Member Article

Wealth management company appoints a new MD

A GROWING Sunderland wealth management company has appointed a new Managing Director.

Deborah Telfer has taken up her a position at Northern Spire as the company is about to top £200m of client funds under its management.

For the last seven years Deborah has been Northern Spire’s Director of Operations, and has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services sector. She spent nearly 15 years at Sunderland accountancy firm Jennings Johnson, which became part of the Tenon Group in 2001.

She went on to gain experience as a paraplanner and an office manager at other financial advisors before joining Northern Spire in 2017.

Deborah said: “I’m thrilled to take up my new position and excited by the challenge. I’m looking forward to growing our company by providing the very best financial advice and customer care. My new role will involve me taking a more strategic approach to the business, which I obviously know so well.

“It’s an exciting time for the company, we have a growing list of valued clients and the amount of client funds we have under our management will top £200m this year,” added Deborah, who lives in Ryhope.

David Cook, founder, owner and Chair of Northern Spire, said: “Deborah richly deserves this promotion. It’s a sector which is traditionally male-dominated, but like in so many other areas, we’re proud to be different – most of our senior managers are women here. Deborah is certainly the only woman I know who is an MD at a financial services company in the north east.

“I’m not leaving the business and I’ll be here for the years ahead, but it was time to pass over the day-to-day operations and management to Deborah – she knows the business inside out and it was important to us that we appointed from within our talented team.

“Developing our employees has always been a key priority for us, and Deborah has excelled at whatever we’ve asked of her – so why would I look anywhere else?”

David launched Northern Spire, based just off Wessington Way, Sunderland, in April 2002. The company signed up its 1,000th client last year when it also added two new recruits, making the team 15 strong. Northern Spire is a Senior Partner Practice of St James’s Place Wealth Management and averages 200 new clients a year.

David added: “The sector has faced significant challenges in recent years, including tighter legislative controls, but we’ve experienced impressive and sustained growth, particularly since the Covid pandemic and I believe that under Deborah’s leadership we have an exciting and successful future.”

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