Brunel Pension Partnership – Interview
What have been your biggest challenges since becoming Brunel’s chief investment officer in January 2021?
The first was understanding the local gov- ernment pension scheme world. Before joining Brunel, I had only seen it from the outside when such pension funds were my clients. Local government pension schemes are interesting: we are an asset owner/asset manager hybrid. We are owned by our cli- ents, who are also our stakeholders, which does not happen often. So I have 10 underlying members of varying persua- sions and views.
One positive I have noticed is that
Brunel’s clients are collaborative. They talk to each other and get on quite well, which makes collaboration easier. It is one of the reasons why we are 81% transi- tioned – so we are a long way down that journey mindset.
because of that collaborative
How has your background in asset man- agement benefited your current role? Being a multi-asset portfolio manager – which I did for 20 years – teaches you things. You learn to delegate because you will never be the expert in the room. I know what it takes to run money, to build a multi-asset portfolio and how to think
about liabilities. I have been there, seen it and understand what the issues are. Here the emotional side of investing is crucial. Capital impairments can come from choosing the wrong stock or credit, but often making the wrong decision at the wrong time because the commercial pressure has been too great is another reason. “I know what you are going through,” is what I tell our managers in such a situation, which I believe helps.
Why did you join an asset owner? There are a couple of reasons. When I was a partner at Sarasin & Partners in my late 20s/early 30s, I was running money for
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