Alliance Trust hopes 'Katherine the Great' will lead them out of doldrums

Katherine Garrett-Cox, one of the most celebrated women in the asset management industry, has been handed the reins at Alliance Trust, the UK's biggest generalist investment trust.

Alliance Trust, which is listed on the FTSE 100, announced yesterday that Ms Garrett-Cox – known as "Katherine the Great" among fellow asset managers – had been appointed as the group's new chief executive.

She replaces Alan Harden, who announced last month that he was resigning from Alliance Trust to join ING Investment Management in Asia.

This comes 15 months after she joined the group as chief investment officer. She will start work in her new role on Friday when Mr Harden stands down after four years. Ms Garrett-Cox, a 40-year-old mother of four, arrived from Morley Asset Management, the fund business of Aviva, where she was likewise chief investment officer.

There she had fostered the strong reputation she had built at Aberdeen Asset Management and Hill Sam-uel Asset Management – where she was first given the "Katherine the Great" nickname after being appointed head of US equities at the age of just 26.

By the end of her time at Morley, she was overseeing £162bn of assets.

Ms Garrett-Cox was poached by Alliance Trust in May last year, in a move that was seen as a coup for the Dundee-based trust. She did not come cheap, however, with a salary of almost £1m including a welcome bonus.

She was charged with developing new business at the trust and overseeing its investment strategy.

Mr Harden said at the time of his most significant appointment: "Katherine's strong experience in asset allocation, her far-sighted strategic approach and evident investment skills set her apart." He added that at Alliance Trust "one excellent person can really make a difference."

Analysts have said the fund has underperformed its rivals in the past few years, despite attempts to overhaul the management strategy, and Ms Garrett-Cox's job will be to lift it out of the doldrums.

She is under no misapprehensions over the issues the company faces.

Known for her forthright views and no-nonsense approach to managing funds, Ms Garrett-Cox said earlier this year that the industry needed to be "bold enough to drop our traditional comfort blanket" if it is to boost returns.

She added that for Alliance, the process "won't happen overnight".

Lesley Knox, chairman of Alliance Trust, said yesterday: "Katherine has played an integral role on the Board since she joined us last year and has already made significant steps to modernise Alliance Trust's investment process in her current role. The Board and I are delighted that we have such a worthy successor to Alan within our management team."

Ms Garrett-Cox said: "Alliance Trust has an enviable reputation based upon its long-term track record of global equity investment and I am fortunate to have the opportunity to reinforce this tradition."

Alliance Trust, which was set up in 1888, now manages assets of almost £2.6bn.

Analysts at Cazenove said: "Since arriving at Alliance Trust, Katherine has looked to improve the investment process and bring in external talent, which bodes well for her coming time as chief executive."

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