St. James's Place plc announced the appointment of Mark FitzPatrick to the Board of Directors as Chief Executive Officer Designate with effect from 1 October 2023. Mark's appointment follows an extensive and robust selection process by the Group Nomination and Governance Committee, considering both internal and external candidates.

Subject to regulatory approvals, Mark will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer on 1 December 2023. Mark will succeed Andrew Croft, who has been with St. James's Place since 1993, serving as its Chief Financial Officer from 2004 to 2017 and as Chief Executive Officer since 2018.

Andrew will step down as a director of the company on 1 December 2023 following an orderly handover and will remain with St. James's Place into 2024 to assist the business as required. Mark was Group Chief Executive Officer of Prudential plc ("Prudential") on an interim basis until 24 February 2023.

Prior to this, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Prudential from 2017 to 2022, becoming Chief Operating Officer also in July 2019. During this period, Mark was a member of an executive team which transformed Prudential into a saving, investment and insurance business focused on Asia and powered by digitally enabled face-to-face advice. Before joining Prudential, Mark was a Managing Partner at Deloitte, a member of the Executive Committee and Vice Chairman between 2011 and 2015.

He previously led Deloitte's insurance and investment management audit practice and its insurance industry practice. Mark is also a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC and a trustee of the British Heart Foundation.