Meet the team

Ian Smith is a seasoned leader with over 22 years of experience advising financial services organizations on complex growth and deal strategies across the UK, Europe, the US, and the Middle East. As Group CEO of L&P, Ian is committed to ensuring the organization is equipped with the right talent, strategic focus, and capabilities to help its members achieve safe and successful growth. His leadership is defined by a strong emphasis on innovation, resilience, and delivering value for all stakeholders.

Victoria Browning is the COO of CharterGroup, where she drives operational excellence and fosters innovation. She focuses on supporting the CharterGroup Member Firms and Affinity Partners with forward-thinking strategies and client-centric solutions, playing a key role in advancing the organisations’ goals and maintaining a competitive edge in the accountancy sector.

Nikki serves as the first point of contact for CharterGroup and specializes in building strong relationships with members and affinity partners, ensuring exceptional service and engagement. Nikki is committed to providing seamless support and addressing member needs. She plays a key role in planning and executing CharterGroup events and strives to create a welcoming environment for all.

Frances is an experienced strategic consultant, coach, facilitator and trainer who works with organisations, individuals and teams to deliver interventions that positively impact the business and its people.

She has significant experience working with professional and membership bodies, commercial organisations and the education sector to develop and implement strategic initiatives.

Before setting up her consultancy business, Frances was the HR Director of a top 10 accountancy firm.

Jon has a career of leadership and business development in medium to large accountancy practices – initially being the Managing Partner of a practice in his home city of Southampton, then Managing Partner of a national practice before moving to become the CEO of global accounting network.

Jon now leads a team of experienced former leaders in the profession with a mission to support the next generation with some of the wisdom acquired. He believes it likely that challenges a member firm face today may be similar to those he will previously have had to resolve.