Get to know Dan Kemp, Global Chief Investment Officer

You may have heard Dan Kemp’s name before – Dan is Morningstar Investment Management’s Global Chief Investment Officer, and has been with the business since 2014.

Prior to investment management, he came from Albemarle Street Partners, a research firm that he founded and was subsequently acquired by Atlantic. Dan started his career in financial planning, working as an adviser – an experience that remains with him as he manages portfolios today.  

“One of the dangers of being a portfolio manager is the disconnection between investment returns and the impact on the lives of investors,” says Dan. “I’m enormously grateful for the eight years that I spent as an adviser as I was able to work directly with clients and see the impact of my advice and the decisions we made together. It provides me with a constant reminder of both the responsibility we have and the importance of supporting advisers as they communicate with their clients.

This experience also serves as a reminder that many of the things that occupy our minds as portfolio managers are only a small part of the financial planning process and so by freeing advisers from having to deal with the minutiae of investment, we create more time for the adviser to spend with clients.”

After his time in financial advice, Dan moved into research and portfolio management, overseeing the research efforts at Williams de Broe, a wealth management business later acquired by Investec. Following this, Dan managed money for charitable trusts at Barrow Cadbury Trust rolling out a liability-driven asset allocation framework, before becoming a partner and portfolio manager of multi-asset strategies at Saltus Partners.

Dan’s educational background is similarly interesting. Rather than the usual economics or business education, Dan studied Theology at Kings College London. He has a rich understanding of the history of religion and Christianity, and with it brings crucial cognitive diversity to the investment management businesses.

Morningstar Investment Management President, Daniel Needham, says: “Dan is an experienced investor, and his insight and expertise have been integral to the transition to a research-focused investment management team.”

“Throughout his tenure, he has developed a robust team, producing high-quality research and investment strategies that seek long-term outperformance for the end investor.”

He added: “We believe that under his leadership as global CIO he will continue to thrive, providing our clients with robust asset allocation, investment selection and portfolio construction services.”

We’re looking forward to welcoming Dan to our Applied Forum in May – and he’s equally excited to meet our adviser community. “I’m thoroughly looking forward to joining advisers live in Australia in May. Australia leads the world in its commitment to long-term savings and it seems to me that the advisers that we work with are pioneering in their adoption of long-term goal-oriented financial planning.

While I’m looking forward to sharing some ideas on how to make more use of behavioural science in the financial planning process, I’m also looking forward to learning how our clients in Australia have implemented goals-based planning and am hoping I can use the lessons from this trip to help other advisers around the world follow their example.

I’m also hopeful that the embarrassment of the Ashes will have faded from memory by the time I get there!”

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