Member Article

Wealth management company adds three more to its growing team

An Ambitious Wearside wealth management company has recruited three more members of staff to its growing team.

Earlier this year, Sunderland-based Northern Spire celebrated its 21st birthday and signing up its 1,000th client.

Now the company has added yet more expertise to its ranks – Simon Oxley has joined as a Client Servicing Specialist; Lewis Spencer has been recruited as Client Servicing Administrator, and Chris Brunton has joined as a Financial Adviser.

David Cook is Managing Partner at Northern Spire, a Senior Partner Practice of St James’s Place Wealth Management now averaging 200 new clients a year.

“We’ve come a long way in 21 years but we’re still growing at a good rate and these new appointments will help us scale-up further,” said David.

“Our success is our excellent customer service, our experience and knowledge and how we can help clients through out networks – and I’ve no doubt that Simon, Lewis and Chris will help us deliver the right service to our valued clients.”

Simon is originally from Consett but now lives in Sunderland. He joins Northern Spire from a software consultancy and has already signed up to the prestigious St James Academy where he is studying to become a qualified Financial Adviser.

“I met Matthew Cook, a Financial Adviser at Northern Spire, through work and he spoke very highly of the company. I was ready for a change in career so when a vacancy came up, I applied – I’d always wanted to be a Financial Adviser,” said Simon who graduated from the University of Sunderland with a health and social science degree.

After leaving school, Sunderland-born Lewis studied electrical and electronics engineering at Sunderland College.

Lewis went on to work for an outsourcing contact centre before joining Six Circles, a software company which creates business engagement platforms. Six Circles was founded and is now chaired by David Cook.

“I was aware of Northern Spire and wanted to work with them but had to wait for the right role to come up – in the meantime I was happy to work for David’s other company, Six Circles,” said Lewis.

He went on to work for a mortgage company before joining Northern Spire in March, and is already studying his Chartered Institute for Insurance (CII) exams, with the intention of becoming a qualified financial adviser.

Chris has been a financial adviser for five years. Originally from Cumbria, he came to the region to study maths and statistics at Newcastle University. He worked in account management before studying to be a financial adviser.

“I knew David and Northern Spire financial adviser John Longford so knew what a great company it was to work for, and I’m delighted to be part of the team. Many of my existing clients are individuals and I’m looking forward to working with SMEs with Northern Spire. My specialist area is working with business owners on their exit strategies,” he said.

As well as Simon, Lewis and Chris, Northern Spire is currently recruiting a new paraplanner, which will take the team up to 17 strong.

David launched financial advice company Northern Spire, based just off Wessington Way, Sunderland, in April 2002. The company now has more than £140m under its management.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rob Lawson .