People on the Move: Douglas Scott; Prest Financial Planning; Browne Jacobson; Samling Hotel; Freshfield; BEP Systems

Douglas Scott, the Manchester-based legal recruitment firm, has announced a new managing director with current MD Kathryn Riley taking a chief executive role.

Gina Swaim-Rutter, who joined Douglas Scott in November last year, has been promoted to managing director.

Following another 12 months of growth, the business will look to international markets for expansion, as well as consolidating its growth across the UK.

Jon-Paul Hanrahan has been promoted to executive director after 16 years with the business and will spearhead the expansion into international markets.

Craig Heywood has also received a promotion as he takes on the position of associate director, forging further growth of the successful national insurance and personal injury team he has built.

Founded in 2004 by Kathryn Riley, the legal recruitment expert works with regional, national and international law firms across all disciplines and specialisms.

It also has a specialist ‘in-house’ desk, finding the most talented legal counsel for a wide range of companies, from listed businesses through to Silicon Valley technology companies.

Kathryn Riley said: “As we enter our 15th year of business, we’ve got the strongest team we’ve ever had – at every level and across the teams.

“With Gina’s appointment alongside Jon-Paul and Craig going from strength-to-strength, it felt like the right time to make these promotions which will perfectly position us to achieve our ambitions over the year ahead and beyond.

“2019 is set to be a great year and I look forward to announcing new initiatives in coming months.”

Managing director Gina Swaim-Rutter added: “Douglas Scott is a business that never stands still and I can hardly believe the progress we’ve made in the past three months. I’m confident that the best is yet to come and am relishing the opportunity my new role presents.”

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Prest Financial Planning has boosted its operations with two significant new appointments.

The Stockport firm of chartered financial planners has taken on Simon Baggott as practice and operations manager and David Kershaw as a paraplanner to support its continued growth.

Simon has worked in financial services for the past 14 years and is responsible for the smooth running of all aspects of the business.

In his role he will manage the operational efficiency of Prest while ensuring that the service offered to, and received by, clients continues to be of the highest quality.

David, meanwhile, brings 20 years’ experience in financial services to his position as a paraplanner, in which he provides research and technical support to Prest financial advisers.

From left: Simon Baggott, Graham Prest and David Kershaw

During his career he has worked in administration, compliance and paraplanning roles and he holds the Personal Finance Society Diploma awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Prest Financial Planning, which manages assets worth approximately £350m on behalf of clients, has enjoyed several years of rapid growth.

The family-owned firm, which was founded in 1961, added £43m in new client funds in 2018 alone.

Chief executive Graham Prest said: “I am really pleased to welcome Simon and David to the team. As we continue to grow they will both play key roles in delivering the fantastic administration and support that will be essential to the achievement of our full potential.”

In addition to appointing Simon and David, Prest has also bolstered its operations with the recent promotion of paraplanner Ashley Baker to the role of financial planner.

Longstanding financial planning support team member Zoe Cullen has also recently completed her Diploma in Financial Planning, enabling her to move into a more technical role.

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Browne Jacobson has expanded its health practice with two new hires – Christian Dingwall and Rebecca Hainsworth.

They will be based in Manchester, growing the team there to 27 lawyers, and work for clients nationally.

With more than 30 years’ experience in the healthcare sector, Christian Dingwall joins the firm as a partner. Christian specialises in corporate commercial law, NHS governance, regulation and compliance, with a particular focus on advising NHS bodies on organisational and service transformation.

Christian is recognised nationally as a top legal expert for NHS transactions, advising on mergers, acquisitions and integrated care joint ventures across the UK.

His previous work includes advising on the establishment of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust as a result of the merger of the former Central Manchester and South Manchester trusts.

Christian joins from Hempsons, where he headed up the NHS corporate commercial department.

Corporate and competition lawyer Rebecca Hainsworth was previously a solicitor at Hempsons, and an in-house lawyer at NHS regulatory body NHS Improvement.

She has a breadth of experience advising NHS bodies, and public and private sector organisations on a range of competition and merger control matters.

Rebecca Hainsworth and Christian Dingwall

She has advised on a series of mergers, including the establishment of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust as a result of the merger of the former Colchester and Ipswich trusts.

The appointments follow a record year for the Manchester health team, after delivering 600% growth in fee income since its launch in 2013.

Led by partner Amanda Callaghan, the specialist team advises on a broad range of clinical negligence, regulatory, criminal and inquest matters for the private and public sectors.

Amanda Callaghan, health partner and head of the firm’s Manchester office, said: “Our health team continues to grow at an exceptional rate, and the addition of Christian and Rebecca, who have both been at the helm of major UK-wide NHS transactions, further signals our commitment to building our North West practice.”

