Here at BusinessLive we like to bring you the latest news on key appointments, hires , promotions and key job changes across the North West.
This months we've seen key appointments at companies large and small, from the massive Co-op Live Arena in Manchester and tech giant Talk Talk through to promotions at accountancy practices and communications agencies.
We've also seen a key departure at fashion giant Pretty Little Thing as well as key Liverpool City Region business leaders joining the board at a training provider.
Below, we round up just some of the latest hires and promotions that we feel you should not miss.
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If you have a new or recent appointment or promotion that you would like featured in our next round up, please e-mail jon.robinson@reachplc.com.
TalkTalk Group
TalkTalk Group has appointed James Quinn as its new director of communications.
James joins the group after a long career in business journalism, including as the group business editor of the Daily Telegraph, and five years in senior communications roles at Credit Suisse and Barclays.
He will lead Talk Talk’s corporate and financial communications, campaigns, PR, and social media.
James will report into the director of corporate and regulatory affairs Lucy Thomas, who recently joined the group’s executive committee.
He succeeds Dominic Laurie, who had held the role since 2020.
Lucy Thomas said: “James brings with him a wealth of communications experience and journalistic nous, with a range of expertise. Our dynamic corporate affairs team are looking forward to James’s new perspective and ideas to strengthen and reinforce our campaigns, as we work together through this critical and exciting time in the telecoms sector.”
James Quinn said: “I’ve long admired TalkTalk’s challenger spirit, and so am delighted to be joining the company in its 20th anniversary year. This is a key moment for the telecoms industry, in terms of delivering enhanced connectivity to the nation through full fibre rollout, and I look forward to crafting TalkTalk’s story as part of that.”
Leasing Options
Manchester-based car leasing firm Leasing Options has promoted Harrison Walsh to Head of Procurement.
Mr Walsh will be responsible for maintaining and strengthening existing relationships with manufacturers, funders and dealers.
He has been with Leasing Options for nine years and was previously pricing manager responsible for overseeing the pricing team and function.
Mike Thompson, chief operating officer at Leasing Options said: “Harrison has been an incredible asset for Leasing Options and this promotion is well deserved. Harrison consistently goes above and beyond to support the management team and has successfully established himself as an integral part of our procurement function.
“As part of his new role, Harrison will be able to further support the senior leadership team while also leading the junior members of our team with their own development within our business.
“Hopefully Harrison can have more time and focus to work with our wide array of partners and make sure our relationships continue to be strong.
“This promotion is the first of a number of key developments within our business and we are looking forward to the next six months as we have a lot of exciting plans ahead.”
Co-op Live
Manchester's new £365m Co-op Live Arena has named its new general manager.
Gary Roden has joined as executive director and general manager, following eight years at Ticketmaster where he became senior vice president of client development and commercial.
Deloitte Legal
Deloitte Legal has announced the appointment of Natalie Crook as director to its Legal Entity Management team in the North West.
The appointment brings the Deloitte team’s regional presence to 40 legal practitioners, joining four other recent announcements.
Natalie brings a range of private practice and in-house legal experience in both the private and public sector, including Travel Counsellors, Co-operative Group, Transport for Greater Manchester and Cheshire West and Chester Council. In her new role, Natalie will drive Deloitte Legal’s LEM growth ambitions in the North West/
Daniel Connell, partner and head of Legal Entity Management at Deloitte, saaid:
“The addition of Natalie in Manchester is further testament to Deloitte Legal’s growing footprint across the UK’s regions, with 40 legal practitioners now in the North West alone.”
Andy Casey, newly-appointed partner at Deloitte Legal, added: “In today’s fast-changing world, business leaders are increasingly looking for tech-enabled LEM solutions to automate processes and manage the risks faced by clients with a global footprint and complex legal entity structures.
“I’m looking forward to building on Deloitte Legal’s strong reputation in the market by using the firm’s technology expertise and knowledge to help our clients gain competitive advantage through adopting smarter legal entity management.”
HybridTec
Training provider HybridTec has appointed a new board of governors as it celebrates winning a £1m government contract.
