from Cardiff University, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments, a member of the CII Personal Finance Society by Diploma, is a graduate of the London Business School Investment Management Evening Programme and is a Visiting Fellow of the Cass Business School, lecturing on their MSc programmes.

Chris is also a Member Nominated Trustee Director of the Aviva Staff Pension Scheme and a member of its Investment Committee.

David is responsible for the management of the Aviva Investors real estate investment strategy and research team. As well as having the remit to further enhance the UK and European strategy and research capability, David co-ordinates global asset allocation discussions and assists in allocations across direct, unlisted funds and listed securities.

Prior to joining Aviva Investors, David was head of European research and a member of the European investment committee at Pramerica Real Estate Investors. Previously, he was head of investment research at DTZ, responsible for the analysis of European real estate capital markets. David started his career as a lecturer in economics and research fellow at the University of Salford.

David holds a PhD in economics from the University of Salford, an MSc in economics from the University of Warwick and an IPF Diploma in real estate investment and finance. He is a member of the Society of Property Researchers, the Investment Property Forum, the Urban Land Institute and INREV.

Jo has 10 years of investment and pension experience, spanning pension actuarial work, solution design, portfolio optimisation, fund management and execution. At Aviva Investors his responsibilities include the design and implementation of LDI solutions for institutional clients involving multi-asset and fixed income portfolios as well as a usage of derivative instrument; execution of and ongoing management of LDI mandates; and the development of best-practice defined contribution retirement options.

Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Jo was the lead LDI fund manager at Schroder Investment Management, where he designed market-aware LDI solutions for pension fund clients both pooled and segregated. Jo was previously responsible for portfolio construction at Man Investments, and prior to this trained as an actuary at Aon Consulting.

Jo has a first in Mathematics from Cambridge, a PhD in mathematics from Imperial College London and is an Associate of the Institute of Actuaries.

Investment Trainer, Aviva Investors

Nick started his financial services career with Schroders’ Global Business Development team in 1995, where he gained an extensive insight of the wide array of challenges facing professional investors and advisors. After a year in France in 2002, he returned to join BPP Professional Education and taught on a variety of investment programmes including the CFA, IMC, PCIAM and Masters in Wealth Management. He joined the Investment Tutor team in 2010, with a focus on offering investment education to financial advisers and institutional investors.

Nick is also a CFA Charterholder and is undertaking post-graduate studies in Educational Psychology.

Professor Andrew Clare

Cass Business School Professor and Chairman of Fathom Consulting

Andrew is the Professor of Asset Management at Cass Business School and the Associate Dean responsible for the business school’s MSc programme. He is also the chairman of Fathom Consulting.

He was a Senior Research Manager in the Monetary Analysis wing of the Bank of England where he was responsible for equity market and derivatives research.

Andrew also spent three years working as the Financial Economist in the fund management arm of one of the UK’s largest insurers. He has published extensively in both academic and practitioner journals on a wide range of economic and financial market issues.

In a recent survey Andrew was ranked as the ninth most prolific finance author of the past fifty years. Andrew has also been recently appointed to the trustee board of the GEC Marconi pension plan as an independent trustee where he serves on the investment committee.

Mike Appleby

SRI Fund Manager

Mike joined Aviva Investors sustainable and responsible investment team in 2004 as a research analyst, and has been a fund manager since 2006.

Previously, Mike was head of technology at Electronic Ink, Europe. Prior to that, he was an investment analyst at TASS Management.

Mike started his career on Lehman Brothers’ trading desk in London. Mike holds a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences from University of Edinburgh and an MSc in Environmental Management from Imperial College.

Phil Ellis

Head of Business Development - Real Estate

Phil has over 25 years’ experience in the real estate investment market. He joined Aviva Investors in 1988, initially working on the Central London office portfolio.

He quickly progressed to running a segregated fund and then moved onto the pooled pensions fund. In 1997 he setup a multi-manager service that creates segregated portfolios of unlisted real estate funds for clients.

Phil now advises public sector and corporate pension fund clients on their direct and indirect real estate holdings and is the risk manager responsible for all pension fund multi-manager and segregated client mandates.

He holds a BSc (Hons) in Land Management from the University of Reading. Phil is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and is an FSA Approved Person.

Luke Powell

Client Portfolio Manager – Real Estate

Luke’s role involves representing Aviva Investors’ real estate product offering to existing and prospective clients, keeping clients up to date with developments in the real estate market and helping them to identify the best way of accessing opportunities in the sector. Luke joined Aviva Investors in July 2007. Before that, he was an Associate Director at DTZ Consulting & Research, where he led a team responsible for research on the European real estate market.

Prior to joining the real estate industry, Luke worked for a consultancy company that specialised in carrying out projects for public-sector bodies. He carried out policy evaluations for clients including the European Commission and the Department of Work and Pensions. Luke holds a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and an M.Phil. in European Politics, both from Oxford University. He also holds the Investment Management Certificate.

Iain Richards

Regional Head of Corporate Governance

Iain is a senior member of the corporate governance team, with responsibility for coordinating and leading the development of Aviva Investors European governance policy and engagement within the investment strategy.

His work encompasses the integration of ‘governance’ risk factors into the investment process, the development of governance screening, engagement projects, policy work in the accounting and auditing arenas.

Notably, Iain authored a key investment strategy paper in 2006 warning of the property bubble bursting, failures in the debt markets, a systemic banking crisis and that related macro problems that would help trigger a correction of vulnerabilities/global imbalances. Iain represents the firm in various forums, including the London Stock Exchange’s Primary Markets Group, the NAPF’s Shareholder Affairs Committee and the industry’s Company Reporting and Auditing Group.

He joined Aviva Investors in June 2003 from Schroders Investment Management and his career in the City has included the policy group of the UK’s Listing Authority (now part of the FSA) and the London Stock Exchange.

Previously he held various positions in competition and European policy units at the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry (now BERR). Iain is an Alumni of the Open University Business School and holds the Investment Management Certificate.

Stewart Robertson

Senior Economist UK and Europe

Stewart is responsible for Aviva Investors economic research and analysis of the UK and main European economies. He joined the Investment Industry in 1993 and Aviva Investors in March 2005. Previously he worked for Lombard Street Research (1993-2005), Coopers & Lybrand (1989-1993) and Unilever plc (1987-1989). At Lombard Street Research he specialised as a UK economist.

Stewart holds a BA (Hons) in Economics from Liverpool University and an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Gary Saidler
Client Portfolio Manager – Asset Allocation

Gary joined the investment industry in 2003 and Aviva Investors in May 2007. Gary’s key responsibility is to communicate Aviva Investors tactical asset allocation and strategic asset allocation expertise to clients and other investors.

Gary graduated from the University of Glasgow with a BSc (Honours) in Statistics. Prior to Aviva Investors he worked in the investment consultancy industry. Gary is a CFA charterholder and has completed the UKSIP Investment Management Certificate (IMC).

Erik Britton

Director and partner, Fathom Consulting

Erik Britton is a Director and partner at Fathom Consulting, a City-based economics through financial markets consultancy.

He was previously a Director at Oxford Economics, where he spent eight years, and before that was a manager at the Bank of England, responsible for the Bank's quarterly inflation forecast, and later for directing research into the economics of the corporate sector.

Erik is an expert in economic modelling and forecasting, and in practical applications of those skills to the problems confronting business. He took his first degree at Oxford University, and then a Masters degree at London University.