Louise has over 18 years' experience in managing discretionary portfolios and is head of the Charities Division. She joined the firm in 1989, having graduated from the University of Westminster with a BA (Hons) in Business Studies. Louise subsequently completed her Securities Institute Diploma in 1992 and is now a Fellow of the Institute. Louise has spent all her working life managing investment portfolios and for some years has specialised in looking after charities.

Louise has also been active in the development of the firm's IT systems and currently chairs the Committee which steers IT projects for the fund management division. In addition, she is a member of the panel set up to independently monitor charity portfolios managed throughout the firm in terms of risk and suitability.

James Minett joined Rensburg Sheppards in 1995 and is a Senior Investment Director in our Charities Team. James is a member of the Investment Committee and the Asset Allocation Committee, and currently looks after 35 clients with over £300 million of investments.

James' extensive career started in 1977 in Norwich Union's investment department, and includes working in both the research and institutional departments of Rowe & Pitman, before joining Buckmaster & Moore (now Credit Suisse) as a fund manager in 1981. James became a member of the London Stock Exchange in 1984, and has managed US equity portfolios in addition to pension funds and charity clients for over 25 years. James is also treasurer of Shaftesbury Homes & Arethusa, a children's charity with a turnover of around £11 million.

John joined Rensburg Sheppards in 1997 to specialise in managing charities' investments.

John began his career as a 'blue button' on the old Stock Market floor in 1977, and has worked in the investment world ever since. Prior to joining Rensburg Sheppards, John worked for seven years at Philips Electronics Pension Fund jointly responsible for their top-performing £800 million UK equity portfolio.

John is glad to be a trustee for two charities, one of which is his local hospice Harris HospisCare and he is also a governor of his daughters' school.

David joined the firm in Spring 2004 bringing with him over 19 years' experience in managing investment portfolios.

After graduating from UCL in 1981 with a degree in economics, David joined Price Waterhouse where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1985. He subsequently joined Phillips & Drew as a company analyst, before becoming a fund manager with Lazards in 1988. Since then he has worked for Clerical Medical and latterly with Société Générale managing investment portfolios for private and public sector pension funds, charities and trusts.

Michael Turner graduated in 1998 from Newcastle University with a BA (Hons) in International Business Management and then worked for a year as a graduate trainee with JM Finn.

Michael joined the Charities Division at Rensburg Sheppards in 2001 and has primary responsibility for a number of charity clients, whilst also specialising in collective investments including the management of bespoke 'collectives only' portfolios.

Michael successfully completed his Securities Diploma in 2003, and recently became a fellow of the Institute.

John Hildebrand joined the Rensburg Charities Team in 2008, having spent the previous 14 years specialising in managing charity funds for Investec Asset Management, an affiliated company.

John started his investment career with UBS Phillips & Drew in 1987 before moving to its sister company Sarasin Chiswell. In 1994, John joined Guinness Flight Hambros which became Investec Asset Management in 1999. As a charity specialist, John has published numerous articles, regularly speaks at seminars and is frequently quoted in the press. John has a degree in economics from Leeds University and diplomas in both banking and investment.

Elliot Bancroft graduated in 2003 from the ICMA centre (formerly ISMA) at Reading University with an MSc in International Securities, Investment and Banking.

Before joining Rensburg Sheppards in 2008, Elliot's previous role was as Investment Assistant at Brown Shipley & Co., the private bank, where he was responsible for private client portfolios, pension and charity funds. Elliot successfully completed his Securities Diploma in 2007 and recently passed Level 1 of the CFA.

Rachel Kesby has been with the firm since 1992 and manages portfolios primarily for private clients and trusts. This provides the team with an invaluable resource should charity trustees also wish for their personal investments to be managed by Rensburg Sheppards in a similar style to that adopted by the Charities Team.

Michelle Levy joined the firm in 1985, working in the support office before joining the Charities Team in 1988. She has over 20 years' experience in investment administration and in 1989 passed her Securities Institute Registered Representative exams.

Michelle provides all aspects of administrative support to the fund management team and her significant experience allows her to deal directly with charity personnel on appropriate matters should they wish this.

Valerie joined Rensburg Sheppards in September 2004 bringing years of experience with her to the team.

Simon Barker started his career in the City in 1990 and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG. In 1995 he joined Schroders Private Bank, managing portfolios for charities and private clients, becoming a director in 2001. After eight years he moved to GAM to a similar role and in 2008 went to Guernsey as an investment consultant with Asset Risk Consultants. In 2009 he returned to the UK to join Rensburg Sheppards, where he is responsible for business development, primarily on the charity side. Simon graduated with an economics degree from Exeter University and is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) member.

Chris Hills was appointed as Chief Investment Officer of Rensburg Sheppards in June 1995. He is an integral part of the Charities Team, a frequent writer of articles on issues affecting charities and regularly speaks at seminars. A key part of his role is the ongoing dialogue with charity clients about the setting of benchmarks and appropriate risk parameters which then allow the most effective use to be made of tactical asset allocation. Chris chairs the Investment Policy Committee, which gives guidance to the firm, and is also a member of the IT Committee for front office systems development and a main board director.

After graduating from Cambridge University in 1974 with an honours degree in mathematics, Chris joined Sun Life Assurance as a research analyst before being appointed manager of its UK unit-linked funds. He moved to Target Investment Management in 1984 to manage a range of unitised portfolios, before joining Baring Asset Management in 1989. At Barings he was responsible for UK unit and investment trusts as well as specialist charity and pension fund mandates.