James is a member of SIG's executive team and is responsible for overall strategy, direction, control and management of the investments function. As CIO he leads one of the largest and most internationally diverse investment teams of its kind. He is a key participant in and chairman of the investment committee that scrutinises all decisions across all asset classes.

James' investment team uses a robust investment process that adds value through manager selection, asset allocation and active management of portfolios. His manager selection team, which includes equity, bond and alternatives specialists, undertakes rigorous due diligence to identify the world's best fund managers from a universe of over 2000 firms worldwide for SIG's multi and single manager investment solutions. Once selected the team monitors the progress of their chosen managers against the objectives they have set for them and hold them to account for their investment decisions.

James joined Skandia in 2004 initially leading Asia Pacific, Japan and UK manager selection. He then became Head of Equity Research, before becoming CIO of Skandia Investment Group in April 2007.

Prior to Skandia, James was an equity analyst at Orbis Investment Advisory Limited in London, working as part of the team managing Orbis' award-winning Japan and global funds. Hitherto, he worked for KPMG as an Assistant Manager in its Financial Business Unit, servicing Asset Managers, Investment Banks and Pension Funds.

James is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder and is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He was educated at Durham University.

Ryan joined Skandia in January 2006 from Chartwell Asset Management where he was Head of Discretionary Management, running MultiManager portfolios for private clients. Ryan has a BA (Hons) in Business Studies and is a holder of both the Financial Planning Certificate and the Investment Management Certificate. Ryan has over 10 years’ investment research and fund management experience.

Ryan has joint responsibility for portfolio management and asset allocation decisions on our MultiManager funds.

François joined Skandia in October 2007 from Insight Investment, where he was Director of Fund Manager Selection, and brings with him 13 years of research experience from a number of investment roles. Prior to joining Insight, François worked at UBS for two and a half years ending as Head of the UK fund and manager research. Previously, he was an analyst and fund manager at AIG Global Investments. François holds an MA in Finance from the Université de Paris II and an MBA from the London Business School. He also holds the Investment Management Certificate.

François has joint responsibility for portfolio management and asset allocation decisions on our MultiManager funds.

John has more than 11 years of industry experience, having previously worked as an exchange-traded derivatives broker with ADM Investor Services International, trading commodities and equity volatility, and latterly as a partner in a start-up private client investment management and brokerage firm on the Isle of Man. John was previously associated with Alternative Investment Strategies Limited, the first closed-ended fund of hedge funds listed in London, as well as teaching the Derivatives module on the Isle of Man for Liverpool Business School. He holds a BA (Hons) in Law from Peterhouse, Cambridge and an MA (Cantab).

John has joint responsibility for portfolio management and asset allocation decisions on our MultiManager funds.

Adam has 12 years’ industry experience, having been a mutual funds associate with RBC Dominion Securities in Toronto before joining Fidelity in London where he was a senior fund analyst. He joined the Skandia Investment Research Team in 2003 and has overall responsibility for fixed interest manager research and portfolio management. Adam graduated from McGill University, Montreal, with a BA in Ancient History and Classics, and also holds the CFA.

Ian has 13 years’ industry experience having previously worked as an equity analyst, fund analyst, and fund manager with CIS, Rothschild and Collins Stewart. He joined the Skandia Investment Research Team in 2002 and is responsible for Alternative Asset research including Property, Commodities, Ethical and Hedge Funds. He has a BA (Hons) in Economics and an MSc in Economics and Finance from Warwick University Business School. He has been an affiliate of the CFA Society of the UK since 1999 and a member of CAIA since 2009.

Lee has more than 10 years’ industry experience having previously worked in Private Client Investment Management and as the Investment Development Manager with Winterthur Life and most recently with Schroder Investment Management. He joined Skandia in October 2005 and has responsibility for US, European and UK equity manager research. Lee graduated from Nottingham Law School with an LLB (Hons) degree. He holds the Investment Management Certificate.

Ramon joined Skandia in January 2007 with specific responsibility for Asia Pacific, Japanese and Emerging Market equity managers. In addition, his team covers Global Equity and Sector Fund research. Previously, he was an Associate Director and Head of Australian Equities for Standard & Poor's in Australia and was at HSBC Asset Management. He has a total of 11 years of investment experience. Ramon has a Bachelor of Law and Commerce from the University of Melbourne and post graduate diplomas in Applied Finance and Investment and Financial Planning from the Securities Institute of Australia.

Rupert joined Skandia in May 2009 and was previously Managing Director at Black River Asset Management where he managed their Global Macro Fund. Prior to that he worked for Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Investec Asset Management, BlackRock Investment Management and the Bank of England. Rupert holds an MA (Hons) in Economics from Edinburgh University and also holds the Investment Management Certificate.

Prior to joining Skandia Abbas worked with Bloomberg LP as an Economic Analyst/Researcher where his main focus was on the UK economy and Gulf Cooperation Council region, being responsible for all macroeconomic and money market data. He graduated from the University of Essex with an MSc (with Merit) in Economics following an Undergraduate Degree (Hons) in Financial Economics. The main focus of his academic work was International Money and Finance, International Trade and Macroeconomics.