Our Executive Team
Our Executive Team bring a wealth of experience and specialist knowledge to their roles. Together, they share leadership of the day-to-day management of Succession, as well as the delivery of our long-term vision and commitment to an exceptional client experience.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Roger Marsden
Roger became CEO of Succession Wealth in February 2024. He has 30 years of experience in Financial Services having previously worked for Aviva, Barclays Capital, and Deloitte.
Roger is a Chartered Accountant and has successfully led both wealth and retirement businesses and has significant board experience.
CHIEF RISK OFFICER
Susan Puddephatt
Susan is an ex-regulator with a deep understanding of financial services regulation. She also has extensive expertise in risk management and governance across most parts of financial services.
Prior to joining Succession, Susan held a number of senior Risk & Compliance roles, most recently at Tilney Group, and, prior to that, Ardevora Asset Management LLP, Equitable Life and RSA Group. She has also worked as risk and regulatory consultant. Susan is passionate about helping people to be good money managers and is a strong believer in importance of financial planning in that process.
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Steve Willis
Steve is a Chartered Accountant with experience working in both practice and industry, specifically Financial Auditing, Corporate Finance (M&A), Banking, and leading finance teams in high growth environments.
Responsible for Finance, Property and Data Intelligence, he is an ardent believer of collaborative working and enabling the Group to deliver a first-class service to clients.
Steve lives in South Devon with his wife and three daughters, he is a keen swimmer and loves being outdoors.
GROUP HR DIRECTOR
Helen Blackmore
Helen is a member of the CIPD and has been a senior HR and Commercial leader for over 10 years across Financial Services, Technology, Aviation and Hospitality sectors.
Helen has responsibility for all People initiatives throughout our HR and L&D teams. This ranges from Planner Development, Culture, Reward and Recruitment.
In the past she has spent time in HR at Flybe plc, and since 2013 as the Global Head of People Operations at blur Group plc, before becoming Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for both HR and Sales across the USA and EMEA. Helen brings energy and commercial HR skills to support the Group with an ambitious People agenda across Succession’s regional offices.
GENERAL COUNSEL AND COMPANY SECRETARY
Adrian Webb
Adrian joined Succession Group in September 2019 as General Counsel and Company Secretary. He is responsible for providing comprehensive in-house legal support to the business and he is also the Group’s data protection officer.
Adrian is a highly experienced corporate and financial services lawyer, with previous appointments as Head of Legal for Police Mutual and Head of Legal for Sun Life Financial of Canada. As GC, Adrian strongly believes that legal advice to the business must be commercial, clear, and focussed on providing solutions to ensure the business achieves its objectives.
GROUP OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Dawn Buckingham
Dawn joined Succession in October 2023 as Group Operations Director, she has over 20 years’ experience working across Finance, Risk & Operations within the Financial Services industry.
Dawn joined Succession from Investec Bank, where she was the Head of Operations, having previously been the Divisional Chief Operating Officer for the Private Bank. Prior to Investec, Dawn has held a number Programme Director roles at NatWest / RBS running large change programmes.
Before jumping headfirst into running change initiatives, Dawn worked within the Finance department for an Investment Bank. Dawn is a qualified Chartered Accountant, having qualified as one of the first cohort to do so outside of the traditional audit route.
Chief Technology Officer
Chris Truman
Chris joined Succession in December 2023 as Chief Technology Officer. He has over 30 years’ experience in I.T. and I.T. leadership, working in diverse industries from manufacturing to finance.
Prior to joining Succession, Chris worked for Aviva for over 5 years in several roles, his last being Director of Cyber Protection Services.
Chris is a member of the British Computer Society as a Chartered I.T. Professional.
Director of Wealth
Graham Nicoll
Graham has over 20 years of experience in wealth management, financial services and driving business and digital transformation. He is passionate about clients receiving holistic financial advice to enable them to achieve their life goals.
A key focus for Graham is the development of colleagues, advisors and industry professionals which is one of the reasons he became a Non-executive Director of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments. He is a Chartered Fellow of the CISI and chairs the Examination Board.