business adviser Adrian Simpson is the new president of the Southern Society of Chartered Accountants (SOSCA), which represents more than 4,000 members of the profession in Hampshire, Dorset, the Isle of Wight and South Wiltshire.

He takes over from Russell Bowman, finance director for the Beaulieu Estate.

Priorities during his year in office will be to promote chartered accountancy as a career to teenagers and encourage more firms to train chartered accountants.

"If the interest of 14-18 year olds can be sparked we can attract good students for the future," he says.

Adrian, 44, is a partner specialising in management advisory services in the Poole office of Mazars. Working mainly with expanding owner-managed businesses, he provides all-round advice on planning, strategy and management information.

He qualified as a chartered accountant with Spicer and Pegler in Bournemouth before moving to pharmaceutical giant Warner-Lambert as an international auditor. He worked for Coopers Lybrand in Sydney for two years before joining Touche Ross as a senior manger. He became a partner in Marshall & Company, Poole in 1995 and a partner with Mazars in the same year.

Adrian is married with two children and likes football, golf and rugby.

He shares his enthusiasm for rugby with SOSCA's new deputy president, Martin Pearson, who is captain of the Southampton rugby club, Trojans.

Martin, 34, joined CMA Financial Recruitment in 2001 as a partner with responsibility for senior qualified placements and business development across the four south coast offices in Southampton, Havant, Bournemouth and Basingstoke.

Having qualified with Price Waterhouse, he joined Allied Leisure as group financial controller. In 1998, he moved to Hugh Symons Group, a Poole-based company specialising in the distribution of IT products and mobile communication devices. The following year he was appointed to the full board as commercial director with responsibility for sales and marketing.

Married with two daughters, he enjoys travel and motorcycling.