Businesses based across the North West have announced almost 50 top appointments and promotions over the last week.
Companies with operations in the likes of Manchester, Liverpool, Chester and further afield have been in contact with BusinessLive since our most recent North West round up.
Firms in sectors from as diverse as law, technology, logistics, communications and property are among those who have made a series of moves in the last seven days.
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.
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Here, BusinessLive runs through the latest North West appointments announced in the last week that you shouldn't miss.
Peel Ports
Liverpool-headquartered Peel Ports has announced major changes to its senior team, taking effect from April 4, 2022.
Chairman Tom Allison is standing down but will remain on the board representing shareholder interests of Peel Group as a non-executive director.
Mark Whitworth will leave his role chief executive but will assume the role of chairman, overseeing the strategic development and governance of the group.
Claudio Veritiero will take over as new CEO as the group readies to commence a new investment programme across its primary assets.
You can read the full story here.
HLF Berry Solicitors
Chorlton-based law firm HLF Berry Solicitors has appointed Imogen Thompson to the role of conveyancer.
In her new role she will focus on residential conveyancing, including both sale and purchases and will work alongside Paul Hannam.
She said: "I am really enjoying my work for HLF Berry Solicitors and the team at the Chorlton office, especially alongside Paul Hannam.
"It has been great to be able to get back working face-to-face with clients and going from a larger firm to a smaller one that is able to give a more personal touch to every conveyancing transaction."
Colliers
A new agent has joined the licensed and leisure team at commercial real estate firm Colliers.
Senior surveyor Will Tait has joined the firm from Rapleys, where he conducted both disposal and acquisition of leisure and retail properties for national brands and local clients. He has joined Colliers’ Manchester office.
Ross Kirton, head of leisure agency at the firm, said: "As the lockdown restrictions have eased we’re seeing increasing demand from both established and emerging operators seeking representation in Manchester and Birmingham.
"There are a growing number of leasing and regeneration projects in these cities where landlords and developers recognise the importance of hospitality and leisure expertise in creating the right vibe for their project."
Praetura Ventures
Praetura Ventures, the Manchester-based venture capital investor, has announced the appointment of three industry experts to its team of operational partners.
Helen Verwoert, who oversaw Dr Martens’ transformation from a heritage brand to a global brand as chief HR officer, is among the hires and will mentor Praetura’s portfolio companies on areas including staff wellbeing and company culture.
Entrepreneur Paul Johnson, who spent more than two decades building MPP Global before its £37.1m sale in October, also joins as a newly-appointed operational partner.
Andy Barrow completes Praetura Ventures’ trio of new hires after 12 years as the chief technology officer for Manchester tech giant ANS, where he was responsible for technical strategy across cloud computing, data analytics, application development and managed services.
Rowan Executive Search
Rowan Executive Search has announced the arrival of four new recruits.
The quartet are associate director Sara Jackson, senior consultant Lexi Graty, executive researcher Jennie Adamson and business support executive Molly Chalfont Pollard.
Their arrival comes after investor LCap Group acquired a stake in the business, which has offices in Manchester and Chorley, last year.
Clients include e-commerce fulfilment business Fulfilmentcrowd, Clubhouse Golf, SpaMedica, Eque2, Utiligroup, Lakelovers, MPM Products and Made Tech, which floated on the stock market last year.
Rowan also works closely with private equity clients, including LDC, NorthEdge Capital, Pitalia Capital, Maven Capital Partners, Mercia, WestBridge and Apiary Capital.
Kuits
Manchester commercial law firm Kuits has promoted Paul Bricknell to head of tax and estate planning.
Mr Bricknell, who joined Kuits’ private client team 10 years ago, is taking over from Graham Wood.
Partner Graham Wood said: "I am delighted that Paul has agreed to take over the reins of managing this fantastic team.
"I am looking forward to having more time to focus on our current clients and helping the team to generate new business.
"I know that Paul will be an excellent leader for our team."
Jon Matthews Architects
Jon Matthews Architects has announced a number of staff promotions and revealed a new Manchester city centre studio move.
The practice has taken space at Union on Albert Square and will move in spring following the completion of an in-house designed fit-out.
The promotions see Frances McGeown, Richard Scott and Sam Ainsley become associate directors with Ian Burnett, Joanna Beal and Joanne Bradbury made associates.
The new studio will occupy 3,000 sq ft of space in Bruntwood’s Union building taken on a ten-year lease.
Santé Group
Brian Hall, the former chief commercial officer of BHSF, has joined the board of Lancashire-based Santé Group to lead it through a growth plan.
