Darren Smith
Ivybridge,Devon
Summary
I am an experienced, skilled and enthusiastic leader and love inspiring and supporting people to be the best version of themselves by providing an exceptional level of service to clients. I have a proven track history of outstanding commercial delivery, built across a period of nearly three decades in first and second-line people leadership within Financial Planning. I thrive in a challenging, fast paced working environment and thoroughly enjoy being part of, and managing, a successful and productive team. I am skilled at influencing and articulating a compelling vision and I place high value on building long lasting, genuine relationships at all levels. I fully understand the importance of collaborative working and bringing people together for the benefit of the business and am very passionate about building and driving a positive culture to achieve the best outcomes for clients and colleagues. In addition to my commercial acumen, I have extensive experience in creating efficiencies whilst effectively managing risk, and skilfully leading teams to achieve outstanding outcomes. I work at pace and with purpose and will always display a total commitment to supporting clients with major life decisions. With a remaining career time horizon of 15 years, I feel now is the right time for me for move into a role that releases more of my total capability. I want to feel proud of the legacy that I leave and wish to lead in a business that matches my own personal values.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
2004
2004
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Director, Financial Planning
Evelyn Partners
11.2024 - 01.2026
- I moved into a Director role within Evelyn Partners to provide me with the opportunity to work within a Private Equity backed firm, working with HNW and UHNW clients. This has provided a different culture to the more typical corporate based environment that I worked within for a majority of my career to that point. I have excelled in pushing forward the change agenda within the organisation and have been excited to be part of a company that has ambitions across the next 5 years to secure 100bn of client assets. In addition to leading a team of financial advisers, I have been provided the opportunity to build out a specialist desk, focusing on annuity and protection advice. In addition, I have been asked to take on the leadership a team of financial coaches through our Bestinvest proposition, whilst maintaining my own small client bank of around 20 private clients (AUM circa 25m)
- My leadership duties include the following:
- Leading a team of 12 financial plannings, responsible for clients assets of just over 500m
- Creating capacity across the business by influencing 48% growth in AUM to within my team across the last 12 months
- Across 2025, I accepted an increase in Gross New Money (GNM) and fees target twice to support the wider business. We finished the year on 141% of GNM and 191% of fees
- Net New Money (NNM)Target for the entire business stands at 54% of GNM. My team has achieved 81% across 2025, demonstrating the commitment and focus to our clients
- Total focus on Good client outcomes, with a first time Suitable rate of over 98% across 2025
- 98% completion of annual suitability completed across all clients in 2025. The remainder are all a result of client led extensions
- CAS status achieved personally within 3 months of joining the organisation. I have thoroughly enjoyed providing holistic advice to my own small client bank of private clients, exceeding all measures across the course of the year.
- I was asked to take on the responsibility of extending the remit of the specialist desk in June (7 months from appointment). By year end we have established a fully whole of market proposition for both protection and annuity advice and have established strong commercial and service agreements with a number of providers across the industry. In addition, this has created capacity and commercial opportunity organically within the organisation
- Taking on second line supervision of our team of Bestinvest financial coaches from January 2026, to drive forward our execution only proposition to support our wider offerings to clients
- The results of the last 12 months, my first within the organisation, have been built off the back of open, honest and supportive leadership and collaborative influencing of relationships across then business.
Deputy Regional Director (Financial Planning)
Aegon UK
12.2012 - 11.2024
- I worked as Deputy Regional Director within Aegon UK, following the transfer of Nationwide Building Society's financial planning service in February 2024. I successfully led a team of Area Managers through numerous periods of significant change, the most recent of which being the transfer across to Aegon following Nationwide's strategic review of their services. Throughout the period , we maintained a strong, highly productive performance (from both a commercial and risk perspective) where we always have the clients' best interests at the heart of everything we do.
