In celebration of International Women’s Day, we put the spotlight on a group of leading and renowned portfolio managers who manage funds available for sale in the UK and earn the High or Above Average People Pillar ratings.
These professionals have demonstrated in consistent fashion their skilled portfolio construction and added value for clients over the long term.
Distinguished portfolio managers like Lisa Coleman, Saida Eggerstedt, and Paola Binns on the fixed-income side and Anne-Christine Farstad and Louisa Lo on the equity side have successfully managed their respective funds and have produced strong financial results for their investors.
Fixed-Income Funds - Top-Performing Female Fund Managers
Lisa Coleman, JPMorgan
Lisa Coleman’s experience in the global corporate credit field spans over four decades. Coleman is the head of the Global Investment Grade Corporate Credit team in the Global Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities group at JPMorgan. She set up the team when joining the firm in 2008, and it has grown over the years. Today, Coleman’s team includes 12 global investment-grade credit portfolio managers who oversee a total of $72 billion in assets under management. That includes approximately $6.3 billion in the JPM Global Corporate Bond Fund, on which Coleman is the lead portfolio manager since inception in February 2009. The fund has consistently outperformed its peers and category index on an absolute and risk-adjusted basis thanks to strong security and sector selection over a variety of market regimes.
Prior to joining JP Morgan in 2008, Coleman successfully managed a variety of credit strategies at Schroders Investment Management for eight years, Allmerica Financial for six years, and Brown Brothers Harriman for five years. Earlier in her career, she worked at Merrill Lynch, Travelers Insurance Company, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Given her extensive experience, Coleman is recognized as a leading specialist in the global investment-grade corporate arena.
Saida Eggerstedt, Schroders
Saida Eggerstedt has nearly three decades of experience in financial markets. Throughout her career, she has managed a diverse range of fixed-income strategies, including a number of environmental, social, and governance-focused and sustainability-focused funds.
Eggerstedt joined Schroders in August 2019. She is the head of sustainable credit at Schroders and manages dedicated sustainability portfolios including SISF Sustainable Euro Credit, SISF Carbon Neutral Credit, and SISF Social Impact Credit since inception, as well as an ESG credit mandate. As of Dec. 31, 2024, these four funds account for £2.9 billion in assets. In her role, she specializes on corporate engagements, sustainable bonds, climate and transition portfolios, impact opportunities, and sustainability regulations. Under her tenure, Schroder ISF Sustainable Euro Credit has achieved consistent outperformance compared with peers and its category index, driven predominantly by strong security selection.
Before joining Schroders, she was the lead ESG portfolio manager and head of corporates/financials for Deka Investments since mid-2011. From 2008 to 2011, she worked at Standard Life Investment in Edinburgh as an investment director within fixed income and lead portfolio manager for ESG credit portfolios, while also working as a credit analyst. Between 2005 and 2007, she was head of high yield and emerging-markets corporates at Union Investment in Frankfurt, and from 2001 to early 2007, she worked at Deka Investments, mostly as an equity fund manager, and later as corporate strategist.
Paola Binns, Royal London
Paola Binns is one of the most experienced portfolio managers in the sterling corporate credit space. She brings over 35 years’ experience in bond markets. Binns joined Royal London Asset Management in 2007 as fund manager. After building out the firm’s sterling credit capabilities, she was appointed head of sterling credit (recently reestablished as the credit team at the end of 2024) in 2021. Prior to joining RLAM, Paola worked at Credit Suisse Asset Management, where she was responsible for managing sterling credit assets. Throughout her career, Binns has gained experience across European corporate bonds, government bonds, and emerging-markets debt. Through her strong analytical capabilities, she has been able to add value and successfully manage research-intensive bottom-up-driven corporate bond strategies. Her strategies have a bias toward secured bonds within sectors such as covered bonds, real estate, social housing, and structured bonds. There is also emphasis on strong covenants and securitized structures.
Binns has been the lead manager of Royal London Short Duration Credit Fund since its inception in November 2013. The absolute and risk-adjusted return profile of the fund compares very favorably against its benchmark and peers, with strong security selection being the main driver of outperformance. Outperformance has also been remarkably consistent. It outperformed its GBP Corporate Bond – Short Term peers in 10 out of 11 full calendar years and finished within the top decile of the peer group in nine out of 11 years. In addition to the above strategy, Binns is also lead manager for Royal London Sterling Credit Fund and Royal London Investment Grade Short Dated Credit Fund. As of Dec. 31, 2024, these three funds account for £6.5 billion in AUM.
Equity Funds - Top-Performing Female Fund Managers
Anne-Christine Farstad, MFS
Anne-Christine Farstad is one of the industry’s most talented investors and the portfolio manager for the Contrarian Value strategy at MFS. With 22 years of experience, she joined MFS in 2005 as a European equity analyst. Farstad developed the philosophy behind the Contrarian Value strategy and has been successfully managing it since its launch in 2016 as a separate account and as a fund starting in 2019. In 2021, she was joined by comanager Zahid Kassam.
Her prior portfolio management experience includes a comanager role on a UK equity portfolio from 2013-16 and contribution to the European analyst-run MFS European Research fund and the international analyst-run fund from 2005-12.
Farstad’s approach to contrarian investing is supported by her discipline and patience, qualities that are crucial for this strategy. She is not afraid to go against the grain, investing in controversial areas or companies with depressed stock prices. Her long tenure at MFS and experience as an analyst have also fostered strong collaboration with the broader analyst team.
The MFS Meridian Contrarian Value fund’s performance since its launch is truly remarkable. Farstad’s commitment to her contrarian investment strategy is evident in the fund’s strong returns. Her approach of making bold contrarian picks early and sticking to her convictions has been a key driver of this success, especially in recovery periods. This has allowed the fund to capitalize on market rebounds and be competitive even in rising markets. From the fund’s launch in August 2019 through Jan. 31, 2025, the fund’s W1 share class has delivered an annualized return of 13.4% (in GBP terms), versus 10.1% for the Morningstar Global Value TME Index and 8.3% for the global large-cap value Morningstar Category average. This kind of outperformance highlights Farstad’s ability to navigate market cycles and generate value for investors over time.
Louisa Lo, Schroders
Louisa Lo is a seasoned investor, boasting a stellar three decades of covering Asia equity markets. She joined Schroders in 1996 as an equity analyst and a specialist fund manager of the Korean and Taiwan markets. Her strong analytical and leadership skills have helped her become a prominent figure within the firm, where she now holds the position of head of Asia ex-Japan equities, based in Hong Kong.
Lo is the lead manager of the Schroder ISF Taiwanese Equity, Schroder ISF All China Equity, Schroder ISF China Opportunities, Schroder ISF Greater China, and Schroder ISF Emerging Asia strategies. The strong return profiles of the strategies under Lo’s management attracted admirers, leading to total assets under management of almost $12 billion as of January 2025.
Lo’s track record on the Schroder ISF Greater China fund (with a High People Pillar rating) is strong. Since she took over in September 2002 through Jan. 31, 2025, the A share class returned 10.8% annualized (in GBP terms), outperforming the MSCI Golden Dragon Index and China equity peers by 1.5 and 1.8 percentage points, respectively. The consistency of process implementation here is the testimony to Lo’s ability to generate value for investors over the long term.
The Morningstar’s Top Female Managers of 2025 report includes women with portfolio management roles across the UK and continental Europe for strategies that earn Above Average or High People Pillar ratings (as of January 2025), indicating Morningstar analysts’ confidence in the portfolio management team and the strategy. Read the full report here.
This article was written by Lena Tsymbaluk and Evangelia Gkeka.
The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar's editorial policies.
