LIVES
Sissinghurst, Kent
FAMILY
Married with three sons
STARTED AT JM FINN
1993
HOBBIES
Gardening, skiing, cricket and golf, although I get more enjoyment out of watching my children play sport these days as they are significantly better than I am!
LAST HOLIDAY
Some much-needed winter sun in Dubai
HERO
The golfer, Seve Ballesteros
FAVOURITE FILM
The original Italian Job
WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO MEET?
Sir David Stirling, founder of the SAS
FAVOURITE RESTAURANT
ROKA, or closer to home, Rocksalt in Folkestone
Your role has recently changed; what does this mean for you day-to-day?
Following the retirement of a former colleague, I have taken over as Head of Investment Management, now overseeing our 80+ investment managers across all our offices in the UK; prior to this I was Head of London. Of course this is in addition to my core responsibilities looking after my clients’ portfolios.
How do you combine the management responsibilities with your client role?
A key strength for the firm as I see it, is having practicing investment managers on the management committee. This genuinely means that all our decisions are seen through the eyes of the client and allows us to continue our focus on putting our clients first. Having been on the management team since 2001, I am quite used to balancing the two roles, thanks to the excellent team I have around me.
This year marks your 30th anniversary at JM Finn. What do you think it is that encourages people to stay at the firm for so long?
The long tenure of many of our senior staff is something we’ve always been very proud of, but also something that seems to contradict the approach of younger people who have joined the industry in recent years. Staying at one firm is not for everyone, and despite some of my colleagues suggesting (jokingly I hope) that I lack ambition, I believe it is the exactly the opposite. JM Finn has always been a firm that rewards loyalty and dedication, and a company where both clients and staff feel valued. Therefore it can very much be a firm for life, and I hope people will continue to see this in the future.
What are your thoughts for the year ahead for the firm?
There is another huge piece of new regulation – Consumer Duty - that we need to implement and which takes effect in July this year. This is a huge undertaking for the firm, but we’ve made good ground on the new rules, which are designed to enhance customer understanding when engaging with financial services providers. We are also updating our Client Portal, which we hope more of our clients will use, not least to help mitigate the risk of their personal data being intercepted, something sadly that we are seeing more frequently. Finally, of course regarding markets, the ongoing uncertainty caused by the conflict in Ukraine will I’m sure lead to further volatility, but we’ll be working hard to ensure our investment managers stay focused on the job in hand.