Mr Hall spent 19 years at the not-for-profit BHSF, transforming it from a health insurer turning over £14m to a leader in health and wellbeing group with annual revenues of £60m employing approximately 300 people.
Under Mr Hall's guidance, the Santé Group will be looking to grow through diversification, acquisitions and strategic partnerships to build the group's insurance premium book to £55m by 2025.
CEO Paul Nugent said: "Brian's experience in driving innovation within employee benefits and his track record in growing businesses were key attributes that we wanted to add to the board.
"As we continue to develop our strategy of building the business on strong customer service and robust systems, Brian's corporate governance experience will help us grow sustainably.
"He'll also be key to enhancing our broker proposition and help us achieve our goal to be one of the leading distribution businesses in our sector."
P3 People Management
North West HR specialist P3 People Management has appointed a new consultant to join its growing team.
Emma Weeks, from Salford, has joined the Altrincham-based company following 20 years working within HR roles, largely in the travel and tourism industry but also within legal services and public services.
She said: "I enjoy working with a variety of clients within different sectors and industries as each has its own particular HR challenges.
"The variety is also a brilliant way of developing my own skills and experiences too. I am really excited to join the P3 team and I’m looking forward to working with a wide range of businesses to help them to understand the importance of prioritising their people in order to achieve growth and success."
WSP
Engineering professional services consultancy WSP has strengthened its regional planning team in the North West.
Andrew Teage has joined WSP’s planning consultancy in Liverpool as a director.
He said: "WSP has long been a name to watch in the planning consultancy space, and I am delighted to be able to assist its continued growth by providing a resource and service that is embedded in the Liverpool and Merseyside markets.
"Having only recently joined, it is already proving to be an inspiring journey. In a time of immense change for communities, we need a planning system that works for everybody, instilling confidence to deliver and promote sustainable regional economic growth, which has real resonance with the recently announced UK levelling."
Simpson Millar
Consumer law firm Simpson Millar has promoted Manchester-based Anita North to head of employment law.
Having joined the business last year, she brings more than 10 years’ experience to the role.
As part of the promotion, she will now lead the firm’s national employment department which has a presence across Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Lancaster.
She said: "Anyone involved in a legal matter is likely to be experiencing some additional stress, but employment related matters are always particularly emotive for so many reasons as peoples’ jobs and their income play such a pivotal role in their lives."
Everything Tech
Manchester-headquartered managed IT services provider Everything Tech has promoted two members of its team.
Antony Bond and James Lawley will become the dedicated managers of a cluster of Everything Tech customers and will support the help desk from a senior escalation perspective.
Ryan Lewis has also been promoted to second line IT technician.
The firm has also announced a trio of new appointments in a bid to support its growth.
Jake Kirby joins as a senior technician while David Grundy and Luke Mayle both join as first line technicians.
Vincents Solicitors
Nina Ellement, who was formerly head of legal at Cumbria County Council, has joined Vincents Solicitors in Preston.
A senior solicitor with more than 20 years’ experience of childcare proceedings, she has joined the specialist childcare team within the firm’s family law department.
Prior to being appointed legal lead at Cumbria in 2020, she spent 15 years at St Helens Council working exclusively on childcare cases for the local authority.
She will now bring that experience to her work assisting local families facing care proceedings via Vincents’ three Childcare Legal Aid contracts in Preston, Blackpool and Chorley.
Champion Accountants
An accountant who joined a firm as a trainee 16 years ago has been promoted to the role of associate director.
Nathan Jones, who joined Champion Accountants at the age of 19, will be tasked with growing the group’s Chester practice by focusing on its business development strategy and acting as client lead for some of its biggest customers.
He said: "Throughout the last 16 years, the Champion team have been hugely encouraging when it comes to me progressing my career.
"They’ve created opportunities which have enabled me to take on new responsibilities, broaden my skillset and gain the relevant experience I needed to be awarded a senior position.
"Now I’ve achieved that, my job is to repay their loyalty to me by futureproofing our business. As well as expanding our client portfolio, I aim to be on the pulse of the industry, identifying gaps in the market, new software and innovative processes that will enable us to remain a market leader – whilst ensuring we continue to provide our clients with the highest quality of service possible."
Back to the Garden Childcare
Back to the Garden Childcare, located on Sinderland Road in Broadheath, has appointed a new nursery manager.
Ann Marie Ellison, from Bryn near Ashton-in-Makerfield, has experience in the childcare sector, from nursery manager and regional manager for a several nurseries to NVQ trainer and assessor and Ofsted inspector.
