Tilney Smith & Williamson appoints Simonetta Rigo as Chief Marketing Officer

Tilney Smith & Williamson, the leading integrated wealth management and professional services group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Simonetta Rigo as Chief Marketing Officer. In this newly created role, Simonetta joins the Group Executive Committee. Tilney Smith & Williamson was created by the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson on 1 September 2020 and ranks as the third largest UK wealth manager by revenues and the sixth largest UK professional services firm when measured by fee income.

Simonetta brings an extensive portfolio of experience to Tilney Smith & Williamson in both digital and traditional marketing, strategy and proposition development having held a variety of commercial leadership roles at financial services businesses. She has successfully led teams through periods of business transformation, brand repositioning and achieved major improvements in both client engagement and new client acquisition.

Until recently, Simonetta worked at Tesco Bank as Interim Chief Customer Officer and latterly as an adviser to the Chief Executive Officer, having spent a year providing on-demand CMO services to start-up and scale-up businesses. Prior to this she was the Senior Vice President for Global Brand, Marketing and Customer Engagement at Western Union, the global payments group, where she ran the group marketing function on a global basis and led the repositioning of their brand for the digital age. During an impressive career spanning over two decades, Simonetta has also held senior leadership positions at BUPA International and American Express. She began her career at consulting firm McKinsey & Co. in Italy and holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Business and Economics degree from the Ca’Foscari University in Venice.

Simonetta has also held a number of Non-Executive roles, most recently serving as a Non-Executive Director on the board of Brewin Dolphin PLC, a position which she stepped down from last month. She is currently Deputy Chair of the Surrey Business School Advisory Board at the University of Surrey where she is also a Visiting Professor. Simonetta has previously served on the Board of the Western Union Foundation, a charitable organisation.

Simonetta is the third external hire to the Tilney Smith & Williamson senior management team since completion of the merger, following the appointment of John Bunch as Chief Commercial Director and Mayank Prakash as Chief Technology Officer. John was previously Chief Operating Officer of Edelman Financial Engines, one of the largest independent US advice firms, and prior to that CEO of the Mutual Fund Store. Mayank joined Tilney Smith & Williamson from FTSE 100 utilities group Centrica, where he was Chief Consumer Digital & Information Officer, and was previously Chief Digital & Information Officer at the UK Department of Work & Pensions (DWP).

Chris Woodhouse, Group Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“In bringing Tilney and Smith & Williamson together, I believe we have assembled a world class leadership team that draws upon the strengths of the two previous businesses but which has also seen us invest in additional talent. This will ensure we achieve our ambitious plans for the business. I am delighted that Simonetta is joining us in the newly created role of Chief Marketing Officer where she will play a pivotal role in developing our brand strategy, identifying and understanding the needs of both current and future clients, enhancing the ways we engage with them and leading our marketing team.”

Simonetta Rigo, Chief Marketing Officer, added:

“I am really excited to be joining Tilney Smith & Williamson as it embarks on the next stage of growth and development. The merger has created a business that is uniquely able to support clients with both the management of their personal financial affairs and their business interests, with a wide range of services and expertise. As someone who is passionate about putting the client at the heart of everything, this really is an unrivalled proposition in the market place and that creates an enormous opportunity for enhancing the ways we can both support existing clients and attract new customers.”