Darren Dicks has been appointed as executive director of Age Partnership’s partnership division.

Dicks (pictured), who has previously held corporate partnership roles at both Aviva and LV= joined Age Partnership in 2018 as head of their wealth management operation.

This new role will see Dicks reporting into Age Partnership’s CRO Justin Wysocki, taking responsibility for all the organisation’s partners across both press and corporate finance. This includes names such as Daily Mail Group, NewsUK which incorporates both The Sun and The Times, LV= and the Prudential, in addition to 1600 mortgage and IFA referral partners.

Dicks said: “The partnership team at Age has grown at a phenomenal rate. We now provide equity release services for the majority of the big national newspapers and several large corporate names.

“This is a great opportunity for me to bring my experience and knowledge to a department that is already flourishing. These household brands recognise the important part that equity release plays in later life planning. It is a fantastic opportunity to extend the proposition we offer to partners and their customers to encompass holistic financial planning incorporating both equity release and pension wealth. Age Partnership is the only broker in a position to offer this type of advice to such a large volume of customers.

“I’m not completely stepping away from wealth management, helping people to make the most of their pension at retirement is my passion and I will continue to oversee the wealth management team that I have built up over the past three years.”

Steve Auckland, CEO at Age Partnership, added: “During the interview process for the executive director of partnerships Darren proved to be the most outstanding candidate for the job. His previous experience in similar roles, coupled with his passion for helping clients find the right retirement finance solution for their situations is second to none.

“Darren has already proved that he holds client’s needs at the heart of all decision making, which is exactly the ethos at Age Partnership. It’s great to be able to promote such a valuable member of our team to a director role.”