The new governors at the Liverpool-based company include managing director of M&E consultants Steven Hunt Associates, and board chair, Steve Hunt; Rebecca Armstrong, director of retrofit company MEG (Making Energy Greener); Sean Keyes, managing director of Sutcliffe, civil and structural engineers; and Jayne Moore, CEO of marketing and PR firm Moore Media.
HybridTec has also secured a £1m contract with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, to upskill heating engineers in air source heat pumps and low temperature heating systems nationwide.
Sophie Gilmore, managing director, HybridTec, said: “HybridTec has a proud history of working with leading national employers to place our apprentices directly into ongoing employment. Collectively, Rebecca, Sean, Steve, and Jayne bring them years’ of experience not just within this sector, but as leaders of hugely successful businesses. Their expertise will be immeasurable as we continue our own growth trajectory over the coming years.”
Steve Hunt, board chair, said: “HybridTec’s vision and plans for continued growth must be applauded and with a new board consisting of MDs and CEOs from across the construction, engineering and renewable energy sectors, there is great potential for further expansion. Upskilling in this sector is something I am passionate about, and I look forward to working with Sophie and her team, and my fellow board members in driving this agenda forward."
Sherrington Associates
Chester-based executive search firm Sherrington Associates says it is set for more growth after strengthening its team and winning a national award.
The company has appointed Brogan Craine as an executive researcher following roles in the property sector and the NHS.
In addition, Joe Onions, who joined the company in 2021 and this year was a finalist for young business person of the year at the High Sheriff’s Awards for Enterprise, will now head up its recruitment of sales personnel.
The company’s clients include New York Stock Exchange-listed Compass Minerals, engineering and maintenance provider Bilfinger UK, and the British Hydropower Association.
Sherrington Associates managing director Rob McKay said: He said: “We’re seeing an increase in senior level recruitment, as well as building new sales teams across multiple sectors as organisations look to expand into different territories and industries.
“We’ve also seen firms diversifying to offer low carbon solutions, and we are being tasked with finding the right senior leaders to deliver this.
“Our awards success also includes scooping the people centred leadership prize at the national Good Small Business Awards. This was a massive achievement and testament to the graft and professionalism shown by the team.”
Reward Finance Group
SME funding provider Reward Finance Group has restructured its client relationship operations across the North West, by promoting Paula Jones to head it up.
She will now lead the client relationship team in the North West and also have responsibility for the Midlands.
Paula previously worked for RBS Corporate Banking and has been with Reward for over six years.
Manchester-based Reward says it has doubled its client base to almost 500 in the last three years after opening offices in Birmingham, London and Scotland.
Steve Noble, managing director for Reward in the North West, said: “We’ve achieved outstanding growth across the North West, but needed to restructure and invest in Paula and our client relationship operations to keep pace. She’s well placed to drive this area of the business forward in the region, as she has a proven track record and a strong client-centric approach to providing commercial finance which meets SMEs’ business needs.”
Paula Jones, regional operations manager for Reward, added: “I’m relishing the opportunity to work more closely with the regional teams across the business and in the North West to deliver that consistency of service that will help fuel our long-term expansion. We envisage making further hires in this space throughout the year ahead.”
Agent
Brand & communications agency Agent has expanded its communications team with two appointments and a promotion.
Thea Chippendale has become senior PR & communications lead. She joins Agent from her former position as head of digital PR at MediaVision and Senior Digital PR at Rise At Seven, where she worked with various high-profile clients.
Lauryn Sellick joins as social media executive. She comes to Agent from Blaze Media, where she worked in a similar role.
David Milner, the former campaigns consultant at Agent, has been promoted to senior performance lead, where he will oversee the digital marketing and performance accounts which will further enhance Agent's digital offerings at its Liverpool and Manchester studios.
Paul Corcoran, CEO and founder of Agent, said: “We're delighted to welcome Thea and Lauryn to the Agent family. With their extensive social media and PR experience, they will be valuable assets to our team and clients who come to us for a fully-integrated service.
We're also thrilled to promote David to Senior Performance Lead. His strategic approach and experience will drive our offering and help us continue providing first-class services. These new hires and promotions are a testament to our commitment to providing exceptional services to our clients across the UK.”
CBRE
CBRE has appointed Jordan Saleh as Head of Flex for the North.
Jordan joins from WeWork where he spent 5 years as Sales Director covering the northern region.
