The SimplyBiz Group has made two senior appointments, one to head up its training academy and one to lead strategic relationships.
Ex-Institute of Financial Planning business development director Cath Faulds has taken up the position of head of strategic relationships.
In this newly created role, she will work with the existing strategic relationships team in managing the group’s relationships with product providers, which includes ensuring advisers are given access to all relevant tools, services and information from third-parties.
Ms Faulds was at the IFP for 12 years, having previously held a number of key roles including business development manager and head of business development before joining their senior management team in January this year.
He appointment is the latest in a series of developments to group’s senior structure, including the appointment of an ex-Zurich director to the position of non-executive director and the creation of an executive management board to oversee the delivery of group strategy.
Meanwhile, the group also appointed Tom Hegarty as managing director of its not-for-profit training and development division, the New Model Business Academy.
He joins from Tenet, having held the role of head of business development, and previously worked for MetLife and Friends Provident.
Mr Hegarty’s appointment comes after last week it was announced Lee Travis was leaving the New Model Business Academy after five years to take charge of the Personal Finance Society’s national schedule of conferences and events.
Mr Travis will be responsible for the society’s professional development programme, which saw in excess of 10,000 advisers attending PFS events in the first six months of 2015 – more than double compared with the same period last year.
Originally created to help advisers through the implementation of the Retail Distribution Review, Simplybiz’s New Model Business Academy now has over 16,000 members and is the largest academy operating in the financial services sector.
Matt Timmins, joint managing director of the SimplyBiz Group, commented that Mr Hegarty’s previous experience working with advisers will give him a fresh insight into how to best develop the academy and grow its range of services.
Mr Hegarty added: “I intend to build on the solid foundations of the Academy and improve and enhance the range of services it offers to advisers and other professionals within the sector.”
peter.walker@ft.com
