Wealth manager Evelyn Partners has announced Paul Geddes as the group’s next chief executive officer, subject to regulatory approval.

He will succeed Chris Woodhouse, who is retiring from full-time executive management after five and half years in the role.

In that period Woodhouse oversaw the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson to become Evelyn Partners, one of the UK’s largest wealth managers.

During his tenure, assets under management have grown from £23.5bn at the end of 2017 to £54.4bn (as at 31 March 2023).

Evelyn Partners has invested heavily in people, technology, and developing its range of services.

The group, which includes the online platform Bestinvest, has delivered consistent, strong organic growth helped by an active M&A programme.

Geddes will join the business on 3 July, becoming CEO subject to regulatory approval.

Woodhouse will support Geddes through the summer to ensure an orderly transition.

Geddes is a highly experienced senior executive, over a 33-year career, the last 15 years of which have been in CEO roles.

He joins Evelyn Partners from QA Group where he has been CEO since 2019.

QA is a leading provider of higher education and workforce learning programmes and services and is owned by CVC Capital Partners.

Prior to leading QA, Geddes spent 10 years as CEO of Direct Line, the FTSE 250 insurance group, until 2019.

Under his tenure as CEO, Direct Line saw significant growth through client focused innovation.

Having been CEO of the Insurance division of the Royal Bank of Scotland, he was responsible for splitting the division off from the bank and leading the successful IPO of Direct Line Group in 2012.

At Direct Line, he was a member of the FCA Practitioner Panel and Deputy Chair of the Association of British Insurers.

He began his financial services career with RBS in 2004, eventually becoming CEO of the Retail Bank in the UK Mainland, including NatWest.

Evelyn Partners chair Chris Grigg said: “We are delighted that Paul is joining Evelyn Partners as our new CEO.

“He is a highly accomplished business leader who brings a wealth of experience in financial services, a record of embracing technological innovation, a depth of experience in marketing and developing talent.

“He joins the business at a very exciting time with great opportunities ahead. In recent years, the business has completed a major integration, successfully rebranded, developed an unrivalled range of services, invested heavily in digital transformation and it has also delivered consistent, strong organic growth.

“Paul joins a great team, and I would like to pay tribute to Chris for the huge contribution he has made to the success of the business over the last five and half years.”