Last checked at 16 Mar 2021 07:00
16 March 2021
AJ Bell plc
Appointments of Baroness Helena Morrissey DBE and Evelyn Bourke
AJ Bell plc ("AJ Bell" or the "Company"), one of the UK's largest investment platforms, is pleased to announce the appointment of two new Non-executive Directors.
Baroness Helena Morrissey DBE has been appointed as a Non-executive Director and, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, with the intention of her being appointed to succeed Les Platts as Chair at the Company's next Annual General Meeting, which is expected to take place in January 2022. She will join the Board as Chair designate on 1 July 2021.
Helena is currently Lead Non-executive Director for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, reporting to the Foreign Secretary and has recently stepped down as Non-executive Director at St James's Place plc. Previously she was Head of Personal Investing at Legal & General Investment Management and prior to that was Chief Executive at Newton Investment Management for 15 years. In 2010 Helena founded the 30% Club and has played a leading role in improving diversity on the boards of 'UK plc'.
Evelyn Bourke has been appointed as Non-executive Director and will also join the Board on 1 July 2021.
Evelyn is currently Non-executive Director at Marks & Spencer Group plc and Non-executive Director and Chair of Audit Committee at Bank of Ireland Group plc. She was Chief Executive of Bupa until December 2020 and previously held senior roles at a number of financial services businesses including Friends Provident, Standard Life and Chase de Vere.
Laura Carstensen, Senior Independent Director at AJ Bell, comments:
"The appointments of Helena Morrissey and Evelyn Bourke further strengthen the AJ Bell Board and will help develop the Company's ambitious growth strategy. 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. The Board and I would like to thank Les for the vital role he has played in the growth and success of AJ Bell as a Director since 2008 and as Chair since 2014."
Les Platts, Chair of AJ Bell, comments:
"It has been a great honour to chair the Board at AJ Bell and to help steer the Company through its successful IPO in 2018. The business is full of great people who are totally focused on serving its customers and I'll leave knowing it has a very bright future. I look forward to welcoming Helena and Evelyn to the Board in July and handing over the Chair to Helena early next year."
Baroness Helena Morrissey DBE commented:
"I've long admired AJ Bell and its commitment to helping people to invest. Its low cost, easy to use investment platform is exactly what people need to help them start their investing journey and build financial security for themselves and their families. The business is growing quickly and I'm looking forward to joining the team to help build on that success and shape the future direction of the company."
Evelyn Bourke commented:
"AJ Bell is a fantastic business operating in an exciting part of the market. More than ever people need to take control of their long-term savings and investments, whether that be via a financial adviser or doing it themselves. Whichever route they prefer, AJ Bell offers the products and investment solutions they need to build and manage their wealth and I'm looking forward to contributing to the next phase of its development."
There is no other information regarding either appointment to be disclosed under paragraph 9.6.13R of the Listing Rules.
Contacts:
AJ Bell
· Shaun Yates, Head of Investor Relations +44 (0) 7522 235 898
· Charlie Musson, Head of PR +44 (0) 7834 499 554
About AJ Bell:
Established in 1995, AJ Bell is one of the largest investment platforms in the UK.
We operate in both the advised and direct-to-consumer segments of the platform market and our flagship platform propositions are AJ Bell Investcentre (adviser) and AJ Bell Youinvest (direct-to-consumer).We offer SIPPs, ISAs and General Investment / Dealing Accounts which provide access to a broad investment range including shares and other instruments traded on the major stock exchanges around the world, as well as all mainstream collective investments available in the UK and our own range of AJ Bell funds. We also offer a Cash savings hub which provides access to a range of competitive savings accounts to help people manage their cash savings.
We aim to make it easy for our customers to save and invest by providing them with online tools and information to help them build and manage their portfolios.
AJ Bell is headquartered in Manchester, UK.