Executive Committee

Andrea joined Brooks Macdonald in August 2023 as Chief Financial Officer, bringing an impressive track record and experience of operating at Board and Executive level across the UK long-term savings and asset management sector.

Most recently, Andrea was Group Chief Risk Officer at Aviva, where she had previously been Group Chief Financial Controller. Prior to that, Andrea has held senior leadership roles including Deputy Group CFO at Royal London and Group Chief Internal Auditor at Standard Life plc.

Her formative years were spent at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she qualified as a chartered accountant.

Simon Broomfield joined Brooks Macdonald in 2008 and he is our Group General Counsel. 

As Group General Counsel, Simon advises the Group directors and employees on all legal matters affecting the group in all jurisdictions. He is also responsible for managing the group legal team and acts as the company’s data protection officer.

Simon was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 2002 and admitted as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England & Wales in 2009. He has significant experience in civil litigation, corporate and commercial law, banking and financial services law, M&A, consumer credit, and data protection.

Simon has an MBA from Imperial College and is Vice President and former Chair of the Bar Association for Commerce, Finance and Industry. He is also a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments.

Karen brings over 20 years of experience in the financial services sector with significant expertise in the areas of technology, operations, and regulatory change from her time with BlackRock most recently as EMEA Head of Regulatory Change.

Neil Cowell is Group Distribution Director. He is responsible for Brooks Macdonald’s adviser distribution across the UK, supported by the breadth and depth of our Investment Management team. Neil has almost 30 years’ experience in UK financial services and extensive experience in Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) sales. He was most recently Head of UK Distribution Vanguard Investments UK and prior to that he was Head of UK Retail Bank and Wealth Manager Distribution at Standard Life. 

Debbie Dalzell is Group Chief People Officer. She is responsible for creating a culture around talent, performance, engagement, and leadership. Most recently she led the global HR function for the institutional asset manager, GAM Investments, and prior to that spent 16 years at BlackRock, latterly in the role of Human Resources Director.
 
Debbie coaches her clients and colleagues to enhance people strategy, organisational design, operational effectiveness, leadership training, learning and development and all aspects of reward.
 
Debbie also served as an Executive board member for GAM UK for three years and is a Trustee for Reigate Learning Alliance, a sixth form college.

Robin is the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and a member of the Executive Leadership Team of Brooks Macdonald. In his role as CCO, Robin is responsible for all the Front Office teams and accountable for all aspects of sales, go-to-market and revenue and margin generation. This is across the distinct client groups of Intermediaries and Private Clients.

Robin has been with BM for 23 years, initially as an Investment Manager and subsequently has held senior management roles, most recently as Managing Director and Head of UK Investment Management.

He is also a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment (Chartered MCSI).

Jared joined Brooks Macdonald in 2023. In his previous role as Senior Director of Operational Oversight and Governance he was responsible for leading all aspects of Oversight and Governance, Client Operations, and Market Dealing, ensuring robust frameworks and controls were in place to manage risks and maintain compliance.

Prior to Brooks Macdonald his 35 year career included previous roles in Risk, Governance and Oversight at Bank of New York, Columbia Threadneedle, Citigroup, Barclays Capital, and Morgan Stanley.

Mike Holden, former co- founder and CEO of LIFT-Financial Group, brings over 30 years of expertise and experience in financial services and relationship management. Mike’s career has been shaped by his passion for building strong, personal relationships with clients supporting them throughout their lives.

In his former role at LIFT- Financial Group, he focused the teams to deliver on their promise of outstanding service and long-term value to clients through sound advice and open communication. 

As an advocate of talent and innovation, he created and continues to champion the LIFT-Academy, an initiative to develop the next generation of Chartered Financial Planners, to continue high-quality service.

Katherine joined Brooks Macdonald in November 2024 as Chief Financial Officer, responsible for leading the overall strategic and financial performance of the business

Katherine has over 20 years of experience in Financial Services leading high-performing strategic financial planning, reporting and tax teams, finance transformation, investor relations and complex corporate transactions.

Before joining Brooks Macdonald, Katherine was most recently Group Finance Director at Phoenix Group, and prior to that, she held senior finance roles including Group Head of Financial Performance at Prudential Plc and Director of Investor Relations at Partnership Plc (now Just Group plc).

Katherine is a chartered accountant and qualified at KPMG in Insurance and Asset Management Audit and Transaction Services.

Josh is an experienced executive working for more than 20 years across the financial, professional services, and private investment industries in the UK and Asia-Pacific. Most recently, he was based in Asia where he has been an Operating Partner advising on Private Equity Transactions and prior to that a Regional CEO of a Private Equity portfolio company and a Strategy & Transactions Partner for Ernst & Young.

He has held leadership positions in Partnerships, Corporate and Privately owned companies and has led multinational Strategy and Transformation projects in Financial Services. His experience also extends to Investment Banking and across Operational and Board roles with growth stage businesses.

Josh is a Senior Advisory Board Member and Visting Professor of Leadership at the University of Law Business School and a Board Director with Hong Kong China Rugby. He is also a former Wasps, England and British and Irish Lions Rugby Union Player and Officer in the British Army.

Catherine is a strategic communicator and marketer with more than 30 years of experience across sectors and cultures. Her passion is building high performing teams supporting and developing talent to deliver great results. She’s worked in government, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, telecommunications and financial services in Canada, Switzerland, the US, and the UK. Catherine is a British and Canadian citizen.