Principal Investment Management

Stephen joined Principal in April 2010 following a 15 year career with Gartmore, where was the Head of pan-European Equities (including the UK) and previously had been Interim Head of UK Equities and a member of Gartmore’s board. Prior to this Stephen spent ten years at Prudential, first as Personal Assistant to the group’s Chief Executive and then as a European Fund Manager.

Christopher Nevile LLB (Hons)
Director

Chris’s 30 year investment career includes managing bond and equity portfolios for several unit trust companies, pension funds and internationally based private investors. A Law graduate from Exeter University, Chris was formerly the MD of Granville Private Banking. In 2000, with Andrew Merriam, he led the management buy-out of the private client side of Granville, which subsequently became part of the Principal group. He takes responsibility for leading a growing team of professionals in our London office and managing Directly Invested portfolios. He has also recently taken on the role of widening our investment offer and developing fully diversified portfolios targeting absolute returns for higher value clients.

Matt Groom MCSI IMC
Director

Matt has been an investment manager since 1994, having joined Principal in 1989 as a management trainee. A member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, he is now one of the Senior Investment Managers and is also Director of Investment Operations. Based at the Sevenoaks office, Matthew manages Directly Invested portfolios with a wide range of investment objectives as well as handling HR, operational and compliance issues arising in the Directly Invested division.

Peter Finnigan BA (Hons) CA ASIP
Director

Peter qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in Edinburgh in 1993, where he gained significant experience in both corporate recovery and corporate finance. He then entered the fund management industry, initially working for companies such as General Accident and Scottish Amicable. Prior to joining Principal, he ran the Smaller Companies Unit Trust at Murray Johnstone in addition to other specialist mandates. Since 2000, he has been based in the Bath office, managing Directly Invested portfolios for Principal's West Country clients and is a key member in both the asset allocation and stock selection process.

Richard has worked in the investment industry since 1985, initially in stockbroking and then in institutional asset management. He has 24 years’ investment experience managing both UK and continental European equities for, amongst others, the British Petroleum Pension Fund, NM Funds Management (Europe), MGM Assurance and Pavilion Asset Management. He joined Principal in 2004 and is based in the London office.

Hugh Weston CPS IMC
Senior Investment Manager

Hugh qualified as a solicitor and worked in private practice in various locations including the City before transferring his skills to the investment field. At Principal, which he joined in 2000, Hugh manages private client and trust portfolios, specialising in those where income is the primary objective.

Kathie Langfield BSc (Hons) IMC
Senior Investment Manager

After graduating with a degree in Mathematics and French, Kathie joined Principal in 1995 and gained her IMC qualification. She works on the Directly Invested team and is based in our Sevenoaks office, where she predominantly manages portfolios for clients with a growth mandate.

A graduate in Economics from Bath University, Simon has worked in the investment industry since 1983. He has 26 years’ investment experience having worked at Tyndall, BZW Investment Management, Prolific and Aberdeen Asset Management. During his career he has managed various UK funds across the full market capitalisation range. More recently he worked at RC Brown Investment Management where he managed the European assets of a large ethical charity. He was also involved in the management of ethical, retail and pension funds. He joined Principal in October 2007.

Robert started his investment career with NatWest Investments and subsequently moved to Coutts & Co as an investment manager. Latterly he worked as a Senior Account Manager with Close Wealth Management, a division of the Close Brothers Group, before joining Principal in January 2006. Working from the London office, he is an Investment Manager in the balanced team.

Craig has over 12 years’ investment experience, qualifying as an Associate of the UK Society of Investment Professionals in 2001 and becoming a Chartered Financial Analyst in 2003. Prior to Principal, Craig was an Investment Director at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, an Associate Director at WestLB Mellon Asset Management and a Senior Fund Manager at HSBC Investment Management. Craig graduated from Exeter University in 1997 with an MA in Finance and Investment.

Scott Robertson MA (Hons) MSc IMC
Investment Manager

Scott graduated from Aberdeen University with a degree in Economics, and went on to complete an MSc in Finance at the University of Strathclyde. Prior to joining Principal in early 2006, he worked on the Japanese equities desk at Baillie Gifford for almost four years and has also gained experience at both Aegon and HSBC. He passed the IMC in 2001 and works from our London office managing portfolios with a growth bias.

Dominic Carver BA (Hons) IMC
Investment Manager

Dominic graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2006, attaining a degree in Natural Sciences. Following a gap year travelling, Dominic joined Principal as a Trainee Investment Manager in late 2007. He works with the Directly Invested team in Sevenoaks, assisting in model performance analysis and supporting the Investment Managers.

Duncan studied Economics and Finance at the University of Aberdeen, graduating in 2008 before working as an Investment Manager on the European Equity desk at AEGON Asset Management. He joined Principal in February 2010 as a Trainee Investment Manager and supports Investment Managers on the Directly Invested team, working from the London office.

After graduating from Exeter University in 1986 with a degree in Classics, Richard joined Leopold Joseph as a trainee investment manager. He moved to Granville in 1992, and in 2000 was part of the MBO that formed Nevile Merriam, which became part of the Principal Group in 2003. He assists in stock selection and in Principal's Targeted Return Portfolio service and is responsible for some of Principal's written output.

Charles Brand LLB
Managed Funds Director

Before joining Principal in July 2002, Charles was Head of Global Equities at Sun Life of Canada Asset Management. Prior to that, he spent 13 years at Morley Fund Management, latterly also as Head of Global Equities. Charles has over 24 years' investment experience, 7 with Principal, on a broad range of equity funds and has a personal track record of out- performance in US equity pension fund management (source: CAPS; covering the period January 1989 to September 2000). His role at Principal is to lead the growing Managed Funds division.

