Our Team

Geoff Melamet
CEO
  • Geneva
Eric Hohberger
Director
  • Geneva
Marc Pimstein
CFO
  • London
Jonathan Melamet
Director HMSA Ireland & Account Executive
  • London
Magali Le Quellenec-Rault
Head Of Geneva Office, Trust Officer & Executive Manager
  • Geneva
Christa Maria Schanz
Business & Account Executive
  • Geneva
Jackie Barton
Office Manager
  • London
Jessica Rey
Junior Trust Officer & Accounting Assistant
  • Geneva
Melina Dimitrakakis
Compliance HMSA SARL
  • Geneva
Jules Urdang
South African Representative - Account Executive
  • Johannesburg
Reuben Anstock
Resident Director – BVI
  • British Virgin Islands
Julian Walsh
Hong Kong Representative & Resident Director
  • Hong Kong
Steve Middleton
Compliance HMSA UK
  • London
Roger Thomson
New Zealand Representative & Resident Director
  • New Zealand

External advisors

Lee Thistlethwaite
Advisory Board Member
  • London
Prieur du Plessis
Advisory Board Member
  • Cape Town

Office dog

Enid
Chief Happiness Coordinator
  • London

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Geoff Melamet

CEO

  • Geneva

Geoff is the founder and CEO of HMSA, which he formed to provide bespoke corporate services to international clients with a need for tax planning and corporate structuring. He works scrupulously to support his clients find business solutions, connect them to his international network and safeguard their assets through cross-border trusts.

Prior to moving to the trust administration field in 2003, he was involved in trade finance as a director and shareholder of London-based companies as well as having representative offices in Switzerland and Hong Kong. He began his professional career in stockbroking and financial analysis on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with Simpson Frankel Kruger. Geoff is a member of various professional associations, such as the International Tax Planning Association (ITPA), the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers. He sits as a non-executive director for a number of companies as well as being a trustee of Yad Vashem UK and British Friends of Gesher charitable organisations.

Geoff holds a bachelor’s degree in Economic Science and an MBA, both from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Eric Hohberger

Director

  • Geneva

Eric Hohberger sits on the Board of various Swiss and foreign companies and has worked with HMSA Group since its inception. Eric has extensive experience in corporate consulting, corporate management and audit, according to national and international standards, specifically concerning due diligence, corporate finance, strategic consulting and company valuation.

He is a Swiss national and a University of Geneva economics graduate. He subsequently specialised in corporate management (1991) and is a Swiss Chartered Accountant (1997).

Marc Pimstein

Account Executive Director

  • London

Marc Pimstein is a founding partner of HMSA Group and heads up international business development and oversees accounting functions at the company. He provides support and advice to clients looking for trusts, corporate structures and corporate services from offices in the UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

Marc has a Business Science degree with honours in Finance and a Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting from the University of the Cape Town.

Marc spent five years with KPMG as a trainee accountant before transferring to KPMG London office as a manager. He has worked in trust administration since 2007 and was the COO of a boutique trust administration company for five years prior to joining HMSA Group.

Jonathan Melamet

Director HMSA Ireland & Account Executive

  • London

Jon Melamet joined HMSA in 2013 and currently holds the position of Director of HMSA’s Corporate Services (Irl) Limited as well as acting as an Account Executive.

As a qualified member of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB), Jon provides bookkeeping and administrative services for Trusts and Companies.

He is fluent in English and French, with a passing knowledge of Hebrew.

Magali Le Quellenec-Rault

Head Of Geneva Office , Trust Officer & Executive Manager

  • Geneva

Magali has many years of experience in the administration of companies and trusts, dealing with the onboarding of client relationships, administration of files, administration of the office and other general matters.

She is a graduated in France with a Baccalaureat and a BTS.

Seeking to expand her knowledge, she follows Swiss accounting courses and STEP courses.

She is fluent in English and French, as well as having a good knowledge of Italian.

Christa Maria Schanz

Business & Account Executive

  • Geneva

Christa joined HMSA SARL in 2022 as Business and Account Executive. She is a Private Banking and Family Office Executive with extensive experience of US and European UHNW, client services as well as building trusted and strong long-term relationships. Christa has developed a worldwide network of professional contacts and cross-border expertise. Christa relocated from the United States to Switzerland in 2013 where she took on positions as Senior Banker at Pictet North America Advisors SA and as a Senior Relationship Manager of Heritage & Partners SA covering US clients.

Prior to that, Christa spent 20 years in New York City where she was employed at major banks such as Deutsche Bank, Citibank and HSBC in their Private Banking divisions, servicing and advising UHNW clients and Family Offices.

Christa was born and educated in Germany and holds a bachelor’s degree from a German University and a master’s degree from a US University. She speaks German, English and French.

Jackie Barton

Office Manager

  • London

Jackie joined HMSA in 2015.

Jackie is multi-skilled and constantly multitasking assisting with several projects. Jackie is responsible for the smooth running of the London office as well as providing support to the Directors.

Jessica Rey

Junior Trust Officer & Accounting Assistant

  • Geneva

Jessica started at HMSA in 2016 as Administrative Assistant and now holds the position of Junior Trust Officer & Accounting Assistant at HMSA Sarl. Her job involves the recording, monitoring and administration of client data, bank account openings, reviews of compliance/KYC, internal accounting in Switzerland and other general office-related tasks.

