Kavi Myladoor, Retail Commercial and Proposition Director at Just Group, joins the podcast to discuss her journey through the financial services industry, the experiences that shaped her leadership style, and how the advice profession is evolving in response to technology, regulation, and changing client expectations.

Kavi reflects on her upbringing and the influence of her family before sharing how she built a career across major financial institutions. She explains the importance of curiosity, humility, and mentorship in professional growth, and offers insights into how financial advice businesses can evolve to serve more people while maintaining the human relationships that sit at the heart of advice.

In this episode, Kavi discusses:

• Growing up in a close-knit family and how her parents’ story influenced her outlook on life

• The importance of mentors and supporters who believe in your potential

• Why curiosity and asking questions have been central to her career development

• Her journey into financial services and progression into senior leadership roles

• Balancing customer outcomes with commercial objectives when designing financial    propositions

• The challenge of the “advice gap” and why many people still lack access to financial advice

• Why advisers need to become more efficient to serve a broader population

• The role technology, digitisation and artificial intelligence will play in shaping the future of advice

• Why the human element of financial advice will remain essential despite technological change

Key takeaway:

Kavi highlights that great leaders don’t need to have all the answers — they need the curiosity and confidence to ask the right questions and continue learning throughout their careers.

Juliet Valdinger, Holistic Philanthropy Adviser, joins the podcast to explore the role philanthropy can play within wealth management and why conversations around charitable giving, purpose, and values are becoming increasingly relevant for advisers and their clients. She shares her personal journey into the philanthropy sector and explains how advisors can help clients align their financial resources with the causes and values that matter most to them.

In this episode, Juliet discusses:

• Growing up internationally and how early experiences shaped her interest in people and purpose

• Her first role helping raise over £100 million for charitable causes through global collaborations

• A life-changing accident that led to years of recovery and reflection about purpose and impact

• Discovering the intersection between philanthropy and wealth management

• Why many financial advisers still hesitate to discuss charitable giving with clients

• Research showing that a lack of knowledge and incentives prevents philanthropy conversations in advice firms

• The growing demand from clients who want their wealth to reflect their personal values

• How philanthropy can help families engage the next generation in conversations about money and responsibility

• The opportunity for advisers to deepen client relationships through purpose-driven discussions

• New policy developments encouraging the financial advice sector to engage more actively in philanthropy

Key takeaway:

Juliet believes philanthropy offers advisers a powerful opportunity to strengthen client relationships by helping individuals and families align their wealth with their values, creating meaningful impact while building more purposeful financial conversations.

Stefan Fura, Managing Director of Superbia Group, shares the story of how he entered financial services at a young age and went on to build and scale a successful advisory business. He reflects on the mindset required to grow a firm, the lessons learned from leadership and mentorship, and why empathy and purpose play a central role in sustainable business growth.

In this episode, Stefan discusses:

• Leaving school early and finding his path into financial services through banking

• Learning the fundamentals of advice, client relationships, and trust early in his career

• Why technical knowledge helped build credibility as a young adviser

• The role empathy plays in understanding clients and delivering meaningful advice

• Starting and growing Fernley House alongside trusted colleagues

• The challenge of transitioning from a small advisory practice to a structured business

• Recognising when to scale by employing advisers and building stronger systems

• How mentorship and mastermind groups influenced his leadership thinking

• The lessons learned from growing a company and attracting external investment

• Why businesses should pursue profit alongside purpose and community impact

Key takeaway:

Stefan believes that building a successful business is less about having all the answers and more about learning continuously, surrounding yourself with the right people, and staying focused on delivering genuine value to clients and communities.

Rachel Kitching Burrows, Managing Director of Chesterton House, shares her extraordinary journey from aspiring actress to financial services leader. She opens up about her unexpected entry into the industry, the transformative power of true financial planning, and the life-altering moment she was diagnosed with breast cancer at seven months pregnant all while navigating new motherhood and rebuilding her career with remarkable resilience and vulnerability.

In this episode, Rachel discusses:

• Her drama school years at Bretton Hall and how storytelling became her secret weapon in business

• Falling into financial services as an administrator and proving early doubters wrong (“you’ll never be technical”)

• The defining experience at Chesterton House discovering cash-flow modelling and fee-based planning long before it was industry standard

• The dramatic post-2008 transformation at Cooper Perry and rising through paraplanning to leadership roles

• Being promoted to director while pregnant, then receiving a breast cancer diagnosis at seven months and the year that followed with early delivery, surgery, chemo, and her newborn son’s battle with Group B strep

• The “triple brain fog” of baby brain, chemo fog and chemical menopause and how it forced her to question everything

• The gift her cancer journey gave her: radical vulnerability, presence, and the ability to sit comfortably with discomfort

• Returning to Chesterton House as Operations Director and now leading as Managing Director feeling like she’s “come home”

• Her leadership philosophy: bring your whole self to work, use EOS/Traction for clarity and accountability, and lead with storytelling and authenticity

Key takeaway:

Rachel proves that the greatest leadership strength often comes from life’s hardest chapters. By embracing vulnerability, rejecting other people’s limiting labels, and bringing her full authentic self to work, she turned personal tragedy into rocket fuel for resilience, connection, and purposeful leadership.

Nathan Thompson Founder of Mylo shares how an internal idea evolved into a live digital proposition now engaging close to a million customers. He reflects on career acceleration, building products inside a large organisation, and why solving the help gap in pensions and wealth is more important than ever.

