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.

Rhona Millar

Investment Manager

Rhona is an Investment Manager at abrdn. She is responsible for global commodities sector research within the Developed Markets Sector Research Team. She is also involved in the UK Income funds including Murray Income Trust. Rhona joined the company in April 2016, initially into Internal Audit, then Group Strategy, before joining the equities team in July 2018. She previously worked for EY. Rhona graduated with a BSc in Mathematics from the University of St Andrews. She is a Chartered Accountant and a CFA Charterholder.

Iain Pyle

Senior 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.

Stephanie Eastment

Senior Independent Director

Stephanie Eastment was appointed a Director on 2 August 2018 and Senior Independent Director on 5 November 2024. She was Chair of the Audit Committee from 5 November 2018 to 5 November 2024. She was formerly Head of Specialist Fund Accounts and Corporate Secretariat at Invesco Perpetual. Her career in financial services included 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 UK and Ireland. 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

Chair of the Audit Committee

Nandita Sahgal Tully was appointed a Director on 3 November 2021 and Chair of the Audit Committee on 5 November 2024. She is a partner at Redwheel with responsibility for launching the Redwheel EM Impact Opportunities fund, a private markets strategy focused on energy transition in Emerging Asia. She was formerly a Managing Director and member of the Investment Committee at ThomasLloyd Group Ltd, an impact investor focussing on sustainable infrastructure. Prior to this, she was Chief Executive Officer at IL&FS Global Financial Services (UK) Ltd., the UK subsidiary of the investment banking arm of IL&FS. She has over 25 years’ financial markets experience working in asset management, equity capital markets and M&A at ThomasLloyd Group, Insinger de Beaufort and Seymour Pierce. Having qualified with Deloitte, 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 is also an independent non-executive director and audit chair of Pacific Assets Trust plc.

Angus Franklin

Non-Executive Director

Angus Franklin is a former investment partner of Baillie Gifford & Co, where he worked for 28 years until April 2022, primarily managing portfolios of international equities. Latterly, he was head of the international alpha investment strategy and chaired the firm’s investment management group. His previous responsibilities at Baillie Gifford & Co. included membership of the firm’s management committee and chairing the audit committee.

Meet the team