Our team

Main responsibilities

Mark is a member of the Aviva Investors’ Executive team and a director of the Aviva Investors Global Services Limited Board. He is responsible for leading and developing the Global Investment Solutions business which focuses on delivering the outcomes required by our Institutional Clients. The team manages bespoke mandates designed to meet the cash flows of Insurance Companies and Pension Funds including Liability Driven Investments. He also oversees all Aviva Investors’ lending businesses which originate and manage private financing across the alternative income spectrum including Real Estate Finance, Infrastructure and Structured Finance.

Experience and qualifications

Mark has diverse experience in the financial industry, which includes investment banking across fixed income, equity and advisory roles. He has extensive risk management and derivatives experience. Mark joined us from the Friends Life Group where he was Chief Investment Officer of the Group and Managing Director of their in-house asset manager, Friends Life Investments. Previously he was the Chief Investment Officer of AXA UK. Mark began his career as a consultant Actuary and has a Mathematics degree from Cambridge University.

Main responsibilities

Ian is responsible for the development and management of Aviva Investors infrastructure fund management business. Ian is also the lead manager of our renewable energy and unleveraged equity infrastructure strategies.

Experience and qualifications

Ian has over 18 years’ experience in infrastructure finance. Before joining Aviva Investors, Ian worked at BlueCrest Capital where he was an Investment Director investing in Renewable Energy Infrastructure. Prior to this Ian worked at Ambac Assurance as Vice President, European Structured Finance. Ian began his finance career at Deutsche Bank in Project Finance, advising on project finance loan transactions. Ian holds an MEng in Engineering, Economics and Management from St Peter’s College, Oxford. Ian holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).

Main responsibilities

John is responsible for developing the solutions business and building outcome-oriented investment strategies for institutional clients across all areas of solutions design, management and client delivery.

Experience and qualifications

Prior to joining Aviva Investors, John was a Managing Director at BlackRock, where he held solutions leadership roles in investment strategy, LDI, private assets, market views and thought leadership. Previously, John worked in both investment and actuarial consulting. John holds a first class honours degree in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

Main responsibilities

Barry leads the growth and development of the Alternative Income Solutions business, seeking to maximise opportunities in originating and managing portfolios in the alternatives space of Real Estate Finance, Infrastructure Debt and Equity, Structured Finance, Private Corporate Debt and Multi Assets.

Experience and qualifications

Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Barry led multiple client facing teams working for Lloyds Banking Group where he was head of corporate real estate responsible for origination, strategy and portfolio management within the Real Estate team. He had previously spent 18 years with Bank of Scotland, with nine of those spent originating and relationship managing UK and European leveraged finance transactions. Barry is a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland.

Main responsibilities

Antoine is head of private debt corporate credit at Aviva Investors France, where he is in charge of investment and fund management. Antoine’s main responsibility is management of the Euro private debt corporate credit portfolio.

Experience and qualifications

Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Antoine was involved in private debt and secured funding transactions at La Banque Postale, which he joined in 2011 as deputy head of Structured Finance. He previously worked at the Royal Bank of Scotland for 9 years in London & Paris, focusing primarily on structuring, arranging, and underwriting financings for large and mid-sized companies including LBO transactions. Antoine is graduated from Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and holds a post-graduate degree from University Paris Dauphine.

Main responsibilities

Laurence is responsible for Strategy and Research in respect of Alternative Income Investments within Aviva Investors.

Experience and qualifications

Laurence is responsible for providing strategy and research with regards to alternative income assets, including private debt (corporate, real estate, infrastructure and structured finance) and infrastructure investments. Laurence has over 25 years’ experience in infrastructure and corporate finance. From 2010 to August 2016, Laurence was responsible for Aviva Investors Infrastructure debt investment business, which invested over £3bn during this period across Europe. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, she was Head of Credit Infrastructure and the Public Sector at Depfa where she was responsible for the management of over €20 billion of infrastructure loan assets. Between 2002-2007, as Director at Fitch Ratings, Laurence rated a portfolio of utility companies and established the European project finance ratings practice. Earlier in her career, Laurence was a Director at Deutsche Bank, with responsibility for the European project finance portfolio. Laurence holds a Masters from HEC (Paris). Laurence holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).

Main responsibilities

Xavier is responsible for Aviva Investors’ investments and solutions in the Eurozone.

Experience and qualifications

Xavier has worked as a portfolio manager in the Fixed Income team since 2001, handling a variety of portfolios and sectors during that time. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, he was a credit fixed income portfolio manager at Fimagest (Fortis IM) and before that performed the same role for Groupe CRI. Previously he has been as associate at Via Oudart Gestion as a fixed income portfolio manager, and started his career as a fixed income and cash portfolio manager at Financière Atlas. Xavier holds a Master’s degree in Econometrics from Paris II University and a postgraduate certificate (DEA) in Mathematical Economy and Econometrics from Paris I University.

Main responsibilities

Yang is a portfolio manager on the Alternative Income Multi-Strategy Fund. The team manages portfolios of alternative income assets including real estate finance, infrastructure and structured finance.

Experience and qualifications

Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Yang worked for Friends Life where as their head of investment strategy she lead a team responsible for the management of their multi-asset Life and Pensions portfolio. Before this she was an annuities portfolio manager with the same institution, and has previously held roles at AXA UK as an investments project manager and Lehman Brothers as an associate in securitised products. Yang holds a BSc from the MIT Sloan School of Management and is an Associate of the CISI.

Main responsibilities

James is responsible for developing and managing the real estate debt funds within Aviva Investors’ real estate debt fund management business. James is also responsible for the relationship management of the existing commercial mortgage loan portfolio.

Experience and qualifications

James has over 10 years’ experience of real estate debt financing. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, he worked at Palatium Investment Management where he managed a £350m CRE CDO and invested in various real estate debt strategies. James also worked in the real estate debt financing teams at Citigroup and Eurohypo and in the structured asset finance team at Deutsche Bank. He began his career at KPMG where he qualified as a chartered accountant in 2000. James holds an MA from the University of Oxford and is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Main responsibilities

As Head of the Portfolio Management Group, Matthew’s responsibilities are to deliver full investment solutions incorporating multiple asset classes and multiple specialist managers. These solutions include strategy design, mandate construction and oversight, and portfolio construction to ensure a good outcome for liability driven requirements.

Experience and qualifications

Before joining Aviva Investors in April 2015, Matthew spent 23 years at Prudential/M&G. Initially a member of the bond team, he moved to the multi-asset team with specific responsibilities for managing and overseeing the outcomes for Prudential’s insurance funds. This involved building up a detailed knowledge of the underlying asset classes, understanding how specialist fund management teams go about their day-to-day work, understanding the objectives and constraints of investing to meet liabilities, and understanding and presenting consolidated investment management reports. In addition, he has worked to encapsulate relevant and meaningful governance touch-points into a partnership approach between client and investment manager. Matthew graduated from the University of York with BA (Hons) in Mathematics.