Nine ‘star’ fund managers of the future

The term “star fund manager”, once associated with stock pickers who could seemingly do no wrong, has taken plenty of knocks in the last decade. 

We had the implosion of Neil Woodford’s flagship fund in 2019 and, more recently, a few dire years of performance for the other most obvious “stars” in the UK, Terry Smith and Nick Train.

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This can teach us that no manager is infallible, that performance can wax and wane partly in line with the fortunes of specific investment styles, and that said performance does need monitoring. 

But good stock pickers do still exist, and it can pay off to identify them relatively early in their career.

We looked at this on a fund level the other week, using quantitative measures to highlight smaller funds whose manager seems to have shown genuine skill. But it’s also worth considering the managers themselves who have turned heads.

With that in mind, we asked fund selectors which managers seem to be on the rise, how to go about the difficult task of spotting such individuals, and what drawbacks to bear in mind.

Do rules of thumb apply?

Overlooked, outperforming funds can be tricky for DIY investors to spot ahead of the crowd, thanks to their limited resources. They cannot speak to the investment managers or always get deep insight into a specific fund.

The task is arguably even tougher with spotting specific promising fund managers, although investors can, for example, look at fund of fund portfolios and interviews on sites such as ours as a source of inspiration.

There are no real rules of thumb for spotting an up and coming “star” manager. 

It might be that a manager has good knowledge and enthusiasm, can stick to their convictions, and has a clear investment process in mind. There’s also the idea that a manager is newer, younger, and hungry to prove themselves, and less distracted by the trappings of success.

But a few signs can sometimes play a role. Fund performance is one indicator that a manager is doing something right, as is them being handed control of a fund. 

There’s also the idea of watching a younger manager who works alongside more established names.

The names that stood out

Putting all those notes of caution to one side, fund buyers with a focus on promising names have identified a few examples.

Andrew Alexander, who runs the MGTS Qualis Growth I GBP Acc (BQ66LK0) and MGTS Qualis Defensive I GBP Acc (BQ66LH7) funds and looks for lesser-known funds with promise, is keen on Joe Stephens and Sagar Thanki, who run the Guinness Global Quality MidCap F GBP Acc (BN0W330) fund.

“What interests me is less the fund itself, although that is very important, and more what they appear to represent,” he says. “These are two analysts by background, given the opportunity to run a focused, niche, concentrated global mid-cap strategy and so far they are doing it very well. 

“They have a clear process and a genuinely differentiated portfolio. But the key to me is the hunger that often comes with managers still building their reputation rather than defending one. The fund is small, which many buyers will see as a problem, but that is often where future talent first becomes visible.”

He adds that the best managers of the future are not always “the loudest names in the market”, noting that some will “quietly apply a disciplined process in a less crowded part of the market before the wider industry catches on”.

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The fund is tiny as Alexander suggests, with around £10 million in assets, and focuses on businesses that are “consistently profitable and exposed to structural growth themes”.

The team favours the mid-cap space because of the belief that it provides better long-term returns but tends to get overlooked – certainly something we have seen in the era of US mega-cap tech companies.

Like many Guinness funds, this is a concentrated portfolio with just 30 holdings on roughly equal weightings. 

The fund has big allocations to information technology stocks, industrials and healthcare, with holdings including Delta Electronics (Thailand) PCL SGDR (SGX:TDED), Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:JAZZ), Halma (LSE:HLMA) and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure play Vertiv Holdings Co Class A (NYSE:VRT).

The fund handed investors a pretty lacklustre return in 2025, making just 0.7%. But it has already returned around 25% so far in 2026.

Other global picks

Simon Evan-Cook, the manager of Downing Fox multi-asset funds who appeared on our recent podcast about hidden gem funds, points to a few other names.

There’s Brian McCormick on the Jupiter Global Value Equity X Acc (BF5DRJ6) fund, who Evan-Cook deems to have “the right attitude and a decent amount of experience”. He does have big shoes to fill, having taken on the fund in the wake of renowned value investor Ben Whitmore leaving Jupiter. 

The fund has an interesting composition, with a chunky allocation to smaller companies and around half the portfolio in consumer goods businesses of different types. The fund posted an impressive 24% return in 2025.

Managers from small, “boutique” asset managers can also come with promise, given that they may have fewer things to distract them from investing. 

Another name Evan-Cook mentions is certainly such an example, in the form of Peter Smith of the Palm Harbour Global Value F GBP Acc (BMG4R31) fund.

As Evan-Cook puts it: “It’s a very small boutique, him and an analyst. He’s a very focused individual who studied fund management, has wanted to be a fund manager his whole life, and set up the boutique as he felt he couldn’t do what he did at a bigger company.”

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The fund, in line with some other value portfolios, seeks out companies “with strong competitive advantages when they are available at a significant discount to their growing intrinsic value”, and favours small and mid-cap shares in Europe. 

Interestingly, it has no exposure whatsoever to the US market, with its biggest country allocations in Italy and France at 12% apiece. Around a fifth of the fund is in consumer discretionary shares.

A few other names are worth highlighting. Evan-Cook likes Vera German and Juan Torres, the managers of the Neuberger Berman Em Mkts Eq GBP I Acc (B3SC558) fund, noting that they had a good track record working for Schroders before switching firm.

Rising stars can be found in other asset classes, too. 

FundCalibre’s Darius McDermott points to Jonathan Golan, who has had good results working on both the Man Dynamic Income I H GBP Cap (BR89P80) and Man Sterling Corp Bd Profl Acc C (BNLYQX6) funds. 

He also likes Mark Benbow and Thomas Hanson, who work on the Aegon High Yield Bond GBP B Acc (3142556) fund.

The drawbacks

Defining a rising star is tricky in fund management, as investors ideally need to see how a manager has fared through different market cycles and moments of crisis. 

As such some of these names are fairly experienced but are perhaps less well known than they should be.

Fairview Investing’s Ben Yearsley notes that some managers can produce results for a very long time without getting much recognition, and points to Mark Costar, who works on JOHCM UK Growth GBP IP Inc (3300934) and JOHCM UK Dynamic IP GBP Acc (BDZRJ10), as one example.

“He has quietly built up an impressive track record, but he’s more lesser-known than an emerging [rising star],” he says.