Iain Scotland IMC
Deputy Head of Managed Funds

Iain joined Principal in 2004, having previously gained 14 years’ experience in direct equity fund management. Most recently he was Head of UK Smaller Companies at Insight Investment (formerly Clerical Medical), where he was responsible for some £600m in assets under management. In this role he led the development of a distinctive and successful research-driven investment process, recognised by external fund ratings services such as S&P. Prior to that, Iain worked for five years as a smaller companies fund manager under some of the most well known names in the industry, at Gartmore Investment Management. Iain is based in our Sevenoaks office.

Phillip Hilton BSc (Hons) FCSI (Dip)
Senior Investment Manager

Phillip brings many years of private client experience to Principal, having worked previously at Morgan Stanley Quilter. There he was responsible for advising high net worth individuals, family and charitable trusts and pension funds on a broad range of assets, including equities, government and corporate debt as well as collective investment schemes. Phillip read Russian and Soviet Studies with English Law at the University of Surrey and, prior to joining Morgan Stanley, had a varied career, which included developing his investment skills at Gerrards (formerly Capel Cure Myers) and two years at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a Russian linguist. Phillip is based in our Bath office, where he looks after some of our West Country Managed Funds clients, as well as carrying out investment research.

David King FCSI
Senior Investment Manager

David joined Granville in 1979 and served as a director of Granville Davies Stockbrokers before making the switch to Granville Investment Management, where he managed discretionary private client portfolios and the Bridge Income Unit Trust. David was part of the MBO that led to the formation of Nevile Merriam in 2000. He is based at Principal's London office where he specialises in Managed Funds portfolios.

Robert Allinson CFA
Senior Investment Manager

Robert graduated in engineering but now has more than 15 years' experience in investment advice and management. Robert worked formerly for Heartwood Wealth Management, managing a combination of client portfolios, model investment strategies and two equity funds of funds. He also contributed heavily to their asset allocation strategy and manager research efforts. Robert became a CFA charterholder in 2006 and also holds various other qualifications from UKSIP, the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment and the CII.

Paul Surguy BSc (Hons) MCSI
Investment Manager

Paul joined Principal in November 2000 from the management consultancy arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers. He graduated with an Honours degree in Computer Science, holds the IMC Certificate and is a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. Working on the Managed Funds team, Paul is responsible for client portfolio management, strategy and research.

Joe Wiggins BSc (Hons) MCSI
Investment Manager

Joe graduated from the University of Southampton with a First Class honours degree in 2004. He began his investment career with Chelsea Financial Services, in a fund research role. At Principal he is responsible for portfolio management and construction, whilst also continuing his fund analysis work. He holds the Diploma in Financial Planning, Investment Management Certificate and is a Level III candidate in the Chartered Financial Analyst program, having completed Levels I and II.

Tom Dunster BCom (Hons) CFA
Investment Manager

Tom joined Principal in mid 2008 from HSBC Investments, where he had been responsible for the investment strategy and management of discretionary private client portfolios. After initially joining HSBC as a graduate trainee in 2000, he gained experience in a wide range of investment roles, both in London and Hong Kong. Tom is a CFA charterholder and also holds an honours degree in Commerce from Birmingham University. At Principal he is responsible for client portfolio management, investment strategy and research.

Kenneth Fry BA (Hons) IMC
Investment Manager & Head of Managed Funds Dealing Team

Ken is a Graduate from Brighton University and joined Principal in December 2000, working previously in financial services for Alliance & Leicester. Having originally specialised in PEPs and ISAs, Ken joined the Managed Funds team in September 2004. He now supervises the Managed Funds dealing operation and team support, whilst also carrying out analysis, research and working on a range of client portfolios.

Paul Stevens BSc (Hons) IMC
Assistant Investment Manager

Paul graduated with a First Class honours degree in Marine Biology & Oceanography from the University of Southampton in 2005. Paul received his grounding in the financial services industry at Skandia Life Assurance before joining Principal in October 2006. He is currently responsible for dealing on behalf of all Managed Funds clients, as well as providing portfolio modelling and statistical work on client portfolios.

Gareth has been with the Sanlam Group since 2005, having graduated from the University of Pretoria with an honours degree (BCOM) in Financial Management as well as a BSc in Mathematical Sciences. He is also a qualified Professional Risk Manager (PRM). At Sanlam Capital Markets he was a quantitative market risk analyst, focusing on areas such as equity derivatives, fixed income and brokerage. Gareth moved to the UK in 2008 and now works for Principal as a quantitative analyst.

Richard graduated from University College London in 2009 with a BSc in the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science. He joined Principal in December of the same year as a member of the Managed Funds team, based in Sevenoaks. His responsibilities include dealing on behalf of clients, providing investment support for the team's Investment Managers and carrying out model portfolio analysis.

William Gilmore CFA
Senior Investment Manager

William Gilmore has developed and manages Principal’s hedge fund investments. He has over 19 years of financial markets experience, in derivatives and the hedge fund management industry, including 8 years at FIM Limited as risk manager and hedge fund analyst. Prior experience included futures and options brokerage for RP Martin, Drexel Burnham Lambert and FIMAT. He joined Principal in 2006 and is based in our Bath office.

Chris Brocklehurst BEng (Hons) DPhil IMC
Investment Manager

Before joining Principal in December 2006, Chris gained over 10 years of blue-chip investment banking experience, mostly with UBS. Latterly he was a director and global telecoms research analyst and prior to that he was the valuation control manager for UBS’ Fixed Income Derivatives desk. He is based at our Sevenoaks office and specialises in asset allocation modelling and researching the alternative investments market.