Executive Board
Oliver Cooke
Chairman
Oliver has over 30 years of financial and business development experience gained in a range of quoted and private companies including over ten years’ experience as a Public Company Director. He has considerable experience in the fields of acquisitions, disposals, fundraisings, turnarounds, restructurings and strategic transformation. Oliver is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Brian Raven
Chief Executive
Brian was Chairman of Blacksquare and has been involved in the financial services sector since 2010. He has a wide range of business experience, having held many sales and general management posts at senior management and board level, including running public companies on both AIM and the Official List. Most notably, in 1991 Brian founded Card Clear Plc, subsequently renamed Retail Decisions plc, a business engaged in combating the fraudulent use of plastic payment cards. He led the company until 1998 by which time it was an international group, listed on AIM, with a market capitalisation of some £100 million. As a principal, Brian has been responsible for identifying, negotiating and integrating numerous acquisitions, as well as for delivering organic growth.
Mark Wilson
Chief Operating Officer
Mark has over 21 years’ experience in financial services in leadership roles including Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer, Head of M&A and risk management. Mark has group wide responsibility for HR, financial planning, compliance, risk management, operations (facilities, procurement and support), change management and technology. Mark has previously been a Partner at RSM UK (Baker Tilly) for over 10 years and completed senior consultancy roles at AA Insurance, Interactive Investor and M&G Prudential, amongst others.
Ben Raven
Managing Director
Tavistock Wealth
Ben has 13+ years’ experience in financial services having held senior management positions at both Asset Management and Wealth Management organisations. Ben joined the business that became Tavistock Wealth (Blacksquare) in the summer of 2007. During this time he was a Director and Head of Research. Responsibilities within Tavistock have included Group business development, providing support to all Group advisers and conducting due diligence on a number of acquisitions. He holds a B.A in Business Management from Leeds University Business School.
John Leiper, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
John Leiper is the Chief Investment Officer of Tavistock Wealth and carries direct responsibility for all investments in the Centralised Investment Proposition at the firm. Together with the research and investment team, he manages the ACUMEN Portfolios and the Tavistock PROFILES. John has more than 10 years’ experience in financial markets having previously worked in a variety of roles at RBS, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. John holds a BSc degree in Economics from Warwick University and an MSc degree in Economic History from the London School of Economics. John Leiper is a CFA ® charterholder.
Malcolm Harper
Managing Director Tavistock Partners & The Tavistock Partnership
Malcolm is Managing Director for both the Registered Individual (Tavistock Partners) and Appointed Representative (Tavistock Partnership) businesses within Tavistock. Having been in the industry for 29 years, he founded Abacus Associates in 2003, which he developed into one of the country’s leading Independent Financial Advisory firms. Under Malcolm’s management, Abacus grew to an adviser force of 44 and assets under management of approximately £650m prior to joining the Tavistock Group in 2016.
Mark Evans
Managing Director
Tavistock Private Client
Mark joined Tavistock PLC having worked within financial services since 1987. In 1996, he formed his own IFA brokerage in several locations and since has successfully generated leads and business opportunities for his advisers. This culminated in MBO’s and Mark then moved to work in the private client sector. As well as running his own successful brokerage, Mark has excellent experience of working with the expat community and set up and ran a successful brokerage in Portugal. In 2012, he was recruited into Lighthouse Group as their first Business Development Executive. Mark recruited and mentored many new advisers and was promoted to Business Development Director. Six months later he was promoted to Managing Director of Lighthouse Financial Advice where he consolidated the separate divisions into one and helped increased the advisers’ earnings substantially.
Chris Halford
Group Marketing Director
Chris has over 30 years’ experience in the marketing and creative arena. His work with 3M UK Plc included marketing Scotch Tape and Post-it notes, and was instrumental in establishing a joint venture with the BBC that launched BBC Video in the early 80’s. Chris was then European Head of Operations with Embassy Pictures, before leaving to set up his own Design Business, initially focused on the music and film industries. Clients included Warner Brothers, Virgin, CBS Fox, Polydor, BSkyB, Philips, Samsung, Sony and VW. Chris is the architect of Tavistock Investments’ entire brand strategy and he oversees the marketing activity of all Group businesses.
Johanna Rager
Group Financial Officer
Johanna is an accomplished Finance Director with 20+ years of professional achievement in Multinational companies. She has a track record of delivering strategic, commercial and operational solutions across global organisations, including the implementation of complex Mergers and Acquisitions. Johanna has proven ability to deliver top and bottom lines and adapt to ever-changing business environments while focusing on talent development and lean processes. She holds a Masters’ degree in Economics and Business Administration from The University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna.
Andy Fouracres
Group Compliance Director
Andy was appointed as Group Compliance Director in June 2017. He has worked in financial services for over 30 years, predominantly in the network arena, spending the last 15 years with Lighthouse Group Plc as Regulatory Director. He holds the PFS diploma.
Greg Preston
Compliance Director
Tavistock Wealth
Greg is the Compliance Director at Tavistock Wealth and joined the Tavistock Investments Group via our first acquisition in 2014. During his career he has held compliance roles in both Advisory and Wealth Management businesses. Now supporting all areas of the Investment Management business, with particular focus on the establishment and on-going compliance control of our Investment Management products and services, whilst providing liaison between our regulated Group entities.
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