Joe Rigby, CBRE’s head of office agency – North, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jordan to the team in this new role as we see rising demand in the UK flexible office space market.
“The managed workspace market has seen a huge amount of change in
recent years with more entrants to the sector such as Industrious, Huckletree, Orega, X+Why and Gilbanks all taking space in 2022. Jordan has an excellent understanding of the flex market, as well as established relationships within the sector which can be leveraged.”
Michael Glynn, head of flexible office solutions at CBRE London, said: “The Flex market continues to grow and evolve across all formats. The exciting hire of Jordan is another clear sign of CBRE’s continued investment into the sector, strengthening our cocupier advisory
expertise in this increasing dynamic market.”
HURST
Accounting and business advisory firm HURST has announced two new partner appointments.
Ben Bradley and James Thompson, who work in the firm’s corporate finance and tax teams respectively, have been promoted from associate partner level.
Ben joined HURST as a graduate trainee in September 2011 and has progressed through the ranks to manager, associate director and then associate partner, which gave him a seat on the HURST board.
He has advised on transactions with a total deal value of over £1bn, with transaction highlights include advising on the 2016 sale of Comms-care to Fortune 500 company Ingram
Micro in a deal worth more than £50m. He also advised the Sun Valley Nut Company on its sale to Germany-headquartered food group Zertus and advised Stockport-based Red Rose Packaging on its sale to Logson Group.
James joined HURST in 2015 and has more than 20 years’ experience. He was promoted to associate partner in 2019 from senior manager.
He provides tax advice to family and owner-managed businesses and is a specialist in research and development tax credits.
HURST partner and head of the tax team Liz Gallagher said: “James has been an integral part of the tax advisory team for the last seven years. He has a passion for tax and uses his expertise to provide exceptional advice to our entrepreneurial clients.
“His promotion to partner is well deserved. He is a great example of someone who has worked hard to become a key member of the team.
“He adds greatly to our capabilities and has been instrumental in our strong growth over recent years.
“I look forward to working alongside James and the other partners as we continue to enjoy unprecedented growth.”
Nigel Barratt, a HURST partner and head of the firm’s corporate finance team, said: “I’m delighted that Ben has been promoted to partner. It’s particularly pleasing as Ben started his career with HURST and it’s been very rewarding to see him develop into a superb corporate financier who has worked on some fantastic transactions.
“Ben typifies the HURST ethos by delivering outstanding client service and providing high-quality commercial advice to our clients.”
Hill Dickinson
Commercial law firm Hill Dickinson has bolstered its national banking team with the hire of banking and finance partner Debra Cooper.
Debra joins from Shoosmiths where she was a banking partner specialising in real estate finance in addition to being co-head of the Manchester office.
She brings more than 16 years’ experience to the team in the provision of advice to institutional lenders, debt funds, alternative lenders and borrowers on investment and development transactions.
Debra was previously a partner at Squire Patton Boggs and spent 10 years at Pinsent Masons. She is also chair of the northern board of the Investment Property Forum, a trustee of the We Love Manchester charity and a board member of the Northern LandAid Committee.
Craig Scott, head of the firm’s Business Services group, said: “We are delighted to welcome Debra to Hill Dickinson as we continue to build senior level capacity across our firm in response to client demand. Debra’s experience and the client portfolio she has built up over her career to date in the banking and real estate finance sector adds valuable capacity to our growing national Banking team. In terms of our workplace culture and growth ambitions, I know she’ll be a fantastic addition across all our offices.”
Richard Capper, head of banking and finance, added: “We are just finishing what has been a really strong year for the team having been involved in many high-profile deals both locally and nationally and hope, with Debra onboard, that next year will be even stronger.”
Debra Cooper said: “Having worked on the other side of many transactions with Richard and his team over the past 10 years I am delighted to be joining such a well-established national team and working with them to build on the impressive current client and transaction base.”
Pretty Little Thing
PrettyLittleThing founder Umar Kamani has announced he will be stepping down as CEO after 12 years of running the fashion empire.
The businessman, 35, set up the Manchester company in 2012 alongside brother Adam and has overseen the brands' growth over the years. He this week announced the 'difficult decision' to step down as CEO and his hopes to 'build new brands' in the future.
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