Gavin Lumsden

Editor-in-Chief, Citywire

Biography

Gavin is Editor in Chief of Citywire and Editor of New Model Adviser magazine, its flagship weekly title. Gavin joined Citywire eight years ago after three and a half years at The Times where he worked on the money and City sections as a reporter. He began his financial journalist career at Investment Adviser, joining the title at its launch in 1994 initially as a sub-editor and then as reporter. He studied English Language and Literature at the University of Leeds.

Barry O’Dwyer

Managing Director, Retail Life and Pensions, Prudential

Biography

Barry was appointed as Managing Director of Prudential’s Retail Life and Pensions business in January 2009. He is responsible for the strategic development and growth of its pensions, investments, and retirement income products.

Barry joined from HBOS Financial Services as Products and Marketing Director where he was responsible for investment, pension and protection products through the Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Clerical Brands.

He began his financial services career at Standard Life and during 19 years with the company he held a number of senior management positions in both the UK and Ireland.

In 2006 Barry was appointed Managing Director, Marketing for Standard Life and delivered a new product and marketing strategy, which involved transforming the product range through the introduction of Group SIPP, SIPP and other capital efficient products and platforms.

Barry is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

Martin Davis

Chief Executive Officer, Openwork

Biography

Openwork is one of the largest financial advisory firms in the UK, with over 2,500 advisers, writing £300 million of premium in 2008. Prior to Openwork Martin was CEO of Zurich Financial Services’s Global Life Emerging Markets businesses, spanning Asia, South America and Middle Eastern markets. Martin also maintained overall responsibility for Zurich International Life, the offshore subsidiary of ZFS, as Chairman. Martin was also a founding Director or Zurich Takaful.

Previously Martin worked as Commercial Director for Sesame Limited, managing over 7,500 IFAs (25 per cent of the UK market). Martin was also a Board Director of Assureweb.

Before joining Sesame, Martin was Executive Vice President, of Corillian International Ltd and spent eight years working in various business management roles for Reuters plc. Martin also served in the Armed Forces for 10 years, reaching the rank of Captain, in many operational theatres including 5 years with Special Forces. Martin is a Non Executive Director of McKinney Rogers International, a leading strategy consultancy.

Simon Hynes

Director, UK Wholesale, Jupiter Asset Management

Biography

Simon Hynes joined Jupiter in 2002 and established the Strategic Alliances team. He is now a Director of Jupiter Unit Trust Managers and is currently responsible for UK Wholesale Distribution including Wealth Managers, Life Companies, Platforms and IFAs.

Prior to joining Jupiter he was a Sales Manager for Foreign & Colonial.

Simon started his financial services career after a short spell as an RAF Pilot and joined General Accident Life in 1989. He remained with Norwich Union group for 11 years fulfilling a number of management positions before specialising into Investments with Morley fund management.

Paul Boston

Sales Director, Novia Financial

Biography

Paul spent seven years at Selestia helping to launch the platform in November 2001 to the IFA market place before taking up his current role as Director of Sales at Novia.

Paul has helped project manage a large number of IFAs make the transition from traditional transactional selling to relationship based financial advice with the aim of increasing business values, reducing unit cost and mitigating business risk. Paul has previously been responsible for starting a new retail insurance business and considers Novia's proposition to the adviser market as, "...the perfect solution for the new adviser business model, post RDR and TCF".

Paul's hobbies involve all sport particularly skiing, travelling, socialising, although most of his time is spent ferrying his three children to various venues. Paul is also IMC qualified.

Paul is one of the four founding Directors of Novia which launched to the market in January 2009. Novia is only available through professional intermediaries, and is expected to reach profit in Quarter 4 2010.

Barry O’Dwyer

Managing Director, Retail Life and Pensions, Prudential

Biography

Barry was appointed as Managing Director of Prudential’s Retail Life and Pensions business in January 2009. He is responsible for the strategic development and growth of its pensions, investments, and retirement income products.

Barry joined from HBOS Financial Services as Products and Marketing Director where he was responsible for investment, pension and protection products through the Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Clerical Brands.

He began his financial services career at Standard Life and during 19 years with the company he held a number of senior management positions in both the UK and Ireland.

In 2006 Barry was appointed Managing Director, Marketing for Standard Life and delivered a new product and marketing strategy, which involved transforming the product range through the introduction of Group SIPP, SIPP and other capital efficient products and platforms.

