AAM Advisory
The advisory firm has appointed David MacDonald to the newly-created role of head of business development, with Karen Tan joining as head of business and adviser support.
MacDonald was previously head of learning solutions at Hubbis, which provides online training, news, education and information for Asia’s wealth management community.
He started his career in banking before moving on to lead teams of wealth managers within large financial services organisations in the UK. In 2001, MacDonald set up his own consultancy working with a variety of global clients and has successfully trained and coached over 2,000 client facing sales personnel in the banking and insurance sectors.
Tan was most recently head of operations for Meyado Private Wealth Management Singapore, and previously been assistant director at International Financial Services (IFS). She brings with her 22 years of experience.
Withers
The international law firm has named Gillian Johnson as head of the firm’s pensions team.
Based in London, she has been with Withers since 2015. Johnson frequently works alongside colleagues in the UK and Asia to deliver solutions to client in complex international scenarios.
Her team handles advising individuals on their UK and offshore pension pots, as well employers, corporate and charity clients on their schemes and employee pension arrangements.
Wealth Wizards
Nick Hall has joined digital financial advice firm Wealth Wizards as account development director for the group. He has spent more than 25 years with high street banking brands including Legal & General, Nationwide and Lloyds TSB.
Hall will assist clients with integrating Wealth Wizards’ adviser technology, Turo, into their own advice businesses, with a view to drastically cutting down the time spent on cumbersome parts of the client onboarding process.
He began his career as a financial adviser at Royal Bank of Scotland before joining Lloyds TSB and progressed to various senior roles within the bank and building society space, including head of estate planning, operations director and head of advice strategy for SMEs at Nationwide, as well as advice proposition director for Legal & General.
Wesleyan
Specialist financial services provider Wesleyan has promoted Mario Mazzocchi to group chief executive, with effect from 1 August.
Mazzocchi joined Wesleyan as chief operating officer in December 2018, moving from Lloyds Banking Group where he held a similar role for its insurance and wealth division.
He spent 15 years at Lloyds working across a number of functions within the group including marketing, sales, change, strategy and operations across retail, corporate banking and insurance.
Mazzocchi takes over from Craig Errington, who is to retire after 15 years as chief executive and 28 years with the company.
Zedra
The trust, corporate and fund services provider has appointed Stuart McLuckie as its UK onshore managing director.
Based in Cheshire, he will lead the expansion of the company’s onshore businesses. He has nearly 20 years’ industry experience, having started his career in the UK trust industry and previously ran Zedra’s Swiss operation.
Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment
Peter Smith has been named president of the CISI’s UAE National Advisory Council (NAC).
He takes over from Richard Stockdale, who has been in the role since 2009. Smith is currently managing director and head of strategy, policy and risk as the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). He is also a member of the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority’s markets and advisory council.
Prior to joining the DFSA in 2012, he held a number of positions at the UK Financial Services Authority (the predecessor to the Financial Conduct Authority), most recently head of the investments policy department.
Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Barrie Whitman, head of high yield Emea, is to retire at the end of the year after more than 30 years in the industry. The last 20 of which were spent at Columbia Threadneedle.
On his retirement, Roman Gaiser will fill his role, having rejoined the company in July 2018 from Pictet Asset Management.
Carmignac
Kevin Thozet has joined the asset management firm as portfolio advisor within the investment committee. He is based in Paris and reports to Didier Saint-Georges, managing director and member of the strategic investment committee, working alongside Sandra Crowl and Gergely Majoros.
Thozet was previously at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management since 2011, he held several positions including as a product specialist covering asset allocation & sovereign debt and as head of product specialists. His career in asset management started at Axa Investment Managers in 2007.
