FAIRSTONE GROUP - Key Persons
Adam Smith - Chief Commercial Officer
Adam is a senior financial service professional and brings with him 20 years of experience including commercial director positions at Old Mutual, Cofunds and Legal & General.
As COO he principally leads the Group's investment management business as well as overseeing the Group's product provider relationships. Adam is Chair of the Group Investment Committee.
Job Titles:
- National Projects Director
Alick has held directorships in Coats Viyella Plc and Dawson Plc during a 15-year career in international manufacturing where he managed their operations across South East Asia and the Pacific.
He joined Fairstone in August 2008 after completing a one-month consultancy project.
With an MBA from London Business School, together with extensive managerial experience in Asia, the UK and Europe, Alick has built successful businesses across the highly regulated medical and cosmetic fields, as well as others in the retail sector. In his career to date he has touched all aspects of large corporate organisations, from turnaround and rescue through to international expansion.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Planner
- Fellow of the Personal Finance Society
Andy is Fellow of The Personal Finance Society and a chartered financial planner.
He has spent the last 20 years working in the financial services sector, predominantly as a senior wealth planning manager in the private banking division of one of the UK's major banks.
Andy specialises in providing pre and post retirement advice. This includes all forms of pension and investment advice as well as wealth preservation through intergenerational wealth planning. In addition, Andy has an in-depth knowledge of trusts and estate planning. Andy has retained many of his long-standing clients over the years and now looks after the financial wellbeing of their children.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Planner
Angela has worked in financial services for over 30 years. She began her career working for Norwich Union in an administrative role, later running and managing a team of support staff in corporate pension administration.
In 1996 she took her first advisory role, joining a Staffordshire based independent financial advice firm where she developed her expertise in complex pension planning, investments, estate planning and trust work. She continues to work with many of those original clients to this day.
She is a chartered financial planner as well as a chartered member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. She has created and delivered financial planning courses for the Chartered Insurance Institute, the Institute of Financial Services and the Institute of Financial Planning.
Carl Wallis - Chief Compliance Officer
Job Titles:
- Group Compliance Director
Carl has twenty years' experience working as a Compliance professional, specialising in FCA financial regulation as applied to intermediaries. Carl has a technical background in the provision of compliance guidance and support for financial advisers. Carl has extensive experience in working directly with the FCA and also implementing key regulatory initiatives within advice businesses. In addition to financial advice qualifications, Carl holds the Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Governance, Risk & Compliance, awarded by the International Compliance Association.
Previously Compliance & Risk Director at Sesame Bankhall Group, Carl joined Fairstone in January 2023 and is responsible for leading Fairstone's compliance function.
Danish is an undergraduate studying Accounting & Finance at Glasgow University and now supports our Business Analysts following a successful summer internship in 2022. He has extensive experience in retail banking, having spent five years in customer facing roles.
David Hickey is an experienced businessman having been involved in many roles for large and small organisations over 35 years.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Consultant
Dennis entered retail financial services in 1988 with FPS Management and the French re-insurer, Groupe des Assurances Nationale (GAN) where he progressed from financial adviser status through to regional director within three years.
He was fundamental to delivering the successful AIM listing of Inter-Alliance which went on to deliver a market capitalisation of £225M at its peak. During his time with the business Dennis was involved in successfully integrating the sales forces from both Prudential and the US owned Lincoln Group as part of the business' merger and acquisition plan.
Dennis has been with Fairstone since inception and as he moves into semi-retirement, he plans to remain with the business in a consultative role.
Elliot graduated from Northumbria University with a first-class BA (Hons) in business with financial management and a MSc in international finance and investment.
Prior to joining Fairstone, Elliot worked in the retail banking sector.
Euan graduated from Newcastle University with a BSc in economics and a LLM in international commercial law.
Prior to joining Fairstone, he held research roles focusing on economics.
After graduating from Loughborough University with a BSc in Information Management & Business, Frances joined the financial services sector in 2013 where she has developed an extensive understanding of M&A activity.
Gavin joined Fairstone in its infancy in 2008 and has helped to shape the business' organic growth strategy.
Throughout his 15 years with Fairstone he has been responsible for identifying acquisitive opportunities as well as driving organic growth within all acquired firms and supporting IFA practices to achieve their optimal sale value.
Alongside this he leads on the development of key strategic relationships with multiple national partners including top tier universities to ensure the business attracts the brightest graduate talent.
Job Titles:
- Corporate Finance
- Director
Graham is a Chartered Accountant and Corporate Finance Professional, with over 15 years' experience providing strategic advice on M&A deals to entrepreneurial business owners in the lower mid-market sector.
Working with a number of high profile North East businesses as well as many SMEs across a range of business sectors has given Graham vast experience in M&A deal making, spending many years strategically advising shareholders of SMEs and corporates on growth or succession plans.
Greg joined Fairstone in June 2022 as Chief Technology Officer. As CTO he is responsible for improving the group technology service, as well as leading the next generation development of Fairstone's proprietary Gateway tech platform, enhancing the client reporting experience and delivering more mobile enabled services.
