Nicholas David Cully brings over two decades of wealth management and business development experience to his position as Group Business Development Director for The Sovereign Group. His acumen for market entry strategies has contributed to the successful expansion of the Sovereign Group throughout the Middle East. Mr. Cully is a graduate of Exeter University in the UK and Université de Rennes in France. He graduated in 2005 and is known throughout the financial sector for his exceptional skills in company administration and corporate services.
How did you get your start in corporate services?
I was working for an asset management firm in Canary Wharf, London, when Lehman Brothers crashed, and I decided that this would be a good time to leave the city for warmer climates. This led me to apply for a job as an Asset Manager in Gibraltar. I was young and, having never been there before, I decided to have a go at being an ‘expat.’
During my time as an Asset Manager, the Sovereign Group was a client whose account I looked after, and I had a meeting with the CFO and Group Legal Director. During the meeting, I asked a few questions about Sovereign, and afterward, I googled them and liked what I saw. The same day, I rather cheekily emailed them asking for a job, and a few weeks later, I was working from their head office in Gibraltar as a Business Development Manager. A month after that, I arrived in Dubai for the first time in my life, and 14 years later, I’m still with the company and working in the Corporate Services industry. Granted, Corporate Services was a sector I wasn’t familiar with, but I came from a legal background, so it fit in well with my financial/legal background.
What inspired you to accept a position at Sovereign?
My entry into corporate services and into work with the Sovereign Group went hand in hand. They had a lot of “flags on the map” on their website in interesting-sounding countries that I had yet to travel to – South Africa, Mauritius, Singapore, the UAE – and I was in need of a change of career. My brother was living in Hong Kong at the time, and I saw that Sovereign also had offices there, so I thought it would be a good chance for me to go and join him and his family overseas. Upon meeting 2 company board members, I got a good feeling from them and the company as a whole, so applied. But they sent me to Dubai, not Hong Kong!
What is something unique about the Sovereign Group that sets it apart from your competition?
From an employee perspective, it has this incredible culture that is really hard to describe but which I’ve never found in any other company prior to this and am unlikely to find again in my career. It’s open, fun – work hard/ play hard. Sovereign provides a great work/life balance, and the company recognizes that clients are at the heart of what we do and aims to give them an excellent customer experience. In terms of the competition and what sets it apart, we are located all over the world, so we are able to provide a global service with a local delivery.
Looking back on the last five years of your career, what has been the highlight?
My appointment to our Group Board in 2018 at the age of 36 made me the youngest group board member by about 20 years, and that was definitely a high point. The acquisition of PPG, sourced and led by me in 2021, was another milestone as it signifies the largest corporate deal in the company’s history.
What does a typical day look like for you as Group Sales Director?
I oversee more than 60 Business Development Managers across 20 countries and offices, so my day involves calls with MDs and Sales Directors across time zones from Singapore to Cyprus, Qatar to London. I work closely with the executive management team, CFO and CEO, to ensure targets are met and that we are on track to hit our budget each quarter. As well as the main board, I sit on a number of subsidiary boards across the group, so I attend a lot of meetings in this regard. I travel regularly to The Far East, Middle East, and Europe, which obviously takes up a lot of my time and which I enjoy immensely.
What are the top two or three lessons you learned from your experience at the Sovereign Group?
The Sovereign Group demands respect for all staff, no matter their position or standing in the company. Optimism is key, and the company tells people when they have done a good job.
What is something you do regularly that you recommend to others in similar positions?
Communication is key. I check in regularly with my direct reports for informal chats. I think it is important to ditch the agenda and have “how is everything going” chats. It is easier to solve an issue when it has only just surfaced, rather than to wait until appraisal time when it might be too late.
What is a strategy that helped expand and grow the Sovereign Group?
We spent the best part of 30 years growing organically. Providing a good service helped to retain key clients and improved our reputation in the market. In the last 5+ years, we continue to grow organically, but we have also acquired a number of very healthy businesses, which have helped us to move into new markets and, in some cases, products and services.
Key Takeaways:
Study hard, but have no regrets.
Communicate and build bridges; that’s where the real business happens.
Customer-centric action yields the best results.
Take risks and try new things.
