Managers To Watch: Montanaro's Cooke on how to enjoy fund management in the good times - and bad

'Best job in the world'

George Cooke, manager of the Montanaro European Smaller Companies trust and European Income fund, discusses the importance of being an analyst first and foremost.

Since university - where he studied for a Masters in corporate strategy and governance - Montanaro's George Cooke has always been interested in learning about companies.  He began his career on the graduate scheme as an analyst at reinsurance intermediary Aon Benfield, but soon found he wanted to work at a smaller firm and, in turn, analyse smaller companies. He said: "I found myself dealing with capital structures and run-off solutions for insurance and reinsurance companies, which was very niche. It was good although I did not love it, but while I was there I did my CFA which helped...