Barry is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

Martin Davis

Chief Executive Officer, Openwork

Biography

Openwork is one of the largest financial advisory firms in the UK, with over 2,500 advisers, writing £300 million of premium in 2008. Prior to Openwork Martin was CEO of Zurich Financial Services’s Global Life Emerging Markets businesses, spanning Asia, South America and Middle Eastern markets. Martin also maintained overall responsibility for Zurich International Life, the offshore subsidiary of ZFS, as Chairman. Martin was also a founding Director or Zurich Takaful.

Previously Martin worked as Commercial Director for Sesame Limited, managing over 7,500 IFAs (25 per cent of the UK market). Martin was also a Board Director of Assureweb.

Before joining Sesame, Martin was Executive Vice President, of Corillian International Ltd and spent eight years working in various business management roles for Reuters plc. Martin also served in the Armed Forces for 10 years, reaching the rank of Captain, in many operational theatres including 5 years with Special Forces. Martin is a Non Executive Director of McKinney Rogers International, a leading strategy consultancy.

Simon Hynes

Director, UK Wholesale, Jupiter Asset Management

Biography

Simon Hynes joined Jupiter in 2002 and established the Strategic Alliances team. He is now a Director of Jupiter Unit Trust Managers and is currently responsible for UK Wholesale Distribution including Wealth Managers, Life Companies, Platforms and IFAs.

Prior to joining Jupiter he was a Sales Manager for Foreign & Colonial.

Simon started his financial services career after a short spell as an RAF Pilot and joined General Accident Life in 1989. He remained with Norwich Union group for 11 years fulfilling a number of management positions before specialising into Investments with Morley fund management.

Paul Boston

Sales Director, Novia Financial

Biography

Paul spent seven years at Selestia helping to launch the platform in November 2001 to the IFA market place before taking up his current role as Director of Sales at Novia.

Paul has helped project manage a large number of IFAs make the transition from traditional transactional selling to relationship based financial advice with the aim of increasing business values, reducing unit cost and mitigating business risk. Paul has previously been responsible for starting a new retail insurance business and considers Novia's proposition to the adviser market as, "...the perfect solution for the new adviser business model, post RDR and TCF".

Paul's hobbies involve all sport particularly skiing, travelling, socialising, although most of his time is spent ferrying his three children to various venues. Paul is also IMC qualified.

Paul is one of the four founding Directors of Novia which launched to the market in January 2009. Novia is only available through professional intermediaries, and is expected to reach profit in Quarter 4 2010.

Andrew Veal

Partner, NMG Financial Services Consulting

Biography

Andrew Veal leads the UK Strategy Consulting practice of NMG, a specialist management consulting firm providing a comprehensive range of services to the global financial industry.

Previously head of Long Term Savings at A.T, Kearney and before that a Board Director of Troika, Andrew’s experience covers the full spectrum of consulting to retail financial institutions. He has worked with most of the Life and Pensions providers in the UK and past client assignments have included corporate strategy, distribution and operational strategy, as well as commercial due diligence and negotiation of distribution alliances.

Peter Smith

Head of Investment Policy, FSA

Biography

Peter leads the Investments Policy Department within the FSA, with responsibility for policy on distribution and selling of a broad range of investment products. Current work includes the Retail Distribution Review; pension reform; financial promotions; and disclosure issues.

Previously, Peter led the FSA’s work, with HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the FSCS, to enhance the UK's framework for dealing with problem banks, including the UK's compensation framework; he has also reviewed the way the FSCS is funded. Peter was seconded to the European Commission in Brussels, working on banking issues including the Capital Requirements Directive. Before his secondment, Peter worked on policy issues, the FSA's internal processes, and internal audit. Peter joined the FSA at its inception from the Building Societies Commission.

Peter holds a Masters degree in finance from London Business School. He is married with one daughter.

Geoffrey Clarkson

Group Compliance Director, Tenet Group

Biography

Geoffrey Clarkson is Executive Director of the Tenet Group, one of the largest financial services distribution companies in the UK.

Geoffrey is a solicitor with a Masters Degree in European law awarded by Exeter University. After qualification, Geoffrey worked for The London & Manchester Group plc, an insurance and investment company quoted on the London Stock Exchange. He was legal adviser to the company and was then appointed Company Secretary and, subsequently, a Director. He has also been a Director of HSBC Global Securities Limited Japan and was also involved in an executive capacity with a number of investment trusts. Later he was appointed as Chief Executive of a centralised lender responsible for £1 billion of mortgage lending.

