Tag: Team Stories
Danielle Cottignies featured in Acclaim Magazine
Danielle Cottignies, Director, Crestbridge, talks to Tom Burroughes, WealthBriefing Group Editor, on the firm’s continued excellence.
What do you think gave you the competitive edge this year?
Our focus has always been on listening to clients and colleagues to develop bespoke, tailored and appropriate best-in class solutions, and that’s definitely shone through over the past two years of disruption as we’ve looked to adapt and respond to a rapidly changing environment.
We’ve also placed a focus on managing and motivating the team. That’s been really important, especially with remote working rapidly become the norm. We’ve been agile in our approach, ensuring that colleagues are supported and engaged, being flexible to their needs. Ultimately, our people are our key differentiator, and I’ve been fortunate to have played a part in delivering our learning and development program and our return to work and agile working policy in response to the pandemic.
Describe how your colleagues make a difference to your organisation?
Our combined success is really all about investment in our people and supporting each other – recognising and respecting our strengths, enabling career progression, offering training to open up new skills development opportunities and embedding new technologies to help us support clients. Again, remaining agile has been a fundamental part of our mutual success – it encourages us to work together and ensures we are ready to respond to the changing needs of clients.
Please describe the challenges you needed to surmount to reach your standard?
Keeping the team motivated and engaged was a significant challenge over the past year or so, given the shift to remote working. Finding creative ways to bring together the team remotely was critical. From a client perspective, face to face meetings were of course not possible either, and we adopted a flexible, creative approach to keep in touch with them. The key was to be proactive and we are actually now seeing an appetite for hybrid means of communication, both in person and virtually, to suit client needs.
How did your firm react to the pandemic and what lasting changes do you expect from this period. What might not last?
We were highly responsive to the pandemic – our technology infrastructure was already in place and able to accommodate agile working. A major and lasting outcome, though, has been the heightened focus on colleague support and staff wellbeing. Those are areas where I think we will definitely see a lasting legacy.
What do you see as the prospects for wealth management in general?
The world is definitely becoming more complex and the coming years will undoubtedly bring increased layers of complication, in a regulatory and legislative sense and in terms of geopolitical disruption. This greater complexity will mean that listening to client needs will become more important than ever, particularly as they
move into areas like crypto currencies and digital assets, and as families focus more on succession and legacy planning and the needs of the next generation.
Whom do you look to for inspiration and ideas?
Our belief in the value of mentoring is really important, and I’ve been very fortunate to have had a mentor who has vast amounts of industry experience and is extremely well respected. Getting that sort of advice and guidance has been inspirational and instrumental in terms of my own progress.
What do you hope will be the result of receiving this accolade?
Recognition through these awards is essentially recognition for the team as a whole. To know that we are doing the right thing collectively for clients is really pleasing.
“Recognition through these awards is essentially recognition for the team as a whole.”
Crestbridge Director marks successful year with ‘Rising Star’ accolade
Danielle Cottignies, Director of Family Office Services at Crestbridge, has been recognised with the ‘Rising Star Under 40’ Award at this year’s WealthBriefing European Awards.
The Awards, now in their tenth year, are designed to recognise outstanding organisations and to showcase excellence in European wealth management. The winners are selected by a panel of independent judges deemed to have demonstrated innovation and excellence during the last year.
The Awards were held last night (30th March) at a gala dinner at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane in London.
In granting her the accolade, the judging panel noted they were “hugely impressed with Danielle’s leadership role both within the business but also in mentoring and making things happen. She was a key member of the Return to Office (RTO) forum which managed the operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to do so.”
The win comes in a successful year for Danielle, who is based in the firm’s Jersey office and has over 10 years’ experience in the finance industry working closely with a number of UHNWIs and significant families across the globe.
Having been promoted to Director last year, Danielle was also a Gold winner at this year’s Citywealth Powerwomen Awards, whilst she also has three wins at the Citywealth Future Leaders Awards to her name and two appearances on the ePrivateClient ‘Top 35 under 35’ list over the last few years.
Commenting on Danielle’s award, Heather Tibbo, Group Head of Crestbridge Family Office Services, said:
“Danielle thoroughly deserves this award and recognition – she makes an enormous contribution to our team and always goes above and beyond to support clients. As a firm which cares deeply about nurturing talent and supporting development, it’s always fantastic to see our people acknowledged as future leaders in the industry.”
ClearView Financial Media’s CEO, and Publisher of WealthBriefing, Stephen Harris, said:
“The organisations and individuals who triumphed in these awards are all worthy winners, and I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the winners and to those who have put so much work into each winning submission. These awards were independently and expertly judged solely on the basis of entrants’ submissions and their response to a number of specific questions, which were answered by focusing on the client experience rather than purely quantitative performance metrics.”
