Room151’s LGPS Bonds Roundtable

I joined Border to Coast in 2023 as a Fixed-Income Portfolio Manager, where I am jointly responsible for the active management of both a UK Index-linked Bond Fund and an Emerging Market Sovereign Debt Fund.

Before joining Border to Coast, I spent 7-years at Nikko Asset Management. My principal role was as an Emerging Market Debt Portfolio Manager. However, in addition, I also provided extensive coverage of major developed markets for the firm’s flagship macro fixed income strategy. I was also responsible for developing the firm’s sovereign sustainability framework.

Before that, I worked at Schroders for 9 years, where, for the most part, I was an analyst in the multi-asset team with a focus on Fixed Income.

Chris Sawyer is Head of Barings’ European High Yield Investments Group as well as a member of the firm’s European High Yield Investment and Global High Yield Allocation Committees. Chris is responsible for the portfolio management of several loan, high yield bond and multi-credit strategies. Chris has worked in the industry since 2005. Prior to joining the trading team in 2008, he was a member of the portfolio monitoring team where he was responsible for the ongoing credit analysis of individual portfolio assets. Chris holds a B.Sc. in Economics and Business Finance from Brunel University.

Jim Cielinski is Global Head of Fixed Income at Janus Henderson Investors, a position he has held since 2017. He oversees all of the global fixed income products and teams and leads Corporate Credit as well. Previously, Jim was the global head of fixed income for Columbia Threadneedle Investments from 2010. Prior to joining Columbia Threadneedle, he spent 12 years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management as managing director and head of credit. Before that, he was head of fixed income for Utah Retirement Systems, assistant manager of taxable fixed income for Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., and an equity portfolio manager for First Security Investment Management.

Jim received bachelor of science degrees in management and finance from the University of Utah and an MBA with a concentration in finance from New York University, Stern School of Business. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and has 41 years of financial industry experience.  

Chris joined us in 2022 as an Investment Consultant in our London office. He provides strategic investment advice to a wide variety of pension scheme investors. Chris helps Schemes to formulate suitable investment strategies for their time horizons. In addition, he has advised on de-risking strategies, helped Schemes select new investment managers, run successful trustee training events and helped Schemes to implement long term journey plans.

Chris appreciates that all clients have differing needs and objectives and tailors his advice directly to their needs. He believes in taking a straightforward and collaborative approach with both the Scheme Trustees and other stakeholders. Chris is a CFA Charterholder.