Chase De Vere's Justine Fearns: There Is Huge Value In A Supportive Workplace

In an industry that tends to see a lot of people moves, Justine Fearns has spent  21 years working for Chase de Vere in both its London and Bath offices.

Having started in administration, she now leads the firm's discretionary managed portfolio service (MPS) business with Ben Willis and heads up the group's investment research.

Ahead of International Women's Day, Fearns talks about her career so far, navigating the male-dominated industry, as well as her future goals. 

How did you begin your career in finance?

I was in administration after university and decided to move into finance. I found a role in what was then a small company called Chase de Vere, as an administrator. I moved quickly into compliance before moving back into administration.

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How has the gender balance changed since you started at Chase de Vere?

When I joined Chase de Vere there was a noticeable difference between the genders, it was almost 'upstairs, downstairs'.

The upstairs floor was predominantly sales people, which were almost all male, and the bottom floor was administration, which was predominantly female.

There were three females in the sales team who were all very strong women, and I certainly would not have wanted to mess with one of them, and there were a couple of male graduates that started in PA roles, but there was a divide between the genders.

Now, we are in an open plan office and the divide is not quite as stark, although it could be better. It shows we have come on as a company and as an industry.

How did your role evolve into portfolio management?

My administration role in the late 1990s was more paraplanning and getting to know clients, and after a while I decided I wanted to become an adviser. There were opportunities to do this in the Bath office, where I had moved to by then. 

The role involved driving around Devon and Cornwall during the foot and mouth disease outbreak just after the tech bubble burst. It was pretty soul-destroying and it shows those advisers still here today have put in the hard work.

As I was giving advice to clients, I found myself focusing more and more on the fund side and research, and how to put portfolios together; this highlighted where my interests really lay.

I had a chat about transferring departments and moved into a research role in 2002 in what was a very small department.

The Global Financial Crisis, however, made our business sit up and really begin to take notice of our team. We had lots of people asking what we think and our profile was raised; it was quite satisfying as they were really listening.

In 2010, I began to start thinking that portfolio management would be something I might like to do. But Chase de Vere was not ready.