Independent consulting · East & West

Align strategy, operations and people, so you can scale without breaking.

A global consultancy practice for leaders who want their organisation to move the way they think.

A free, no-commitment conversation.

Alignment isn't agreement. It's shared direction across cultures, generations, and continents.

Who we work with

Built for leaders in complex territory.

Financial Services

Institutions navigating growth, regulation, and the structural decisions that shape the next decade.

Wealth Management

Advisory firms and wealth managers aligning their people, proposition, and pace of growth.

Private Equity

Investors and portfolio leadership who need operational clarity before, during, and after the deal.

Our conviction

The strongest firms are both high-performing and deeply human.

Most treat that as a trade-off. Our work is to prove it never was.

350+

firms influenced

continents we operate in

years combined experience

98%

clients return for further work

In their words

The proof is in the firms that stay.

"Each recommendation you've made is worth its weight in gold and has saved us thousands."

Client firm · Spain

"Even months after the project ended, we still see the benefits in the team. We now work much better together."

Client firm · United Kingdom

"We love the way Ana's brain works — it sees things before we do, and keeps us ahead of the curve."

Client firm · United States

Begin

Every engagement begins the same way — with a conversation.

No pitch, no deck. A short, honest discussion about what your firm is carrying, and whether we're the right people to help you carry it.

Free and no-commitment. We reply personally, usually within a day or two.

The firm

A firm built for the long view.

Independent by design — free of the pressures that pull most firms off course.

Alignis is an independent consulting firm to wealth management, independent financial advice, and private equity firms. We are paid to think clearly alongside you — to align your people, sharpen how you operate, and strengthen how the firm holds together as it grows.

Independence is the point. Free of the pressures that pull most firms off course, we say the quiet, useful thing — and stay in the room long after the project is signed off.

We work fluently across East and West, and our standards hold whichever side of the border the work sits on: integrity over expedience, discretion as a matter of course, and a conviction that the strongest firms are both high-performing and genuinely human.

"Every firm we work with is capable of more than it currently coordinates. Our job is to close that gap — and to prove performance and culture were never a trade-off."

Ana M. MarquesManaging Director, Alignis

How we hold ourselves

Four principles, quietly held.

Candid — not careful.

No agenda, no products, no incentives but yours. We name the thing others step around — integrity over expedience, every time.

Discreet — as a matter of course.

The most sensitive work happens out of view. Discretion isn't a clause; it's how we operate.

Bilingual — East and West.

We work fluently across cultures and offshore lines, and our standards hold on either side of the border.

Human — and high-performing.

We treat that not as a trade-off but as the whole point. The best firms are both, at once.

[ Portrait · Ana Marques · 4:5 ]

The people

Ana M. Marques

Founder & Managing Director

Ana founded Alignis to do advisory work the way she always believed it should be done — slowly enough to understand, precisely enough to matter.

Her career began across Accounting, Audit, Private Equity, and Corporate Finance, before she moved into Financial Services over ten years ago. That breadth — from the detail of the numbers to the shape of a whole firm — is what lets Alignis read a complex business quickly, and honestly.

Beyond the boardroom, Ana fights for a world where women's freedom, equality, and health are never an afterthought — as COO of Women of the World, and through other advocacy mandates.

Beyond the work

The long view extends past the firm.

A global affiliation

Alignis holds a United Nations affiliation reference — a reflection of how we think about responsibility at scale.

Philanthropic commitments

A share of what we build goes back out. We keep these commitments quiet by choice, and consistent by principle.

Women, kindness, performance

The values that shape how we work internally — women's empowerment, kindness, and high performance — are the same ones we bring into client firms.

Begin

Whatever your firm is carrying — that's where we begin.

A decision, a transition, or a difficult conversation that keeps being postponed.

The approach

What we would take on.

A consistent method, a bespoke output — because no two firms carry the same weight, history, or set of difficult conversations waiting to happen.

Scope of engagement

Purpose & vision

Discovery

We map how the firm actually works today — its people, processes, and pressure points — so the work is built on what's real, not assumed.

