A team built over decades

The movie The Big Short is one I watch without fail every January. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a story about the global financial crisis of 2008 but for me, it’s also a reminder of the value of experience, of knowing your craft, and of understanding people.

One of the most common questions we hear from clients is: “How long has the SK team been together?” The honest answer is longer than most people expect.

Our story goes back to the early 2000s, when many of us worked together at a private bank. That’s where we learned our craft, developed our expertise with private clients, and discovered that we worked exceptionally well as a team.

Neil, Tracey, Emma, Beth and I were colleagues at the private bank. Lesley and Neil had worked with David even before SK Financial was founded in 2004. Richard worked with Lesley in the early 2000s. Jade first joined David and Neil through work experience in 2007. Michael arrived in 2011 for work experience, went off to university, and came straight back. Lisa and Shema are our two external hires, and they’ve become part of the SK fabric just as strongly.

Across all of us, the common thread is service. Technical skill matters. Knowledge matters. But service; genuine, human, consistent service is the thing clients feel most. It’s the hardest thing to measure and the most valuable thing we offer. It’s also the reason this team has stayed together, and why we’ve been able to add the quality of people we’ve recruited. We all believe in the power of getting service right and we’re committed to fully to it.

We also stay closely connected outside of client work. Our quarterly socials usually involve a fun activity followed by a meal and drinks, giving us time to unwind and enjoy each other’s company. We send birthday cards to every team member — a small gesture that reflects how well we know one another. And we recently added weekly morning catch‑up meetings, which keep us aligned, talking, and supporting each other as we start the week.

We come from different walks of life and have a wide range of interests from equestrian riding to running marathons and we certainly have different opinions. But what we all share is a caring nature that runs through the team like a river through a valley. It takes many drops to make a waterfall and every one of us contributes to the flow.