InvestmentsJan 3 2023

Tributes pour in for industry veteran David Tiller

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Tributes pour in for industry veteran David Tiller
Tributes have been flooding in from the industry since the passing of industry veteran David Tiller was announced.

Tiller, who was commercial and propositions director at Quilter, died on 28 December, at the age of 56 after collapsing while walking in the Lake District.

Prior to Quilter, he had spent 24 years at Abrdn, formerly Standard Life Aberdeen - latterly as global head of client technology solutions at Standard Life Aberdeen, where he was responsible for the Standard Life Wrap and Elevate platforms. 

He was also a non-executive director at Origo Services. 

Remembered fondly by Jenny Davidson, head of strategic propositions at Quilter and a friend who also worked with Tiller at Abrdn (Standard Life), she said he was instrumental in the launch of the discretionary business at Abrdn and then went into the platform side, where he pioneered MPS solutions and championed fund charge transparency among a long list of achievements.

She added: “David was a true innovator with a strategic mindset, David relentlessly drove higher standards in the platform and investment market on behalf of advisers and clients. 

“As a friend and colleague he will be sorely missed, especially by the many of us that benefitted from his warm encouragement and unflinchingly honest advice.

“Tonight I will raise a glass of red wine and reflect on the enormous contribution he made to all that knew him. My thoughts are with his family.”

Mark Polson, founder of the Lang Cat, who worked with Tiller at Standard Life as a colleague and at the Lang Cat as a client, said: “David has left us far too soon. He was a man of enormous decency who genuinely cared deeply about the people he worked with. 

“Everyone at the Lang Cat sends condolences and best wishes to his family and colleagues.”

Tiller was a champion of financial advice and its importance and was passionate about building real solutions for real customers looking at the outcomes end to end, according to many who knew and worked with him.

Steven Levin, chief executive of Quilter, said Tiller was an innovative thinker who always put customers first and pushed boundaries in the industry. 

Levin added: “He had a way of seeing through complexity and coming up with clear strategies for the challenges in the wealth management sector. He saw opportunity in change and lead his teams with inspiration and purpose.”

Echoing Davidson’s earlier words Noel Butwell, chief executive officer of Abrdn Adviser, said Tiller was “pivotal” in building the company’s discretionary business before taking up the reins to enhance the development of the Wrap platform proposition. 

Additionally, Tiller helped reshape the post-RDR and post-pensions freedoms markets with big swings for the platform industry; he was always at the cutting edge of where the industry should go next. 

Butwell added: “He was also a core member of the team who helped acquire the Elevate platform in 2015. His vision for a segmented offering that tailored propositions to client and customer needs helped set us apart.   

“We’ll also remember David as a big and well-respected character. He always held strong views on where the future of our market lay and the role that we all played within it and his contribution to that debate will be sorely missed.

“Everyone at Abrdn is deeply saddened by the news that our dear ex-colleague David Tiller has passed away. David was a legend in the platform industry, a visionary in the truest sense of the word who had a keen sense for understanding the impact and contagions of regulatory and market shifts.”

David Ferguson, chief executive of Seccl, remembers Tiller for his generosity and kindness.

He added: “I am deeply shocked and saddened to learn of David’s tragic death. I spent many great times with him - his gift for innovation and his drive for us all to do better will be hugely missed. 

“He was also ridiculously generous and I fondly remember him surprising us with a case of Italian red at our new home a couple of years ago. A big loss to our sector but a bigger one for humanity. Much love to his family and close friends.”

Paul Feeney, former chief executive of Quilter, who also expressed his shock and sadness, described Tiller as a “great innovator and a true gentleman and it was my privilege to have worked with him. My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his wife and family”.