Redland Business Solutions (www.redland-solutions.co.uk), the UK’s leading provider of specialist IT consultancy and GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance) solutions to the financial services and insurance industries, has appointed Mark Walker-Smith as Business Development Director. He joins from financial services software company Focus Solutions; where over nine years he held a number of senior management positions including Customer Services Director, Commercial Director and Partner & Strategic Account Director. Prior to this, he also held senior programme management and consultancy roles at CMG.

His role at Redland is to grow and develop existing key accounts and to help Redland build on the company’s already impressive client base. He will also seek to forge strategic relationships with other key market players in the financial services and insurance sectors.


Mark Walker SmithCommenting upon Walker-Smith’s appointment Redland’s MD Joel Turland said, “With over 20 years’ experience of the financial services industry across IT development, business consultancy and sales management, Mark brings with him a high level of experience and expertise. He is incredibly well respected within the industry and is close to many of the organisations with which we already work and with which we seek to work. I am confident that his impact at Redland will be enormous both in terms of enhancing our relationship with key accounts and in engaging new strategic opportunities.”

For his part, Mark Walker-Smith welcomed Turland’s comments adding, “With the financial services world focussed on the challenge of attaining the necessary professional qualifications to operate post 2012, the deployment of effective GRC systems in Training and Competence is now seen as a pre-requisite for best practice management. Redland’s Insight T & C software, which is already used by four of the main IFA networks, is highly respected across the industry and is very much seen as setting the pace in fulfilling these requirements. Redland has also received widespread acclaim for their sponsorship of the FSP’s new Partnership Programme.

“The net result is that Redland is a company that people want to work with and talk to. Having joined the company at such a dynamic stage, I am keen to open a positive dialogue with all these sector stakeholders and therein to drive and develop strategic relationships for Redland.”