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La Vida Trustees

La Vida Trustees Profiles


 
Katy Vatis - Chairperson

Katy Vatis

Chairperson

Katy co-founded La Vida with Helen Ilsley after a business trip to Brazil in early 2006. She has a degree in Economics with Spanish from the University of Birmingham. Katy started her career at Pictet Asset Management in 2000 and moved to Threadneedle Investments in 2006 as a Latin American Portfolio Manager. Her work has involved a lot of travel to the region where she has experienced first hand the extreme levels poverty and the need for improvements in health and education. Katy is a CFA charterholder and speaks Spanish and Portuguese.


Helen Ilsley- Secretary

Helen Ilsley

Secretary

Helen co-founded La Vida together with Katy Vatis in the Autumn of 2006, specifically to raise funds for their original project, The Ponseti Technique Clubfoot Project in Brazil. Helen is a Latin American equity salesperson at Deutsche Bank, and has been closely involved with Latin America for more than 12 years. She received her BA in Business Economics from Nottingham Trent University.


Aneli Gonzalez- Treasurer

Aneli Gonzalez

Treasurer

Aneli joined the LA VIDA Board of Trustees in 2006, with the aim of giving something back to Latin America. Originally from Guatemala, she graduated with First Class honours from the London School of Economics, has a M.Sc. in Economics for Development from Oxford University. She started her career at Merrill Lynch in London specialising in Latin American equities. She continues with that role at another investment bank today. Both her work and family ties allows her to have a strong connection with the region which she visits regularly. Aneli is a CFA charterholder and is fluent in Spanish, French and English.


Rosie Bichard- Trustee

Rosie Bichard

Trustee

Rosie has a degree in French and Spanish from St John's College, Cambridge and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. She has worked in finance since 1990, and was involved with Latin America for twelve years as both an investment banker and a portfolio manager for Deutsche Bank. She currently works as the Global Consumer Analyst for Newton Investment Management, part of Bank of New York Mellon. Rosie has travelled extensively in Latin America for both personal and professional reasons and speaks both Spanish and Portuguese. Rosie became a La Vida trustee in early 2008.


Lisa Smart - Head of External Communications

Lisa Smart

Trustee

Lisa has been a trustee of La Vida since it was founded in 2006. She is Director of Client Services at Genesis Investment Management. Lisa recently received her MBA from London Business School and has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Durham.


Marta Rodriguez - Head of Projects

Marta Rodriguez

Head of Projects

Marta joined La Vida in January 2009. She is responsible for co-ordinating all the administration for La Vida's projects and also chairs the New Projects Prioritisation Committee. She has a degree in Business Administration and Finance from the University of Zaragoza in Spain. Marta started her career with Deutsche Bank in Edinburgh in 2000, has also worked for State Street Global Advisors, JPMorgan Asset Management, which also involved managing the relationship of their Latin American business from a product perspective. She joined First State Investments as a Senior Product Manager in November 2011. Her trips to Latin America over the last few years have encouraged her to get involved with La Vida. Marta is a CFA Charterholder and speaks Spanish and English.


Life at La Vida

La Vida was co-founded by Katy Vatis and Helen Ilsley following a business trip to Brazil in Februaury 2006, where they met Dr. Monica Nogueira, through a Brazilian friend. Dr Nogueira, an orthopaedic paediatric surgeon based in Sao Paulo, was trying to get funding (unsuccessfully) from Brazilian corporates for a project which trains Brazilian orthopaedic surgeons the 'Ponseti Technique' of treating Clubfoot. Katy and Helen felt they could raise the $50k needed for the 2 year project back in the UK through fundraising events and direct donations.