Mark Coombs, the Investment Manager’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Investment Committee, having been involved in emerging markets since 1983. He holds an MA (Hons) in Law from Cambridge University and joined Grindlays Bank plc in 1983. Following its acquisition by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) he was appointed Head of Emerging Markets Group for ANZ Merchant Bank Limited in 1988 and in 1991 became Head of the International Merchant Banking Division of ANZ Grindlays Bank plc and in 1997 Head of Markets for ANZ Group. He was appointed to the Board of the Emerging Markets Trade Association in 1993 and Co-Chair in 2000. He has been Chairman of the Investment Committee since he established the business as a separate division within ANZ in 1992, and is responsible for setting overall investment strategy of funds managed.

Robin Forrest is a Senior Portfolio Manager of Ashmore Investment Management Limited and a Member of its Investment Committee. Mr. Forrest joined Ashmore in 2006 after 13 years at JP Morgan, where he was most recently Vice President—Situational Finance, with a focus on credit intensive corporate situations in CEEMEA geographies. During this period, he had several years of experience in each of capital markets, origination, structuring, execution, syndication, risk management and credit within loan and high yield markets and in Emerging Markets. Robin has a BA (Hons) in Russian & French from Oxford University.

Fernando Assad is a Senior Portfolio Manager of the Investment Manager and a Member of its Investment Committee. He joined Ashmore Investment Advisors Limited in 2007 as an equity portfolio manager after six years at Morgan Stanley where he was a Vice President responsible for management of Emerging Market equities and the launch of the Global Emerging and Convergence Opportunities portfolio within Global Wealth Management in London. He previously worked for SG Asset Management Emerging Markets and as an intern in Merrill Lynch Broker Services. Mr. Assad is a CFA Charterholder and has a BA in Economics from the American International University in London.

Mr. Urganci, Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Local Currency strategy and a Member of the Investment Committee. He joined Ashmore in 2006 after 8 years at HSBC. Mr. Urganci has experience in Emerging Markets trading and market making, including local currency and external debt, interest rate and currency derivatives. He started his career at HSBC Bank AS Istanbul/Turkey in 1997 and worked at HSBC Bank London between 2004 and 2006. Mr. Urganci has a BSc degree in Industrial Engineering from Bogazici University.

Mr. Xu is a Portfolio Manager, Head of External Debt strategy and a Member of the Investment Committee. He joined Ashmore in 2008 after 2 years at JPMorgan’s investment bank in London, where he was an Asian Product Manager in the Global Emerging Markets group, focusing on designing, managing and distributing Asia (ex Japan) local rates and FX products to institutional clients in Europe and the US. He holds a Master’s degree in Finance from EDHEC Business School in France.

Mr. Shah, Portfolio Manager and a Member of the Investment Committee, joined Ashmore in 2010 from European Credit Management (ECM) where he was an Emerging Market portfolio manager. Prior to ECM, he worked for ING Financial Markets from 2005 – 2007 trading and investing in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, and at Morley Fund Management from 2001-2005 as a fund manager. His earlier career from 1994 to 2001 was as an Actuary, working variously for Bacon and Woodrow, Aon Consulting. Mr. Shah is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and holds a 1st class BSc in Actuarial Science from City University in London.