In this episode, Nathan discusses:

• Falling into financial services via an unconventional route, starting with a music degree

 • How relationships, curiosity, and global exposure accelerated his career at Aegon

 • Lessons from working across international teams and large-scale transformation projects

 • Why moving from advisory roles to owning delivery became a turning point

 • How the idea for Mylo emerged from market shifts, personal curiosity, and timing

 • Pitching a new growth concept internally using prototypes, storytelling, and focus

 • Why pensions need help and guidance, not just products or digital advice

 • Designing Mylo around real life moments, emotions, and customer behaviour

 • Launching Mylo at scale and reaching close to a million workplace customers

Key takeaway:

Nathan believes meaningful innovation in financial services comes from curiosity, customer obsession, and the courage to build — even inside large, complex organisations.

David Carter, CEO of Absolute Financial Group, shares his journey from a disciplined military upbringing to leading a new independent advice consolidator. He reflects on leadership, independence, consolidation, and what building a sustainable advice business really means post–Consumer Duty.

In this episode, David discusses:

• Growing up between Salford and Germany in a military family and how discipline shaped his mindset
  

• Why frequent moves made him adaptable, people-focused, and comfortable with change
  

• Choosing not to go to university and backing work ethic over traditional career paths
  

• Entering financial services at the ground level and building experience across every role
  

• Progressing rapidly by embracing responsibility, meritocracy, and opportunity
  

• How regulatory change (RDR) accelerated his career and reshaped advice businesses
  

• Becoming a director and later CEO, shifting focus from advising to operating and scaling a firm
  

• Building adviser academies, developing talent in-house, and creating long-term career paths
  

• Leading through growth, M&A, and increased regulatory expectations
  

• Being approached to help build Absolute Financial Group from a blank sheet of paper
  

• Why independence, culture, and legacy matter deeply to advice firm principals
  

• Challenging misconceptions around private equity and modern consolidation
  

• The risks of over-vertical integration and loss of adviser autonomy
  

• Absolute’s vision: scaling while protecting client outcomes, people, and local identity
  

David believes the future of financial advice depends on independent thinking, strong culture, and long-term client trust, not consolidation at any cost.

In this episode, we’re joined by David Kendrick, Managing Director of Cooper Parry Wealth. David shares his journey from corporate finance and deal-making into leading one of the UK’s most respected wealth management businesses, and what that transition taught him about leadership, people, and sustainable growth.

• David’s career journey from corporate finance into transactions and advisory work
  

• Key turning points and “sliding doors” moments that shaped his path
  

• The realities of scaling and leading fast-growing professional services businesses
  

• Moving into a CEO role and managing the pressure that comes with rapid growth
  

• Experiencing an exit after years of advising others through theirs
  

• Transitioning from advisor to operator within a larger group
  

• Stepping into leadership at Cooper Parry Wealth
  

• Why wealth management is fundamentally a people- and trust-led business
  

• Building strong leadership teams as the foundation for long-term success
  

A thoughtful conversation on leadership, growth, and building businesses with intent.

Key Talking Points:

What does it really take to build a business from scratch with no safety net?

In this episode, host Thomas Spencer sits down with Cathi Harrison, founder of the Verve. From growing up on a council estate to building a multi-service support platform for financial advice firms, Cathi shares a powerful story of grit, resilience, and swimming against the tide.

This is an honest conversation about entrepreneurship, culture, risk, and what it really means to build something different in financial services.

In this episode, Cathi shares:

• Growing up in a low-income household and how instability shaped her resilience and drive
  

• Discovering financial services by chance and falling into a career she never planned
  

• Taking the leap into self-employment with no safety net and surviving the early months
  

• How one referral kickstarted sustainable growth and ended constant cold calling
  

• Scaling from a solo paraplanner to building Verve and expanding into compliance and training
  

• Creating a one-stop support platform now used by hundreds of advice firms
  

• Learning to separate personal identity from the business and make difficult leadership decisions
  

• Why culture, values, and intentional leadership matter more as a business grows
  

• Launching the Verve Foundation to support new entrants and protect the future of financial advice

Hit play to hear an inspiring story about resilience, leadership, and building a business that refuses to follow the standard path.

What happens when you spot a billion-pound gap no one else sees?

Today host Thomas Spencer sits down with Sebastian Dovey, the insight pioneer who built and sold Scorpio Partnership. In this episode they talk about building a global consultancy, transforming the wealth sector, and why understanding clients is still the biggest competitive advantage.

In this episode, Seb shares:

• What it was like growing up across 11 schools and 8 countries by age 12
  

• How a 2cm newspaper ad led him to a reporting job in Hong Kong and into wealth management
  

• The founding story of Scorpio Partnership and why he saw customer insight as the industry's missing link
  

• Why “talking to customers” was once seen as a risk and how that mindset needed breaking
  

• The long-game mindset behind scaling a global consultancy and preparing for exit
  

• What boardrooms still get wrong about insight and why emotion, not math, drives client loyalty
  

Hit play to hear what the wealth industry still gets wrong and where the real opportunities lie.

Get an inside-look at the benefits of neurodiverse leadership in the financial sector in this conversation between your host, Thomas Spencer, and Douglas Boyle, the CEO of Halo Financial. 

During the episode, Doug shared his story of adapting to his ADHD diagnosis and shaping his career to suit the way he works, playing to the different strengths that his neurodiversity gives him. 

He emphasised the benefits of taking on a leadership position at a young age, despite not going through the traditional university route that a lot of his peers took. 

Doug also shared insights from his career history, including his time at Halifax and City Index. 

He also discussed the future for Halo, as well as what drew him to the company in the first place, stating that even small teams can make a big impact when their people are properly supported. 

Tune in to hear from a different perspective of the wealth management sector.