Our People

James joined Rathbones in 2023 as Head of Investments, Charities, following his previous role as Co-Head of Investments at CCLA Investment Management, where he was responsible for the management of their multi-asset and global equity funds. 

James has a BA in History from Leicester University, is a Chartered Fellow of the CISI (FCSI) and holds a Certificate in Business Accounting.

Gemma joined Rathbones as Head of Charities Distribution in February 2025.

She was previously Co-Head of Global Social Impact at BlackRock and Co-President of The BlackRock Foundation where she led on strategic philanthropic partnerships in financial security and sustainability. Gemma was formerly Head of BlackRock’s dedicated Charities & Endowments Team, a leading institutional non-profit investment manager. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2016, she was a Partner at NewSmith Asset Management responsible for marketing and business development. She started her career as an Analyst at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.

Gemma holds an MA degree in Geography from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. She has been a Trustee of The Girls’ Network Charity, a school Community Governor and volunteers as a Funding Panellist with The Fore and Mentor with the King’s Trust.

Natalie joined Rathbones in 2020 as head of business development, charities, following her previous role as business development manager at Brewin Dolphin. Natalie has also worked at Heartwood Investment Management and specialises in charities, trust and other not-for-profit organisations. 

Natalie is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments (CISI). She holds a master's degree in Drama and Movement Therapy and achieved the Investment Management Certificate in 2016. She also holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management. Natalie is also an ambassador for Girls are Investors and a Girl Guiding leader. 

My role as Business Development Director, Charities is to help ensure that Rathbones best serves the needs of charities. The key to this is listening and really understanding their needs. While charities often have similar investment requirements, each is unique and will have particular needs that are important to them. We discuss these needs with our investment team, who can then develop a bespoke solution for each charity. 

An important aspect of my role is to ensure that charities know about Rathbones. So, I will look to promote the Rathbones name and seek to involve us in industry events that are useful for charities - such as conferences, roundtable events and training seminars. I also work with the charity consultant community, to ensure they remain up to speed with all Rathbones' charity team developments, so they can confidently recommend Rathbones to their clients.

Melanie joined Rathbones in 2014 after spending the previous seven years at Jupiter. Prior to that, she was at Baring Asset Management, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and EY. She gained international experience working for HSBC in Hong Kong, San Francisco and Mumbai. Melanie is a Chartered Accountant, has a degree in Systems and Management from City University, London and is a Chartered Member of the CISI. She is both a trustee and member of the Investment Committee for the Francis C Scott Charitable Trust that commits over £1m a year to areas of deprivation in Cumbria and North Lancashire. Melanie is also a member of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants.

Jake joined Rathbones in 2020.  He spearheads the client development activities across the North of England and the Midlands, delivering discretionary portfolio management services to private clients, charities and trusts. He is also responsible for developing and managing intermediary relationships.

Jake started his career in finance at Lombard Street Research before moving into the private client investment world with Border Asset Management in Cumbria.  He joined Rathbones after 7 years working for Aberdeen Standard Capital (formerly Standard Life Wealth) following the acquisition of Newton Investment Management's private client arm in 2013.  

Jake is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

Oliver heads up the Strategic Partnership Team which provides a holistic wealth service to the clients of Investec. He manages a team of investment managers, financial planners and portfolio managers who sole focus is to achieve positive client outcomes.

Oliver joined Rathbones in 2019 having come from Goldman Sachs as an investment manager, where his responsibility was to bring in new business and to manage the investments of UHNW clients.

He started his career in the Royal Navy and after numerous operational deployments, he had the privilege of being the first Navigating Officer of the Navy's newest Destroyer, HMS Defender.

Matthew joined Rathbones in 2014, having previously worked closely with Rathbones for a number of years as a partner, with Julian Whately, of Rooper & Whately solicitors.  Matthew qualified as a solicitor in 1999 and has extensive experience of advising clients in relation to their Wills, probates, powers of attorney and trusts.  Matthew also advises clients, including a number of landed estates, on succession planning and the proper mitigation of inheritance tax and capital gains tax.

Where appropriate, Matthew has taken on fiduciary roles for clients and their families – whether as an executor, attorney or trustee – and aims to carry out these roles responsibly and with sensitivity to the needs of the client’s circumstances, as required

Christopher is a solicitor specialising in agricultural and residential property. He is also a qualified Chartered Surveyor and has extensive practical experience of the sale, purchase and management issues arising out of the ownership of residential property and landed estates for both private and institutional landowners. Prior to joining Rathbones, Christopher was a partner in Thrings solicitors and at Lee & Pembertons.

In addition to sales and purchases, Christopher also deals with secured lending, leases, easements, covenants, sporting rights, first registrations of title and other associated matters for both the rural and residential markets. In particular he deals with complex sales and purchases involving overage provisions, options, conditional contracts and exchanges of land.