Featured funds

People and expertise

Our dedicated Multi-asset Solutions (MAS) Team of 22 investment professionals manages over £70* billion of assets on behalf of our clients. Justin Onuekwusi, the funds’ manager is responsible for each of our 5 Multi-asset Funds, allocation, fund/vehicle selection for each asset class and performance monitoring; aiming to ensure that the Funds are managed in accordance with their specified risk range over the medium to long term.

In managing the funds Justin works closely with three fellow multi-asset fund managers and the MAS team’s economists and asset allocation specialists. They provide expertise in the areas of strategic and tactical asset allocation by identifying long-term trends for asset classes, as well as short-term economic and market scenarios.

Our Multi-asset Fund Managers also draw on Aviva Investors’ extensive resources across the globe. These include analysts, fund managers and dealers within the specialist areas of fixed income, equities, real estate, alternatives, cash, derivatives and risk management.

*As at 31 August 2012

Fund managers

Justin Onuekwusi, CFA, Fund Manager

Justin is responsible for managing a range of multi asset funds.

Joined the investment industry in 2003, and joined Aviva Investors in 2010. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Justin was a fund research analyst at Merrill Lynch where he was responsible for the research of funds that invest in traditional and non-benchmark assets. “Non-benchmark” encompasses a wide range of asset classes including real estate, currency, commodities, sector and ethical/environmental funds. Justin joined Merrill Lynch in April 2007. Before joining Merrill Lynch, he worked as an Investment Consultant for Aon Consulting, focusing on manager research and selection, asset allocation, performance analytics and the transitioning of assets for Aon’s U.K. corporate pension fund clients.

Justin is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute. He also holds a degree in Economics from the University of Warwick and the Investment Management Certificate.

Nick Samoulihan, PHD, FRM, Fund Manager

Nick is responsible for managing a range of multi-asset funds.

Joined the investment industry in 2008, and joined Aviva Investors in 2010. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Nick worked at Investec Asset Management on their Multi-Asset desk. His specific focus was on cross-asset research, quantitative modelling and strategic asset allocation. Before joining Investec, Nick worked in academia, where he lectured economics and finance, and has published multiple academic papers on volatility modelling, macro-economic forecasting and portfolio diversification.

Nick holds a PhD degree in Economics from the University of Cape Town and the Investment Management Certificate. Nick is also a FRM charterholder and a member of the Global Associate of Risk Professionals.

Gavin Counsell, FIA, Fund Manager

Gavin is responsible for managing a range of multi-asset funds.

Joined the investment industry in 2005, and joined Aviva Investors in 2012. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Gavin was a Senior Investment Consultant at Towers Watson within the Strategy team. Within this role Gavin provided strategic investment advice to pension scheme trustees; schemes with assets ranging from several hundred million to multi-billion. This included providing portfolio construction analysis and asset allocation advice, to achieve both target returns and diverse risk exposures. Before joining Towers Watson, he worked as a Pensions and Investment Consultant for Aon Consulting, between 2000 and 2007, focusing on asset liability modelling studies, asset allocation, portfolio structuring and performance analytics.

Gavin is a qualified Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. He also holds a Master of Mathematics degree from the University of Warwick.

Mirko Cardinale, PhD, Head of Strategic Asset Allocation

Mirko joined the investment industry in 2002 and Aviva Investors in August 2007. He is responsible for developing the intellectual framework and applying Aviva Investors’ process for Strategic Asset Allocation to create better long-term benchmarks for client funds and identify special opportunities. Since 2010 he has also co-managed two multi-asset diversified growth portfolios and his fund management remit has more recently extended to overseeing over £55 bn in with profits and unit linked life and pension funds.

Previously he worked for Watson Wyatt first as Senior Economist and subsequently as Senior Investment Consultant. Mirko holds a PhD in Finance from Imperial College London with a thesis on long-term asset allocation and the relationship between pension funding and capital markets. He also holds an MSc in Economics from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona and a BSc in Economics from Università Bocconi, Milan

Andrew Ridgers, Senior Product Specialist

Andrew is responsible for investment messaging for Aviva Investors Multi-asset Fund and Multi-manager capability and acts as the primary link between the fund management team and global business development

Joined the investment industry in 1997, and joined Aviva Investors in 2007. Andrew joined Aviva Investors as fixed income investment writer and subsequently managed the Investment Writing team. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, Andrew was an investment writer at Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) where he covered a broad range of asset classes. Before joining CSAM he was a product manager at AXA Investment Managers focusing on fixed income. Andrew began his career at Henderson Global Investors where he worked in a variety of roles on the product management and development team.

Andrew has an MA in Marketing from Kingston University Business School and also holds the Investment Management Certificate.