AJ Bell appoints Helena Morrissey as chair

Investment platform AJ Bell said on Tuesday that Baroness Helena Morrissey will be appointed chair of the company on 1 July.

Morrissey, who recently stepped down as non-executive director at St James’s Place, will succeed Les Platts. She is currently lead non-executive director for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, reporting to the Foreign Secretary.

Previously, Morrissey was head of Personal Investing at Legal & General Investment Management and prior to that, she was chief executive at Newton Investment Management for 15 years.

AJ Bell also announced the appointment of Evelyn Bourke as non-executive director. Evelyn is a non-executive director at Marks & Spencer. She was chief executive of Bupa until December 2020 and previously held senior roles at a number of financial services businesses including Friends Provident, Standard Life and Chase de Vere.

Les Platts said: "It has been a great honour to chair the board at AJ Bell and to help steer the company through its successful IPO in 2018.

"The business is full of great people who are totally focused on serving its customers and I'll leave knowing it has a very bright future. I look forward to welcoming Helena and Evelyn to the board in July and handing over the chair to Helena early next year."