Tilney continues to hire during pandemic: Keith Burdon joins as Head of Charities for Scotland and Northern Ireland

Leading wealth management firm Tilney, which completed a transformational merger in September with Smith & Williamson to create the UK’s largest integrated wealth management and professional services group, is continuing to recruit new talent during the COVID-19 crisis. The latest addition is Keith Burdon who joins as Head of Charities for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Keith’s appointment follows a series of high profile hires the group has made to support further growth in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The group is already one of the largest wealth managers in Scotland, with offices in the three largest cities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. It also has a significant presence in Northern Ireland with both Tilney and Smith & Williamson having offices in Belfast. Currently both Tilney and Smith & Williamson continue to trade under their existing brands.

Keith has built up substantial investment experience during his career, as a fund manager, an investment analyst and a senior relationship manager. For the last 5 years he has served on the board of two grant-giving charitable trusts. He joins Tilney from Martin Currie where he held a number of roles over 13 years. Most recently he was Head of Investment Trusts & Charities. Prior to this, he worked for a number of years as a UK equity fund manager at various institutions.

Both Tilney and Smith & Williamson have a long-standing track record of supporting charities with the management of their investment portfolios. In his new role, Keith will head the development of the charities investment management business across the region. He will work closely with the team to build out the existing charities services and integrate the Tilney and S&W charities offerings as the two businesses come together.

Tilney and Smith & Williamson both successfully migrated to a remote working model ahead of the lockdown in mid-March, utilising secure technology to enable their financial planners and investment managers’ full access to its systems from home during the COVID19 pandemic. The combined business manages over £47 billion of assets for clients, making it one the largest UK wealth managers, as well as being the sixth largest UK professional services groups as ranked by fee income.

Paul Frame, Regional Managing Director for Scotland and Northern Ireland at Tilney Smith & Williamson, commented: “Both Tilney and Smith & Williamson have a strong track record of managing assets for charity clients and together we are well placed to become the market-leader in supporting charities in Scotland and Northern Ireland with a wide range of advisory and investment management services. With Keith at the helm, we stand ready to help charities in Scotland and Northern Ireland to navigate this challenging period and beyond and I am delighted to welcome him to the team.”

Keith Burdon said: “The pandemic has created major challenges for charities, significantly impacting their ability to undertake fund raising activities and putting pressure on income and reserves at a time when their work is more vital than ever. It is a really important time to ensure they receive sound strategic advice and have strong portfolio management in place and I am very excited to work with Tilney Smith & Williamson to support charities through this.”