Directors cut as coup d’état fails to oust founder
DirectPortfolio Serviceshas completely overhauled its board of directors following a failed coup d’état to oust company founder and chief investment officer John Aldersley from the group.
Ex-INGexecutive director Mike Goodall (chairman), executive directorFinancial Recruitment Group, Peter Dawson and new Direct Portfolio Services managing director, Michael Cornips have all been appointed to the board.
The failed attempt to seize control of the company has led to the resignation of chairman, Ian Dickson and two non-executives — Tony Russell-Thomas and David Henderson.
Alderlsey had previously been in the role of managing director, but was eager to revert back into a more investment focused role within the company, something he’d been doing before 2000.
Cornips initially joined the company as general manager before being nominated to the board and recently being appointed as managing director of the firm. He is also responsible for the compliance issues of the company.
Aldersley has highlighted the pitfalls of having a non-executive chairman on a very small board. “The chairman has got two votes and my ex-wife controlled one other vote, so I didn’t have control of the board.”
Direct Portfolio Services manages over $100 million in its separately managed account ‘DirectPortfolio’, which consists of over 1,000 individual client accounts.
One other non-executive appointment to the board is Cameron Curtis, who won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
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