The Association of Chart and Technical Analysts (ACTA) was created in 1968, the oldest of its kind, and became the Society of Technical Analysts Ltd (STA) in November 1986.
Since then Fellowships have been awarded to those members who have either greatly contributed to the field of technical analysis or to the development of the STA. We are indebted to them all.
STA Chairpersons
Malcolm Blazey
Malcolm Blazey is past Deputy Chairman of the STA. As a professional trader and analyst Malcolm has over 40 years of market experience, mainly with leading financial institutions in the U.K., Continental Europe and the Middle East. Besides heading two international dealing operations, Malcolm was Assistant Director of Quantitative Research in the International Equities Division of a major European Bank in the City of London, before setting up his own trading and consultancy company. Since 1998, Malcolm has traded financial and commodity futures for his own account, as well as running his trading consultancy.
John Breame
John Breame had a long career in the City, culminating in a position as Director of a major investment bank. While he was Chairman of the STA he was responsible for instigating and running a series of annual conferences. The first was on HMS Belfast – an economical venue to reflect the fact that it was a new and untried venture for the STA. As it turned out, it was a sell out and the delegates much enjoyed the change from the more usual type of venue. Two more very successful and prestigious conferences followed.
John Cameron
John Cameron is a former Director of the STA. He retired in 2012 after a long career in technical analysis and teaching. He was instrumental in setting up the STA’s educational programme and for over a decade held the position of Head of Education and Chief Examiner.
Chris Chaitow
Chris Chaitow went into the City in 1964 and worked for a number of broking partnerships, moving on to investment banks after ‘Big Bang’. He started studying technical analysis in 1966 and in 1986 was part of a team which developed Value and Momentum, which combined technical trends with quantitative value techniques and delivered above market performance for many years. Around 2000 he helped progress this by adding a quality measure, to develop a system known as Tricast. In the 1980s and 1990s he was regularly voted number one European technical analyst in Institutional Investor and Reuters polls.
Chris was involved in the early days of ACTA and was an original committee member. He is now retired and lives in Thailand.
David Charters
In 1973, already with a background of technical analysis with a Liverpool stockbroker, David joined Investment Research of Cambridge Limited, doyen of the technical analysis movement since its foundation in Cambridge in 1945 by Alec Ellinger. He became managing director in the 1980s and steered the business gradually away from published analysis newsletters to practical fund management for private clients and small pension schemes.
Feeling a keen sense of urgency to educate private investors, David held many evening seminars over the years and was author of a best-selling book “Charters on Charting”, published in 1995 and serialised in the Financial Times. Over many years he also spoke for IFTA, the US Market Technicians Association and many European Technical Analysis Societies. In 2000 he took early retirement, selling the business to Brown Shipley in London and today enjoys a varied life in Cambridge.
Reg Coaker
Reg Coaker has always been a sole trader and in the late 1960s read an article in The Investors Chronicle written by David Fuller. He concluded that charts ‘made sense’, took some courses and also began to attend ACTA meetings. He also gave some presentations, mainly on the work of Welles Wilder (the deviser of the RSI indicator). Reg was also an early developer of computer software for technical analysis, though at the early stage data feeds were a problem.
In the 1980s when Philip Gray became Chairman of ACTA he began the process of changing it to the STA. Reg was very involved in this process.
John Cuningham
Following education at Marlborough College and Downing College, Cambridge, John decided to remain in Cambridge where he joined locally-based Investment Research, a greatly admired partnership built by Alec Ellinger, the doyen of technical analysis in Europe. Over the years John became a recognized expert in the technical analysis of UK equities and currencies and held a number of important consultancies.
As technology changed and the euro appeared, removing all the cross-rates between individual European currencies, John modified his approach and embraced the changes. He was always a highly sought-after and competent speaker, able to get the technical analysis message across to both professional and private investors; his heart was always with the former.
When Investment Research was converted into a limited company, Investment Research of Cambridge Limited, John was elected Chairman, a post which he held until his retirement.
Jeremy du Plessis
Current Company: Indexia
In 1982 Jeremy founded Indexia Research and produced one of the first PC based technical analysis software programs. He is an expert on Point and Figure charts and has been lecturing the Point and Figure module on the STA Diploma Course for nearly two decades. He sets the Point and Figure module for the International Federation of Technical Analysts (IFTA) and is the author of the books ‘The definitive guide to Point and Figure’ and ‘21st Century Point and Figure’.