Chloë Sorda fights for Kidney Research UK
Danielle Cottignies, Director of Family Office Services at Crestbridge, has been recognised with the ‘Rising Star Under 40’ Award at this year’s WealthBriefing European Awards.
The Awards, now in their tenth year, are designed to recognise outstanding organisations and to showcase excellence in European wealth management. The winners are selected by a panel of independent judges deemed to have demonstrated innovation and excellence during the last year.
The Awards were held last night (30th March) at a gala dinner at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane in London.
In granting her the accolade, the judging panel noted they were “hugely impressed with Danielle’s leadership role both within the business but also in mentoring and making things happen. She was a key member of the Return to Office (RTO) forum which managed the operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to do so.”
The win comes in a successful year for Danielle, who is based in the firm’s Jersey office and has over 10 years’ experience in the finance industry working closely with a number of UHNWIs and significant families across the globe.
Having been promoted to Director last year, Danielle was also a Gold winner at this year’s Citywealth Powerwomen Awards, whilst she also has three wins at the Citywealth Future Leaders Awards to her name and two appearances on the ePrivateClient ‘Top 35 under 35’ list over the last few years.
Commenting on Danielle’s award, Heather Tibbo, Group Head of Crestbridge Family Office Services, said:
“Danielle thoroughly deserves this award and recognition – she makes an enormous contribution to our team and always goes above and beyond to support clients. As a firm which cares deeply about nurturing talent and supporting development, it’s always fantastic to see our people acknowledged as future leaders in the industry.”
ClearView Financial Media’s CEO, and Publisher of WealthBriefing, Stephen Harris, said:
“The organisations and individuals who triumphed in these awards are all worthy winners, and I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the winners and to those who have put so much work into each winning submission. These awards were independently and expertly judged solely on the basis of entrants’ submissions and their response to a number of specific questions, which were answered by focusing on the client experience rather than purely quantitative performance metrics.”
Gold Award Winner in Powerwomen Awards
Crestbridge’s Family Office Service team has earned further success at this year’s Citywealth Powerwomen Awards, with Director Danielle Cottignies picking up an accolade.
Danielle won Gold in the ‘Woman of the Year – Rising Star’ category at the Awards. The results were announced at an event in London last week (3 March).
The Awards, now in their eleventh year, are designed to recognise individuals and companies leading the way in maximising the potential of women in wealth, champion women in the wealth sector, highlight the female leaders of today and tomorrow, and create a platform for best practice to have a positive social influence on the sector.
Commenting on Danielle’s award, Paul Hunter, Co-Group Head of Crestbridge Family Office Services, said: “Our culture is very much a team one, built around supporting each other and celebrating our collective strengths and expertise. I’m delighted for Danielle to be recognised as a rising star in the industry, and for our team to be represented so prominently once again is a great reflection of our shared culture.”
Chloë Sorda joins the fight against kidney disease
In this interview, Chloë shares with us details of her training and preparation, and why she and the Crestbridge Family Office Services team are passionate about supporting Kidney Research UK.
What inspired you to take on this challenge?
I have always kept active. My main sporting interest is Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) racing and over recent years that’s been my main focus for training. Although there are SUP races locally in Jersey, they are relatively small scale so attending larger races relies on being able to travel to places a bit further away – like France, Spain and the US.
With travel having been slightly more challenging due to the pandemic, though, I was looking for something else to work towards. This boxing event is being run by the gym I already train at, Transform Together, and the coaches were so encouraging when I said I was thinking of taking part.
Which charity are you supporting and why is it so significant to you?
I am fighting to raise money for Kidney Research UK. Paul (Pablo) Hunter, Group Co-Head of Family Office Services, suffers from kidney disease and has recently undergone kidney transplant surgery. Whilst Pablo has been incredibly stoic throughout, as his colleagues, we have all seen the huge impact this has had on Pablo’s life over the last few years as his treatment has escalated, attending regular dialysis appointments whilst on the waiting list for a suitable donor.
Knowing that this surgery was essential for Pablo’s life to return to some degree of normality and that some don’t get the transplant they so desperately need, I have chosen a charity that will provide benefit to others in Pablo’s situation. My hope is that through fundraising like this, treatments can be developed for those with kidney disease whilst research can also be undertaken with the aim of curing or ultimately preventing kidney disease.
How have you been training and preparing yourself for the event?
The training currently involves three boxing sessions per week, each an hour long, including a combination of technical and fitness training. The technical training is really starting from scratch – I’ve never boxed before – so I’ve been learning the basics really, how to stand and move around and what the various punches are. Alongside that I am also continuing with three personal training sessions a week, which are predominantly strength based and part of my existing training plan, as well as a group training session which tends to be more cardio based.
