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.

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.

I work within our specialist charities team as an investment director where I provide strategic advice and bespoke investment management for charities and not-for-profit organisations. With ethical investment requirements being a particular focus, I create and manage tailored portfolios for clients. In addition to this, I sit on a number of internal committees to deliver the necessary resources to the firm's charity clients.

I am a senior investment director, working in our specialist charities team based in London. I provide bespoke investment advice and management to a diverse group of charity clients, working closely with Trustees to create portfolios tailored to meet their objectives. I am passionate about sustainability and am a member of our environmental research group as well as sitting on our Collectives investment committee.

As an investment manager within the charities team, my primary role is to help charities achieve their financial goals through the provision of ongoing investment advice and day-to-day management of their portfolios. I also look after other not-for-profit organisations, corporate clients and pension funds. By gaining a thorough understanding of each client's needs I can advise on and tailor a portfolio to meet these requirements. Great care is taken to ensure that each client's attitude to risk, ethical preferences and other requirements are accommodated in order to construct a portfolio that is suitable for their needs.

As a specialist on the Charities Team I aim to produce a solution that best meets my clients' objectives. My clients range from long term grant making endowments to charities that have received lottery monies and wish to spend them by a precise date and from hospices to high profile charities in the arts and entertainment world.

Within our specialist Charities team I work as an Investment Director providing advice and portfolio management for charities and not-for-profit organisations. I am involved in the firms wider investment process through the Responsible Investment Committee, integrating sustainability throughout the group.

Rob joined Rathbones in August 2024 from CCLA Investment Management, where he was a portfolio manager on their multi-asset and global equity funds. Prior to that, Rob was a senior analyst at Selector Funds Management in Sydney, working on high-conviction Australian equity funds. Rob has managed investment portfolios for a variety of charities, not-for-profit organisations, pension funds and retail investors.

Rob has a BA in Economics from the University of Sydney and is a CFA charterholder.