Mark Coombs is a British finance entrepreneur who built Ashmore Group plc into a major emerging-markets asset manager. Educated at Dulwich College and then at St John’s College, Cambridge (MA Law), Coombs began his career at ANZ Bank in 1983. He went on to create Ashmore in 1992 and led a management buy-out in 1999. Coombs steered the company to a successful initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 2006.

Under his leadership, Ashmore has specialised in emerging-markets debt, local-currency assets, corporate debt, equities and alternatives, managing tens of billions of dollars for institutional investors. Today, Coombs still serves as Chief Executive and remains a major shareholder in the company, which employs around 300 staff globally.