Meet the Manager: Iona Dent, Associate Portfolio Manager, Global Growth Equity Strategy

Iona Dent

Iona earned a B.A. (with first‑class honors) in politics, philosophy, and economics from Oxford University. She has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst^® designation.

12 years of investment experience

9 years with T. Rowe Price

Washington office location

2024—Present
In early 2024, Iona was appointed associate portfolio manager for T. Rowe Price’s Global Growth Equity Strategy, working closely with the manager, Scott Berg.

2016—2023
Joined T. Rowe Price’s Equity Division, covering frontier and emerging market (EM) banks. During her eight years as an analyst, Iona expanded further to cover financials, primarily in EM ex Asia.

2013—2016
Began career with Deutsche Bank’s equity derivatives structured products team, later switching to equity analyst position covering the consumer discretionary sector.

Tell us about your background and how you came to pursue a career in asset management?

I studied PPE (politics, philosophy, and economics) at Oxford University. I did some research and realized global investing was a good match for me. I could remain intellectually curious and use my quant skills, while also traveling and meeting with great businesses globally. I started my career in finance on the sell side in derivatives and later European consumer equity research in London, before moving to the buy side with T. Rowe Price in 2016.

I specifically joined T. Rowe Price as I knew the firm as a client on the investment side when I was in research. Everyone I had met seemed both smart and interesting, yet also humble and genuine. When I joined, I started off with banks, looking at frontier markets and Africa and the Middle East. During my eight years as an analyst on the T. Rowe Price global research platform, I expanded further into financials primarily in EM ex Asia, formally covering 37 stocks in 15 countries globally and informally looking at many more.

Can you tell us about your role as an associate portfolio manager for T. Rowe Price’s Global Growth Equity Strategy? How do you interact with the other global equity managers and analysts?

I work very closely with Scott Berg, who has been running the strategy for 16 years since its launch in 2008. Scott’s “Durable Growth” philosophy looks in “Fertile Industries,” those with a large or growing pool of profits, for “Share Gainers” or genuinely special companies outgrowing their peers, with management teams we trust and think highly of in terms of capital allocation, where we see valuation support and rerating potential.

Our portfolio mandate is truly global in nature, covering some 30 countries, which include 15 emerging and frontier markets. The investment approach is bottom up, while also keeping key macro trends top of mind. Portfolio construction is broadly sector neutral versus a core benchmark, the MSCI AC World Index. The Global Growth Strategy looks to minimize directional bets (with portfolio beta typically 1–1.05), letting stock picking within sectors drive the outcome.

Our portfolio mandate is truly global in nature, covering some 30 countries, which include 15 emerging and frontier markets.

In terms of interacting with other T. Rowe Price equity managers and analysts, we follow a “best ideas” concept that leverages the global research platform. With 180 equity research professionals worldwide, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., fosters an environment in which colleagues are always happy to share their views and investment knowledge.

With such a geographically large and structurally diverse universe as global equities, how do you and your team decide where to focus your portfolio research effort?

Our direct investment team expanded to three last year for the first time, which allowed us to introduce a greater sector and regional division of labor between us. My primary focus is on financials, consumer staples, and industrials among global sectors and EM among regions. Phil Richards, our team analyst based in London, focuses on the global tech, consumer discretionary, and health care sectors and the European region.

It is important for the team to remain flexible regarding portfolio and research responsibilities. Scott, Phil, and I will discuss and debate key ideas and market moves each week across sectors and regions. We are very much driven by the global research platform’s idea generation. I also utilize quant screens highlighting interesting ideas within the opportunity set, such as consensus upgrades coming through, valuations inflecting, or broader changes within the quality growth space. Lastly, our timeline and return hurdles can help to narrow the opportunity set. For Global Growth Equity, we typically look for a 40% to 60% return potential over two to three years, or roughly an annual return of 15% to 20%.

Briefly, what is your outlook for the global equity markets in 2025?

