Insight Investment

Colm McDonagh

Chief Executive Officer, Insight Europe

Colm is CEO of Insight Investment Management (Europe) Limited, Insight’s EU-domiciled entity headquartered in Dublin since his appointment in December 2020. He joined Insight in 2008 as Head of Emerging Market Fixed Income, responsible for the investment team and associated products globally. He is a senior member of the global investment management team, the Global Research Macro Group, and Chair of Insight’s Sovereign ESG Group.

He has 25 years’ experience of working in the financial services industry (23 years in asset management) across a number of senior positions. Prior to joining Insight, he had roles as a partner at Hydra Capital and as Head of EM Debt at Aberdeen Asset Management. He started his career at Bank of America in 1996. Colm obtained his Bachelor of Business and Legal Studies degree from University College Dublin.

Thomas Donohoe

Chief Investment Officer, Insight Europe

Thomas joined Insight in August 2019 with responsibility for overseeing investment management activities associated with Insight’s funds. Thomas is the Designated Person for Investment Management Oversight and the Chief Investment Officer for Insight Investment Management (Europe) Ltd. Prior to joining Insight, Thomas had over 10 years’ experience as an investment consultant with LCP and Aon Hewitt providing specialist advice to institutional pension scheme trustees on investment strategy, risk management and investment manager research. Thomas graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelors in Actuarial & Financial Studies (first class honours) and is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Lee Pope

Chief Operating Officer, Insight Europe

Lee is Chief Operating Officer of Insight Investment Management (Europe) Limited, Insight’s EU-domiciled entity. He joined Insight in November 2008 and is the Head of Pooled Fund Operations, responsible for the oversight of all pooled funds and closed-ended vehicle operations. Prior to joining Insight, Lee was Head of UK Vendor Management at JPMorgan Asset Management for 2.5 years, responsible for all UK and Channel Island outsourcing arrangements. In 1995, Lee worked at Morgan Grenfell (now Deutsche Asset Management) in various roles including Head of Global Equity Client Administration & Service, Head of DWS UK Transfer Agency and Vice President in Operational Risk Management. He commenced his investment management career in 1991 at the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme as an Investment Accountant. Lee graduated from Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University) with a BSc in Earth Science and has also completed the Certified Investment Fund Director programme. He is a member of the Certified Investment Fund Director Institute.

Julie O'Connor

Consultant Relations Director, Insight Europe

Julie joined Insight in October 2022 as a Consultant Relations Director. Julie joined Insight from Vanguard Asset Management having joined as Head of Distribution Change Management in 2017, subsequently moving to be Manager of Distribution and Branch Oversight for Vanguard’s European funds’ business for three years. Julie began her career at Allied Irish Bank, moving on to spend six years as a Valuations Manager for Bank of New York Mellon and subsequently at M&G Investments. Julie has a Professional Diploma in Financial Advice and Professional Certification as a Designated Person in a Fund Management Company from University College Dublin. She is a Qualified Financial Adviser.

Gerry Brennan

Chief Risk Officer, Insight Europe

Gerry joined Insight for the second time in July 2018 as Head of Compliance and Corporate Risk, Insight Europe. Before this role, he was Director of Financial Services Regulatory at legal firm, Maples and Calder. Before Maples and Calder, he spent seven years in London most recently as Head of Fund Compliance at Insight. His other London-based roles have included Senior Funds Officer at Close Brothers Asset Management and Compliance and Risk Officer at Castlestone Asset Management. Before coming to London, Gerry worked at the Central Bank of Ireland for over three years in the CIS authorisation department. Gerry graduated with a BA in Journalism and a Masters degree in Economic Science & International Finance from the National University of Ireland. He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Management from the ACCA and a Professional Certificate in Compliance from the ACOI. Gerry is a member of the Irish Funds MiFID Working Group and previously was a member of the UCITS and Loans Fund working groups.

Cathriona McCabe

Head of Compliance, Insight Europe

Cathriona joined Insight in April 2019 as Compliance Manager and in April 2020 was made Designated Person for Regulatory Compliance and Head of Compliance for Insight’s EU-domiciled entity, Insight Investment Management (Europe) Limited. Cathriona began her career in the asset management industry in 2013, which includes roles in the Depository function at Brown Brothers Harriman and PFPC. Cathriona has also worked for Maples Group Law Firm in their Financial Services Regulatory Team, advising several of the world’s largest asset managers on their compliance and AML frameworks. Cathriona holds a Bachelor of Business and Legal Studies degree from University College Dublin, qualifications from the Institute of Bankers in the areas of compliance, fraud and white-collar crime and a Professional Certificate in Compliance from the ACOI.

Frank Diesterhöft

Head of German Branch and Co-Head of Distribution for Germany and Austria

Frank joined Insight in September 2018 as Head of Fixed Income Sales, Germany. He is responsible for the business development of the firm’s investment strategies, focusing on German institutional clients. Prior to Insight, Frank held relationship management roles with Quoniam Asset Management GmbH and Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co KG Asset Management. From 2002, he spent 12 years in various roles with Commerzbank, including in interest rate derivatives structuring and derivatives and solutions sales. Frank began his career in the financial industry in 2001 as a stock and options trader at Vereins- und Westbank AG in Hamburg. He holds a BBA and an MSc in Finance from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Germany.

Blanca König

Client Director, Client Solutions Group

Blanca joined Insight in December 2018 as a Client Director. Prior to Insight, Blanca spent three years at DWS, latterly as the Head of Index Investment Specialists, where she also oversaw the structuring of the fixed income ETF range. She started her career in financial services at BlackRock (formerly BGI) in 2003 in business development. She went on to hold various roles including Fixed Income Investment Specialist and Senior Sales Strategist. Blanca graduated from Berufsakademie Berlin, Germany, with a Diplom Betriebswirt (BA equivalent) in Business Administration and Finance. She is also a CFA charterholder.

Isabelle Armbruster

Client Director, Client Solutions Group

Isabelle joined Insight’s Client Relationship Team in January 2011 focusing on servicing European clients. Prior to joining Insight, Isabelle worked at Capital International as a Client Marketing Associate with marketing communication responsibilities for institutional clients. She started at Capital International, as an Account Co-ordination Associate, in 2002. Isabelle began her career in 2001 in the Product Support Team at Barclays Private Banking. She holds BA (Hons) in Business Administration from the University of Greenwich, London and the Investment Management Certificate from the CFA Society of the UK.

Philip Senior, CFA

Client Director, Client Solutions Group

Philip joined the Client Relationship Management Team as a Client Director in January 2019. He is responsible for designing investment solutions and servicing clients in France, Ireland and the UK across the full range of asset classes. Philip initially joined Insight in March 2013 as a Solution Designer where he worked on the design and delivery of investment solutions tailored to address the specific risk and return objectives of Insight’s clients. Prior to joining Insight, Philip spent two years at UBS working in their debt capital markets division, creating structured finance solutions for Northern European financial institutions. He began his career in 2009 as an analyst specialising in asset-backed securities at Rabobank. Philip graduated from Oxford University with an MEng in Engineering Science and is also a CFA charterholder.