Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG) that created new roles and made a new appointment to its executive team.
Martin Schultheiss moves from chief operating officer to take up a new expanded role as group managing director. Reporting into SBG’s executive chairman, John Cowan, Schultheiss’s wider remit now includes the group’s finance, sales and account management functions, alongside his existing group-wide responsibilities.
Ross Liston joins the group as managing director of Bankhall and PMS. Reporting into Schultheiss, Liston has responsibility for driving forward the group’s relationships with directly authorised firms across PMS Mortgage Club and professional support service provider, Bankhall.
Liston has 25 years’ industry experience in senior financial advice and business development roles, most recently as head of advisory relationships at Standard Life. His previous roles at Standard Life include head of strategic partnerships and head of advisory distribution (now branded as 1825), where he led the 200-strong private client division.
SBG has also created a new role – managing director, Sesame – with responsibility for driving forward the adviser network and developing support for existing network members. An announcement regarding this new appointment will be made in due course.
Meanwhile, Julie Sadler, who previously held the dual roles of chief risk officer at SBG and managing director, Bankhall, now takes on the new role of group risk and compliance director. Reporting in to Cowan, Sadler will maintain responsibility for the delivery of compliance services to Bankhall clients, alongside her existing chief risk officer role.
In addition, Jim Kelly moves from chief finance officer to group finance director, and will report into Schultheiss.
Finally, HR & learning director, Lisa Winnard, continues to report into Schultheiss and becomes group people & services director, with a wider remit that now includes the group’s operations and adviser helpdesk support, along with marketing and business development.
Cowan said: “Today marks a further step in SBG’s evolution. In a rapidly changing market, which is alive with opportunities for advisers, we will ensure that our advisory brands are strongly positioned to assist them.
“To help achieve this we want to maximise the expertise and talent that exists across our group, and these latest changes will enable us to do just that. Martin has injected new energy into our plans following his arrival in January, and Ross is another excellent addition to our leadership team.
“Through PMS and Bankhall we already serve 4,000 directly authorised firms, and we have seen steady growth throughout this year as discerning firms seek out quality support that is tailored to their needs. We also intend to further bolster our adviser facing business by recruiting a managing director for our Sesame Network.
“By leveraging the strengths of our group and continuing to invest in our market-leading advisory brands, we will give advisers all the support they need to help achieve their future ambitions.”