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Neal Hall BSc, FPFS
Chartered Financial Planner
Neal is the Principal at Atherton York, a Chartered Financial Planner and Fellow of The Personal Finance Society. His advanced qualifications put him in the top tier of qualified advisors nationwide. Neal holds the position of Pension Transfer Specialist and sets the example to the whole team by continuing to take additional exams and qualifications each year.
After graduating with a BSc in Physiology, he has accumulated 25 years’ experience working as a financial services professional and has delivered personal planning to a wide variety of individual and corporate clients. Neal spent eight years in Banking before converting his skills into Professional services with a National financial planning business. He is passionate about his work and achieving the very best outcomes for clients. This is demonstrated by the wide variety of testimonials that he has collected and can be showcased here.
Outside of work Neal is a keen sportsman regularly running half marathons, cycling and playing the occasional charity football match. He lives locally in Winchmore Hill and is married with two children.
Jean-Michel Morelli BSc, FPFS
Chartered Financial Planner
Jean-Michel entered financial services shortly after graduating with a Degree in Psychology from Oxford Brookes University. Since then, he has built a wide range of experience across later life financial planning, wealth management, business finance, investment and pension planning.
Jean-Michel is highly driven, passionate and dedicated to a career in financial planning. He is exceptionally well qualified and holds the title of Chartered Financial Planner. He holds Advanced qualifications in a number of areas including Tax and Trusts, Business Finance, Investment and Financial Planning.
Jean-Michel very much shares our vision and values at Atherton York and believes in the principle of putting the client at the heart of our work. He combines this with being a master at using cutting-edge modelling technology to bring our client’s financial plans to life. He has the background of formerly working for a large national and international financial business.
Outside of work Jean-Michel is a keen sportsman and enjoys keeping fit. He is an enthusiastic runner and swimmer and has ambitions of competing in marathons in the future.
Olly Biswas DiP PFS, AIPW
Wealth & Estate Planner
With an impressive background in risk and compliance, Olly brings a wealth of experience to Atherton York. With over 30 years’ involvement in financial services, his successes have included Group Head of Operations for an international IFA enterprise, Senior Relationship Manager at the Pension Regulator, and UK Pension Expert for an International Knowledge platform.
A people person, Olly prides himself on having a great technical understanding, which he upholds through constant expert learning and ongoing acquisition of professional qualifications. Acting with integrity and trust, Olly builds a partnership with each of his clients whereby he delivers genuinely bespoke care. Outside of the traditional financial planning arena, Olly is also an Associate Member of the Institute of Professional Will writers and is undertaking a Master’s in Business Strategic Management.
As a keen advocate of positive mental wellbeing, Olly is on the Board of Trustees for CPSL Mind, a charity that provides key support to those who may experience mental health challenges. He is a willing supporter of numerous charitable activities and has for many years looked to give back to the local community. Beyond work Olly enjoys travelling, sport, live entertainment and spending time with his family.
Maria Hall BA Hons, FCIM
Marketing & Operations Director
Maria is responsible for marketing and client communications for Atherton York. Her focus is to ensure that all our communications are straightforward and easy for our clients to understand. Maria has a Degree in English & European Literature and experience of working at Board level in European and international legal firms. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Marketing.
She has successfully delivered a number of projects for Atherton York such as the introduction of GDPR, our new website and our office move. Using her extensive professional services experience she also supports the team with business strategy and growth planning for the firm.
Maria works part time for Atherton York as she is also the Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer for a European Attorney firm in the city. Outside of work Maria enjoys art, yoga, eating-out and socialising as well as being mum to two children.
Darren Smith DiP PFS
Senior Associate
Darren is a Senior Associate at Atherton York and has nearly 30 years of financial services experience. Much of his career has been as a Premier Banking Advisor within HSBC Bank plc and later as a Mortgage Specialist at Countrywide Mortgage Services. Despite such a lengthy banking background, Darren embraces continued study and is currently working towards advanced qualifications.
Darren is an expert in wealth and financial management and provides valuable support to our experienced advisors. With such a long standing career in financial services Darren understands our client’s needs for security and peace of mind, taking responsibility for office management. With a keen eye for detail, he also takes responsibility for quality control within the business.
Outside of work he lives in West London and is a caring family man. He is married with three children and in his spare time enjoys sport in particular football following Arsenal football club.
Tom Gregory BSc Hons, DiP PFS
Senior Associate
Tom joined Atherton York in May 2022 and brings with him over 15 years of Financial Services experience. After graduating university in 2005, Tom worked in the banking sector before undertaking several technical and paraplanning roles for national financial planning firms.
He provides support to the Chartered Financial Planners of the firm and plays a key role in assessing the latest developments in the areas of investments, pensions, protection, and tax legislation as well as producing personalised client research and financial plans.
Tom continues to demonstrate his commitment to personal development through working towards achieving Chartered status. He already holds advanced qualifications in Pensions and Tax & Trusts.
Outside of the office, Tom is married with two young children and in his spare time is a member of his local running club and enjoys competing in various events throughout the year.
Despina Charalambous DiP PFS
Senior Associate
Despina joined Atherton York in August of 2023 as a Senior Associate. Bi-lingual in Greek and English, she has over 19 years experience in the financial services industry. Starting her career at the Bank of Cyprus (UK), in private banking and as a local branch manager. Her banking career continued at HSBC bank, where she managed a portfolio of HNW clients and more recently working as a Compliance Consultant with FCA regulated firms on compliance projects.
Despina has a gift for connecting with people through her passion to provide great service. She likes to help clients and believes that building confidence and taking a compassionate approach is key. Her professional qualifications include, Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning, CeFA, CeMAP and Diploma in Financial Services Management. Despina is determined to continue her professional studies and will be starting the advanced exams to become a Chartered Financial planner.
Outside of work Despina likes to attend social and charitable events, art exhibitions, music events and her hobbies include hiking, travel, photography, gardening, great food, and spending quality time with her friends and family.
Giles Afeeva BA Hons
Associate
Giles joined as a member of our team having just graduated with a 2:1 in Economics & Politics from the University of Kent in 2022.
Currently, he has a varied role across the firm and has taken great strides in learning our business. By applying the skills he's learnt from his degree, his aim is to support the team in the best way possible. Atherton York is the perfect place for Giles to learn and thrive in a friendly and effective working environment, and he is a keen and enthusiastic learner.
Having developed a significant interest in politics and current affairs during his University degree, Giles hopes to use this knowledge to his advantage as he navigates the ever-changing world of finance during the U.K & U.S 2024 election year.
With the intention of building a career in professional services, Giles has now commenced his Financial Planning exams, which we expect will take up to five years to fully complete and reach Chartered status. Giles likes to play sport, with Liverpool FC being his favourite football team. He also enjoys socialising and exploring new places and skills.
