The latest moves and appointments for wealth management roles in the UK, and other parts of Europe, the Middle East and select international locations.

The Openwork Partnership
The Openwork Partnership, a UK financial advice network, has appointed Emma Hardiman (pictured) as marketing and communications director.

Hardiman will join in November from her own consultancy, where she has been working with UK wealth managers and advisory firms on proposition design, client segmentation, and commercial growth. Before that she spent 12 years at Charles Stanley in two spells, the last four years leading as group head of marketing, PR and communications, following earlier roles as director of commercial analytics and strategic development director. Her earlier career was in finance at BNY Mellon, Coutts, RBS, and Aviva Investors. Hardiman is a CIMA-qualified accountant who moved into marketing through strategy and commercial analytics.

“Emma's track record of turning marketing into a commercial driver, and her experience across strategy, analytics and brand, make her a strong addition to our leadership team,” Rob Askham, chief commercial officer at The Openwork Partnership, said. As we continue to invest in Openwork's growth, she will play a key role in sharpening how we communicate with advisors, partners and clients.”

Edmond de Rothschild
Edmond de Rothschild has appointed Alice de la Rochefoucauld (pictured below) as group head of Philanthropy & Engagement. Based in Geneva, she reports to Yvan Vaillant, head of Group Wealth Planning.

Alice de la Rochefoucauld

In her new role, de la Rochefoucauld will be responsible for developing and leading the Philanthropy & Engagement offering for private banking clients. Since joining Edmond de Rothschild in 2022, de la Rochefoucauld has been instrumental in developing the group’s philanthropic offering, particularly its international expansion across Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

De la Rochefoucauld brings nearly 15 years of experience in public institutions and multilateral organisations across several European countries. She has previously worked for the French Ministry of Defence, the European Union and the United Nations, before going on to lead a Swiss foundation. She holds a master of science degree from the London School of Economics (LSE).

“Alice’s appointment as head of group Philanthropy & Engagement reflects our ambition to strengthen the impact and coherence of our initiatives across the group,” Vaillant said. “Her experience in and vision of philanthropic support will be a key asset in advancing this ambition. Her mission will be to continue expanding our philanthropic offering while fostering the sharing of best practices and synergies with wealth planning.”

Stephenson Harwood
Stephenson Harwood, a law firm, has appointed Nicola Simmons as a partner in its London office, working in the private wealth practice. 

With more than 10 years’ experience advising entrepreneurs, family offices, trustees, and corporates on both personal and corporate tax matters, Simmons previously worked at Mishcon de Reya for more than nine years, and before that she worked at Dentons.

Her practice spans estate and succession planning, tax residence, trusts, asset purchases and disposals, wills and powers of attorney, as well as corporate tax issues, restructurings, and the acquisition and disposal of business assets and real estate, Stephenson Harwood said in a statement on its LinkedIn page.

“We continue to grow our private wealth team at Stephenson Harwood, as our clients’ demands increase, in dealing with their legal and tax affairs internationally. The pace of tax changes means our clients need technical, practical, wide-ranging, and proactive advice, from advisers who are experts in their field,” partner Beatrice P, head of private wealth, London, Stephenson Harwood, said.

Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Columbia Threadneedle Investments, a global asset management group, has appointed Gianluca Di Mascio as portfolio manager and Karan Bhanot as associate portfolio manager within its Research Enhanced Strategies team in London. Both will report to Boston-based Chris Lo, head of Research Enhanced Strategies.

They will help support the continued development of the firm's growing Active ETF offering for UK and European clients, following the launch of its QR (“Quant Redefined”) Series, which provides UK and European investors access to four ‘building block’ Active ETFs designed to offer differentiated, research-enhanced exposure across core equity markets, the firm said in a statement.

Di Mascio (pictured below) previously spent almost six years at Vanguard Asset Management managing and trading multi-asset index portfolios, ETFs and equity index funds. He also spent five years at London Stock Exchange Group working in capital markets.

Gianluca Di Mascio

Bhanot (pictured below) was previously a quantitative strategist within the Index and ETF team at Legal & General Asset Management, where he was responsible for developing and managing systematic investment strategies across a range of ETF products, as well as quantitative research and infrastructure development.

Karan Bhanot

“We are delighted to welcome Gianluca and Karan to the team. Both bring highly relevant and complementary experience across portfolio management, quantitative investing and ETF markets,” Lo said. “Their appointments further enhance our investment capabilities and will play an important role as we continue to expand our Research Enhanced platform and develop our Active ETF offering for clients across the UK and Europe."

BCV
The board of directors at Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV) has appointed one of its senior figures, Denys Papeil as head of the business support division. 

Papeil, who leads the cantonal Swiss bank’s IT services department, will take up his new position on 1 January 2027. He will replace Christian Meixenberger, who will be retiring on 31 December this year, the bank said in a statement.