After such strong returns in 2023 and 2024, some investors worry that much of the good economic news may already be “in the price.” The U.S. and China are the key drivers at the global macro level and will be vital to watch in terms of consumer confidence. While the pace of job creation has slowed, companies continue to hire for now, while consumer balance sheets are healthy. The U.S. fiscal impulse remains supportive of growth, with the potential extension of tax cuts from the Trump administration, though in the short term import tariffs are a clear headwind. Fed rate cuts at the margin should feed through the transmission mechanism and be incrementally supportive in the U.S. China may remain in a tougher place, but incremental policy stimulus should help to support growth off a low base.

From a market perspective, global earnings growth has troughed, which is encouraging, and exited 2024 at high single digit levels. The market is expecting low double digit levels for 2025, which could prove optimistic depending on how economic policy, macro trends, and geopolitics play out. While we still see a broadly constructive backdrop for earnings in 2025, there could be some volatility in the market trajectory given the fuller starting point on valuations.

Global valuations are above average, though not back to their 2020/21 extremes. However, a lot of this is driven by the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants. Equal weighted valuations are actually still pretty much broadly in line versus the past 10 years. In addition, EM stocks are trading at a 35%+ discount to the U.S., despite having some very solid companies in markets with both cyclical and secular growth tailwinds. Thus, we see some interesting opportunities there in a space that is currently under owned in general, in the context of a strong USD improving our buying power as well. This is particularly true for Southeast Asia, where we see good long term markets with secular growth stories at reasonable valuations, partly due to geopolitical uncertainty. Any reduction in geopolitical uncertainty or resolution on tariffs would be supportive for these markets.

Loose fiscal policy and sticky inflation could reduce the scope for Fed rate cuts, resulting in rising yields. Should equity investors fear the return of the bond market “vigilantes” in 2025?

From here, one risk for equity markets that we are monitoring closely is indeed overheating, reflected in fiscal spend and inflation prints. We believe we are seeing a return to “more normal” long‑term rates. It was the decade from 2010 following the global financial crisis, with its low growth, low inflation, and close to zero policy rates, that was the abnormality, in our view. A 4.0% to 5.5% range for the 10‑year U.S. Treasury yield makes much more sense to us from here, when you think about the composition of the yield in terms of short‑term interest rates, the term premium, and inflation expectations in particular.

As a result, we are playing market segments where a steeper yield curve can be beneficial, such as regional financial stocks. Fiscal policy is best thought of as a range of outcomes rather than a single forecast path. Who knows what DOGE will actually bring? Greater government efficiency is badly needed, and we have seen President Javier Milei deliver impressively in Argentina so far. In a bull case scenario, we could see a taste of that in the U.S. and the productivity gains from AI could be deflationary in the medium‑term, offsetting some of the potential upward pressure from import tariffs. Lastly, President Trump’s agenda to increase U.S. oil output could help to contain global oil prices. Energy was a key swing factor in the post‑pandemic inflation spike in 2021/22, so that is certainly a better position for the world economy to be in.

...the productivity gains from AI could be deflationary in the medium‑term, offsetting some of the potential upward pressure from import tariffs.

Looking to 2025, investors are concerned by heightened geopolitical risks like instability in the Middle East and U.S.‑China tensions, added to which we now have President Trump’s threat of import tariffs. Which risks, if any, keep you awake at night?

Certainly, the second Trump administration may pose some significant risks. Geopolitics continues to generate negative financial media headlines. However, there can be winners too from “China+1” global supply chain strategies, as we have seen in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, so we need to consider second order ramifications here too. At this juncture, I worry more about the “unknown unknowns” and that is what keeps me awake at night. I have already invested through “black swan” events, including the COVID pandemic, and Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine. Lastly, the very bullish strategy outlooks from the sell side, plus optimistic retail investor positioning, are orange flags that make me wary and wanting to be somewhat contrarian with regard to overall risk appetite into 2025.

Iona, lastly can you please share with us some of your family background and personal interests. How do you usually relax outside work?

For me, family life comes first, where my 18‑month‑old toddler keeps me both entertained and busy. In my spare time, I like to travel and read. I also had the pleasure of competing for Great Britain in equestrian eventing and still like to ride and keep up with the equestrian world to relax.