The Board
The Board is fully responsible for the management of Global Opportunities Trust plc
Cahal Dowds
Chairman
Cahal Dowds qualified as a chartered accountant with Touche Ross and co-founded Rutherford Manson Dowds which was acquired by Deloitte in 1999. He led Deloitte’s UK advisory corporate finance business from 2005 before becoming chairman. In 2014 he was also appointed vice chairman of Deloitte UK, until his retirement in 2018. He is a non-executive director and chairman of MarktoMarket Valuations Limited, chairman of Continuum Advisory Partners Limited and a member of Gresham House Strategy Equity Advisory Group. He was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Company on 18 May 2021 and Chairman on 9 June 2021.
Hazel Cameron
Non-Executive Director
Hazel Cameron qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen, before moving into corporate finance with British Linen Bank and then into private equity investing, initially with 3i in 1993. She was subsequently UK head of Bowman Capital, before performing the same role for Cross Atlantic Capital Partners. She is currently network director at Growth Capital Partners LLP, an independent adviser and venture partner at AIM-listed Gresham House plc and a non-executive director of Continuum Advisory Partners Limited. She was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Company on 18 May 2021 and Chairman of both the Nomination and Remuneration Committees on 17 August 2022.
Sandy Nairn
Executive Director
Dr Sandy Nairn was the lead portfolio manager of the Global Opportunities Trust plc from its launch in 2003. Since the Company became self-managed in 2022, he has been the Company’s Executive Director with responsibility for the management of the Company’s portfolio. He is an experienced professional investor who has won multiple performance awards for the management of global equity portfolios and is also the author of three original books about investment.
Sandy was a founder and CEO of the independent investment boutique Edinburgh Partners established in 2003. The business was subsequently sold to Franklin Templeton Investments in 2018, and he served there as chairman of the Templeton Global Equity Group until July 2022.
Before founding Edinburgh Partners, he was chief investment officer of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, from 2000 to 2003, and executive vice president and director of Global Equity Research at Templeton Investment Management, from 1990 to 2000. Before joining Templeton Investment Management, Sandy spent four years at Murray Johnstone as a portfolio manager and research analyst.
In 2001 Sandy published his first book, Engines that Move Markets: Technology Investing from Railroads to the Internet and Beyond, a history of past and present technology bubbles. In 2012 he co-authored, with Jonathan Davis, Templeton’s Way With Money, an in-depth analysis of the ideas and methods of the legendary investor Sir John Templeton.
His most recent book, published in 2021, is The End of the Everything Bubble: Why $75 trillion of investor wealth is in mortal jeopardy, which presciently warned investors about an imminent severe decline in both stock and bond markets, something that duly occurred in 2022. You can find out more about his books from his author website (https://sandy-nairn.com).
Sandy Nairn graduated from the University of Strathclyde in 1982 and in 1985 was awarded a PhD in Economics from the University of Strathclyde/Scottish Business School and has been a CFA charterholder since 1992. In 2020 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is a significant personal shareholder in the Global Opportunities Trust.
Katie Folwell-Davies
Non-Executive Director
Katie Folwell-Davies qualified as a chartered accountant with Touche Ross gaining experience in both audit and forensic services before a twenty-year career in corporate finance advisory. She has international experience across financial and business services having operated in the private sector and for government. She became a member of the corporate finance advisory executive with responsibilities including chief talent officer and retired as a Deloitte senior partner in 2020 taking up the role of investment partner at Twenty 20 Capital, an internationally focussed private capital investment fund.
She has held a number of board positions as well as representing Deloitte as a CBI Council Member, chairing the City Women’s club in London and is currently chair of the annual international TALiNT industry awards recognising excellence across the recruitment industry. She was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Company on 26 April 2023 and is Chair of the Audit and Management Engagement Committee.
Under the leadership of the Chairman, the Board of Directors is collectively responsible for the long-term sustainable success of the Company, generating value for Shareholders and contributing to wider society. It establishes the purpose, values and strategic aims of the Company and satisfies itself that these and its culture are aligned. The Board ensures that the necessary resources are in place for the Company to meet its objectives and fulfil its obligations to shareholders within a framework of high standards of corporate governance and effective internal controls. The Directors are responsible for the determination of the Company’s investment policy and strategy and have the overall responsibility for the Company’s activities, including the review of investment activity and performance. A copy of the Schedule of the Matters Reserved for the Board is available under Shareholder Information - Other Documents.
The Board consists of four Directors. It seeks to ensure that it has an appropriate balance of skills and experience, and considers that, collectively, it has substantial recent and relevant experience of investment trusts and financial and public company management. The Chairman, Mr Dowds, is deemed by his fellow independent Board members to be independent and to have no conflicting relationships. He does not have any other significant commitments that would affect his Chairmanship of the Company and the time he can commit to the Company’s affairs.
The role and responsibilities of the Chairman are clearly defined and set out in writing, a copy of which is available under Shareholder Information - Key Documents & Risk Information.
The Directors of the Company meet formally at least four times a year to receive and review reports from the AIFM and the investment manager.
The Board regularly reviews its composition and effectiveness. As part of its review, it considers succession planning; identification of the skills and experience required to meet future opportunities; the challenges facing the Company; and those individuals who might best provide them. The Board has agreed that while the benefits of diversity, including gender and ethnicity, will be taken into account for any new Director appointments, the priority would be appointment on merit. Therefore, no measurable targets in relation to Board diversity have been set.
