Fred Hervey

Fred Hervey has advised private clients on their investments since 1997. He began his career at the stockbroker James Capel, where he met his future co-founder Ross Elder, and subsequently ran a team of bankers advising clients at Barclays Wealth (Barclays Private Bank). He then went on to establish and co-head Berenberg's UK private banking business as Managing Director and Co-Head of Berenberg Private Banking UK.

In 2014, Hervey co-founded Lincoln Private Investment Office in London alongside Ross Elder and Becky Robbins (COO). The founders' experience of the 2008 financial crisis shaped Lincoln's founding premise: an independent, conflict-free "private investment office for the 21st century" that is jointly owned by its team and its clients, so that staff invest alongside clients and share in both gains and losses. By 2018 the firm reported over 100 clients (minimum £3m investment) and more than £300m of assets under management.

As Chief Investment Officer, Hervey is responsible for Lincoln's overall investment proposition and chairs the firm's Investment Committee. He is a regular voice on the firm's investment letters and monthly "Lincoln Podcast," discussing macroeconomic and market themes such as inflation, central-bank policy, geopolitics, and portfolio positioning.

Hervey studied Economics and Management at Royal Holloway, University of London, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI). He is consistently recognized in the Spear's 500 index of top HNW wealth managers (Top Recommended, 2026). He is married with two children and enjoys travelling.

• Alignment / "skin in the game": Lincoln's core principle is that every member of the team invests personally in the same way as clients — "If we ever lose money for our clients, we lose money for ourselves and our families."
• Unconflicted advice: Hervey describes the aim as delivering "unconflicted advice that we would like to receive ourselves," independent of product-selling incentives.
• Diversified, multi-asset, often contrarian positioning: Portfolios span global equities, funds, secondary private equity, hedge funds, and alternatives, with a willingness to take contrarian views (e.g., an overweight allocation to Japanese equities and diversification away from US-concentrated markets).
• Client fit over product: Advisers maintain close, direct relationships and build tailored strategies rather than off-the-shelf products.
• Not a startup/seed investor: Founders seeking angel or seed venture capital are not the fit here — Lincoln manages diversified capital for wealthy private clients.