Room151’s Equities and the LGPS Roundtable

I began my 34-year finance career in 1990 when I joined Tameside MBC as a trainee accountant.  Tameside is the administering authority for the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) and after qualifying in 1993, I moved across to the pension fund to work as their Investment Accountant.  In 2000, just before the Dot.com bubble burst, I moved to a front office role at the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF, and Administered by Bradford MDC) where I worked as an Assistant Investment Manager within the 5 strong UK equity team.  In 2007, just before the banking crisis, I began managing the funds North American Equity portfolio, which has grown in value from c£500m to £2,899m today.  Until recently I managed this alone.

In 2014 I was promoted to be the Head of Overseas Equities where I remain to this day, albeit after one or two changes to my job title.  My initial responsibilities were very broad and in addition to managing the team of Overseas Investment Managers, I managed the Alternatives Team and Treasury Manager.  This is a broad remit and thankfully my role has now become more focused on managing the overseas equity team alongside my own North American portfolio.  

Thirty odd years in markets. Both buy / sell side and initially, a long time ago,  in back office functions.

First job with a consortium bank – The Scandinavian Bank Group , subsequently a training role with Halifax Group Treasury that after rotations had me trading FRN’s and Gilts. Moved within the Halifax to their fund management arm who managed both Retal Funds and the in house Pension Fund. Some years on the Bond desk and then UK Equities. A spell on the sell side broking UK small cap for TD Waterhouse and then the LGPS since 2007. Predominantly Asian Equities, encompassing more recently the remainder of EM. Outperformed both flavours of Benchmark since in the role.

Emmanuel is an experienced Investment professional who joins LPF from TPT Retirement Solutions, a pension fund consolidator where he has spent the past seven years as deputy CIO, managing multiple schemes across strategic portfolio construction, investment manager selection for all asset classes and reporting to stakeholders. Prior to TPT, Emmanuel spent over ten years at the in-house investment management arm of the National Grid UK pension scheme, latterly as head of alternative investments.

Emmanuel began his career in 1994 at Credit Lyonnais Securities with responsibilities for interest rate derivatives trading, moving on to similar roles at ANZ Investment Bank and subsequently HypoVereinsBank. Prior to joining the National Grid UK pension scheme Emmanuel worked at Gulf International Bank where he was responsible for managing a systematic investment programme.

Emmanuel holds a masters in engineering from École Centrale Paris and graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Will leads Border to Coast’s equity investment team. He joined the LGPS pool in 2022 and has 23 years’ investment experience, having previously worked for Aviva Investors where he was Head of Emerging Market Equities. Prior to joining Aviva in 2009, Will worked at the Royal Bank of Canada and Henderson Global Investors. He is a CFA Charter holder and a Cambridge University graduate.

Henry is the deputy portfolio manager of the Sustainable Global Equity Strategy and co-portfolio manager on the US SMID Cap strategy.  He joined in March 2012 UK brokerage firm Peel Hunt, where he was a diversified financials analyst from December 2010 until February 2012. Prior to that, he worked at Deloitte in the banking and capital markets group and in corporate finance from October 2006 until November 2010. Henry has an MA in Classics from Trinity College, Oxford, is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a CFA charterholder.

Ms. Husvaeg joined Barrow Hanley in 2024 from Russell Investments, where she served as senior portfolio manager for the firm’s emerging markets multi-manager strategies over the past decade and co-head of equity portfolio management team globally. Prior to her 20 years at Russell Investments, she worked at Standard & Poor’s. Ms. Husvaeg holds an MSc in Investments and a BA (Hons) in Business from University of Stirling.

Tyne and Wear Pension Fund – Pension Fund Finance Manager with seven years Local Government Pensions experience joining the Fund from Principal Accountant (Pensions) post with Northumberland County Council Pension Fund following the merger between the two Funds.  Qualified accountant with over 30 years of local government finance experience.