Mitch Hopkinson – Chief Executive Officer
After graduating from Northumbria University, Mitch worked for some of the top names in the world of finance before joining deVere United Kingdom as Head of East Midlands in September 2012.
Focused, creative and driven, Mitch’s remit was to grow the division and, under his leadership, that’s exactly what has happened with a vibrant and expanding team offering a full range of financial planning services to a rapidly growing client base.
Key to this success has been Mitch’s unswerving commitment to client-centric service backed by his philosophy of building long-term relationships. As he says: “My goal, and the goal of my team, is to build lasting relationships with our clients. We do this by taking time to thoroughly understand our clients’ needs and subsequently build individually-tailored financial plans that meet and often exceed our clients’ wealth management and growth expectations.”
This commitment to client service was evident well before Mitch joined deVere. In 2008 and 2009 he won the prestigious Financial Times Group Pension Adviser of the Year award and in 2009 he became the Financial Times Overall Life and Pensions Independent Adviser of the Year.
These achievements, along with an established and successful career in financial services at the highest level caught the eye of deVere and the rest, as they say, is history.
Today, Mitch offers a full range of independent financial advice, from strategic planning, pensions and investments to inheritance tax planning, portfolio and wealth management and retirement planning. To his expanding portfolio of high net worth and business clients he is the go-to independent financial adviser, noted for his extensive experience, expertise and objectivity.
Work isn’t Mitch’s only passion. Away from the deVere offices he is a family man who enjoys nothing more than having fun with his children. He’s also keen on keeping fit, enjoys most sports and relaxes with dog walking and horse riding.
Chris Barry – Executive Family Wealth Manager
Chris joined deVere in 2015 and is a Chartered Financial Planner and Chartered Wealth Manager bringing with him considerable experience in the fields of retirement and pension planning.
As Chris says: “With a plan to aggressively develop our operations in the UK market place, this is an exciting time to be part of deVere.
“It’s incredibly fulfilling to be able to use my knowledge, skills and qualifications to help build a market-leading and industry-shaping retirement and pensions service to our fast growing client base.”
Lee Grimshaw – Head of Proposition Development
Lee’s role is to provide technical support to deVere independent financial advisors across the UK.
As Head of Technical Development it is Lee’s remit to lead our initiatives in the development of our financial planning offering and to be a source of technical reference for the enhancement of our advisory function.
He also plays a key support role in the development of deVere United Kingdom’s business development opportunities.
Lee has considerable experience at deVere, having working alongside Mitch Hopkinson, Head of deVere East Midlands, for 10 years as a Senior Paraplanner then Head of Paraplanning. He joined deVere United Kingdom some three years ago.
Before joining deVere East Midlands, Lee qualified from Nottingham University with a BA Honours degree in business and finance and cut his teeth in the business world with seven years at Towergate Finance as a Paraplanner and Trainee Financial Advisor.
Over the years, Lee has accrued many financial industry qualifications and certifications and is now a Fellow of the CII.
John Amor - Head of Compliance
John is responsible for helping deVere manage their regulatory responsibilities for the protection of clients, the business and our staff. He will also be the company's Money Laundering Reporting Officer.
He has extensive experience in Financial Services having started with Equity and Law in 1978. He has undertaken may roles including Advice, Operations and IT and is a Chartered Financial Planner. More recently, his focus has been on Compliance in a number of major IFA Firms.
Outside work, he plays golf, tennis, squash and badminton and has recently taken up real tennis.