Kate Howitt has over 20 years’ experience as a professional investor. Having retired in 2022 from hands-on portfolio management, in 2023 Kate joined the Investment Committee of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, and of River Capital, a multi-asset boutique fund manager.
In 2015 Kate co-founded 9 Degrees, which has grown to become Australia’s leading operator of indoor boulder climbing gyms. The 9 Degrees ethos is that “climbing makes you happy” and the five venues in Sydney and Brisbane have become vibrant communities where members enjoy an exceptional climbing experience, lots of fun, and outstanding coffee to fuel them through it. As 9 Degrees’ chair, Kate has ensured that as well as achieving outstanding financial success, 9 degrees has also promoted diversity and gender equality at all levels of its community, from members and route-setters through to management and the board.
For four years Kate was included in the top 30 of Citywire’s quantitative ranking of the world’s female portfolio managers, out of ~1,700 managers. In 2015 Kate was named Money Management’s Women in Financial Services Investor of the Year and in 2016, Lonsec’s Rising Star.
From 2007 to 2022 Kate Howitt was a portfolio manager of Australian equities funds in Fidelity International. Previously Kate was an analyst / portfolio manager with AMP Capital, and a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in Sydney. Kate received her Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and her Bachelor of Arts from St John’s College, the second-oldest liberal arts college in the USA. At Booth Kate was a recipient of the prestigious Dean’s Award for Distinction.
