Our advisory board offer members a great depth of knowledge and geographic coverage across a range of disciplines. Combined, we have a total of 134 years’ experience in the IFA and Wealth Management sector. This does not include the valuable input from a lawyer who has a great deal of experience in mergers and acquisitions activity for regulated entities.
Gary Medcraff
Gary has spent 24 years in the IFA and wealth management sector. His first role was as an investment analyst for a discretionary IFA firm on the South Coast and then with Burns Anderson followed by a lengthy period with Invesco Perpetual promoting Investment funds to medium and large IFA and wealth management practices. Gary established Brokers4sale.com in 2001 after spending two years working in mergers and acquisitions with a boutique City firm.
Alan Jupp
Alan has spent 22 years in the investment industry, initially with an investment-orientated IFA and then in asset management with Royal Trust, Barings, Lazard and Insight. In 2004 he established Select Investment Services Ltd to work selectively with fund managers to develop and market their services to top-end IFAs and discretionary managers in the UK.
Darren Dale
Darren qualified as a solicitor in 2002 and trained in a small niche firm based in central London with a strong focus on dealing with corporate issues with a particular emphasis on mergers, acquisitions and restructures for regulated companies such as stockbrokers, IFA firms, mortgage lenders, banking institutions (such as Jyske Bank and Bank of China) and other financial institutions.
He then enjoyed further experience with Clyde & Co in a similar capacity and was approached in 2006 to become one of the founding partners of els in London. Whereupon, he continued to work in the regulated and M&A arenas.
From here Darren developed his expertise in these sectors, not only dealing with many acquisitions (both domestic and international) but also becoming the sole legal advisor to a small foreign bank, the lead legal advisor to a pan-Asian/Middle East IFA network, advisor to several UK based IFA firms, forming a pan-European mortgage lender, advising private health insurance firms and forming, restructuring both onshore as well as off-shore funds.
Nick Tong
Nick Tong is the CTO of TalkWebSolutions, which boasts a dynamic and innovative approach to website development. Nick's company develops pioneering web solutions, delivering solutions that fit perfectly with his clients' needs. He is a contemporary businessman and always keeps ahead of the current trends in web design. Nick relishes building accessible, elegant web applications using the web troika: technology, standards and methodologies. Nick also takes great care to ensure that our members' area is securely protected using the latest methods, which guarantees that members benefit from the most advanced technologies.
Wayne Neville
Wayne has spent over 20 years in the IFA and wealth management sector and is a highly respected member of the business community in the South West and Midlands region. As a senior Partner in a regional practice Wayne makes sure that the advisory board is kept informed of the latest issues affecting owners of IFA and wealth management practices. Due to his location he is also invaluable when it comes to providing local market intelligence for the South West and Midlands region.
Mike Hook
Mike has spent over 20 years in the investment management industry. For a substantial part of his career he marketed investment services to top-end IFAs and discretionary managers on behalf of M & G Investment Group. Mike is still heavily involved in this arena and is a key asset for providing market intelligence to the Advisory Board for the Northern region.
Simon Hellier
Simon has been involved in the financial services sector for nearly 30 years, working with companies including Noble Lowndes and Partners, Commercial Union, Marsh and Mercer, KPMG, Bankarts, Bland Bankart, and until August 2007 he was Managing Director of Oval Financial Services Ltd.
With experience of 17 acquisitions and disposals in the past 4 years, many of which he managed from cradle to post-completion integration, Simon offers our board considerable experience which is both hands-on and relentlessly realistic.
Now working as an independent consultant specializing in financial services, Simon is willing to offer support in pre-acquisition / pre-disposal preparation and most importantly he has the skills needed to maximize the potential of a purchase.
On a more detailed basis Simon can help with staff integration, systems and productivity, compliance, liaising with providers, and assisting in profit maximization.