Meet the Tutor: Robin McGhee

Written by Ellie Blow, 20th January 2025

Robin McGhee TEP is a tutor on the STEP Certificate and Diploma in International Trust Management pathway, as well as a member of STEP’s Professional Standards Committee. As a trust practitioner, he has over 40 years’ experience of managing trusts across the world, and as a trainer he has almost as long a history. 

We sat down with Robin to discuss his career, leadership and ethics, and his unusual sporting hobby…

‘I started in this industry after leaving school,’ Robin says. Going straight into a role in NatWest’s trust and estates department after finishing his A Levels, he says he wanted to ‘find a career, rather than going off to university.’

‘I was always keen to get involved in teaching, lecturing – helping other colleagues,’ he says. ‘Way back, in 1985, I started to work part-time at a college in London – finishing work then going off to [teach] a course for a couple of hours – and I really enjoyed it. I thought, this is for me.’ His teaching experience soon came in handy during the day job as he took a position in NatWest’s training department.

Next came a move to the Cayman Islands, ‘for a couple of years… I did some lecturing and training while I was there – again, really enjoyed it – then moved to the Isle of Man and took up a part-time position in the evenings, training and taking courses on trust and company law.’

Robin was now developing his own courses and writing material, and began to work with the Chartered Institute of Bankers on their trustee diploma. When STEP membership first opened up to residents of the Isle of Man, he was one of the first to join. ‘I saw it as an obvious thing to do, given what STEP was about and how it was going to be structured, and I've been heavily involved with STEP ever since.’ 

After working with STEP on their new qualification, Robin was approached by the then newly-formed CLTI, ‘and I became an author and a tutor on some of the diploma materials, as we know them today. I go right back to the start on the Certificate programme [the STEP Certificate in International Trust Management] and the diploma programme.’ 

Not content with his almost 40 years’ experience in training, Robin has sought out qualifications in education, including a Diploma in Distance Learning and, most recently, a Masters degree in education, which he says he ‘found invaluable – with regard to the way I present, the way materials are prepared – and being a student myself, putting myself back in that position’.

‘I have to keep on learning’

Robin has had a strong relationship with STEP throughout his career. ‘I’ve always been heavily involved with STEP,’ he says. ‘I was on the Committee of the local branch in the Isle of Man; I was in the local branch in Geneva; I was director of STEP Worldwide for seven years; I’m currently on the Professional Standards Committee and in the Academic Standards Working Group.’

When not working for CLTI, Robin describes his ‘day job’ as ‘working with trusts, estates and companies.’ ‘I’ve worked in the UK in this area,’ he says, ‘I’ve worked in the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man, and I spent a good number of years in Switzerland, primarily in Geneva, running trust companies – so very much involved, on a day-to-day basis, with the work most of our students are performing.’

‘That gives me a very good position,’ he says, ‘when it comes to taking the courses and delivering the materials – because I’ve actually had to work in the area that we’re training and teaching our students on. So I’m able to encourage them to bring out their experiences, and as we go through the materials, we find ways to apply them in a practical way. It’s not simply understanding the law – it’s understanding how you apply it in practice – the ‘what if?’ scenarios.’

‘I’ve been working in this industry for 45 years, and teaching it for 40 years. And I’ve found that that goes hand in hand. It means that I have to keep up-to-date – I have to develop. I have to keep on learning – which can only be a good thing! – and interacting with the students is a great way to learn. I share my lived experiences with them, and they share theirs with me, and hopefully together we get a lot out of the courses.’

Working in such high-powered jobs in far-flung corners of the world, Robin needed a way to relax, and that lead to him developing a slightly unorthodox sporting hobby. ‘I’m a qualified FIFA referee,’ he says. ‘I qualified while I was working in the Cayman Islands – which I would never have done if I hadn’t been working in the Cayman Islands! One of the people in the office there was the president of the local Football Association, and they were applying for FIFA membership. They needed referees, and I had had some experience, so…’

‘If we don’t practice leadership skills, then we won’t develop them’

One thing we’re keen to ask Robin about is his experiences of leadership. With a CV that includes positions as Managing Director and Deputy CEO, it is a field he has had significant experience with. ‘If experience has taught me anything, it has taught me that management and leadership are not the same thing,’ he says. ‘Someone might be a manager responsible for looking after a team, a department, a business even. But they're not necessarily a leader. Leadership can be exhibited by by anyone, regardless of the position that they're in.’

‘That’s something I would encourage our students to reflect on,’ he continues. ‘While they may not be a senior position now, hopefully they will be in years to come. In the meantime, they can exhibit leadership qualities in their day-to-day work: by how they handle themselves, how they interact with colleagues, with clients, with peers in the industry.’

‘It’s difficult to define leadership,’ he says, ‘but I like to think of STEP and its Code of Professional Conduct. The behaviours that are set out in the Code, which all STEP members are expected to follow, link very much to leadership qualities – and the qualities that we, as individuals, would hopefully exhibit even outside of a work environment. So: demonstrating honesty, integrity, fairness; avoiding bias; avoiding assumptions; treating people as you would expect to be treated. But also using your initiative, using your skills to not only help yourself, but also to help others. I would encourage students to look at the Code: look at those behaviours expected by STEP – and, I hope, common sense – and then apply them in their day-to-day work. And then work on developing your skills: using your initiative, having confidence, avoiding bias, always challenging your assumptions.’

‘We all have our own bias, regardless of what it is, and it’s important to work beyond that and see things differently – to open up to new ideas, to ideas that other people may have. Because often, they’re really good ideas, and that is part of leadership – bringing people with you. It’s not just about what’s best for the organisation, though hopefully that’s linked, but it is about people – that’s what I would encourage.’

‘It comes down to behaviours, I think,’ he adds, ‘and in particular, communication. Not everyone’s good at that. It sometimes takes a bit of practice, but if we don’t practice, then we won’t develop it.’

‘I think the future is really bright for those who join the industry’

‘When I look back it was a different world. There were a lot of providers, a lot of businesses, all over the world: there are fewer now. Dare I say, some practitioners of my generation might feel a little down about that,’ Robin says. ‘But I look at it from a completely different perspective. There have never been more millionaires and billionaires globally than today. There are very wealthy people who need services, accounts, structures: they need help from practitioners, and so service providers operating today almost have their pick of the top-quality clients.’ 

‘The numbers may have decreased, but arguably the clients that remain are better: better-advised, more transparent, more compliant, which makes life a lot easier for us as service providers. There will always be the need for trusts and companies and other financial services, and for those who are working in this sector, whether it’s in an onshore centre like the UK, or in one of the many offshore locations, there will always be a lot of opportunities. I think the future is really bright for those who join the industry.’