Executive MBA alumnus David Semmens (EMBA 2012) joins digital investment platform Wealthify from HSBC.
David Semmens (EMBA 2012) has made a career transition from finance to fintech, becoming Head of Investment Strategy at digital investing platform Wealthify.
David previously spent his career in London and New York as US economist and senior global investment strategist for multi-national banks Standard Chartered and HSBC, plus a stint in Paris at trade credit insurance provider Euler Hermes.
“The role at Wealthify was attractive because it not only allowed me to move into a fast-growing sector, fintech, but because it would see me working with a passionate team helping to address the underinvestment that we see from UK savers.”
Wealthify’s mission is to make investing easy and affordable for everyone, allowing customers to start investing from as little as £1 through their digital savings and investment platform.
David works alongside software engineers, investment managers, compliance and marketers to deliver a technology-driven platform that reduces costs and improves efficiency for its users.
“Wealthify is a transparent investment service, available to use by both first-time and experienced investors. We use technology to keep costs down, which we pass onto our customers through lower fees.”
David graduated from the Cambridge Executive MBA programme in 2014. He credits the programme’s emphasis on soft skills as a key takeaway from his experience at Cambridge Judge Business School.
“Before joining the programme, I’d had plenty of technical knowledge and experience, but most senior management roles today require a greater focus on soft skills. This was an area that the Cambridge EMBA really focussed on, from which I really benefitted.”
Learning from a diverse cohort of classmates from different sectors and nationalities also gave David a greater strategic understanding of global business and management.
“I learnt a lot from my EMBA classmates. Rather than joining a classroom full of economists like myself, the wide range of industries, nationalities and experience on display gave me as greater strategic understanding of the world of work, whether from law, the not-for-profit sector, or even athletics.”
Through the network he formed at CJBS, David has also been appointed as an Advisor to Medicbank, whose founder is studying at the School’s Entrepreneurship Centre.