About Chris

I’m married to Lynda, we live in Gargrave which is a North Yorkshire village on the North West of Skipton and right on the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales.

We have lived here for over 10 years and before moving here we lived in Lymington.

Gargrave has the River Aire, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, three pubs and an Indian Restaurant.

We have a Narrow Boat called Maxem and a Lagotto Romagnolo dog called Luca.

We are keen touring cyclists and I’m an enthusiastic and qualified sub-aqua diver

A little about my career…………..

In 1970 I joined Provident Mutual Life Assurance Association as a junior clerk in their Leeds Branch office. I left as a member of the Senior Management Team in 1995 when we merged with The General Accident. By that time, I had worked in their branches in Leeds, Birmingham, London City and Southampton.

I then set up my IFA business called Grovewood Financial Management Ltd. We specialised in pension planning and investment management. We were the first company to offer on the internet automated investment management which provided Ai personalised advice using a software application we developed using software created by Cincom Systems.

We had a good relationship with the management of Sky TV and I took part in a daily financial TV programme with Michael Wilson. That was fun!

In 2000 I sold the business and the team and I joined Cincom Systems. They were impressed by how we had used their software and engaged us to form a Cincom EUMEA Financial Solutions Group. We developed financial management applications and sold them with their EUMEA sales teams and partners.

In 2006, following this success they engaged me to form a new Cincom global division (Cincom Intelligent Business Applications) with members of staff based in the head office in Cincinnati, USA and the UK. After a period of research we focussed on US Healthcare. We created a complex set of new software applications focussed on patient identity and registration processes and we formed a series of partnerships. I spent lots of time in the US and travelled the world.

I left Cincom in 2014 after a very successful and fascinating time with them.

I then reactivated Grovewood Financial Management, changed the name to GFM and offered a business management consultancy service.

Locally I spent three years as a Governor of Craven College and have worked with The Skipton and Ripon Enterprise Group as a business mentor.

If you want to read more about my career go to LinkedIn. I hope you enjoy my website and I welcome your comments.