She joins from Your Nursery in Openshaw, a nursery she managed from the day it opened in 2010.
She said: "I was attracted to Back to the Garden as we have the same ethos and beliefs, and the staff are as passionate as I am about childcare, wanting to provide the very best for the children who attend the nursery."
Mediaworks
Digital marketing agency Mediaworks has made further a senior appointment to spearhead its expansion in the North West of England.
Manchester-based Chris Jevons has joined the firm as account director.
He said: "Manchester’s agency scene is as vibrant as ever and I’m excited to be able to be at the centre of such a well-established agency’s growth in this area.
"The vision and ambition for Mediaworks is one that was too good to ignore. The agency is now closing in on 200 staff across its sites in the UK and Ireland and I’m thrilled to be at the forefront of that growth here in Manchester."
The Insights Family
The Insights Family, the Manchester-based kids and family market intelligence company, has confirmed the appointment of 11 new hires including Will Pearce as its new managing director.
Mr Pearce was formerly operations director at ActiveWin Marketing, a position he held for seven years, following three years at IGT as marketing manager.
In the company’s research teams; Lucy Keefe and Stavros Triseliotis joined the Audience Insights team as research executive and senior research executive respectively.
The Commercial team grew with the addition of Jade Ward as senior operations executive, Nkiru Anisiobi as business development manager, Mélany Pascal as business development executive, Soafyaan Zia as account manager and Tanvi Kulkarni as graphic designer.
The development and data science teams have welcomed Tushar Palawat and Saud Khan as junior data scientists and Will Watkins as junior developer.
Liverpool City Region’s Local Enterprise Partnership
The built environment board for Liverpool City Region's Local Enterprise Partnership has recently appointed several new members.
Two of the new members are Marc Nadim - a chartered civil and structural engineer at Mott MacDonald and Dawn Coward – an experienced major projects officer and planning consultant at Pad-20 Consultancy.
Mr Nadim said: "I want to play my part in being a voice for the built environment bringing my expertise to support the city region economic recovery plans; helping shape and regenerate, buildings, neighbourhoods, and communities for future generations."
Dawn Coward added: "Having lived and worked in the Liverpool City Region all my life, I am delighted to have been invited onto the built environment board of the LEP.
"With such interest in the Levelling Up Agenda this feels like the right time for the city region to take the next step and I am excited to be part of it."
Young Bright and Grey
Manchester-based creative agency Young Bright and Grey has added Kelly Cunningham as head of content.
Joining the team with eight years’ experience within creative and branding, Kelly Cunningham has worked across B2C and B2B clients including Microsoft, American Express and Merlin Entertainment.
She has made the move from senior content manager at THG Ingenuity.
She said: "It is great to reunite with Viv and James again, and become part of an expanding, energetic team with people genuinely at the heart of it.
"I am excited to contribute to the culture of Young Bright and Grey, and the wider Influential Agency Group.
"I have been lucky enough to work within some really progressive and vibrant workplaces and look forward to adding to the culture here."
Verastar Group
Sale-based Verastar Group has appointed Spencer Clarkson to the newly-created role of chief technology officer.
He said: "The opportunity to join Verastar at this exciting time of growth and digital transformation was one I couldn’t turn down.
"Innovation is at the very heart of Verastar and it’s clear that both Lee and the wider business are committed to using new technology to improve services and make colleagues’ and customers’ lives easier."
Eleven Marketing & Communications
Cheshire-based Eleven Marketing & Communications has appointed Alex Moran as its new head of creative.
He joins the agency following an eight-year stint at healthcare communications agency Ashfield Digital and Creative - which merged with Cambridge Biomarketing and Pegasus in January 2021 to become Mind+Matter.
Eleven has also expanded its team with an additional three further appointments.
Rachel Oliver joins as marketing strategist, Alex Tacey joins as operations executive and Melanie Hurst joins as account manager.
Fairhurst Buckley
Stockport-based chartered surveyors and commercial property firm Fairhurst Buckley has made a senior promotion.
John MacMillan, who moved to the firm in November 2020 as a new head of building consultancy, has been promoted to director.
Having started out at neighbouring Derbyshire County Council, Mr MacMillan has over 20 years’ experience within the commercial property market across a diverse range of occupiers and property owners.
He said: "The director appointment provides me with a great platform to play a key role in the future growth and development of the business.
"My director appointment reaffirms the importance of building consultancy as a key part of the business and one where we have identified great potential for further growth to add to new recent client gains that include DHL, the RSPB and Monkhouse School wear, part of the Banner Group."