Processes

Coordination

Bringing teams, functions, and offshore lines into one direction, so effort compounds instead of competing.

Culture & continuous improvement

Assessments

An honest read on each individual — strengths, fit, and whether they're in the right role — and how the team performs as a whole.

The future

Action plans

Clear, prioritised plans that turn what we find into decisions the firm can act on with confidence.

Clarity

Strategic advisory

A single, trusted source of perspective at a steady cadence, so the big decisions get clearer thinking before they're made.

Continuity

Team meetings & coaching

Embedding the change through coaching and rhythm, so the firm holds its alignment long after we step back.

The engagement, in phases

A clear path, from first meeting to ongoing care.

Weeks 1–4

Discovery

Interviews, document review, and a full picture of the present position.

Weeks 5–10

Design

Structure, mandate, and a roadmap agreed with the firm before any action.

Months 3–8

Implementation

Coordinated execution of the agreed deliverables.

Ongoing

Stewardship

Regular review and assessment to measure continued growth.

Ways to work together

Engagements are scoped to outcomes, not hours.

We charge for outcomes, our judgement, and our global perspective. A fixed scope is confirmed after discovery — so the work, and its value, are agreed before anything begins.

Team & people alignment

Ensuring teams work well together, with insight into each individual and confidence that each person is in the right role.

Strategic alignment

Ongoing strategic advisory — a considered voice in the room for the decisions that matter most, often on a retainer basis.

Operational alignment

Process automation and systems-based efficiency, so the firm runs the way its leaders think.

PR & reputation

Particularly valued by wealth management firms — improving recruitment, culture, and external reputation to attract and retain clients. Includes corporate responsibility.

Implementation & integration

Pre- and post-acquisition integration and discrete project work — scoped and agreed before any work begins.

Not sure where to start?

Most firms don't begin with the answer — they begin with a conversation. We'll help you find the shape of it.

"We never rush the framing. The weeks spent understanding the problem are repaid many times over in the years that follow."

Alignis · The Approach

Begin

If your firm is carrying a decision worth getting right, let's talk.

The journal

Field notes on alignment.

Short, considered writing on firms, leadership, and the quiet work of getting a business to move as one.

Field Notes

Alignment isn't agreement.

It's shared direction. On the difference between a firm that nods along and one that actually moves together — and why the second is harder to build.

Read →

Our Conviction

Performance and culture were never a trade-off.

The strongest firms are both high-performing and deeply human. Why most treat that as a choice — and what it costs them.

Read →

Wealth Management

Growth without the seams showing.

What firms get wrong when they scale faster than their operating model — and the quiet fixes that hold it together.

Read →

East & West

One standard, either side of the border.

Working across cultures and offshore lines without letting the standard drift. On discretion, integrity, and shared direction.

Read →

Private Equity

The first hundred days, reconsidered.

Operational clarity in a portfolio business rarely fails for lack of a plan. It fails for lack of alignment around it.

Read →

The Approach

The case for a quiet discovery.

Why the most valuable weeks of an engagement are the ones spent understanding the problem before prescribing anything at all.

Read →

More field notes are on their way — published quietly, as they're written.

Begin a conversation

The work begins with a conversation, not a contract.

hq@alignis.co.uk

Free, no-commitment, and entirely confidential.

How it starts

Three short steps to begin.

Confirm the scope

A short call to agree the shape of the discovery phase and the questions it should answer.

Sign the engagement letter

A plain-language letter setting out scope and mutual expectations — no fine print.

Begin discovery

We convene the first sessions within two weeks of signing, and the work begins.

Send an enquiry

Tell us a little about your firm and what you're carrying. We reply personally — usually within a day or two.

Thank you — your note is with us. We'll reply personally, usually within a day or two.

Field notes, sent quietly. Be the first to read new writing on alignment.

Noted, with thanks. We'll be in touch — quietly.

No noise. One email, when it matters. Unsubscribe anytime.