Membership Directory - Individual

Sarah Bates

Chair at Universities Superannuation Scheme Investment Management Ltd

About

Bio: I came into the savings and investment world in London in 1980 when there weren't many jobs around. It was quite an eccentric thing to do at the time: asset management wasn't really a career anyone knew anything about. I started off as a stockbroker, then joined the National Provident Institution, then one of the predecessor companies of Invesco, where I was a UK fund manager, head of desk, joint CIO, head of specialist funds and then CEO of the UK Institutional business. I left in 2003, and went plural, as they say, taking on a range of Trusteeships and NED roles. I have now been Chair of 10 firms and organisations, ranging from a FTSE 100 company (St James's Place) to a small youth charity, and including a number of investment companies. Currently I am Chair of Polar Capital Technology Trust and Merian Global investors, as well as The Diversity Project Charity, and NED of Worldwide Healthcare Trust, and member of the investment committees of the BBC Pension Fund and USS.

I am so pleased to be an Ally for LGBT+ great. I grew up in Manchester in the 1960s and 70s (state school, in the days of Pink Floyd and Bobby Charlton). My mother was a liberal and brought me up to think it was completely normal to have relatives and friends with a wide range of sexual orientation. It just wasn't an issue. I am so sad that still there is prejudice and cruelty such that some feel they cannot be themselves, or indeed face real difficulty and danger. It makes me weep.
Project 1000