The 120,000 member Chartered Insurance Institute has picked Financial Planning director Debbie Mitchell to be its next President for 2027.
Ms Mitchell is a director of Aberdeen-based Financial Planner Atholl Scott Financial Services and has worked in the firm for more than 30 years.
She has been involved with the Aberdeen Institute of Insurance and Financial Planning since 2008 and served as its first female President from 2011 to 2013.
She is also a past chair of the Personal Finance Society’s (PFS) North Scotland region and a former member of the CII Representative Council and Local Institute National Forum.
From 2020 to 2024, she served on the CII Group engagement board before becoming a PFS board director, a position she held until December 2025. Debbie still serves as observer of the PFS board.
The CII is the parent body of the Personal Finance Society which awards the Chartered Financial Planner designation.
Ms Mitchell's appointment was confirmed today at the CII’s AGM in London.
Mandy Hunt, managing director of Shape Underwriting, and former chair of the CII Underwriting Community, was named as deputy President.
The CII says that following Debbie Mitchell, Mandy Hunt’s presidency in 2028 will mark the first instance of two sequential female Presidents in the organisation's history.
Ms Hunt is managing director of Shape Underwriting, a division of The Clear Group. Prior to this she spent 25 years with RSA (now Intact Insurance) working in the regional business, as the managing director of the Insurance Corporation of the Channel Islands and the CUO of the Commercial Lines business.
Ms Mitchell said: “I am so grateful to the membership for entrusting me with this position. I have enjoyed my deputy year enormously and look forward to working with all stakeholders in the coming year to continue to evolve and improve the work of the Institute.”
Ms Hunt said: “I would like to congratulate Debbie on her appointment as President, and I look forward to supporting her in that role. I am incredibly humbled in receiving the support of CII members in becoming Deputy President next year and I am really looking forward to continuing my support for, and commitment to, the CII.”
Financial Planning Today Analysis: The selection of the respected Financial Planner Debbie Mitchell as new CII President marks a canny move by the CII which has had to deal with its troublesome PFS arm for some years. There can be no argument that Ms Mitchell does not understand the Financial Planning profession and her appointment will signal perhaps an attempt at a rapprochement with rebellious PFS members. It may also help to stem to exit of PFS members in recent times. The challenge now will be to achieve a lasting solution to the internal gripes that have marred the CII and its relationship with the PFS over the past few years. This will require careful judgement and a desire to compromise, particularly over the thorny issue of PFS financial surpluses and how to use them. Recent moves by the PFS to spend some of the money on finding new professional talent and other campaigns suggest some progress.