After his early career in industry Geoffrey joined Bond Pearce, a leading law firm where he was a senior partner and a member of the Board. During this period, Geoffrey created a financial services consultancy, advised a number of Venture Capitalist companies and was also involved in the establishment of internet trading platforms for various UK and European firms. He is a former adviser to the London Stock Exchange and closely involved in regulatory developments in the UK and the European Union.

He is now a board director of Tenet Group Limited, a leading provider of support and regulatory services to over 5,000 financial advisers. He is a frequent speaker at conferences in the financial services sector.

Recently he became a Board Member of the National Skills Academy.

Steven Cameron

Head of Business Regulation, AEGON

Biography

Steven Cameron is Head of Business Regulation at AEGON UK where he leads the analysis of how proposed regulatory and legislative developments will impact on the industry in general and on AEGON UK in particular. He is heavily involved in AEGON UK’s lobbying activities and has recently focused on the Financial Services Authority’s Retail Distribution Review including Adviser Charging, implications for corporate pensions and interactions with the 2012 pension reforms. He also champions Treating Customers Fairly within AEGON UK. He is an actuary by profession.

Steven sits on a number of committees and industry bodies including the Association of British Insurers’ Consumer Strategy Committee, its Regulatory Change Working Group, the Scottish Financial Services Implementation Group and Scottish Financial Enterprise’s Insurance, Life & Pensions Sector Policy Group.

Angela Seymour Jackson

Distribution Director, Aviva Life

Biography

Angela is the Intermediary & Partnerships Director within the Distribution business unit of Aviva UK Life.

Angela is responsible for growing the IFA and Partnerships business and creating a sustainable financial model in each. She is also responsible for achieving the company’s market share ambitions in Collective Investments. Angela is a member of the Life Executive Team and sits on the Board of the Retail Collective Business, and Aviva Life International Offshore Business (Aviva UKIL).

Angela joined Aviva UK Life in January 2008 from the General Insurance side of the company, where she led both the Direct (NUD and RAC insurance) and Partnerships business.

David Middleton

Head of Strategic Marketing, Towry Law

Biography

David joined Towry Law as Head of Strategic Marketing in August 2007. He is responsible for the Investment Management, Advice Policy, Marketing, Product and Client Solutions teams at Towry Law and has overall responsibility for the development of the client proposition.

David has over twenty years experience in the financial services industry and was most recently Head of Commercial Development at Gartmore Investment Management. Previously he was Commercial Director at Coutts Group, and a main Board Director of Coutts & Co. He joined Coutts, to open their office in Hong Kong, from Union Bank of Switzerland.

Richard Howells

Intermediary Sales Director, Zurich Financial Services

Biography

Richard joined the Zurich group in 2008. He is responsible for delivering UK Life’s distribution strategy and leading the sales team. Prior to joining Zurich, Richard was Managing Director of Strategy and Development at intermediary network Bankhall.

With over twenty years experience in the industry, Richard began his career in financial services with NatWest before joining Bradford and Bingley as a senior financial planning officer before moving into the intermediary sector. He has extensive knowledge of the market gained from senior roles at Berkeley Berry Birch, Burns Anderson and latterly Bankhall.

Richard is a regular commentator on market developments and is a strong advocate of the value advice brings to the consumer.

Edward Stuart Brown

Head of Sales, Friends Provident

Biography

Having qualified as a Mining Engineer, Ed worked in the South African gold and platinum mines before returning to the UK to embark on a second career in the Life Assurance industry. Ed joined Friends Provident as part of the original team that set up and ran the direct sales force.

Although Ed has a wide range of experience across the industry his focus and passion remains on life assurance and the protection needs of customers because as he comments:

“It is the foundation of every aspect of good financial planning and one where the customer for a relatively modest out lay can protect themselves and their families from potential financial ruin. Why wouldn't you be passionate about that?”

He is now responsible for all protection sales across Friends Provident.

Steve Jenkins

Director – Financial Services Markets, The Chartered Insurance Institute

Biography

Steve has over 25 years experience within Financial Services. He held a series of senior sales management positions before establishing the operational infrastructure of AXA’s UK in house distribution arm following the merger with Sun Life in 1998.

More recently Steve was heavily involved in shaping AXA’s response to regulatory change in the UK life market and latterly was Head of Bancassurance.

