Sian joins from BlackRock, where she spent more than six years fundraising for the group’s Alternatives platform, most recently as a Director in the Multi-Alternatives Product Strategy Team. Her responsibilities included designing innovative solutions for investors, client engagement and fundraising. Prior to this, Sian spent time in the Investment Solutions Team at Partners Group, as an Investment Manager at Railpen, and in the multi-asset team at Schroders. She began her career at JPMorgan.

Reporting to Caroline Turner, Global Head of Institutional Sales and Consultant Relations, Sian will be focused on bolstering the UK sales effort, supporting fundraising efforts for several funds, including the Octopus Affordable Housing Fund, the Octopus Sustainable Infrastructure Fund and the Octopus Healthcare Fund. 

Turner said: “One of our biggest ambitions at Octopus Investments is to grow our assets under management from £13bn to £50bn by 2030. We expect that a large proportion of this growth is likely to come from our institutional business. We are so excited for Sian to be joining the team, which only goes to further underline the strategic importance of the institutional business. Her expertise will be critical in helping us to expand our distribution capabilities within the UK, which continues to be our core focus market.”    

Roberts said: “Octopus Investments is an agile and energetic business that has a strong track record of going into specialist investment areas and making a real difference in society. Whether that’s providing more quality care beds or affordable homes for those that need them most, I look forward to supporting the firm’s mission of building institutional products that are really trying to solve the world’s biggest problems.

“I hope to be able to use my experience to expand the distribution channels of the Octopus institutional business and to partner with investors to use their capital in the most effective and impactful way.”