Our Investment Team and Directors

Charles Luke

Senior Investment Director

Charles Luke is a Senior Investment Director on the UK and European equities team having joined the company in 2000. Charles started his career at Framlington Investment Management in 1998, covering UK equities.

Charles graduated with a BA in Economics and Japanese Studies from Leeds University and an MSc in Business and Economic History from the London School of Economics.

Iain Pyle

Investment Director

Iain has been an Investment Director in the UK & European equities team at abrdn since 2015. He is the lead manager of Shires Income PLC and is deputy manager of Murray Income Trust PLC and abrdn Equity Income Trust plc. Within his role, he manages the UK Equity High Income Fund amongst other funds and has sector responsibility for energy and banks. Iain has been covering analyst for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Prior to joining the company, Iain was a Vice President on the number one ranked European Oil & Gas research team at Sanford Bernstein from 2007. He also worked as a management consultant at PwC. Iain holds an MSc in Operational Research, a Masters in Chemical Engineering, is a CFA charterholder and is a qualified accountant.

Peter Tait

Chair

Peter was appointed Chair on 7 November 2023 after serving as a Director from November 2017 and as Senior Independent Director from November 2021. Peter was previously with the Nestlé Group where he was initially Head of Investments for the Nestlé UK Pension Fund and then CEO & CIO of Nestlé Capital Management. Prior to Nestlé he worked for many years in the investment management industry managing portfolios for investment trusts, pension funds and charitable foundations.

During that time he was a Managing Director at BlackRock International and, before that, a Director of Dunedin Fund Managers and a portfolio analyst at Scottish Widows Life Assurance Fund.

Alan Giles

Senior Independent Director

Alan Giles was appointed Senior Independent Director on 7 November 2023 after becoming a Director in November 2020 following the merger with Perpetual Income and Growth Investment Trust plc. He is Chairman of The Remuneration Consultants Group, an Associate Fellow at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and an honorary visiting professor at Bayes Business School, City, University of London. He was formerly Chairman of Fat Face Group Limited, Chief Executive of HMV Group plc, Managing Director of Waterstones, and an executive director of WH Smith plc. He previously held non-executive directorships at Foxtons Group plc, The Competition & Markets Authority, Rentokil Initial plc, The Office of Fair Trading, Somerfield plc and Wilson Bowden Plc.

Stephanie Eastment

Chairman of Audit Committee

Stephanie was appointed a Director on 2 August 2018 and Chair of Audit Committee on 5 November 2018. She was formerly Head of Specialist Fund Accounts and Company Secretariat at Invesco Perpetual. Her career spans over 30 years working in financial services including roles at UBS, Wardley Investment Services International and KPMG. She qualified while at KPMG and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute. She is an independent non-executive director and audit chair of Herald Investment Trust plc, Impax Environmental Markets plc and Alternative Income REIT plc. She is an independent non-executive director of RBS Collective Investment Funds Limited.

Nandita Sahgal Tully

Non-Executive Director

Nandita Sahgal Tully was appointed as a Director in November 2021. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. She was a Managing Director at ThomasLloyd Group, an impact investor focused on clean energy and ESG, from 2017 to 2023.

Angus Franklin