Who we are
Penney Frohling
Partner & Founder, Ethos
Penney has devoted the entire 4 decades of her career to financial services, with particularly in-depth focus in the long-term savings, wealth, general insurance, and consumer banking sectors. The origins of her passion for all things related to investments, pensions and savings are from the decade she spent with Citibank, based in New York City and Chicago.
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She moved to London in the mid 1990’s post an MBA at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland and began her career in financial services strategy consulting, subsequently working at AT Kearney, Booz & Co, and most recently EY-Parthenon. She has navigated through several inflection points in the management consulting industry and believes we are currently in the midst of another one. Hence Ethos.
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Over the course of her 30 years in financial services consulting, she has successfully delivered well over 100 engagements focused on growth, value creation, new market entry, and turn-arounds to corporates, mutuals, fintechs, and NGO’s in the UK, Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Africa.
She is a member of Angel Academe, devoted to funding women-founded, early stage start-ups and is committed to making Ethos a firm where diversity is lived.
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She lives in West London with her husband, several dogs and cats, and part-time appearances from her son, who is in university in Washington, DC.
Ecosystem – Trimstone Partners
Trimstone Partners empowers clients to deliver high-impact strategic change. It was founded to address the gap created by the big consulting firms that increasingly are dependent on selling large teams and “taking over” change, effectively taking away agency from the clients they are trying to help.
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Trimstone’s high impact, low cost consulting model:
1) Brings together proven operators, with hands-on strategic change delivery experience in CxO roles and a background in strategy consulting at Tier One Firms.
2) Deploys small teams lead by highly experienced individuals with the capabilities needed to enhance client strengths.
3) Accesses a network of seasoned experts with deep functional expertise across select strategic and functional areas.
4) Enhances client strengths, by empowering the individuals within client organisations to drive change and own outcomes.
Miguel Ortiz
Operating Partner
and Founder
Miguel has a background in operational leadership and strategic transformation. His career includes pivotal roles in major organizations, driving significant business change, while maintaining a range of interests outside the world of business.
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As Chief Transformation Officer at Allfunds, Europe's largest funds platform, Miguel orchestrated a €50m Private Equity-backed transformation and was part of the management team that IPOed the business in 2021. He was previously Chief Operating Officer at M&G Group and led the operational effort to demerge M&G and Prudential UK.
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Prior to his tenure at M&G Prudential, Miguel was a Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group where he led the firm's life insurance practice globally.
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Miguel holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from Stephen Hawking's group at the University of Cambridge and is a former international water polo player.
James Platt
Operating Partner
and Founder
James has played pivotal roles as both a consultant and an executive.
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He was Aon PLC’s Group COO, where he helped create, then led, Aon Business Services, integrating Aon’s fragmented operations and technology functions into a centrally managed 20,000 FTE service organization. As CEO of Aon’s global digital business he revolutionised the approach to the $1b small client segment.
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Previously, James was a Partner and Managing Director in the Boston Consulting Group where he established BCG’s Technology and Insurance practices in the UK.
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James's first career was in the British Army and Royal Marines, where he was an engineering officer, serving with NATO in Bosnia and Kosovo and the UN in Cyprus. He trained at RMA Sandhurst and has an MA in Engineering from Cambridge.
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Outside of his professional life, James chairs the Guiding Council of One Mind at Work.
Advent RTA
Advent RTA was founded in 2001 by Amanda Nicoll and specialises in performance optimisation in the general insurance sector. Advent RTA has delivered an extensive range of engagements to a broad variety of players in the general insurance ecosystem, from corporates to start-ups to supply chain participants and law firms. Its Distinctive Partnerships focuses on claim excellence, including business and operating model transformation.
Amanda Nicoll
Partner, Founder of Advent RTA
After qualifying as a personal injury solicitor in 1991, Amanda has spent the last 30 years in the general insurance sector in a career that is a unique blend of corporate and consulting experience. She has held senior-level operational roles at leading UK-based and global corporates, law firms, and start-ups, as well as director positions at consultancies KPMG and EY. She has deep expertise in operations, transformation and claims and has most recently served as the Interim Head of Claims for Flock, a fast growth Insurtech MGA.
Solve Partners
Solve Partners was founded in early 2023 by Donald Reid and specialises in the Wealth and Investment management sector, delivering advice and change delivery in technology, platforms and operating models. Their team, composed primarily of industry practitioners, has extensive experience in post-acquisition integration as trade or private equity backed consolidation.
Dave Mason
CEO
Dave has over 25 years’ experience in change, operations and technology in Wealth and Investment Management. Prior to joining Solve, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Sanlam UK, worked with startups in the UHNW Wealth Management sector and led technology teams in Barclays. Dave has experience in delivering major change initiatives including acquisitions, new business and product launches and platform migrations.
Donald Reid
Founder, NED
Donald has more than 35 years’ experience in Financial Services and Wealth management. Prior to Solve he was Group COO for Tilney Smith & Williamson (now Evelyn Partners), having joined one of the predecessor firms, Bestinvest, as both COO and CFO in 2010. Prior to 2010 he was Managing Director, Operations for UBS Wealth Management in the UK, and previously had roles as Head of UK Operations for Barclays Wealth, and CFO for Barclays Stockbrokers. He is highly skilled in corporate deals, M&A, PE, strategy and transformation changes.
