Ella Hugh: new director

M&G Wealth has appointed Ella Hugh as director of proposition and marketing, one of three recruits from Abrdn.

Ms Hugh was latterly group chief of staff and head of client proposition at Abrdn, having held senior strategy, planning and management roles since 2016.

She was also director of the Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, funding research, campaigning, and policy work to improve living standards for people on low to mid-incomes in the UK.

Prior to abrdn, she spent nine years at Aviva where she specialised in the strategic delivery of solutions for the wealth market.

At M&G Wealth, she will take on responsibility for proposition and marketing as well as supporting the wider retail and savings business within M&G plc.  She will join the business in August.

David Montgomery, managing director, M&G Wealth said: “Ella is an outstanding leader with a transformational mindset and a significant breadth of knowledge and experience of the Wealth market.”

M&G subsidiary Professional Independent Wealth Advice (PIWA) has appointed another ex-Abrdn senior, Peter Loughridge, as Joint CEO alongside Neil Messenger. The appointment is subject to regulatory approval. Mr Loughridge was until September 2022 a director of Abrdn Financial Planning (formerly 1825). He was previously a partner at Grant Thornton UK.

Additionally, Sarah Covey will join PIWA as chief operating officer. She was formerly a business manager at Abrdn Financial Planning and prior to that she also worked at Grant Thornton, before Abrdn took over its advice business in 2019.

PIWA is a new independent financial advisory firm that provides tailored wealth management solutions to clients. It is a member of the Sandringham Financial Partners network. part of M&G Wealth.