Which female managers are leading the way for investment trusts?

The best performers profiled

To celebrate International Women's Day, Jayna Rana takes a look at the best-performing female investment trust managers over the past five years

Global and specialist

On the global front, BlackRock's Emily Fletcher, who has co-managed the group's £337m Frontiers trust since 2013 with Sam Vecht, has returned 39% over the last five years versus a peer group average of 36%.

She said: "I think I have the best job in the world, having the ability to travel across multiple countries each year to understand the political and economic developments of more than 40 global markets in order to find opportunities to make money for my clients."

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Since last year, Fletcher has also been managing the BlackRock GF Emerging Markets Equity Income fund.

Fellow BlackRock colleague, Olivia Markham is also one of the leading managers in her space, outperforming her peer group average loss of 24% with a return of 9% since February 2014.

She has managed the £88m BlackRock Commodities Income trust alongside Tom Holl since 2014 and the £648m BlackRock World Mining trust with Evy Hambro since 2015. S

he said as an investor, she is "constantly driven by the desire to understand company strategy and identify value opportunities in the market."

"My role is incredibly diverse, incorporating everything from macroeconomic views on global markets to technical risks of specific development projects. The ever-changing nature of financial markets will always keep me motivated as an investor," she added.

Meanwhile, in the specialist sector, Ailsa Craig and Kate Bingham, managers of the £233m International Biotechnology Trust, have returned 120% against a peer group average return of 92%.

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They have worked on the trust since 2006 and 2000 respectively, and today the team also includes Carl Harald Janson and Marek Poszepczynski.

Craig said: "The best thing about the trust is the unique characteristics such as the ability to invest in private equity. One of the best things about the job is investing in the next generation of drugs that will one day improve or even save lives."

Lastly, Herald Investment Management founder and tech expert Katie Potts is one of the sector's longest-serving managers, having run the £855m Herald Investment Trust since 1994. She also runs the open-ended Herald Worldwide Technology fund.

Over the past five years, Potts has returned 70% versus a peer group average return of 67%.