Alan Woodward Alex West Alex Wolfe Allan Page Andrew West Angela West Chris de Luca Jonathan Appleton Martin Jinks Maria Oakley Tracey Bettles Wayne Nixon     Alan Woodward BA (Hons), ACIB, CeMAP Alan, originally from Tyneside, had nearly 30 years working in the banking industry, the last 20 of which were in Leicester before bringing that knowledge to oversee our Life & Pensions and Financial Solutions companies. With his banking background, Alan specialises in putting packages together for business situations that do not fit within normal business banking criteria and can offer unbiased reviews of existing funding facilities. Alan has two grown up children and an interest in a variety of sports including skiing. He also enjoys playing golf and claims to get exceptional value for money, seeing virtually every inch of the course in a single round!     Alex West BA, MSc, ACA A local lad, Alex was born and raised in Market Harborough, went to Leicester University and qualified with the local office of a national firm. After a spell with a smaller firm in Northampton, Alex became part of the Somerbys management team in April 2011. Meeting, advising and helping people is what drives him during office hours; his Vespa scooter (complete with Parka) is what he drives at weekends!! Among his other passions is a love of the French lifestyle and cuisine that he enjoys from the family's holiday home in Le Touquet.     Alex Wolfe Alex joined the management team at Somerbys in January 2006. He relocated to the midlands, having spent nearly 20 years working in the profession in Kent. For his sins, in addition to looking after his own clients, he assists with the overseeing some of our own internal accounting function. Among many interests, Alex enjoys watching Formula One racing, football and, in particular, cricket. He assures us that he enjoys eating out and is an active swimmer, though hopefully not in that order.     Allan Page BSc Allan Page is Technical Director of Somerbys IT Limited, having started with the company as "IT Assistant" back in 2000. Competent in all areas of IT, specialising in the installation and configuration of servers and networks with a key emphasis on core Microsoft Products and technologies. Furthermore Allan is instrumental in the ongoing research and testing of the latest products and ideas and with the help of his team has enabled "Somerbys IT Limited" to be awarded "Microsoft Gold Partner" status. Allan, whilst not a young as he once was, still enjoys going out partying at weekends and is a keen motor sport fan; during an extended vacation to Australia and the Far East in 2008 he managed to take in the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix.     Andrew West FCA Andrew, along with Martin Jinks, is one of the founders of the Somerbys Group. Having trained with a national firm, he qualified as an accountant in 1976 and then spent several years gaining audit experience with listed companies and generally “moving up the ladder” before relocating back to Leicestershire as a partner in a local firm. Andrew has long since lost the passion for reviewing audit files and now thrives in a boardroom environment, looking for ways in which he can move a business forward. Outside of work he has a passion for fine food and wines and is a keen supporter of countryside issues.     Angela West MAAT, ATT (Fellow) Angela is probably the longest serving person in the team having worked for Somerbys (and its predecessor firms) for over 30 years. Originally working and studying accounts she sidetracked part way through her career and now works within our personal taxation department. Socially she is an outdoor person and animal lover who particularly enjoys horse riding. We understand however that show jumping off the horse is definitely her speciality!     Chris de Luca BSc Born and raised in London, Chris decided on a university education in Leicester, and never found his way back home! His initial career path saw him as an upper school teacher before spending the last 20+ years in the finance industry. Firstly, he was with a large, tied brokerage before coming fully independent in 1996. Chris likes a holistic planning approach with particular emphasis on estate and wealth retention planning. When not working, he spends a huge amount of time involved with local rugby club, Oadby Wyggestonians. Despite being well into his 2nd half century, Chris still plays on a regular basis – he really is a sad, old hooker.     Jonathan Appleton B Eng (Hons) Jonathan is Managing Director of our IT firm, Somerbys IT Ltd, and together with Allan Page has significantly grown the company and it’s workforce. From being instrumental in converting the former car showrooms and workshop into our own hi tech 40 user office, Jonathan and his team now specialise in IT support, installation and project managing for a range of small and large corporate businesses throughout the UK and Europe. In his spare time, Jonathan is a keen golfer and (so he tells us) a superb healthy cook – someone who definitely likes his greens!     Maria Oakley ATT Maria has worked in personal tax for nearly 25 years; the majority of that time has been in Nottingham with two different national firms. Living just outside Derby, Maria joined Somerbys in 2010 and was promoted to head up our personal tax department in February 2011. Married to a financial advisor, they have two teenage children and look forward to their holidays; one of their highlights was driving the West coast of America. Another thing that Maria looks forward to is a glass of white wine in the evening.     Martin Jinks FCA Martin, along with Andrew West, is one of the founders of the Somerbys Group. Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with another local firm in 1986 he then spent the next seven years living and working in Bermuda; initially on an auditing contract with a multi-national firm and then in industry as Financial Director. In 1993 he returned to the UK and in 1995 joined Andrew West in business. Martin, who is married with two teenage children, spends too much of his spare time watching a variety of sporting activities, his main passion being Rugby Union. He is also known for teasing the female members of staff and was once heard to refuse an invitation to the pub!     Tracey Bettles MAAT, BSc (Hons) Tracey is one of our audit and accounts managers. In addition to maintaining her own portfolio of clients she helps keep the firm technically up to date and gets involved with most of our large number of charitable clients. She joined us in spring 2004 having had a senior role within another firm based in Nottingham. Tracey is very proficient with SAGE and coordinates the installing and training of their products for our clients. Outside of work, Tracey is a keen supporter of Leicester Tigers and travels to virtually all home and away games, even to unpronounceable parts of Europe. During the rugby close season, Tracey spends a lot of her time horse riding.     Wayne Nixon FLC, CeMAP Wayne joined Somerby Financial Solutions having spent the best part of the previous 20 years in the finance industry. He specialises in sourcing finance for corporate asset acquisitions, sales ledger cash flow and supporting management buy ins and buy outs. Wayne was born in Derbyshire, grew up in Nottinghamshire and so now has a wide range of contacts throughout the East Midlands. Regrettably, this has left him as an ardent Nottingham Forest fan – we are actively seeking a cure! When not working for us, Wayne spends his weekends either playing golf or touring the country’s football grounds working for TV broadcasters. He is married with two daughters at university.