Stuart Fowler
is the anti-guru guru. He has been in the investment business since leaving Oxford in 1969, first as a stockbroker and then as a money manager. He has worked with institutional investment clients all over the world, including foreign government funds and some of the world's largest pension funds, as well as individuals. He held senior management positions in two mainstream British firms, Touche Remnant and Hill Samuel, before managing two UK-based international start-ups, Quorum and Valu-Trac. His experience spans investment research, managing portfolios, client relationships and running businesses. A particular focus has been on what he calls in the book 'investment technology': the role of computers in expert decision processes and in the design and delivery of investment services.
In 1996 he left the coal-face to focus on management consulting for UK investment businesses through his own firm, Investment By Design. Working for fund managers and investment planners, he helps firms break from the past by implementing business models and technology that align their agenda with their customers'. Before starting the book he spent a year working with a former client to develop the concept and technology for a new online portfolio-management business called Fifth Freedom. The dotcom bubble burst before this launched but much of the thinking behind it enthuses the No Monkey Business project and some of its decision technology will be on the book's website.