- My leadership duties included the following
- Leading a team of 11 Area Managers, who in turn were responsible for delivery and outcomes of 106 financial advisers. The geography included teams in the Southwest, Midlands, Northwest, Northeast, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. My current commercial delivery in my last year of trading outperformed my peers by circa 19% financial year to date
- Providing inspirational leadership skills to leaders and advisers across the business to optimize client experience and relationships and deliver high levels of client satisfaction and retention
- Regional and National responsibility for business and risk performance, with a proven track record for delivering a high-level commercial performance via a total commitment to people and clients
- Working collaboratively with stakeholders from across the organization for the benefit of clients, advisers, and the wider business. Creating purposeful relationships with external organizations to optimize the client experience and benefit
- Established SME in areas such as capacity planning, commercial optimization, business development and risk management
- Expert knowledge of Financial Advice, TCF and operational / conduct risks, supported with a depth of experience leading and supervising within a regulatory environment
- Managing multiple high-profile projects, expertly leading teams to deliver against project timelines. This has included working as the National Lead for our legacy back book exercise, focusing on optimizing client experience, benefit, and conversion from a distribution perspective
- Accountable lead for a major organizational change within the last three years, leading to a circa £2m cost saving for the business
- Extensive regulated advice background, including holistic financial planning, mortgage advice and insurance recommendations
- (previously Nationwide Financial Planning)
Area Director (Retail)
02.2012 - 12.2012
- I was asked to take on a fixed term position on a secondment basis as an Area Director, which involved managing a large team of Retail branches across the Southwest, due to my proven people leadership skills during periods of change. The position involved managing business operations, leading new staff training sessions, driving, and monitoring sales performance and collaborating with many stakeholders and departments to ensure a joined-up approach across the business. Throughout the short period I was in role, customer service scores increased back in line with business expectations, staff morale scores significantly trended upwards and commercial delivery was in the top 25% of peer group.
- My leadership duties included the following:
- Secondment across a transitional period of change within the Branch Network
- Reinstalling belief and vision across all branches
- Collaborating with various stakeholders including the mortgage division, financial planning, risk, contact centres and customer service teams
Area Manager (Financial Planning)
04.2006 - 02.2012
- I worked as an Area Manager, which involved managing a team of Financial Planning Managers, firstly across Berkshire & Hampshire, followed by the Southwest. I successfully built relationships with key stakeholders across the business and very quickly moved an underperforming team's performance forward to end my first 12 months in role with the highest commercial performance nationally. During my tenure, I established a reputation for problem solving effectively and upskilling and inspiring teams and individuals to outperform expectations consistently.
- My leadership duties included the following:
- Managing and leading a team of Financial Planning Managers
- Engaging with key stakeholders to influence activity and quality of referrals
- Regional Risk Lead, to support good outcomes for clients
- Ensuring the team were compliant and providing suitable advice via regular observations and case checks
- Working on various projects to influence and support policy/process changes
- Supporting recruitment and development through a Mentoring scheme and Academy for new talent
- Planning and leading regular Team Meetings and weekly conferences
- Ensuring the team continued to provide excellent service
- Training new starter advisers through to Competent Adviser Status
Financial Planning Manager
Nationwide Building Society
05.2001 - 04.2006
- I worked as a Financial Planning Manager for Nationwide Building Society. I was consistently a top performer in the role, both from a commercial and risk perspective, and I built long lasting relationships with clients through providing a professional and personalised service. I also worked well as part of a larger branch team and coached my Retail colleagues successfully to provide a higher quantity and quality of referrals. During this time, I also took on additional responsibilities to drive the business forward by leading various projects.
- My adviser duties included the following:
- Coaching the branch teams to ensure my diary was consistently filled with quality referrals
- Meeting clients face to face for in depth discussions and providing holistic financial advice (investments, protection, estate planning, pensions)
- Self-generating appointments
- Providing ongoing advice to existing investment clients
- Working on a flexible basis (to include Saturdays and home visits if and when required)
- Writing up accurate Client Reports and Suitability Letters
- Ensuring I was continually up to date with financial and economic news
Education
IFS Level 4 Diploma - Financial Advisers
Certificate for Financial Advisers (CeFA) - Financial Advice
Certificate in Mortgage Advice & Practice - undefined
A Levels - Chemistry (A), Maths (B), Economics (B)
Gosford Hill School
Kidlington, OxfordGCSEs - 10 A Grades
Gosford Hill School
Kidlington, OxfordSkills
- Proven ability to inspire and coach teams to deliver exceptional service alongside a high and consistent commercial delivery (second line and first line management and supervision)
- Exceptional performance management skills
- Experienced in providing tailored financial advice
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Great attention to detail and analytical in nature
- Adaptable to new situations
- Thrive under pressure
- Positive attitude and an ability to grasp new ideas and concepts easily
Custom Section
Available on request.
Timeline
Director, Financial Planning
Evelyn Partners
11.2024 - 01.2026
Deputy Regional Director (Financial Planning)
Aegon UK
12.2012 - 11.2024
Area Director (Retail)
02.2012 - 12.2012
Area Manager (Financial Planning)
04.2006 - 02.2012
Financial Planning Manager
Nationwide Building Society
05.2001 - 04.2006
Certificate for Financial Advisers (CeFA) - Financial Advice
Certificate in Mortgage Advice & Practice - undefined
A Levels - Chemistry (A), Maths (B), Economics (B)
Gosford Hill School
GCSEs - 10 A Grades
Gosford Hill School