Corporate Excellence Awards 2020

Sep20635 primarily dealing in discretionary portfolio management. However, the firm’s philosophy of stability and its ethos of investing to match an individual’s investment goals remains as central to JM Finn as it did in 1946. JM Finn’s drive to meet the unique demands of its investors through its personal approach to wealth management has therefore made the firm a premier choice for private investors at any stage of life. Whether they are just starting their journey as an investor and looking to create long term growth, or seeking to maximise a legacy for the next generation, JM Finn’s award-winning services offer tailored and comprehensive solutions. For professional financial advisors, JM Finn again seeks to provide flexible, effective solutions, working in productive partnership with their clients to support their propositions. From managing Multi-Asset Portfolios to protecting the wealth of their clients, JM Finn is able to work in harmony with its clients existing business models to achieve the best possible outcomes. The firm’s capacity for integrating wealth planning expertise with a long heritage of investment management has established JM Finn as an inimitable leader of its industry. Accordingly, the JM Finn team has been recognised with a myriad of awards and honours over the years, both as a firm and as individuals. This year, former CEO of the firm Steven Sussman is able to add Corporate Vision: Most Influential Wealth Management Business Leader 2020 – UK to the list, as a wonderful tribute to his five momentous years at the head of the firm. Steven has been with JM Finn since 1997 when he started as Managing Partner and will continue to play a vital role in the firm as non-executive Chairman from the beginning of 2021. He is replaced by Hugo Bedford, who is ready to lead JM Finn into another seventy-five years and more of successful services in wealth and investment management. Company: JM Finn Website: www.jmfinn.com Influential Leadership JM Finn is a well-established provider of investment and wealth planning services for individuals and advisers that has understood the importance of stability since its foundation in 1946. With origins rooted in private client broking, JM Finn has evolved and diversified over the past seventy-five years. What has not changed, however, is its ethos of investing to match their client’s individual investment goals. As former CEO Steven Sussman takes on the role of non-executive Chairman in 2021, we take a closer look at his historic yet forward- thinking company. JM Finn is a leading UK investment management firm that offers high-quality, personalised service designed to guide private and professional investors through the ever evolving and complex world of investment to achieve their unique ambitions and financial goals. A leading wealth management firm that has been established for almost three-quarters of a century, JM Finn is able to draw on traditional values in client service to offer personalised, well- informed investment advice and services, setting them apart in an industry that is becoming increasingly process-driven. Focusing primarily on discretionary portfolio management, JM Finn appoints an investment manager as primary point of contact for all private and professional clients, offering them a level of personal service that facilitates flexibility in managing their unique portfolios. Many of JM Finn’s clients have long term goals such as preserving capital for future generations, providing an income for retirement, or simply saving for a lifetime ambition, yet circumstances change, as JM Finn well knows. The firm of trusted advisors are able to offer informed advice and guidance on how to make investment portfolios work best for clients and their families. In 2019, JM Finn carried out a survey of a sample of its discretionary clients and compiled its feedback in a Client Service Excellence report that outlined the firm’s market-leading attributes and performance indicators. The survey found that 98% of clients trusted the firm and their personal investment manager, 95% were satisfied with the communication they had with the firm, and 96% have trust and confidence in JM Finn as a firm. The positive feedback is testament to the firm’s lifetime of building success on a foundation of relationships and trust, having managed over 18,500 accounts, many of which are for families who have trusted JM Finn with their investment portfolios for several generations. Since the firm was founded in 1946 by its namesake, the former commodities broker, John M Finn Esq., stability has been the priority. With its roots firmly established in private client broking, a great deal has changed at JM Finn, including its shift in focus to Slaven strongly believes that Springshare is only at the beginning of their endeavours, despite the company being 13 years old. With an already impressive clientele of almost seven thousand five hundred loyal customers all around the world, Springshare is on a clear mission to help the educators worldwide in their teaching and learning efforts. We have no doubt that we’ll be hearing about Springshare for many years to come. Their user-friendly and affordable tools, and their innovation and dedication to customers will see them grow and become the go-to vendor for libraries and institutions across the world. Best of luck to Slaven and the Springshare team! “The goal is to make Springshare into a go-to software vendor for libraries and educational institutions in every country around the world.” Ed-Tech Innovation in a Digital-First World Founded in 2007, Springshare is an innovative, cloud-based SaaS platform for libraries, universities, and K-12 schools. This year the company was recognised as the Best Educational SaaS Platform of the Year in Corporate Vision’s Corporate Excellence programme. We spoke with Springshare’s founder & CEO, Mr Slaven Zivkovic, to find out more. The way we access and consume information has changed dramatically over the years, and libraries and educational institutions are under more pressure than ever before to embrace the digital era. The covid-19 pandemic has put a huge spotlight on the EdTech sector as these companies are aiming to transform the future of learning around the world. Working to create digital solutions for librarians and educators is Springshare, a leading provider of affordable SaaS software. Based in Miami, Florida, the company have quickly become an innovative leader in software along with the reputation of providing a remarkable service to its customers. By using the Springshare platform organizations can curate resources, share knowledge, and deepen engagement within their community. Since its inception, Springshare team has made it their mission to empower librarians and educators to leverage the internet to their full advantage. Today, Springshare is amongst the fastest growing library technology vendors in the world. The company’s success is a combination of award- winning software tools and the legendary customer service that Springshare provides to each and every customer. Every single employee at Springshare answers support queries including the CEO. “I spend several hours every week answering support enquiries and reaching out to customers to say hello” highlights Slaven. In doing this, Springshare is able to gain an in depth knowledge of their customers’ pain points and identify screens or features within the apps that need more attention. Constant contact with customers also helps build strong relationships for the long term. Over the years, Springshare has seen its fair share of challenges and market changes in the past decade or more. Having started the company just before the economic recession in 2008, libraries and educational institutions saw their budgets cut significantly. Despite these budget and economic challenges, Springshare powered on and in its early years was able to capture a significant slice of the edtech market for libraries. Springshare’s solutions are affordable and simple to use and this has certainly helped the company grow. More recently, Springshare’s biggest challenge has been in keeping up with the huge demand for their platform as prospective customers shut their doors and turned to online services as the coronavirus pandemic spread. To support libraries and campuses in reopening safely Springshare launched a new module to LibCal, an easy to use web platform designed to handle libraries calendaring needs. LibCal Seats module provided vital support for all public service departments in arranging seating and spacing capacity with a real-time occupancy dashboard to ensure they were adhering to social distancing guidelines, in addition to prioritising the health and safety of their staff and visitors. Looking ahead, Springshare team is keen to expand on the LibCal Seats module after interest for the educational teaching and learning online tools exploded. The company is working on additional functionality such as interactive mapping. In addition to all this, Springshare also launched a new tool named the Pickup Manager which allows their clients to safely communicate with their end users on the scheduling the pickup of library holds materials and itesm. This has been another exciting Springshare tool addition. Issue 12 2020 205 Company: Springshare Contact: Slaven Zivkovic Website: www.springshare.com Sep20046