Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the global professional association for practitioners who specialise in family inheritance and succession planning, is delighted to announce that Mark Walley will be joining as its new Chief Executive in January 2019.
Mark joins STEP from his current role as Managing Director, EMEA, at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) where he has been responsible for delivering growth in the EMEA region, working with member boards and groups to understand market needs and deliver against these. He has also been a champion for diversity and inclusion.
Prior to joining RICS in 2011, Mark was Director of Corporate Development for the ifs School of Finance, responsible for the take-up of its professional qualifications and executive education programmes. Before that, he was Regional Director EMEA for Cohen Brown Management Group. He started his career with Barclays where he spent 25 years, the latter part as Sales Director and then Chief Operating Officer of Barclays Wealth’s International Personal and Premier Banking Division. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Banking and Finance and is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors.
Mark will take over from George Hodgson, who earlier this year announced his intention to retire at the end of 2018. George has been with STEP for ten years, having joined in 2008 as Director of Policy and later serving as Deputy Chief Executive before taking on the Chief Executive role in 2016.
Chair of STEP’s Worldwide Board, Patricia Wass TEP, said: ‘We are delighted to have appointed Mark as STEP’s new Chief Executive and look forward to working with him to shape our future direction.’ Chair-Elect, Simon Morgan TEP, added: ‘Mark brings a wealth of experience in managing a major international organisation and is well equipped to build on STEP’s position as the leading global professional body in its field.’
Both commented: ‘We are, of course, very sorry to see George go, but we wish him a happy retirement and thank him for his contribution over the last ten years in building STEP into a global network of more than 20,000 members with branches in 50 countries.’
Mark said: ‘I am excited to be joining STEP and am looking forward to working with STEP’s members and staff colleagues to take the organisation forward into the next stage of its development. The impact that this profession has on wider society is huge and STEP, I know, remains committed to the highest professional standards while offering its members around the world highly respected education and training programmes.’
