83: Meet Judith MacKenzie - Founder of Downing Fund Managers, the boutique investment arm of $2.5B Downing LLP

Billion Dollar Backstory

Judith MacKenzie’s path is as unconventional as it is inspiring. She didn’t learn to invest on Wall Street.

The lessons that led her to the founder’s seat, running the boutique investment arm of $2.5B Downing LLP, started in her dad’s small news and ice cream shop in the Highlands long before finance was on her radar.

In this Episode, she sits down with Stacy to discuss:

• Her backstory– the surprising business lessons she learned as a kid and how they still influence her investing today
• Why qualitative research is just as rigorous as the numbers and how to test a company’s integrity
• The biggest red flags in management and governance that investors often miss
• How to stay true to your strategy when the market pressures you to pivot
• What it’s like to be the only woman in the room and what needs to change for the next generation of women in finance

More about Judith MacKenzie:

Judith is passionate about investing in UK smaller companies and has spent 30 years immersed in the investment world, firstly as a technology analyst and then as a fund manager. She is Chair of the small and mid-cap lobbying body, the Quoted Companies Alliance, and has experience as a board member in both private and public companies. With a value-oriented investment style, Judith has driven investment returns in excess of the industry benchmarks. Hailing from the Scottish Highlands, Judith spends her spare time in the hills with her dogs or trying not to fall off horses.

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Ops shouldn’t be.
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