Meet the team
Get to know the professionals in our investment team and our board of directors
Nalaka De Silva
Head of Private Market Solutions
Nalaka is responsible for developing and implementing strategies across the Private Markets spectrum. This includes investments across Private Equity, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Natural Resources and Private Credit on a global basis. Solutions based strategies are designed around client outcomes including growth, income and proactive ESG strategies.
Nalaka joined the company in 2012. Prior to this, Nalaka held senior roles at Australian and European Investment management firms. He has lead M&A activity, off-market acquisitions and divestments of assets, offshore and onshore capital rising in debt and equity markets. Nalaka is a Qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a postgraduate degree in Commercial Law and Accounting.Nalaka joined the company in 2012. Prior to this, Nalaka held senior roles at Australian and European Investment management firms. He has lead M&A activity, off-market acquisitions and divestments of assets, offshore and onshore capital rising in debt and equity markets. Nalaka is a Qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a postgraduate degree in Commercial Law and Accounting.
Nic Baddeley
Investment Manager
From 2014, Nic has been involved in investment analysis and management, working across public and private asset classes. Nic is responsible for the management of private market portfolios undertaken by the Private Markets Solutions desk, as well as the continual development of investment processes, portfolio management and risk management techniques. Prior to joining the current team, Nic worked as an analyst with the global listed real estate team, responsible for sector coverage of the Chinese housebuilders, portfolio construction, and risk measurement. Prior to joining abrdn in 2015, Nic worked as a data scientist for global data consultancy, and as an investment analyst at Mercer focussing on strategy analysis and fund recommendations for institutional investors. Nic graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA (Hons) degree in Psychology and is a CFA® charterholder.
Heather McKay
Head of Global Active Allocation
Heather leads the Global Active Allocation Portfolio Management team within Multi-Asset Solutions, with more than a decade of experience in managing a range of strategic multi-asset growth mandates. Heather joined the firm following the SWIP acquisition in April 2014. Prior to joining the SWIP Multi-Asset team in 2010, Heather was a Credit Analyst within the Fixed Income team covering autos, financials and insurance sectors. Heather joined SWIP from Baillie Gifford & Co, where she was an equity analyst for more than four years. Heather graduated with a First Class Honours BAcc with Finance degree from the University of Glasgow. She is IMC qualified and is a CFA® charterholder.
Simon Fox
Senior Investment Director
Simon is a Senior Director in the Global Active Allocation team within Multi-Asset and Investment Solutions. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, Simon was at Mercer for twelve years, initially as a senior client consultant responsible for advising on investment strategy, portfolio structuring, manager selection, and performance monitoring. Later on, he joined Mercer's Alternatives boutique as a Director of Research with client consulting responsibilities, including coverage of macro, currency and commodity strategies and multi-asset investments; and sat on the Alternatives Investment Committee. Throughout this period, Simon was a regular contributor to Mercer's broader intellectual capital - from hedge funds to commodities, timberland and agriculture. Simon has a Masters in European Politics and Policy from the LSE; and an MA(Oxon) in Mathematics from Oxford University. He is also a CFA® charterholder.
Davina Walter
Chairman
Appointed a Director on 1 February 2019, Senior Independent Director on 27 February 2019 and Chairman on 26 February 2020, Davina Walter is an experienced investment professional who has been actively involved with investment trusts since 1985 when she joined Henderson (now Janus Henderson) as a fund manager. Having started her career at Cazenove & Co, ending up as Head of US equity research, she then spent over 16 years as an investment manager, most recently as a Managing Director at Deutsche Asset Management. She is Chairman of CT Property Trust Ltd and a non-executive director of Miton UK MicroCap Trust plc.
Trevor Bradley
Independent Non-Executive Director
Appointed a Director on 1 August 2019, Trevor Bradley was a partner and member of the Management Board at Ruffer LLP. He was responsible for growing and leading the firm's institutional investment business and managed over £1 billion of multi-asset portfolios for pension funds, charities and other institutions. Prior to Ruffer, he was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and a UK equity portfolio manager at Mercury Asset Management.
Tom Challenor
Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee
Appointed a Director on 6 April 2017 and Chairman of the Audit Committee on 31 October 2018, Tom Challenor is a non-executive director and Chair of the Audit Committee of Vanguard Group (Ireland) Limited and its fund companies, and is also a non-executive director of Threadneedle India Fund Limited. Until March 2022, Tom was Senior Independent Director of Euroclear UK & International Limited. Tom is a former non-executive director of Aberdeen UK Tracker Trust plc, Cofunds Limited, Xtracker Limited and Threadneedle Lux (SICAV). At Threadneedle Asset Management he was Director of Strategy and Risk from 2005 to 2009 and Chief Financial Officer from 1997 to 2005.
Alistair Mackintosh
Independent Non-Executive Director
Appointed a Director on 1 May 2021, Alistair Mackintosh was a partner with Actis LLP, a leading investor in growth markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America from its inception in 2004 until 2018. He served as Chief Investment Officer for twelve years, and chaired the Investment Committees of Actis' Private Equity, Infrastructure, Energy and Real Estate funds. Previously, Alistair spent fifteen years with PPM Capital Ltd (now Silverfleet Capital), the mid-market private equity business of Prudential plc.