Nicole Elliott
A graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science (BSc Social Psychology) Nicole Elliott has worked in banks in the City of London for the last 30 years. Whether in sales, trading or forecasting technical analysis has always been the bedrock of her thinking. Key expertise lies within all areas of treasury: foreign exchange, money markets, fixed income and commodities.
She has also added to the body of knowledge of the industry writing the first western book on Ichimoku Cloud Charts. Strong media links and a cult following are due to her prescient calls on the markets and often entertaining format.
Prof Ronald Giles
Prof Ron Giles has been a lecturer at South Bank University and Queen Mary University, teaching and researching in many different areas include Errors in Economic Observations, Econometrics, Mathematical Statistics, Financial Markets and Institutions, Quantitative Finance, Behavioural Finance and Technical Analysis. Ron was instrumental in setting up the diploma courses in technical analysis for the STA. He has held visiting posts at Kent University, Birmingham University, City University of New York and Alicante University and was an honorary professor at Saratov University Russia. His previous business experience includes working for the National Institute of Economic and Social Research; United Nations Geneva; the UK Government Statistical service and Transterra Ltd.
Robin Griffiths
Current Company: ECU Group
Robin Griffiths is Chief Technical Strategist at ECU Group, a role he previously performed at HSBC Investment Bank for 20 years before becoming Head of Global Asset Allocation at Rathbones, and then a director and technical strategist for Cazenove Capital Management. Robin was a Partner of WI Carr and Head of Technical Analysis at Grieveson Grant. Robin has been a member of ECU’s Global Macro Team for over twenty years.
Robin has been a regular on CNN, CNBC, Reuters and Bloomberg TV. He is a committee member and former chairman of the International Federation of Technical Analysts, and former chairman of the Society of Technical Analysts. Mr Griffiths has co-written the book “Mapping The Markets: A Guide to Stockmarket Analysis” with Deborah Owen, another STA Fellow. A keen sailor, Robin has crossed the Atlantic five times, setting a new British record in 1984 with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.
Karen Jones
Previous Company: Commerzbank
Karen Jones is the former Managing Director and Head of FICC Technical Analysis Research at Commerzbank Corporates and Markets. The group was responsible for forecasting and formulating technical trading strategy globally and covered foreign exchange, fixed income, emerging markets and commodities. She has extensive experience of technical analysis spanning 30+ years. She has been voted top 3 in the world in the FX Euromoney Survey for over a decade and has won this category several times. Karen previously worked as a global FX technical strategist at CSFB (1993-1998) and as a technical analyst at Sucden (UK) Ltd (1987-1993). As well as being Treasurer for the Society, Karen is also the STA’s content editor.
Luise Kliem
Luise Kliem is a Fellow of the STA and current STA Chief Examiner. During a 20-year City career she worked first as a commodity broker, then as a stockbroker, before becoming a full-time technical analyst. She was Senior Technical Analyst (Director of Global Securities Research & Economics) at Merrill Lynch from 1995 to 2000, then joined Commerzbank Securities as Head of Technical Analysis. Luise specialised in equity research, and was consistently highly rated in surveys such as Thomson Reuters Extel, until leaving the City in 2001.
Richard Lake
Richard Lake was one of the founders, and a former Chairman, of ACTA, the predecessor of the STA. He was also one of the earliest exponents of technical analysis among the institutional stockbroking community in London, and produced technical reports from the mid 1960s until around 2012. He was responsible for persuading a number of initially sceptical fund managers that charts could be of major assistance in their investment decisions. Richard has been a frequent speaker at technical analysis conferences over the years, both in the UK and elsewhere.
Clive Lambert
Current Company: FuturesTechs
Clive Lambert is former Vice Chair of the STA and currently sits on the IFTA Board. Clive is the founder and director of Futurestechs, one of the UK’s leading independent technical analysis providers, established in 2000. Clients for their widely read Energy report include several of the world’s leading Oil Majors and Europe’s largest Utilities. Futurestechs’ Analysis is a 9 times winner at the Technical Analyst Awards. They are consistently shortlisted in several categories; topping the “Best Independent Research for Commodities” category for the 4th time in 2020.
Clive has 30+ years market experience including 10 years on the LIFFE floor. He has served on the STA Board from 2004-2011 and again since December 2015 and has been both a regular conference speaker and lecturer on STA courses for many years.
His book “Candlestick Charts: An Introduction to using Candlestick Charts” is on the STA reading list and is published by Harriman House.