Ignition Advice adds APAC business development director

Ignition Advice has appointed Darren Speirs to the role, where he will be responsible for driving sales and developing strategic partnerships to expand Ignition’s presence in the APAC market.

Mr Speirs has more than 25 years in the Australian wealth management industry, with head of portfolio solutions at Bravura Solutions as his most recent role. Previously, he also worked at Westpac and Macquarie Bank.

Mr Speirs will be based in Sydney and report to Ignition’s chief commercial officer, Eric Welsby.

Terry Donohoe, Ignition group chief executive officer, said: “Darren has an extensive background in successfully delivering sales growth and building client relationships.

“His deep understanding of the APAC wealth technology market from advice through to member administration will be instrumental in furthering our successes in the region, which are a core part of our global growth strategy as the leading global advice technology for financial services institutions.

“Ignition’s unique and purpose built, omni-channel digital advice platform has been engineered for financial services institutions, delivering transformational efficiencies and scalability to our global clients.

“The platform enables increased agility at scale and optimisation of advice distribution channels which ultimately empowers financial services institutions to deliver greater volumes of financial advice through enhanced customer experiences.”

Mr Speirs said: “I am looking forward to working with the team to build Ignition as the market leading SaaS advice specialist for institutions that need to quickly and efficiently scale their advice propositions across multiple distribution models.”

The appointment follows a spate of changes at Ignition, including the appointment of Sally Loane as chair after Peter Meurer departed the role.

“Sally brings proven leadership, including as a chair, and a wealth of industry expertise to the Ignition board from her many years leading a financial services organisation, together with deep knowledge of media and corporate affairs,” Mr Meurer said.

“Her experience in policy development and advocacy, specifically in the wealth sector and with a wide range of stakeholders, will be particularly valuable to our business.

“The Ignition team will benefit from Sally’s broad experience over this significant next phase of global growth for the company.”

In March, Craig Keary stepped down after two years as the CEO of the Asia-Pacific region, moving into a senior adviser role.

“I look forward to providing strategic insight around the Asia-Pacific wealth industry in a non-executive capacity to the Ignition board and executive,” Mr Keary said.