James Cobb, Teresa Crew and Nicholas Palmer are the first hires to come out of Attivo's headcount expansion plans for 2015.

Attivo, the UK group of chartered financial planners and investment managers, has made the first three of its 50 planned appointments this year.

James Cobb joins as group technical manager at Attivo from Hargreaves Lansdown, where he was technical manager. In his new position, he will oversee the group's structure, skills, and framework, while providing advice across the financial planning spectrum. Cobb will also supervise input into the investment committee.

Teresa Crew, previously wealth planning manager at Towry, has been appointed to head up Attivo’s technical research team. She will be responsible for overseeing the development and recruitment of the para planning team. Alongside Cobb, she will work towards ensuring the team achieves Chartered status, as well as the advanced diploma in financial planning.

Lastly, Nicholas Palmer, previously investment manager at 1st Port Asset Management, has been named private client investment manager. Based in Attivo’s new London office, he will sit on Attivo’s investment committee, focusing on fixed income, absolute return, and Europe and North America sectors.

The Attivo Group currently has over £500 million ($746 million) of funds under management, administration and advice. It has a three-year plan to quadruple this figure to £2 billion.