South West Financial Planner and accountancy firm Old Mill has promoted Chartered Financial Planner Duncan Parkes to be technical partner, with a simialr promotion for accountancy colleague Jamie Rudge.

Both are from the firm’s compliance team and their promotions follow a restructure to allow faster career progression.

Compliance director Duncan Parkes is a fellow of the Personal Finance Society (PFS) – and former winner of the PFS Chartered Financial Planner of the Year Award.

He joined Old Mill in early 2008 as compliance manager and after some time as head of compliance, he moved into his current role. 

He is responsible for all areas of regulation, standards, compliance and risk for the Financial Planning side of the business and is a member of Old Mill Financial Planning Ltd’s Board.

Mr Parks has been instrumental in the development of Old Mill’s Financial Planning approach.

He helped create the PFS Power Planning initiative, which is built around on client outcomes, and has been leading Old Mill’s new enhanced strategy, which aligns closely with the Power Planning initiative, focussing on clarity, peace of mind and opportunity.

Mr Parkes is also a huge advocate of Old Mill’s shift away from being one-off advice providers to becoming long-term full-service advisors that clients can turn to for all their professional service needs.

Mr Parkes said: “To become a Partner in Old Mill at such an exciting time in the evolution of the Financial Planning profession is something I am very proud of.  The opportunities that exist for Old Mill in the Financial Planning space are huge and to be able to help shape our future is very exciting”.

Chartered accountant Jamie Rudge joined Old Mill in 2016 as an associate director and is now the practice assurance principal for the accountancy side of the business, with responsibility for all areas of regulation, standards, compliance and risk.

The two new partners bring the total number of partners to 25.

Jon Orchard, Julia Banwell, and Stephen Martin were all promoted in December, while David Gage was appointed head of VAT and partner in October. Amanda Browning became the firm’s new head of wealth management and partner last month.

Kevin Whitmarsh, chief executive of Old Mill said: “Jamie and Duncan are both exceptional at what they do, not only keeping us in line with our respective regulatory bodies but also helping with technical training and helping shape the business strategically to the highest standards. Their hard work and commitment to quality are shown by the impact they have made on the work we do with our clients, our colleagues, and the communities in which we operate. They both demonstrate our firm’s values by delivering an ongoing commitment to ensuring all the work we are excited to see more from them both in their new roles as Partner.”