About Us

Derek Walpole

Chief Executive

Derek studied Astrophysics at Trinity College Dublin before joining Citigroup as an analyst. Here, he went on to manage an operations team while studying a degree in Mathematics from Dublin Institute of Technology at night.

Derek left the bank to pursue his passion at the time: US politics. Across several states, he helped run the presidential campaign of a US congressman. After losing badly, he moved to Cleveland to work on the congressman’s successful re-election to the US House of Representatives. With the job complete, Derek then travelled the world for a year, before returning to Dublin to earn a Post Graduate Diploma in Education from University College Dublin, in order to teach maths and physics at secondary level.

After several years teaching, Derek began lecturing at Dublin Business School in options pricing, quantitative methods, and various financial maths courses at degree and masters level. He then pursued a joint MBA at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing and Columbia Business School in New York (studying value investing from the same seat as Warren Buffett!) with the goal of transitioning to the investment management industry.

Once qualified, Derek worked as a Research Analyst at a quantitative hedge fund, before moving to London to join Dimensional Fund Advisors. As a Regional Director, Derek supported independent financial advisers based in Scotland and Ireland across investments, communications, and strategy. Derek is now the CEO at Biograph Wealth Advisors UK and Chief Investment Officer for Biograph. With an investment philosophy that has been refined over the years both from theory and from practice, combined with the experience of working with some of the best financial planners in the UK and Ireland, Derek’s goal is to build a world-class wealth advisory firm and investment experience.

Dave Lewis

Senior Financial Advisor

Dave is a Senior Financial Planner and Director at Biograph Wealth Advisors UK. He specialises in working with professional athletes; helping them to build their wealth during their sporting career and to move into the next chapter of their lives as smoothly as possible.

Before becoming a Financial Planner in 2019, Dave enjoyed a career in professional rugby spanning 12 years, playing for Gloucester, Exeter Chiefs, and Harlequins. This provided Dave firsthand experience into the opportunities and challenges that many athletes face during their careers.

His experiences have fuelled his purpose and commitment to guiding athletes towards financial independence and smoothly transitioning to life after sports through education and planning around money.

Dave is married with two young kids and English Bulldog. His is a massive sports fan, with a preference for rugby and football (naturally).

Kim Bendall-Sanders

Client Service Lead

Kim is a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society, Certified Financial PlannerTM and a Chartered Investments and Securities Institute (CISI) Accredited Paraplanner.

An experienced writer for the financial press, and occasional public speaker on all things paraplanning, Kim has won multiple Paraplanner of the Year Awards and now sits on judging panels to others that are entering awards in this field. She is also a member of the CISI Paraplanner Interest Group, as has been influential in the resources, training and events that are now available to the next generation of paraplanners in the community.

Kim has made it her mission to continue to pass on the considerable depth of her experience and knowledge as her legacy to the industry, and to those looking to join it, not only through her volunteer work as a mentor and Paraplanner Interest Group member for the CISI, but also as a regular helper and supporter of the Initiative for Financial Wellbeing (IFW).

Vicki Hardy

Client Services

Initially starting her career as an administrator for a financial services provider, Vicki quickly realised that this was a profession she enjoyed, and which gave unlimited opportunities to develop. Since those early days, Vicki has witnessed considerable changes to financial services through the eyes of product providers, direct sales teams and independent financial planners. Vicki has a thirst for knowledge and has studied throughout her career and became a Certified Financial Planner in 2015 and a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society in 2020.

Alyson Brooker

Client Services

Alyson joined the Financial Services profession in 2010, having completed a Degree in Law and the Diploma in Legal Practice at the University of Edinburgh. Her career began in the local office of a Scottish advice firm as part of its new graduate traineeship.

While studying for CII/PFS exams, Alyson gradually built up experience and was promoted to a new junior paraplanner role and then to paraplanner. After completing the Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning, Alyson achieved Chartered status in 2016.

With a particular interest in trusts and estate planning thanks to that law degree, Alyson is passionate about writing reports in plain English which explain complicated topics simply and that clients might actually want to read!

Biograph Ireland

Biograph Wealth Advisors is one of the very few boutique financial advice firms with presence in both the UK and Ireland. If you are an Irish ex-pat living in the UK with plans to potentially move back, Biograph offers a consistent and seamless experience for your financial structure and transition home.