Sir David Harrison is stepping down as chairman of Financial Planning-focused wealth management firm True Potential, the company he founded in 2007.

He will remain involved with the business as a strategic adviser to the board and as a major shareholder of True Potential.

The move has been more two years in the planning for the company, led by Sir David's son Daniel Harrison, chief executive since 2018.

Sir David had previously founded and sold financial advice firm Positive Solutions, the largest IFA firm in the UK at the time.

Andrew Sibbald has assumed the role of chairman after being deputy chairman since April. Mr Sibbald is an industry veteran, with more than 35 years’ experience working in financial services, having advised public and private companies on mergers, acquisitions and capital raising.

Meanwhile Karina McTeague and Stephanie Bruce have been appointed as independent non-executive directors, to strengthen the firm’s governance. Both are experienced business leaders.

Ms McTeague has a combination of UK and international banking, financial services regulation, governance, and global payments experience at board and executive level. She was previously chief risk officer at Visa Europe and worked at Lloyds Banking Group in North America. She has also had senior roles at the Financial Conduct Authority. 

Ms Bruce has a wealth of strategic and commercial experience of retail financial services, combined with knowledge of risk, control and governance practices. She was most recently chief financial officer at Abrdn plc and previously was head of financial services at PwC UK assurance, where she provided strategic and advisory support to a wide range of UK and international clients for more than 25 years.

In an email sent to employees and advisers of True Potential, Sir David said: “Before Cinven and I agreed on the last transaction, two years ago now, I told them that I would not lead us into the next chapter, whatever that may be.

“My departure has been planned and now delivered for over two years. I have to say it has been very successful.”

Sir David Harrison has been involved in financial services for more than forty years and said: “It has been my life. The people I have met and worked with have been part of that life, and I have loved it, every minute.

“There have been tough times, but few. Mostly just great times, great laughs, humour is a necessary ingredient of success.”

He said the essence of what he does do has not changed over the last 40 years. “We help people save money with which to live a good life later. They are the reason we all exist, theirs is the money we are all rewarded from. They rely on us to do the right thing.”

Sir David founded Newcastle-based True Potential in 2007. It has since grown to employ more than 400 people and works with a fifth of UK financial advisers, managing more than £22bn of assets for investors.

True Potential operates a broad wealth management business and has its own investment platform and fund arm. It has more than 1.4m retail clients in the UK.

Sir David sold True Potential to private equity firm Cinven in September 2021 in a deal experts estimated to be worth between £1.6bn and £2bn. Sir David stayed on as chairman while his son Daniel remained as chief executive.

As well as his business successes, Sir David has been a consistent champion of education and social mobility. He set up four Harrison Centres for Social Mobility in the UK and is working on the fifth Centre in Antigua, the first to be established overseas.

In November 2022 Sir David was knighted for services to business, education and social mobility.