Steve joined the CII in 2006 with a brief to lead the CII’s corporate relationships across Financial Services. Steve has played a leading role in shaping the CII’s response to the FSA RDR and in 2008 he also took responsibility for the CII’s relationships in General Insurance.

In addition to his UK responsibilities he has established teams in India and the Middle East which are promoting professional development in the rapidly expanding local markets.

Peter Mann

Chief Development Officer, Skandia

Biography

Peter, who has over 20 years experience working in Financial Services, joined Bankhall in 2001 as Business Development Director progressing to Managing Director then Chief Executive in August 2005.

Employment history includes: IFA/Pension Director for a large pensions firm in Glasgow and various management roles within Scottish Amicable & Prudential. As top salesman for Scot Am Peter quickly advanced to Sales Director.

As Bankhall CEO, Peter was an active member of the AIFA panel, lobbying the FSA, ombudsman, product providers and other market participants on behalf of Bankhall members. He was also a regular spokesperson on panel debates throughout the industry speaking on key industry topics and ensuring that the voice of Bankhall members and the wider intermediary market was heard.

In 2008, Peter accepted the role as Chief Development Officer within the Skandia UK Group, where he leads the market facing teams – marketing, strategy, sales and communications.

Stephen Ingledew

Strategy Director, Standard Life

Biography

Stephen Ingledew is the Distribution Strategy Director for Standard Life.

The key elements of his role are both strategic development and channel leadership which involve the following;

• Developing and executing the Standard Life UK distribution and channel strategies
• Leading the development and direction of the Strategic Partnership Sales channel
• Leading the development and direction of the Standard Life direct to customer sales channel
• Leading and executing the strategy to invest in IFA distribution
• Leading the execution of major strategic revenue initiatives and deals in order to capture assets
• Leading industry interface, through leadership and influence

The scope of Stephen’s role reflects the need for Standard Life to develop its’ distribution capacity and capability to deliver the Group’s growth objectives for 2012 and beyond.

Stephen has worked in the UK financial services and wealth management industry since 1984 after graduating in law from university. Over the last twenty years he was worked as financial practitioner, product development director and marketing director for a range of financial institutions such as Friends Provident, Berkeley, Schroders, Frizzell and AMP.

Prior to his recent appointment at Standard Life, Stephen was the Commercial Director of Barclays Financial Planning, the Bank’s regulated financial services channel for all customer segments

Stephen has been a board member of the Institute of Financial Services, the UK industry’s professional body and he also worked for the UK regulator, the Financial Services Authority for three years.

He has been a regular writer for newspapers as well as speaking frequently at industry conferences and on television and radio.

Stephen is married with two young daughters. Time outside the family and the business is spent with Reading Football Club, where he is a Vice President.

Stuart Tragheim

Director, Distribution Strategy and Business Development, LV=

Biography

Stuart Tragheim is Director, Distribution Strategy & Business Development for LV=.

Specific responsibilities include the ongoing development of LV’s Life & Pensions distribution strategy and the development of business relationships with the largest IFA businesses and corporate partners.

Previously Director of Intermediary Business, Stuart joined the friendly society in 2005 from the Association of British Insurers, where he had been Director of the ABI’s Raising Standards scheme and latterly as Human Resources Director.

He has worked in financial services since 1983 and has held a number of senior positions including Sales Director for Teachers Provident Society and Regional Sales Manager for TSB Insurance Brokers Ltd.

Stuart contributes to the activities of a number of UK financial services trade associations (for example ABI) and as a former Chairman of ILAG, Stuart is currently a member of their Board.

LV= is the largest Friendly Society in the UK and the 4^th largest mutual insurer.

Simon Philp

Director of Bancassurance, AXA Life

Biography

Simon is Director of Bancassurance at AXA Life – part of one of the world’s biggest insurance companies. Simon currently heads up the distribution and strategy for AXA Life with Banks and Building Societies in the UK. He recently led the negotiation and completion of the deal with National Australia Group which saw over 100 advisers transfer to AXA and the transfer of the MLC funds to Architas.

Simon joined AXA in October 2003 and led the negotiation with Britannia Building Society. He then spent 2 years leading the development of the relationship and salesforce with which has been a considerable success with all key performance indicators achieved. This achievement was recognised at the National Sales Awards in February 2006 when Simon won the ‘Sales Leader of the Year’ Award.

Simon has a degree in English from Newcastle University and an MBA from the Open University.

