Gateley has appointed John Paton as its new chief financial officer (CFO), after Neil Smith informed the board of his intention to step down from the role.

Smith has worked at the professional services firm for 17 years, and has served as CFO since the company’s IPO in 2015.

He will step down from the role on 30 April and in the meantime remain with Gateley to focus on a range of projects.

Paton will join Gateley on 5 January, and will join from Alpha Financial Markets Consulting, where he served as CFO between 2018 and 2025. Prior to this, Paton spent 11 years at HSBC Bank, where he held various roles.

Chief executive officer at Gateley, said: "On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Smith for his exceptional service to Gateley. Rightly, he is proud of his contribution to the group's success since he joined in 2008, particularly since the IPO in 2015. The board is grateful to Smith for his part in Gateley's significant growth and transformation into the broad professional services group that we continue to build, and which Neil's new roles will continue to support.

"I am very pleased to welcome Paton to Gateley. He has extensive experience as a CFO and a proven track record delivering growth in professional services businesses. I and the team at Gateley are looking forward to working with him to support the continued growth of the business."

Smith concluded: "I feel privileged and immensely proud to have had such a varied and interesting career thus far with Gateley. I would like to thank the great teams I have worked with over the years at Gateley for their dedication and support. I look forward to continuing to support the business and, in the meantime, I am focused on an orderly transition to Paton and remain fully focused on continuing to execute Gateley's strategy and delivering stakeholder value."

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