As the weeks go on, I will also incorporate one-to-one pad work sessions and then we will eventually move on to sparring to start getting us used to hitting and – more importantly – being hit! We will all also be focussed on nutrition and how we are fuelling up for training and in the lead up to fight night, some will be wanting to achieve a goal weight whereas others will be more focussed on maintenance. It’s certainly a lot of preparation and disciplined hard work.
How important is having support on fight night?
A few family members and friends are understandably unsure whether they want to see me get punched in the face. On the flipside, there may be a few who would willingly pay to see that! From my point of view, as this is an entirely new sport and challenge for me, having support will be important – I would hope that people will come along to see how much work goes into getting in the ring to fight, both physically and mentally.
In addition, there is also a wonderful spirit among the training group already and, having attended the last fight as a spectator, I know that everyone there watching, no matter who they are there to see, will be hugely supportive of all the fighters and the fighters of each other. I’m looking forward to it!
Double professional exam success for Family Office Service team
Danielle Cottignies, Director of Family Office Services at Crestbridge, has been recognised with the ‘Rising Star Under 40’ Award at this year’s WealthBriefing European Awards.
The Awards, now in their tenth year, are designed to recognise outstanding organisations and to showcase excellence in European wealth management. The winners are selected by a panel of independent judges deemed to have demonstrated innovation and excellence during the last year.
The Awards were held last night (30th March) at a gala dinner at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane in London.
In granting her the accolade, the judging panel noted they were “hugely impressed with Danielle’s leadership role both within the business but also in mentoring and making things happen. She was a key member of the Return to Office (RTO) forum which managed the operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to do so.”
The win comes in a successful year for Danielle, who is based in the firm’s Jersey office and has over 10 years’ experience in the finance industry working closely with a number of UHNWIs and significant families across the globe.
Having been promoted to Director last year, Danielle was also a Gold winner at this year’s Citywealth Powerwomen Awards, whilst she also has three wins at the Citywealth Future Leaders Awards to her name and two appearances on the ePrivateClient ‘Top 35 under 35’ list over the last few years.
Commenting on Danielle’s award, Heather Tibbo, Group Head of Crestbridge Family Office Services, said:
“Danielle thoroughly deserves this award and recognition – she makes an enormous contribution to our team and always goes above and beyond to support clients. As a firm which cares deeply about nurturing talent and supporting development, it’s always fantastic to see our people acknowledged as future leaders in the industry.”
ClearView Financial Media’s CEO, and Publisher of WealthBriefing, Stephen Harris, said:
“The organisations and individuals who triumphed in these awards are all worthy winners, and I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the winners and to those who have put so much work into each winning submission. These awards were independently and expertly judged solely on the basis of entrants’ submissions and their response to a number of specific questions, which were answered by focusing on the client experience rather than purely quantitative performance metrics.”
Meet Elliott Carlow
Danielle Cottignies, Director of Family Office Services at Crestbridge, has been recognised with the ‘Rising Star Under 40’ Award at this year’s WealthBriefing European Awards.
The Awards, now in their tenth year, are designed to recognise outstanding organisations and to showcase excellence in European wealth management. The winners are selected by a panel of independent judges deemed to have demonstrated innovation and excellence during the last year.
The Awards were held last night (30th March) at a gala dinner at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane in London.
In granting her the accolade, the judging panel noted they were “hugely impressed with Danielle’s leadership role both within the business but also in mentoring and making things happen. She was a key member of the Return to Office (RTO) forum which managed the operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to do so.”
The win comes in a successful year for Danielle, who is based in the firm’s Jersey office and has over 10 years’ experience in the finance industry working closely with a number of UHNWIs and significant families across the globe.
Having been promoted to Director last year, Danielle was also a Gold winner at this year’s Citywealth Powerwomen Awards, whilst she also has three wins at the Citywealth Future Leaders Awards to her name and two appearances on the ePrivateClient ‘Top 35 under 35’ list over the last few years.
Commenting on Danielle’s award, Heather Tibbo, Group Head of Crestbridge Family Office Services, said:
“Danielle thoroughly deserves this award and recognition – she makes an enormous contribution to our team and always goes above and beyond to support clients. As a firm which cares deeply about nurturing talent and supporting development, it’s always fantastic to see our people acknowledged as future leaders in the industry.”
ClearView Financial Media’s CEO, and Publisher of WealthBriefing, Stephen Harris, said:
“The organisations and individuals who triumphed in these awards are all worthy winners, and I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the winners and to those who have put so much work into each winning submission. These awards were independently and expertly judged solely on the basis of entrants’ submissions and their response to a number of specific questions, which were answered by focusing on the client experience rather than purely quantitative performance metrics.”