Mick McAteer

Director, The Financial Inclusion Centre

Biography

Mick McAteer is an influential, independent consumer representative. He is founder and Director of The Financial Inclusion Centre, a UK based not-for-profit think tank (www.inclusioncentre.org.uk). The Centre’s mission is to promote efficient and accountable financial markets, and access to fair and affordable financial services.

He is a non-executive director of the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA), a non-executive director of The Pensions Advisory Service (an independent, not-for-profit organisation that provides free information, guidance and mediation on pensions), and on the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) Professional Oversight Board which oversees the regulation of actuaries, accountants and auditors in the UK.

He represents consumers at EU level on a number of key issues. He is Vice Chair of the European Commission’s Financial Users Panel (FINUSE) and member of the Consultative Panels of the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pension Supervisors (CEIOPS) and Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS).

He is also a founding director of Hackney Credit Union based in the London Borough of Hackney, one of the most deprived areas of the UK.

Mick was Principal Policy Adviser at Which? (the largest consumer group in Europe, formerly known as Consumers' Association) until end 2006. He was with Which? for thirteen years, and formulated the organisation’s policy on financial services. Prior to this, he worked for five years for two major fund management firms in London.

Jon Everill

Propositions Director, Bluefin Group

Biography

Jon is currently responsible for developing, maintaining and aligning the Bluefin client propositions. In addition he oversees the group investment strategy as well as other group strategic initiatives.

During the last 24 months he has been heavily involved in a significant programme of change within Bluefin. The “Enterprise programme” will complete by the end of 2009. The resulting benefits will include new and efficient core advice processes and propositions for the private client advisers, as well as a new IT operating platform and the introduction of WRAP technology, all of which will protect Bluefin’s status and desire to be one of the UKs leading, trusted brands of advice.

Jon started his career in Financial Services in 1989 when, following a short stint in the British Army, he joined Friends Provident in their Salisbury head office.

In his 20 years in the industry since, he has worked for both Life Companies and IFA distributors in varying senior roles.

Whilst working for the multinational Swire Group, he focused his IFA skills on the requirements of the many Corporate Benefit scheme members that the business ran, including Oracle and Computacenter, 2 of the world’s largest companies today.

He started his own IFA business in 1995 in London’s West End, working on a fee basis with high net worth clients. He sold this business to a FT-SE250 company in 2000, where he was kept on to develop further niche growth opportunities.

In September 2003 he started Destini Financial Services Group PLC with a small number of other founders and investors. The business raised over £15m of capital and made 23 acquisitions of IFA and Financial Services businesses in 2 years. Destini had over 650 registered individuals with a turnover of more than £25m when it merged with the Thinc Group in 2005.

Malcolm Murray

Head of Marketing and Sales, Transact

Biography

Malcolm F Murray, joined Transact as Head of Sales & Marketing shortly after it was launched in 2000 and today concentrates on the Marketing role. He has spent all of his career working with advisers. He was a day one Hambro Life employee, becoming its Broker Director in 1977. Since those days, he has been involved in four start ups, the most recent being Transact. He says, " I feel incredibly fortunate to have been involved in two of the most successful launches in the financial services sector in the last thirty odd years. There is a similarity between the two companies - both were started by visionaries who saw the changing world of financial services more clearly and accurately than any of their peers.

Transact was started, as was Hambro Life, with a fraction of the capital that was normally associated with similar operations. The total capital subscribed by the founding shareholders of Transact was less than £5 million and yet such has been its success that, after less than 10 years, it now has more more than £7 billion on its wrap service. It is supported by nearly 4000 registered advisers who have placed some 87,000 clients with Transact.

Ian Thomas

Head of Marketing, AXA Distribution Services

Biography

Ian Thomas is Head of Marketing at AXA Distribution Services and is responsible for developing the product and pricing strategy, investment offering and functionality of the Elevate platform.

In addition to his role at AXA Ian chairs the Tax Incentivised Savings Association (TISA) Platform Advisory Council – a group tasked with advising TISA on the platform and wrap market.

Ian joined AXA Distribution Services in June 2007. Prior to this he was Head of Marketing at Selestia/Skandia, Sales Director at Fidelity and FundsNetwork and Managing Director of JP Morgan Asset Management’s Nordic subsidiary, based in Stockholm.

Ian has an Economics degree from York University. He plays golf, basketball and also sails, spending a lot of his spare time in Sweden.