Leadership Team

Simon has overall responsibility for the day-to-day decisions and strategic direction of Octopus Group.

Much of his time is spent looking for new opportunities for Octopus, such as moving into the commercial energy sector with Octopus Energy.

Before founding Octopus in 2000, Simon spent two years working at Mercury Asset Management. He holds a first-class MA in Modern Languages from St. Andrews University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Benjamin is CEO of Fund Management at Octopus Investments, with responsibility for Octopus Real Estate, Sustainable Infrastructure, the Quoted Smaller Companies team, Octopus Australia and Corporate Development. He joined Octopus in 2010 and has broad experience in institutional and retail fund management, working across multiple institutional and retail investment funds, including leading the Octopus Apollo VCT. He led our Octopus Healthcare, and then Octopus Real Estate teams for 6 years, chairing its Investment Committee.
 
Prior to Octopus, Benjamin invested across a range of sectors at YFM Equity Partners and Interregnum, and previously worked in technology and consulting.  He has an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Jonathan oversees fund management investment strategy. Since joining Octopus in 2015, he has been Product Head for Octopus Inheritance Tax Service, led the Specialist Finance Investment Team and chaired the Octopus Investment Committee.  

Jonathan manages a number of our central support services. Jonathan joined Octopus in 2019. His previous roles include Chief Operating Officer of Zoopla’s software business and Managing Director of TripAdvisor’s holiday lettings business.

Jessica heads up the team that manages investment products across our tax-efficient and institutional investments, including venture capital trusts and investments that qualify for Business Relief. She joined Octopus in 2014 and is a qualified tax adviser.

Anna is responsible for anything related to recruiting, developing, and retaining people at Octopus. Her main priority is making Octopus a great place to work, ensuring all employees are treated fairly and equally. Anna joined Octopus in 2017 from the Civil Service, where she led the Business Partner and Recruitment Team for the Department of Business and Industrial Strategy.

Ed joined Octopus in 2010. He is head of the Octopus Inheritance Tax Service, which includes Fern Trading and the Octopus Trading Partnership, and is responsible for the investment performance of these products. He is also a member of the Octopus investment committee and is a director of several Octopus portfolio companies.

With overall responsibility for the Quoted Companies team at Octopus, Richard has over 25 years’ experience of smaller company investing. He is lead manager of our FP Octopus UK Micro Cap Growth Fund, also oversees the investment process of the team which include the AIM IHT portfolios, and AIM VCTs. Richard is also a co-manager on the FP Octopus UK Multi Cap Income & FP Octopus UK Future Generation Funds. Richard started his career in 1995 at Duncan Lawrie, where he managed a successful small companies fund. He subsequently joined Close Brothers to manage a smaller companies investment trust before moving to Octopus Investments Limited to head up the Quoted Companies team in 2004.

John joined Octopus in 2015 as Head of Risk. He began his career at PwC London, before moving to UBS, where he covered risks across the whole business in Wealth Management, Asset Management and the Investment Bank.

Kristy Barr joined Octopus Investments as Head of Sales and Customer in September 2021. She joined from Abrdn, where she was responsible for the key strategic partners of Aberdeen Standard Investments and Standard Life. Kristy was previously Head of Institutional, Europe for BMO Global Asset Management and spent 15 years in various sales and client management roles within hedge funds and real estate.