Cowan joined Scottish Amicable in 1969 where he spent most of his career and fulfilled a range of senior IFA facing roles, including sales and marketing director. Following the acquisition of the company in 1997 by Prudential he became group sales director and was also a director of IFA Promotion.

After leaving Prudential Group in 2001, he joined National Australia Bank where he set up Pivotal, a proposition designed to help IFAs move towards a new model adviser business structure. His other roles have included advising some major financial services distributors in the UK, including Paymentshield, Positive Solutions, Uinsure and Moneyextra.com.

Ivan Martin, executive chairman of Sesame, said: “John’s extensive knowledge and experience will be invaluable to us as we plan for the future and the strategic challenges emerging from the new environment being created by the FSA’s Retail Distribution Review.”