Oliver Prichard, head of the firm’s commercial health team, said: “Both Christian and Rebecca are highly-skilled practitioners, and add considerable firepower to our health team.”

Christian Dingwall said: “It’s an exciting time to be joining Browne Jacobson’s health team. The team is already at the centre of landmark projects across the North West, such as the development of an integrated healthcare model in Manchester, and nationally.

“I look forward to further developing its reach at a time when healthcare models are undergoing major shifts, creating many windows of opportunity.”

Browne Jacobson’s UK-wide health team consists of more than 130 lawyers.

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The Samling Hotel has appointed Robby Jenks as new executive head chef.

Jenks will be joining the team from his role as executive head chef at AA-listed 5 star hotel, The Vineyard in Berkshire.

Rebecca Galland will also be joining from The Vineyard as The Samling’s food and beverage manager.

Having been at The Vineyard since 2016, Jenks will be making the move to the luxury hotel in the Lake District, as it continues to develop its guest offering.

During his time in the Berkshire-based hotel, Jenks won the Acorn Award in recognition as a rising star in the industry while also developing its dining offering.

Prior to this, he worked as head chef alongside the current Samling general manager, Oliver Smith, at Amberley Castle, West Sussex for three years.

Robby will be joining The Samling alongside his partner Rebecca Galland.

Rebecca brings with her a wealth of knowledge having spent six years at The Vineyard, during which she was named as the Hotel Restaurant Manager of the Year at the Hotel Cateys in 2016.

Oliver Smith said: “I am really looking forward to having both Robby and Rebecca join the team, bringing with them extensive experience in premium hospitality.

“Having had a successful working relationship with Robby at Amberley Castle, I know that his high standards are very much in line with our ethos here at The Samling.

“His appreciation of diner enjoyment combined with our already-excellent wine list fits perfectly into the ambitious plans we have for 2019 and onwards. Similarly, I know that Rebecca will bring enthusiasm and huge amounts of knowledge into this new role.”

The announcement follows the resignation of current head chef Peter Howarth.

Both Robby and Rebecca will be joining The Samling in the Spring this year.

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North West-based marketing communications firm, Freshfield, has strengthened its PR and content team with the appointment of Simone O’Kane.

Simone has more than 10 years’ experience in journalism and PR, including roles with the Lancashire Telegraph, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire, and running her own independent PR business.

Simone O’Kane

Simon Turner, managing director of Freshfield, said: “Simone has a broad range of skills from varied roles in journalism and time spent running her own business.

“Simone also has great technical knowledge when it comes to digital-led PR campaigns. She’s a great addition to the Freshfield team at a time where clients crave quality content generation and storytelling skills to support their campaigns.”

During her time at as a senior journalist at the Lancashire Telegraph, Simone worked in roles including digital journalist, feature writer and health reporter. She also gained experience working as a showbiz writer for Daily Mirror Online.

Headquartered in Winckley Square, Preston, Freshfield employs 18 people. It has divisions in advisory, PR and communications, digital, design and video. It also has an office in Spinningfields, Manchester.

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BEP Systems, the mortgage origination software house, has appointed Sandeep Challa to the role of operations director.

The appointment comes at a time when BEP Systems have won a number of new lender accounts, is growing its Manchester base and will soon be moving to new, larger offices.

It has also further improved its Apprivo 2 system for commercial lending, bridging finance, second charges, Shariah compliant mortgages and customer-facing portals.

Sandeep will play a key role in driving delivery excellence and lead strategic deliverables for the organisation focusing on improving the client experience, account management and be responsible for the top line growth of the company.

He joins from Barclays Bank, where he most recently was heading the private banking and overseas services client reporting operations and technology globally, covering Geneva, Monaco, UK, Jersey, Dubai and India.

Sandeep Challa

Sandeep has also worked with ABSA Bank and Standard Bank in South Africa and was co-founder of two start-ups in Johannesburg and Bangalore.

He said: “I am delighted to join such an innovative company as BEP Systems. It’s also exciting to join a team that is forward-thinking in delivering expert solutions in the mortgage origination and finance arenas.

“Our aim is to provide greater efficiencies for lenders and brokers in order to win and complete more business through the use of customisable interfaces and user-friendly technology.”

Chris Little, managing director at BEP Systems, said: “I am confident Sandeep will bring considerable new perspective and ideas to our business and help deliver the strategy for our future growth and success.

“We believe Apprivo2 is the fastest growing system in the UK, serving specialist finance providers and we look forward to developing it even further for more clients.”