Financial planning-led wealth manager Atomos has shaken up its leadership time with four senior appointments.

The firm says that the changes will help prepare and bolster the firm for its next stage of growth.

Among the key changes:

• Chief operations officer Niral Parekh will become managing director of Financial Planning. He will be responsible for quality standards and prioritising the wellbeing and success of Atomos Financial Planners, employees and clients, the firm said. His replacement as COO will be announced in due course.

• Helen Howcroft, head of women’s financial advice becomes private client director, Financial Planning. She joined Atomos last year following the firm’s acquisition of her business Equanimity IFA. She will continue managing her clients and will help to build Atomos’s women’s Financial Planning business. Helen has written for the latest issue of Financial Planning Today magazine.

• Ian Martin, deputy head of wealth planning, becomes national director, Financial Planning. He will have responsibility for collaborating with regional heads of office on adviser wellbeing and growth. His role covers compliance, training, growth, and career development, fostering optimal performance and consistency across all Financial Planners.

• Dawn Mealing, Financial Planning business manager, becomes proposition director, Financial Planning. She will provide “strategic leadership and direction” in refining and optimising Atomos’s Financial Planning proposition and client outcomes. She will lead a drive to align the Atomos proposition with the “letter and the spirit” of Consumer Duty standards. Before joining Atomos in August 2023, she was head of advice policy and proposition at Fidelity.

Head of wealth planning Elliott Silk will step down in June after nearly 10 years with the company. Between now and then he will focused on transition for clients and the wider business

Jonathan Polin, chief executive at Atomos, said: “Preparing the ground for the business to realise our goal of leading the UK in next-generation Financial Planning-led wealth management takes time, a lot longer than you first anticipate. It is therefore great to see the months of hard work and planning come to fruition with the announcement of our bolstered Financial Planning leadership team under Niral.

“There is no better fit to take the helm of our Financial Planning business than Niral, who brings a strategic mindset which will help us go from strength to strength. With the support of Helen, Dawn and Ian in their new roles, I am excited for what the future holds for Atomos as we continue on our path to becoming a nationally-recognised leader in the Financial Planning space.

“I would like to thank Elliott Silk for his huge contribution to the business over the last decade, which included seeing us through the transition period from Sanlam to Atomos. Elliott has been instrumental in getting us to this stage in our development and we wish him the very best in his exciting new guidance venture.”

Elliott Silk, head of wealth planning at Atomos, added: “When you invest so much of yourself and your time in a business it is extremely comforting to know that you leave it in the very best of hands. I will be watching with interest, and a great deal of affection, the great things Atomos will achieve under Niral and the team.”

Atomos is a wealth manager providing a full Financial Planning service and bespoke portfolio management. Formerly part of Sanlam Wealth, the private-equity backed business is headed by CEO Jonathan Polin. The company manages £7bn in assets for 13,000 clients.