Co-owner close-up, Michael Richardson

I have been at Castlefield since December 2016. I started off as an Executive in the Compliance team but, since then, I have worked with different areas of our business, with my main focus being on our Financial Advice business. I was promoted to a Senior Executive role in March 2018 and took on more responsibility within the team and across our business. There are a lot of things to get involved in and interpreting new regulations as well as providing advice on existing guidance are both very important aspects of what we do. The role is interesting, varied and has a wide scope. No two days are the same!

Our Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) holds a significant shareholding in our business and I was keen to be involved in it, so I volunteered to become a member of Castlefield’s Co-owner Council, the body which represents the views of all colleagues to the board of our company and, in June 2019, I was really pleased to be elected as the firm’s ESOT Representative for a three-year term. The Representative leads the Co-owner Council, is a Director of our ESOT and attends our company’s board meetings. This role is a really important one for our business and a key part of Employee Ownership and I’m looking forward to getting started.