Jessica studied Physics in UNIGE (Switzerland) and UCL (Belgium) and has an MBA in International Finance from the IFM Business School in Geneva. She also has the Swiss Accounting assistant diploma and is currently studying for the Chartered Expert in Financial and Managerial Accounting and Reporting diploma (Brevet Fédéral).

She is fluent in Spanish, French, English and has elementary level in Russian.

Melina Dimitrakakis

Compliance HMSA SARL

  • Geneva

Melina started her career in 2003 as a Compliance Officer at a Swiss private bank in Geneva where she specialised in anti-money laundering. She then moved on to the largest privately-owned Swiss banking group, as a Compliance Manager for the asset management business initially, and thereafter moved on as the Chief Compliance Officer for the US private clients unit, a SEC registered investment adviser where she was in charge of legal, risk and compliance matters for the firm.

In 2018, she founded Swiss Compliance Services providing legal, risk and compliance services to firms in the financial sector. She has been the Compliance & Risk Officer for HMSA since 2022.

Melina holds a Masters in Law as well as a CAS Compliance in Financial Services from University of Geneva, Switzerland, and is fluent in French and English.

Jules Urdang

South African Representative – Account Executive

  • Johannesburg

Jules joined HMSA as South African Representative and Account Executive in 2017.

Prior to that he worked in corporate treasury for 25 years as Group Treasurer of a South African multinational steel company and a Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed multinational diversified industrial group. He started his career with Citibank and Investec in their treasury departments. Additionally, Jules has been a trustee of various pension funds, including 6 years as a chairman, and administrator of a family office and family trust.

Jules studied at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (majoring in Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics), an MBA and a higher diploma in Communication Studies.

Reuben Anstock

Resident Director – BVI

  • British Virgin Islands

Qualified lawyer and TEP with 15+ years’ commercial experience in the professional services market.

Reuben holds a Masters in Jurisprudence from Oxford University; a practising certificate in the UK issued by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority; is admitted to practice as a solicitor of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (although does not practice); and is a STEP certified Estate and Trust specialist.

Reuben is based in BVI and holds (and has held) a number of professional executive and non-executive board positions with experience to draw on across various industries including real estate, pharma, financial services, events & marketing, entertainment, media and technology and thoroughbred racing.

Reuben has a strong leadership profile with particular focus on strategic value drivers, transformational change management and overseas expansion, and proven ability in revenue growth.

Julian Walsh

Hong Kong Representative & Resident Director

  • Hong Kong

Julian has been HMSA Group’s Hong Kong Representative and Resident Director since its inception.
He graduated from Cambridge University in the UK and qualified as a chartered accountant in London.
He has been based in Hong Kong since 1983 and is a member of the UK and Hong Kong professional institutes.

Steve Middleton

Compliance HMSA UK

  • London

Steve Middleton started his career in the Royal Air Force and then worked in a variety of roles in Financial Services for over 20 years. He was previously the Chief Administration Officer of Global Markets UK at BNP Paribas and Chief Operating Officer of BNP Paribas UK Ltd. Prior to this, he held various regulatory structuring and legal roles focusing on risk management, regulatory, compliance and tax issues.

He has an MBA, an MA in Management and is a Member of the Institute of Directors, with a Certificate in Company Direction and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Steve has been the Compliance and Risk Officer for HMSA UK since 2022.

Roger Thomson

New Zealand Representative & Resident Director

  • New Zealand

Roger has been HMSA Group’s New Zealand representative and resident director since its inception.

He graduated from Auckland University in NZ with Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Law degrees and qualified both as a chartered accountant and lawyer.

Roger has extensive experience with trusts and taxation having started his career with Inland Revenue and subsequently with prominent accounting and law firms. He is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ).

Lee Thistlethwaite

Independent Advisor to HMSA

  • London

Lee is an independent advisor to families of wealth. He has worked with international families for the last 18 years.

Lee provides his clients with regular independent advice on risk management; strategic business development; succession planning; and corporate and family governance.

Lee works with principals and their families; their family offices and other family advisors, where the complexity and size of the family’s wealth requires a need for his discreet and specialist advice, and an acceptance of an independent viewpoint. His client families most often embrace different cultures and generations; and span different countries and jurisdictions.

Prior to working as an independent advisor, Lee worked for over 30 years in international investment and private banking, and for JP Morgan for 25 years in London, New York, Melbourne and Geneva. He retired from JP Morgan in 2003, having worked for JP Morgan Suisse in Geneva with families of wealth for 12 years.

Prieur du Plessis

Advisory Board

  • Cape Town

Mr. du Plessis has been on the advisory board since HMSA’s inception.

Mr. Prieur du Plessis is CEO of Plexus Holdings, an investment business he founded in 1995 and its division iCRAFT Board Governance Consultants.

He serves as non-executive chair of Just Retirement Life (South Africa), non-executive director of the JSE-listed Distell Group, non-executive director of the Professional Provident Society (PPS), non-executive director of the Legal Practitioners Indemnity Insurance Fund and he is the immediate past non-executive chairperson of the Institute of Directors in South Africa.

He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB), and chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and member of the Investment Committee of Stellenbosch University.

Additionally, he is an honorary professor at USB, Honorary Consul General of Slovenia for South Africa and deputy Dean of the Consular Corps of Cape Town.

Enid

Chief Happiness Coordinator

  • London

Enid is a rescue dog who joined the ranks of the London office during the course of 2022.

Enid is always curious, smart and warm-hearted and fits perfectly into our team. She is excellent at keeping the office atmosphere relaxed and will greet visitors enthusiastically, particularly if the visitor has a biscuit on them!