Ross Liston, managing director of Sesame Bankhall, will take up the chief executive role on an interim basis whilst the board undergoes a “formal recruitment process”.
The changes come into effect from 1 August.
Golunska joined the firm as chief executive around two and a half years ago, and prior to that worked at Aviva for around five years. She was most recently operations director for workplace savings and retirement.
Before that she held a senior role at Friends Life for around three years.
She also worked at broker firm JLT as an executive director for around three years and has also held roles at Paternoster and Prudential Assurance.
Sesame Bankhall chair Jon Cowan said the relationship between the firm and shareholder Aviva has “never been stronger” and that it looked forward to working closely with Golunska and the Aviva team to support service and proposition development in the advice market.
“I would like to extend our best wishes to Michele in her new role and thank her for the leadership and dynamism she has brought to our business. Ross now steps into the role of leading the business as interim CEO and I know that he will have the full backing of his executive colleagues and board,” Cowan noted.
He added that Sesame’s strategy and purpose “remain unchanged” and the executive team and board were “excited at the progress we have made in successfully transforming the business”.
Cowan pointed to its strong trading performance over the past few years, and said it had plans to grow its adviser services further in the coming years.
Liston commented: “Michele leaves with our very best wishes and our thanks for her valuable role in successfully leading the business through an important chapter for the group. It is an honour for me to serve and support advisers in my new role as interim CEO.
“The strong leadership team we have forged at Sesame Bankhall gives us the stability, talent and commitment we need during this time of unprecedented change for our industry, and indeed the world we live in. The role of advice in an uncertain world is more important than ever, which means the outlook for our profession has never been brighter.”
Golunska added: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Sesame Bankhall, and I am proud of what we have achieved as a business and our role in support of the industry on a range of key initiatives. I am looking forward to a new challenge, safe in the knowledge that the group has a strong and experienced team in place.
“I have no doubt that Sesame Bankhall will continue to go from strength to strength, as it champions the role of advice and grows its services and support for advisory firms.”
