Mike Wilson (1943-2018) left school with no A-levels and started his working life behind the wheel of a bread delivery van, moonlighting as a model for the Milk Marketing Board. He joined Mark Weinberg's Abbey Life in 1968, aged twenty-five, following him two years later when Mark founded Hambro Life (later Allied Dunbar), of which Mike would later become CEO. In 1992, Mike was co-founder with Mark and first CEO of J. Rothschild Assurance. Renamed St. James's Place Wealth Management, it is a FTSE 100 company with over £90 billion of funds under management - and rising. Mike retired from the board in 2011, subsequently serving as Chairman of the SJP Charitable Foundation. He was a trustee and director of various mental health charities and coached a wide variety of people in different sectors. He was awarded a CBE in 2012 for services to the insurance industry and to charity.
