Novia expands sales team

Novia, the new wrap provider set up by Selestia co-founder Bill Vasilieff, has appointed a director of sales and a regional sales manager for the North East.

Paul Boston joins as director of sales from Selestia Investment Solutions, part of the Skandia group, where he was national sales manager.

He will join Novia later this year and will be part of the Novia executive management team, working alongside Shaun Allwright as director of business development, and Richard Denning as director of operations, reporting into CEO Vasilieff.

Boston was at Selestia for seven years and helped launch the platform to market in November 2001.

Meanwhile, Chris French has been appointed as regional sales manager for the North East.

French has 21 years of experience in financial services including a number of years at Fidelity FundsNetwork as the UK sales manager for the northern region. Here he was responsible for developing new markets and identifying new relationships, before subsequently joining the wrap team at Friends Provident where he worked as a wealth development manager.

Vasilieff says: “Paul and Chris bring a tremendous wealth of experience to our team, with a strong customer focus and a deep knowledge of the IFA community and wrap market, they are well positioned to help Novia deliver on our vision of being the leading wrap provider in the UK. The appointment of Paul completes the formation of the executive management team, with only a small number of vacancies remaining within the expanding sales team.”

Novia will launch to the IFA market in the Autumn of 2008 with a wealth management proposition aimed at advisers with mass affluent and high net worth clients.