Louise has over 15 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.

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 18 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.

Charles started his career in the City in 1986 as a fund manager at Capel-Cure Myers looking after private clients and charities. In 1992 he joined Flemings as a senior executive in their institutional sales department responsible for marketing unit and investment trusts.

Charles joined Rensburg Sheppards in January 1998 to develop investment services for charities and whilst at the forefront of this development also pioneered the successful launch of the Charities Property Fund, the first common investment fund available to all charities wanting to invest in direct property.

Charles advises charities and their trustees on a wide range of issues from investment to strategic planning and is a member of the Charities Finance Directors Group and the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). As a charity specialist Charles has published numerous articles, speaks at seminars and is frequently quoted in the press.

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.

David is the senior bond research specialist. He gained an honours degree in Mathematics and Statistics from Warwick University before joining the City in 1984 as an actuarial trainee with Abbey Life. Having progressed to become a fixed interest analyst, he joined Cornhill Insurance in 1987 as a fixed interest manager for its life funds. In 1995 he was recruited by Clerical Medical (now Insight - the asset management division of the HBOS Group) to become its senior bond manager for a £1.6bn range of life and retail portfolios. During his eight years there he managed several award winning funds and was one the top 100 fund managers in a Reuters' survey in 2002. In 2000 he became head of credit and developed a proprietary system to monitor credit risk and mandate restrictions. He was recruited by Rensburg Sheppards in 2003 and provides overall commentary on global bond markets, with a focus both on currency implications and credit ratings, and takes investment management responsibility for the firm's largest fixed interest mandates.

John graduated from Cambridge University with an honours degree in Chinese Studies before joining the City in 1986 and is now Senior Equity Strategist with Rensburg Sheppards. He spent ten years at Robert Fleming, initially as an analyst in the US market on the healthcare and technology sectors before becoming a US equity fund manager in 1989. He eventually became the lead fund manager for the Fleming American Investment Trust, a £300m fund at that time. He pioneered the development of quantitative research tools for the US team and also became its chief economist. In 1996, he joined Taube Hodson Stonex becoming a partner and taking responsibility for equity analysis in Asia and the US. Following a belated gap year in 1999/2000, in which he enrolled as a mature student in Chinese Studies at Shi Da University in Taiwan, he joined Rensburg Sheppards in 2001. He provides macroeconomic and equity coverage on the US market (with a regular Wall Street slot on Bloomberg TV) and oversees the development of the firm's research intranet systems.