Greg has a proven track record across the sector with 20 years' experience in a range of senior roles working for LV=, Direct Line Group, Close Brothers and more recently head of technology at Brewin Dolphin. During his career, Greg has built and led high performing collaborative technical teams, developing, and delivering strategy and driving exponential growth.
Imogen began her career in financial services in October 2014 as a paraplanner within Fairstone, before moving over to Fairstone Private Wealth where her focus was on platform management and the operational running of the model portfolios.
Since then, her role has evolved to encompass investment and economic analysis that forms part of the foundation on which Fairstone Private Wealth's portfolio ranges are built. She was promoted to research manager in March 2019 and continues to manage the team of platform administrators.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Executive
- Partner
- M & a Partner
Jack initially joined Fairstone as a business development executive in 2015, working from our headquarters in Newcastle. He has since moved to a group acquisition manager role in our London office and is responsible for sourcing and managing the acquisition of IFA businesses.
Prior to Fairstone, Jack graduated with a first-class degree in finance and investment management. He held roles at GE Capital - (Financial planning and analysis for sub-prime and non-performing loans) and latterly professional services firm, EY.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Planner
- Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute
Janice has worked in the financial services sector for over 30 years. She started her career with Phoenix Assurance and progressed her management career with Friends Provident and Norwich Union before joining the independent financial advice firm Brett & Randall Financial Services in 1993. Janice and the team joined Fairstone in 2019. She is now the office manager at the Fairstone East Midlands Hub.
Janice is a fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and the Personal Finance Society. On top of this she is a chartered financial planner and is proud to be one of the first people to be awarded this ‘gold standard' in financial planning. Janice is a past president of the Insurance Institute of Leicester and continues to be involved on a voluntary basis with the PFS East Midlands Committee as the Professional Qualifications Officer and as the PFS representative on the Insurance Institute of Leicester Council.
Lee founded Fairstone in 2008, growing the business from start-up to market-leader. Lee has been integral to Fairstone's growth, leading the business through a series of investment rounds and overseeing the development of the business strategy and national acquisition programme.
Prior to Fairstone, Lee launched an e-commerce and software development business that served clients such as Zurich, AXA, Abbey, London & European Insurance as well as a host of smaller banks and building societies. He is a graduate of Northumbria University.
Michael has over 20 years' experience within the insurance, financial services and IT sectors, encompassing roles within Sturge Holdings PLC, Royal Sun Alliance and Sage (UK) Ltd.
He joined Fairstone in 2008 from Leeds Building Society, where he was responsible for retail sales for their Newcastle City Centre branches. Michael has considerable experience of managing diverse teams, and throughout his career has demonstrated he can deliver measurable service improvements.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director ( National )
Mike has over 20 years' experience within the financial advice and investment management sectors and has held senior executive roles at Zurich, Openwork and Octopus.
As managing director of Fairstone's national business, Mike is responsible for managing and driving the growth of Fairstone's acquired portfolio of firms.
Mike operates across the UK and is primarily based out of Fairstone's London office.
Job Titles:
- Head of Portfolio Management
Oliver is responsible for leading Fairstone's portfolio management strategy. Having been with Fairstone since 2012, he has played an integral role in enhancing the firm's investment processes and in the formalising of Fairstone's investment framework.
Oliver is a CFA Charterholder, was named as one of Citywire Wealth Manager's ‘Top 30 Under 30' two years running between 2016 and 2017 and has been named in Citywire Wealth Manager's ‘Top 100' fund selectors in every year since 2018.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director ( Partnership )
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Planner
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Planner
Job Titles:
- Head of Financial Due Diligence
Peter is a chartered accountant (ACA) with over 7 years' experience working for PwC, in audit and deals. Within deals, Peter worked within the transaction services team, providing buyside and vendor due diligence services to a wealth of clients, including Fairstone. As head of financial due diligence, Peter is responsible for the due diligence at the onboarding and acquisition stage, as well as being part of the regular monitoring of the financial performance of partner firms.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Business Principals
- M & a Associate
Philippa graduated from Newcastle University with a BSc (Hons) in Accounting and Finance, and more recently, with a first-class MSc in International Business Management from Northumbria University. Prior to joining Fairstone, she held financial administration roles within the corporate hospitality sector.
Job Titles:
- Project Coordinator
- M & a Project Coordinator
Sandeepa is an MSc business analytics graduate with a BSc in business and management from Northumbria University. He joined Fairstone as a junior business analyst on a winter internship, and after impressing us during that time, he has since secured a role working with our onboarding team. Prior to joining Fairstone, Sandeepa was employed in the banking industry in Sri Lanka.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Planner
Fairstone Group Ltd are trustees of the Fairstone Foundation - registered charity number 1121478
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Planner
Job Titles:
- Managing Director ( Mortgage )
Job Titles:
- Chief Development Officer
Steve has almost 20 years' experience in professional services leadership, building and developing successful teams to deliver growth. He has now joined Fairstone to lead the firms' M&A team with his principal focus being on leveraging the unique, proprietary acquisition models and delivering the progressive Fairstone growth investment strategy into the wealth management sector.
Steve is a qualified lawyer, working at Hogan Lovells and spending time at Deloitte before taking his first professional services leadership and executive board role in 2004.
Tom Taylor - Chief Risk Officer
Job Titles:
- Group Regulatory Director