Neil Smith, Chief Financial Officer (‘CFO’), has informed the Board of his intention to step down from his roles as CFO and Executive Director on 30 April 2026. Neil has been with Gateley 17 years and has been CFO since Gateley’s IPO in 2015. He will remain with Gateley to focus on a range of projects supporting the Group’s growth strategy.
The Board is pleased to announce that John Paton will succeed Neil as CFO. John brings considerable finance, M&A, transformation, corporate strategy, capital markets and professional services growth experience, and was most recently CFO at Alpha Financial Markets Consulting between 2018 and 2025. Prior to that, John spent 11 years at HSBC Bank plc where he held various roles, including as a director in each of the bank’s Corporate Capital Origination and UK Mid-Market M&A Advisory teams. John is a qualified accountant, having spent seven years at KPMG in various roles including audit, corporate finance advisory and risk management consulting.
John will join Gateley on 5 January 2026 as an Executive Director and will assume the role of CFO on 1 May 2026, following a formal transition period.
Neil’s early indication of his intent to step down as CFO has allowed for a structured succession planning and handover process to be undertaken. John Paton’s appointment follows a rigorous search, in conjunction with a leading executive search firm.
Commenting, Rod Waldie, Chief Executive Officer, said:
“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Neil 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 Neil 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. At a personal level, Neil has been a friend and highly valued colleague, and I am delighted that we will still be able to benefit from his experience and skills.
I am very pleased to welcome John 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.”
Edward Knapp, Chair, said:
“We are delighted that John Paton will be joining us in January. John is a seasoned capital markets CFO and will bring significant experience and expertise in high growth professional services businesses to help support Gateley in the next phase of its development. I and the Board are very much looking forward to working with him. In the meantime, I also extend my sincere thanks to Neil for his contribution to Gateley over many years and his continued dedication to the business.”
Neil Smith, Chief Financial Officer, said:
“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 John and remain fully focused on continuing to execute Gateley’s strategy and delivering stakeholder value.”