Recognising expertise and contribution with promotions
Danielle Cottignies, Director of Family Office Services at Crestbridge, has been recognised with the ‘Rising Star Under 40’ Award at this year’s WealthBriefing European Awards.
The Awards, now in their tenth year, are designed to recognise outstanding organisations and to showcase excellence in European wealth management. The winners are selected by a panel of independent judges deemed to have demonstrated innovation and excellence during the last year.
The Awards were held last night (30th March) at a gala dinner at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane in London.
In granting her the accolade, the judging panel noted they were “hugely impressed with Danielle’s leadership role both within the business but also in mentoring and making things happen. She was a key member of the Return to Office (RTO) forum which managed the operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to do so.”
The win comes in a successful year for Danielle, who is based in the firm’s Jersey office and has over 10 years’ experience in the finance industry working closely with a number of UHNWIs and significant families across the globe.
Having been promoted to Director last year, Danielle was also a Gold winner at this year’s Citywealth Powerwomen Awards, whilst she also has three wins at the Citywealth Future Leaders Awards to her name and two appearances on the ePrivateClient ‘Top 35 under 35’ list over the last few years.
Commenting on Danielle’s award, Heather Tibbo, Group Head of Crestbridge Family Office Services, said:
“Danielle thoroughly deserves this award and recognition – she makes an enormous contribution to our team and always goes above and beyond to support clients. As a firm which cares deeply about nurturing talent and supporting development, it’s always fantastic to see our people acknowledged as future leaders in the industry.”
ClearView Financial Media’s CEO, and Publisher of WealthBriefing, Stephen Harris, said:
“The organisations and individuals who triumphed in these awards are all worthy winners, and I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the winners and to those who have put so much work into each winning submission. These awards were independently and expertly judged solely on the basis of entrants’ submissions and their response to a number of specific questions, which were answered by focusing on the client experience rather than purely quantitative performance metrics.”
Group Head once again recognised as one of ‘most influential’
In this interview, Chloë shares with us details of her training and preparation, and why she and the Crestbridge Family Office Services team are passionate about supporting Kidney Research UK.
What inspired you to take on this challenge?
I have always kept active. My main sporting interest is Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) racing and over recent years that’s been my main focus for training. Although there are SUP races locally in Jersey, they are relatively small scale so attending larger races relies on being able to travel to places a bit further away – like France, Spain and the US.
With travel having been slightly more challenging due to the pandemic, though, I was looking for something else to work towards. This boxing event is being run by the gym I already train at, Transform Together, and the coaches were so encouraging when I said I was thinking of taking part.
Which charity are you supporting and why is it so significant to you?
I am fighting to raise money for Kidney Research UK. Paul (Pablo) Hunter, Group Co-Head of Family Office Services, suffers from kidney disease and has recently undergone kidney transplant surgery. Whilst Pablo has been incredibly stoic throughout, as his colleagues, we have all seen the huge impact this has had on Pablo’s life over the last few years as his treatment has escalated, attending regular dialysis appointments whilst on the waiting list for a suitable donor.
Knowing that this surgery was essential for Pablo’s life to return to some degree of normality and that some don’t get the transplant they so desperately need, I have chosen a charity that will provide benefit to others in Pablo’s situation. My hope is that through fundraising like this, treatments can be developed for those with kidney disease whilst research can also be undertaken with the aim of curing or ultimately preventing kidney disease.
How have you been training and preparing yourself for the event?
The training currently involves three boxing sessions per week, each an hour long, including a combination of technical and fitness training. The technical training is really starting from scratch – I’ve never boxed before – so I’ve been learning the basics really, how to stand and move around and what the various punches are. Alongside that I am also continuing with three personal training sessions a week, which are predominantly strength based and part of my existing training plan, as well as a group training session which tends to be more cardio based.
As the weeks go on, I will also incorporate one-to-one pad work sessions and then we will eventually move on to sparring to start getting us used to hitting and – more importantly – being hit! We will all also be focussed on nutrition and how we are fuelling up for training and in the lead up to fight night, some will be wanting to achieve a goal weight whereas others will be more focussed on maintenance. It’s certainly a lot of preparation and disciplined hard work.
How important is having support on fight night?
A few family members and friends are understandably unsure whether they want to see me get punched in the face. On the flipside, there may be a few who would willingly pay to see that! From my point of view, as this is an entirely new sport and challenge for me, having support will be important – I would hope that people will come along to see how much work goes into getting in the ring to fight, both physically and mentally.
In addition, there is also a wonderful spirit among the training group already and, having attended the last fight as a spectator, I know that everyone there watching, no matter who they are there to see, will be hugely supportive of all the fighters and the fighters of each other. I’m looking forward to it!