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(Alliance News) - Stockbroker AJ Bell PLC on Tuesday said it has picked Helena Morrissey as its next chair.
The pre-market announcement confirmed a Sky News report late Monday.
Morrissey will join the AJ Bell board as chair designate on July 1 and succeed Les Platts as chair at the next annual general meeting in January 2022.
Morrissey will step down as a non-executive director of wealth manager St James's Place on July 1 "to avoid any potential conflict of interest", St James's Place said.
Morrissey was head of Personal Investing at Legal & General Investment Management, part of insurer Legal & General Group PLC, and prior to that chief executive of Newton Investment Management.
AJ Bell said it also has hired Evelyn Bourke as a non-executive director, joining the board on July 1 as well. Bourke was chief executive of health insurance provider Bupa until this past December. She currently is a non-executive director of retailer Marks & Spencer Group PLC and of Bank of Ireland Group PLC.
"The appointments of Helena Morrissey and Evelyn Bourke further strengthen the AJ Bell board and will help develop the company's ambitious growth strategy," said Senior Independent Director Laura Carstensen. "They each have a broad depth of experience in a range of financial services business and we are confident this will bring new ideas to the business that will benefit all our stakeholders."
Manchester-based AJ Bell operates the AJ Bell Investcentre platform for financial advisers and the AJ Bell Youinvest platform for retail investors.
Shares were up 0.8% at 421.00 pence in London early Tuesday. St James's Place shares were up 1.6% at 1,263.50p.
By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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