Our team

Elizabeth Thomas

Head of Regulatory Compliance & Risk

Elizabeth is head of regulatory compliance & risk at Argentis.  She helps Argentis manage risk for our clients and the business, so that our clients achieve their financial objectives in the right way, and our business meets its regulatory obligations. 

She has over 20 years’ experience of working in professional services (for law and accountancy firms as well as for financial advisers) and about 100 years ago she was Called to the Bar.  She is diploma-qualified with the London Institute of Business and Finance. 

Elizabeth has two grown-up children and a cocker spaniel who enjoys photo-bombing zoom calls.  Her other passions are performing Gilbert & Sullivan operettas twice a year and attempting to grapple, with people a lot younger than her, at Brazilian jiu jitsu. 

Matt Hills

Finance Director

Matt joined the Argentis Group in 2017, where he has overseen the growth of the finance team and its integration into the wider Group. Having studied Law at university and continuing at the Guildford College of Law, before pursuing a role in accountancy. Now a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Matt’s career prior to joining Argentis was in practice, acting for a wide variety of clients. This included providing audit and advisory services to Argentis throughout its development into the Group it is today.

Outside of work Matt enjoys spending time with his family, where he is outnumbered by girls, with the exception of his dog, Rocket. With family in Cornwall, holidays are often spent in the West Country, provided he can convince his wife the Cornish coast is more appealing than foreign shores! 

Tom Salt

Head of Mergers and Acquisitions

Tom is Head of Mergers and Acquisitions for the Argentis Group and a member of the Financial Planning Leadership Team. He joined the group in March 2019 prior to its sale to Hurst Point Group in March 2020. Tom has led on 25 Mergers and Acquisitions transactions ranging from £20m to £1.2bn AUA, with a predominant focus on financial planning firms.

Tom is married to Charlie and lives in Hampshire with their daughter, Emma. In his spare time, Tom will be found running or walking the beagle on the South Downs, paddleboarding or attempting to do triathlons. 

Natalie Kempster

Head of Client and Proposition

Natalie is responsible for the services we provide to our clients and is focused on ensuring clients are at the heart everything we do. She is also a chartered financial planner and fellow of the Personal Finance Society. She has worked in financial services for nearly twenty years and has been with Argentis since 2010. Natalie is passionate about financial education and the benefits of financial planning for everyone.

As well as maintaining her own client bank of high net worth individuals, Natalie manages our centralised advice team who ensure all clients have access to a financial adviser and also leads our adviser training academy.

Natalie is married to James (yes, the head of investment strategy), they have two ‘almost’ independent daughters and in her spare time she loves spending time outside in her campervan with James and Digby the dog. She’s not in the least bit competitive so plays hockey and runs races ‘just’ for fun.

James Kempster

Head of Investment Strategy

James started his career in financial services in 1999, working for Canada Life and for the last 19 years he has been an investment manager running managed portfolios. He is experienced in creating and maintaining risk-graded investment solutions and is lead manager on the IMS portfolio range, having overseen its formation in 2010. He holds the Investment Management Certificate and the Certificate in Investment & Risk.

More recently James has been responsible for the development of the Argentis Group’s Investment Suite, expanding it to include a range of additional solutions for the benefit of the group’s clients. He is a co-manager of the Discovery fund range and is a member of many internal groups including the Product and Governance Committee and the Group Investment Committee.

Away from work James has been married to Natalie for over 20 years and has two grown up children. He is a fan of all things fitness, including playing squash, running, and being a member of a CrossFit gym, although he tends to stay quiet about that last one. 

Susan Swan

Head of Operations

Susie Swan is Head of Operations for the Argentis Group, which means she is responsible for all Paraplanning, Administration, Facilities and Health & Safety Teams. Holding such a central role in the business means she also works closely with the Sales, Acquisitions and Compliance teams to support the delivery of the group’s strategic objectives.

Susie started her Financial Planning career with the Group in 2007 and has an intricate knowledge of a variety of operating systems, platforms and third party providers.

Having spent over a decade as a Physical Training Instructor in the Royal Navy before moving into Financial Services, Susie brings an extraordinary combination of communication and team leadership skills. Good luck to anyone who tries to beat her at running or CrossFit. Although she has more recently found a new passion for paddleboarding, so we might have more luck there if we get in quickly before she achieves world domination in that sport too.

Andy Urquhart

Regional Manager Southeast and Financial Planner

Andy provides Wealth Management advice for his clients and help them to protect and grow their wealth so that they can fulfil their financial objectives. He also works with a team of Financial Planners to train, coach and develop team members in meeting client and self-development outcomes.

He is qualified with the Personal Finance Society as a Chartered Financial Planner and accredited with the Society of Later Life Advisers. During his long career in Financial Services, he has spent time working within some of the UK’s major banks and joined Compass Wealth Management Consultants in 2011, As well as spending the majority of his 43 year career as a Wealth Manager he has also spent 7 years as an Investment Portfolio Manager.

He is married with two grown up Children and lives in Southsea. When he isn’t working, he will be watching Ruby Union or Football and is a season ticket holder at Harlequins and Portsmouth FC. When relaxing you will find him outside near the sea or in the countryside either walking, cycling or paddleboarding.