Citywealth Future Leaders Awards 2026: Winners announced at Grosvenor House

Date: 11 Nov 2026

Karen Jones

Byline: Karen Jones, founder of Citywealth, has more than 20 years’ experience in global private wealth.

Winners of the Citywealth Future Leaders Awards were announced last night at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, hosted by BBC News anchor Rich Preston.

Now in their twelfth year, the awards recognise professionals aged 40 or under across private wealth, law, tax, fiduciary services, investment management and related fields. Entries were assessed by a panel of industry judges on technical excellence, measurable impact, leadership, client outcomes, innovation and contribution beyond core client work. An online public vote formed 10% of the final decision. Full details of the judging panel are available on the Citywealth website.

Karen Jones, founder and CEO of Citywealth, said: “Citywealth has helped support and mentor young professionals since 2005 and so it gives me great pleasure to congratulate this group of outstanding talent. They are proving they can be high achievers at work whilst also contributing to creating a better society.”

Editors awards

Editor’s Choice Award
Abbie West-Kelsey, Private Client Tax Manager at Kingsley Napley. West-Kelsey advises high-net-worth individuals, families and trustees on complex tax and succession planning, often with an international dimension. She joined the firm’s international tax team earlier this year and has worked on matters including the structuring of a substantial cross-border inheritance of approximately USD 1.3 billion, as well as advising clients on the transition from the non-domicile regime.

Transatlantic Individual of the Year
Christina N. Romero, Private Wealth Associate at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. Romero focuses on estate and trust planning and administration for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families, including charitable structures.

Trusted Counsel of the Year
Jessica O’Driscoll-Breen, barrister at QEB. O’Driscoll-Breen practises in financial remedies, cohabitation disputes and private children matters and regularly appears in the High Court. She has also written on proposed cohabitation law reforms.

Exceptional Impact Award
Daniel Young, Client Relationship Director at Wren Investment Office. A CFA charterholder, Young previously spent more than eight years at Stonehage Fleming. He works with clients on portfolio management and overall service delivery.

Selected category highlights

Gold awards included:

• Caitlin Wheeler (HaysMac) – Accountant of the Year (Associate)
• Sanjna Tah Tamna (HaysMac) – Accountant of the Year (Manager)
• Charlotte Wardman (Womble Bond Dickinson) – Lawyer of the Year (Associate)
• Diva Shah (Kingsley Napley) – Lawyer of the Year (Senior/Managing Associate). Shah, a Legal Director, previously won Woman of the Year for Future Leaders at the Citywealth Powerwomen Awards 2023 and holds STEP Advanced Certificates in Advising Family Businesses and Family Business Governance. She specialises in business succession and family investment companies.
• Matthew Briggs (Boyes Turner) – Lawyer of the Year (Partner). Managing Partner Barry Stanton has described Briggs as bringing “a dynamic, can-do attitude and a clear vision” to the development of the firm’s private wealth offering. Briggs focuses on tax, trusts, succession and philanthropy and has served as Deputy Chair of the STEP Philanthropy Advisors Global Special Interest Group.
• George Yates (Ogier) – Lawyer of the Year IFC (Senior/Managing Associate). Global head of Private Wealth at Ogier, Matt Guthrie, has highlighted his technical expertise and collaborative approach with significant family structures.
• Ivan Lu (Charles Russell Speechlys) – Lawyer of the Year IFC (Partner). Lu is a US-qualified private client and international tax lawyer based in Singapore, advising US-connected families across Greater China and Southeast Asia on estate planning, trusts, immigration/expatriation tax and IRS matters.
• George Irving (Mishcon de Reya) – Family Lawyer of the Year (Associate). He advises across financial remedies, private children law, surrogacy and adoption.
• Emily Borrowdale (Charles Russell Speechlys) – Family Lawyer of the Year (Senior/Managing Associate). Borrowdale advises ultra-high-net-worth and high-profile clients on complex financial remedies and jurisdiction issues, with experience in the Court of Appeal and trial work.
• Harry Campbell (QEB) – Barrister of the Year (Family). He is regularly instructed in high-value cases involving private companies, trusts and complex financial issues.
• Jack Burroughs (Quastels) – Digital Assets Adviser of the Year. Burroughs co-authored the second edition of the textbook The Digital Estate, served as Deputy-Chair of STEP’s Digital Assets Global Special Interest Group, and advises on the taxation and structuring of cryptoassets through trusts and companies.
• Bharat Basra (Hassium Asset Management) – Private Investment/Family Office Individual of the Year. Yogesh Dewan previously of Hassium has described him as “a cornerstone of the organisation”, recognising both his investment expertise and his role in mentoring colleagues.
• Joe Wicks (Evelyn Partners) – Financial Planning Individual of the Year
• Tom Jonason (Weatherbys Private Bank) – Private Banker of the Year. Promoted to Principal Private Banker earlier this year, Jonason is a Chartered Member of the CISI and previously spent six years as Assistant Trainer to champion National Hunt trainer Paul Nicholls OBE before moving into banking.
• Max Powles (HSBC Private Bank) – Senior Private Banker of the Year
• Ann Morris (EY) – Tax Adviser of the Year. Morris specialises in UK/US cross-border private client tax, trusts and matrimonial matters. In one recent matter she advised on the restructuring of significant overseas retirement assets, identifying a strategy that reduced the client’s global effective tax rate by approximately 10–15% while mitigating double taxation risk on a seven-figure withdrawal.

Silver and bronze awards were presented to professionals including Caroline Lino and Alma Odametey (Blick Rothenberg), Conor McNicholas (Saffery), Lizzie Barclay (Sinclair Gibson), Verity Sherwin (Payne Hicks Beach), Adam Dakin, Olivia Lewis and Peter Sakwa (Barclays Private Bank), Xanthe Thompson and Jeremy Drewett (Coutts), Phoebe Woods (LGT Wealth Management), Rukhma Sohail (Stowe Family Law), Zac Hanley (Saffery Trust), Jamie Nuttall (MynaL2) and Rachael Marsden (Brooks Macdonald), among others.

The evening opened with a champagne reception before the awards presentations. Photographs from the night are available in the official gallery.

View the gallery: https://www.citywealthmag.com/future-leaders-gallery/
Full results: https://www.citywealthmag.com/future-leaders-results/
Judges: https://www.citywealthmag.com/future-leaders-judges/

The awards form part of Citywealth’s longer-running work supporting and profiling younger professionals in the private wealth sector.

Karen Jones is the founder of Citywealth and a wealth management commentator with more than 20 years’ experience across global private wealth, family offices and succession. Before founding Citywealth in 2005, she held publishing roles at The Times and The Sunday Times, London; Legal Business magazine and worked on the Asia Pacific Legal 500.

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