Executive Board
Oliver Cooke
Chairman
Oliver has over 40 years of financial and business development experience gained in a range of quoted and private companies including over twenty five 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 has been involved in financial services since 2010, when he became Chairman of Blacksquare Capital. He has a wealth of commercial experience, from founding and developing businesses to running public companies on both the AIM and the Official List. 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 AIM listed international group, with a market capitalisation of some £100 million. This was followed by the development of a group focused on delivering membership card systems and loyalty schemes across the UK health and fitness sector. As a principal, Brian has been responsible for numerous corporate acquisitions and disposals, as well as for delivering organic growth. He and Chairman, Oliver Cooke, founded Tavistock Investments in 2013.
Ben Raven
Managing Director
Wealth Management
Ben has 15+ 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.
Malcolm Harper
Managing Director Networks
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
Group Corporate Development Director
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.
Johanna Rager
Group Financial Officer
Operations Director
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.
Gregor Preston
Group Compliance Director
Gregor 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 with particular focus on the establishment and on-going compliance controls of our Investment Management products and services. Gregor now leads the compliance function with an objective of delivering great client outcomes whilst managing regulatory risks to ensure business activities and stakeholder engagement is in line with regulatory principles (spirit) and rules.
Steven McGregor
Business Development Director
Tavistock Asset Management
Steve is the Business Development Director for Tavistock Asset Management. Steve has over 20 years’ experience in financial services and spent over a decade at Barclays Wealth managing private client portfolios, before becoming Investment Director for PB Financial Planning (PBFP) in 2010. He joined the Group in 2016 with the acquisition of PBFP, serving as an Investment Consultant and Head of Adviser Support. Steve holds an MA in International Political Economy from the University of Leeds, as well as Chartered Wealth Manager status with the CISI where he is also a Chartered Fellow.
Amy Chidgey
Group Financial Controller
Amy is a Chartered Accountant and gained a first-class degree in Economics from Exeter University. Having qualified in public practice working in statutory audit, she joined Tavistock in 2017 and in 2022 was invited to become a member of the Group’s Executive Board. Amy leads the team who are responsible for the financial operation of the Group and for providing additional support to individual business heads within the Group. She also engages in a wide range of strategic modelling and other projects in support of the Group’s Executive Directors.
Suzanne Pestell
Director of HR
Suzy is a Chartered HR professional with over 20 years’ experience in human resources, and has held management positions at both professional services and financial services organisations. Suzy joined the Tavistock Investments Group in 2020, and in her role as Director of HR she oversees the HR functions across the Group. During her career, she has developed an expertise in strategic HR business partnering, mergers and acquisitions, organisational change, talent and people development. She holds a Masters’ degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Hertfordshire.
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