Simon Melling: Why I swerved retirement to lead Vermeer Partners Vermeer CEO on the appeal of leading Michael Kerr-Dineen’s recently-formed wealth management firm Simon Melling was on the verge of semi-retirement when the opportunity to become chief executive at the recently established wealth manager Vermeer Partners cropped up, and despite working hard to get the firm up and running, he hasn’t regretted the decision for one moment. Melling trained as an accountant with KPMG in 1984 before joining the investment management arm of bank Singer & Friedlander. It was later while at wealth manager Collins Stewart that he crossed paths with none other than Terry Smith, who he describes as “one of the brightest people I have ever worked with”.