People on the move: Moore and Smalley; BAM Construct UK; Livingbridge; Forbes Solicitors; Your Legal Friend; Bring Digital

Jenny McCabe

Preston-based accountancy firm Moore and Smalley has appointed Jenny McCabe as a partner.

McCabe, a specialist in corporate advisory and audit work, has joined the firm after nine years at CLB Coopers where she was a director.

In her new role at Moore and Smalley, she will advise businesses across the region in audit and accountancy matters. She will be based at the firm’s Lancaster office.

Rachel Marsdin, partner at Moore and Smalley’s Lancaster office, said: “As a chartered accountant for more than 20 years, Jenny is a vastly experienced and trusted adviser. It’s a pleasure to welcome her to Moore and Smalley and to the partnership.

“We’re seeing increased demand for our specialist services across the board. The feedback from our clients suggests the regional economy is in good health despite the unpredictable environment. Jenny’s knowledge, passion and leadership will benefit our clients as they meet the challenges of growth.”

McCabe added: “I love working closely with clients and enjoy seeing businesses grow and their owners develop. These are values that are shared by Moore and Smalley and moving to the firm felt like a natural thing to do.

“I’m excited to be joining the partnership and look forward to being part of the team.”

Prior to her most recent role, Jenny held positions within audit and corporate finance at large North West independent firms, including in Chester, Liverpool and Manchester.

Originally from Widnes, Cheshire, she has lived in Lancashire for the last nine years, first in Halton and now in Great Eccleston. Outside of work McCabe is a member of Fylde Hockey Club.

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One of the UK’s largest construction groups – BAM Construct UK – has appointed Ian Fleming as the regional director of its Salford-based North West Construction business.

Fleming has lived in South Manchester for many years. He was previously one of BAM’s construction directors and his promotion follows 17 years with the company, which operates from premises that it designed, developed, built and runs, at its Metro offices in Exchange Quays, Salford.

He said: “We’re known for our signature buildings – Manchester City’s Football Academy, One Angel Square, the National Graphene Institute for example. It can overshadow the quality of our 35 universities, many schools, and our health and refurbishment work. Currently we’re working schemes such as Crewe UTC and the North West Construction Hub’s Great Sankey leisure project in Warrington.”

Fleming takes over what is the youngest of BAM’s seven regional construction businesses. Despite a track record in the North West dating back to 1911 when a sister company built the Liver Building, it didn’t have permanent offices there until the 1990s.

He can boast a client list including BAE Systems, Unilever, Aintree Hospital, as well as Allied London for whom BAM is creating One Spinningfields.

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Mid-market private equity firm Livingbridge has bolstered its Manchester investment team with two new additions, hiring Charlie Ross from PwC and Matt Jacobs, who is relocating from the London office.

Ross joins from the corporate finance team at PwC, where he held the role of assistant director.

During his four years in the role, Ross was involved in some of the most high-profile transactions in the North West, advising on a combination of buy and sell-side deals.

This includes advising on investments in Poundworld and super premium pet food brand MPM.

The firm’s Manchester team has been further strengthened by the addition of Matthew Jacobs, who transfers from the firm’s London office.

Jacobs has a strong track record in the North West, having recently worked on Metronet’s bolt-on acquisition of Venus Business Communications, as well as completing investments in Thomas J Fudge and Upper Street Events’ acquisition of Escape Events further south.

This bolstering of the team to eight professionals follows an outstanding 2016 for Livingbridge in the North, working on six new deals and investing about £90m of equity. In addition there were three Northern exits for Frank Recruitment Group, Onyx and Kingsbridge, generating an average return of 3.5x.

Pete Clarke at Livingbridge said: “Our Manchester office has been a significant contributor to the success of Livingbridge in the last 12 months, working on half of all deals completed by the firm right across the country. It is imperative that we continue to invest in our team, enabling us to support and expand our existing portfolio, as well as adding new and exciting entrepreneurial businesses.

“Both Charlie and Matthew have experience working on big-ticket deals, as well as building relationships with management teams to boost growth and make acquisitions, so are ideally placed to help us invest a further £1bn across the UK in the next five years.”

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Two members of staff at leading North West legal firm Forbes Solicitors are celebrating after qualifying as solicitors.

Sarah Petrie and Emanuele Bellanca are now beginning the next stage of their careers with the firm.

Petrie, based in the Chorley office, specialises in employment law and advises on, amongst other things, settlement agreements, disciplinary and grievance processes, TUPE and restructure.

Having completed her training with the commercial departments of the firm Sarah offers a comprehensive commercial approach as she is able to draw upon her experience from other departments.

Bellanca, based in the Preston office, is a solicitor within the litigation team of the housing and regeneration department.

Siobhan Hardy, senior partner at Forbes said: “We are delighted that Emanuele and Sarah are beginning the next stage of their careers with us. Both are very talented and we are pleased to have them as part of our team.”

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Merseyside-based firm Your Legal Friend has made its fourth senior appointment in nine months, with Kay Wilkes joining as group HR and operations director.

Wilkes has more than 18 years’ experience working for global companies including Kellogg’s, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Co-Operative and Halifax.

Her most recent role at law firm Slater & Gordon saw her leading on the organisational development, restructure and change programme, and managing the General law and Shared Services HR teams across the UK.

Wilkes’ role at Your Legal Friend will focus on further developing the litigation firm’s employee engagement initiatives, talent management, succession plans and working arrangements.

Her appointment follows three other senior hires – Claire Critchley as head of department for financial, property and professional claims, Dominic Timmons as head of compliance and John King as head of marketing.

Colin Gibson, chief executive at Your Legal Friend, said: “Securing someone with Kay’s experience and track record will further strengthen HR practices in support of our accelerated growth strategy.

“Talent is central to our business so we’re delighted to welcome someone with Kay’s proactive approach, which has been honed over many years at global corporates.”

Wilkes added: “I’m proud to be joining a firm that’s making a name for itself across a number of specialist areas of litigation.

“The opportunity to apply my skills and experience in a highly-regarded and growing firm is something that I’m particularly excited about. This is a fast paced and demanding area of law and I’m looking forward to supporting the ongoing development of the team.”

Founded in 1983, Birkenhead-based Your Legal Friend employs 250 people and has supported around 200,000 clients over the last 30 years.

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Bolton search agency Bring Digital has appointed four new hires across its SEO, Content, PPC and PR departments.

Chris Brown has come back to his Northern roots to head up the content team, previously working as head of content for NeoMam Studios and Upstream on clients such as eHarmony, Topman, Visa, Star Wars and Macy’s and more recently in-house managing online content for Glyndebourne opera festival as their Digital Media Manager.

Helen Crompton joins as PPC manager, previously working at AO.com.

Becky Yardley joins as senior sigital PR executive and was previously marketing comms manager at Total Fitness:

Tyler Roberts joins as SEO executive.

Founder and managing director David Ingram said: “It’s a great time for Bring Digital – we’ve really focused on attracting the best talent in the North through things like flexible working hours, Bring wellness days and office treats, to make our office a vibrant and fun place to work. We have a ‘work-hard play-hard’ mentality and this really shows in the results we’re getting for clients and the growth we’ve achieved in the last few years.”

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