The Board

Alex Hammond-Chambers

Alex Hammond-Chambers is an experienced investment professional, manager and director who spent 27 years with investment managers, Ivory & Sime, latterly as Executive Chairman of the listed company. Since retiring from Ivory & Sime, Alex has held a number of non-executive directorships – both of funds and of operating companies. He joined the Walter Scott Board in February 2019 and was appointed Chairman in July 2020. Alex holds an honours degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge and has served as a governor of the USA’s NASD and as chairman of the UK’s Association of Investment Companies.

Jane Henderson

Jane is Managing Director of Walter Scott. Having joined the firm in 1995 as an investment analyst, she has held a range of investment, management, client service and governance responsibilities and was instrumental in the development of the firm’s US investment strategy. Jane co-chaired Walter Scott’s Investment Management Group before becoming Managing Director in 2010. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Marine and Environmental Biology from the University of St Andrews.

Roy Leckie

Roy is Executive Director, Investment & Client Service at Walter Scott. Since joining the firm in 1995, he has held a range of investment, management, client service and governance responsibilities. Roy was integral to the development of the firm’s emerging market capabilities, and he has played a central role in the stewardship of Walter Scott’s global and international strategies since 2007. Roy joined the firm’s Board in 2008 and is Co-Chair of the Investment Management Committee. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Statistics from the University of Glasgow.

Charlie MacQuaker

Charlie is Executive Director, Investment at Walter Scott. Having joined the firm in 1991, he has held a range of investment, management, client service and governance responsibilities and has had extensive experience of analysing companies around the world, particularly in Europe and Japan. Charlie joined the Board in 2009 and is Co-Chair of the Investment Management Committee. He holds a BSc (Econ) (Hons) in European Studies from the University of Buckingham.

Tom Sneddon

Tom is Executive Director, Governance and Operations at Walter Scott. Prior to joining the firm in 2014 he trained with UK law firm Linklaters LLP in London and Beijing, spent five years as an associate in the London office of US law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and two years as an associate at Scottish law firm Maclay Murray & Spens LLP in Edinburgh. Tom joined the Walter Scott Board in November 2023. He holds an MA in Law from the University of Cambridge and completed his Legal Practice Certificate at Nottingham Law School.

Hanneke Smits

Hanneke Smits is CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management and a member of BNY Mellon’s Executive Committee.

With over 30 years of investment experience, Hanneke was previously CEO of Newton Investment Management, a BNY Mellon Investment Management firm, from 2016 to 2020. Prior to Newton, she served on the Executive Committee at private equity firm Adams Street Partners from 2001 to 2014, having been Chief Investment Officer from 2008 to 2014. She joined Adams Street in 1997 to build out its global investment capabilities, and successfully launched its presence in Europe and Asia. Before joining Adams Street, she was an investment manager at Pantheon Ventures, and worked for Philips China Hong Kong Group.

Hanneke is the Executive Sponsor for PRISM, BNY Mellon’s LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group, and serves as Chair of Impetus, a venture philanthropy organization which backs charities to transform the lives of disadvantaged young people. As part of her role with Impetus, she is Trustee of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), founded in 2011 by The Sutton Trust in partnership with Impetus. Hanneke was also a Non-Executive Director to the Court of the Bank of England, and a co-founder and first Chair of Level 20, a not-for-profit organization set up in 2015 to inspire women to join and succeed in the private equity industry.

Originally from the Netherlands, Hanneke has a BBA from Nijenrode University and an MBA from the London Business School.

John Paul O'Meara

John Paul O’Meara is Senior Vice President (SVP), Head of Investor Relations at Ahold Delhaize, one of the world’s largest food retail groups, a leader in supermarkets and e-commerce and a company at the forefront of sustainable retailing. He was previously SVP of Corporate Strategy at Ralph Lauren, where he designed the implementation and communication framework for execution of the group’s Next Great Chapter Strategic plan. Prior to this, John Paul held various roles at Adidas from 2006-2018 including SVP Brand Strategy and VP Investor Relations. He also worked in equity research at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

John Paul joined the Walter Scott board in February 2023. He holds a BBS (Hons) in Economics & Finance from the University of Limerick, and numerous certifications and further education in personal and leadership development.

Stephen Potter

Stephen Potter was formerly Vice Chairman of Northern Trust and CEO of Northern Trust Investments. During his 36-year career with the company, he also served in London for eight years as CEO of Northern Trust Global Services, its principal non-US subsidiary. He joined the Walter Scott Board as of 1 June 2020.

Stephen is Vice Chairman of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and sits on a number of other boards, including the Miami Corporation and Nuveen Churchill BDC. He is also Chairman of the Japan-America Society of Chicago. He holds a degree in Economics and History from Duke University, an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and was a Fellow at the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative in 2019.

Richard Watt

Richard Watt has more than 35 years’ experience in managing and developing equity portfolios in institutional and retail sub-advisor markets globally, with an expertise in ESG integration.  He was formerly Managing Director, Head of Sustainable Business (2017-2020) and Managing Director, Global Equity Portfolio Management (2007-2017) at Epoch Investment Partners. Prior to this, Richard held senior business development and portfolio management roles at Schroder’s and Credit Suisse Asset Management respectively. He joined the Walter Scott Board in February 2023. Richard holds an MA in Politics and Modern History from the University of Edinburgh.