New Hargreaves CEO to start work in August

Mr Olley, a director of HL, will remain on the HL board in a new capacity as an executive director when he takes up his CEO role.

Chris Hill will step down as chief executive and from the board after six years with the company, with effect from 7 August. The company says that he will support HL until November to provide “continuity and ensure an orderly transition.”

HL appointed the Dunnhumby boss as its new chief executive officer in December.

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Mr Olley is stepping step down from his current role as chief executive at customer data science company Dunnhumby when he moves to Bristol-based HL.

The firm has not provided details of Mr Olley’s package but Mr Hill’s basic salary is £700,000 plus bonuses, which netted him almost £2m in 2021.

At Dunnhumby Mr Olley has been leading the development and implementation of a digital-first, data-driven transformation.

Before that he spent he spent 17 years at RELX where he held a series of senior digital roles and helped drive RELX’s transformation into a global information analytics company. He has been a non-executive director on Hargreaves Lansdown’s board since June 2019. 

Deanna Oppenheimer, Hargreaves Lansdown chair, said at the time of his appointment: “Having worked with Dan in a non-executive capacity over the last three years, I have been highly impressed by both his strategic insight and his depth of experience in digital transformation and, as such, I am delighted that he will be the next CEO of HL.”

Mr Olley said Hargreaves Lansdown, “is a company with an exceptional track record, a strong strategic position and a formidable brand. I am tremendously excited at the opportunity to lead the business through its digital transformation and into its next stage of growth.”

HL is still facing a £100m lawsuit filed in October over its promotion of Neil Woodford’s flagship LF Woodford Equity Income Fund before it collapsed in 2019.

Around 300,000 investors had their money trapped in Woodford’s fund when it was frozen in June 2019, including more than 130,000 Hargreaves Lansdown clients.

The suit was filed by claims manager RGL Management on behalf of an initial 3,200 investors. RGL is also suing Link Fund Solutions, the fund’s authorised corporate director and said its claim could top £100m.

Hargreaves Lansdown has repeatedly rejected the allegations.

In October HL faced a shareholder revolt against board re-elections with more than 30% voting against the re-election of chair Deanna Oppenheimer.

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