People on the Move: Social Comms; Nucleus Commercial Finance; Julius Baer Intl; Deepbridge Capital; Yumi Nutrition

Social Communications has appointed Becki Ord to its Manchester PR team to further grow the £2m turnover agency’s property and planning proposition across the North West.

Joining the five-year-old integrated agency as senior account director, Ord will help deliver on the group’s ambitious vision for its next growth phase through a client roster spanning public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Ord leads national PR and content briefs for Social including Brio Retirement Living and The Blackmore Group.

A former journalist with more than 16 years’ PR industry experience, she joins the agency after three years with Roland Dransfield to accelerate Social’s portfolio across the built environment.

Said Ord: “It’s a really exciting time to be joining this successful, fully integrated agency that has a clear vision for its future growth. I look forward to bringing my property and planning expertise to this exemplar team.”

Manchester’s director of PR, Diana MacCarthy, added: “As our latest senior hire, Becki brings a host of built environment creds to the business, is skilled in strategic counsel and thought leadership content generation. We are thrilled to have her skill-set in the agency to accelerate our growth in the region.”

Social’s Manchester team is also currently supporting social enterprise Reason Digital to raise its profile in the charity and not-for-profit space, alongside new client Impact, a CSR reporting tool streamlining the way companies track and evaluate activity with a social or environmental benefit.

Ranked #11 in Prolific North’s top 50 PR agencies 2018, and with 35 staff across the Manchester, Leeds and Bristol offices, Social’s national client roster spans property, planning, energy, education, rail and major infrastructure.

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Nucleus Commercial Finance has increased its presence in the North West with two new appointments, enabling the business to further support SMEs in the region with the finances they need to support growth.

Dave Rushton joins as sales director and will be developing new opportunities and strengthening the capabilities of the asset-based lending team.

Stuart Harland has been appointed as business development executive and will further support the regional focus and develop new business opportunities. His focus will be across business cash advance, cash flow finance and property finance.

Dave Rushton

Chief executive, Chirag Shah, said: “These key appointments strengthen our capabilities in the North West and demonstrate our commitment to the North West.

“As a thriving area of the UK, with its ambitious businesses driving the Northern Powerhouse, we will be supporting these businesses with the finances they need, to achieve their ambitions.

“Dave and Stuart bring many years of experience, working with clients across a range of sectors, and they will further strengthen our capabilities of providing innovative solutions to clients with complex funding needs.”

With more than 20 years’ experience in invoice finance and asset-based lending, Dave joins from Leumi ABL where he was responsible for business development. He has previously held roles at Shawbrook Business Credit and ABN AMRO Commercial Finance, working in client relationships and underwriting.

Stuart joins from Capify, where he was sales executive and helped to support businesses across the UK gain access to capital.

Stuart Harland

He has more than 10 years’ experience working in sales and business development roles, with roles at Airport Angel Limited and CPP Group.

Dave Rushton said: “Nucleus Commercial Finance has an excellent reputation of driving innovation in the asset-based lending industry. It is refreshing to see a positive approach in creating intelligent, workable solutions to often complex problems.”

Stuart Harland added: “I am thrilled to be joining Nucleus and to be part of the team bolstering financial support for SMEs in the North West. All too often, businesses are not given access to the type of funding they need to grow, I am excited to draw on Nucleus’ scale and breadth of products to offer finance to businesses and support them in their ambitions.”

Both, Dave and Stuart, will be based in Manchester.

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Swiss wealth management group Julius Baer International has announced several new hires to support business growth and regional expansion across the UK, including its Manchester operations.

Chief executive David Durlacher said: “We are committed to investing further in the UK and Ireland, making our unique wealth management approach available across the country.

“Last year, we made considerable strides in expanding our presence across the regions, and these new hires continue to demonstrate our long-term commitment to the market as we identify and pursue tactical growth opportunities across the UK.”

Mark Dooner is based in Manchester and joins the business from Tilney, where he was responsible for investment management and financial planning advice.

Mark Dooner

Prior to this Mark held senior roles at PwC investment advisory and Barclays wealth & investment management.

Calum Brewster, managing director, head of UK regional offices, said: “At Julius Baer International we pride ourselves on offering clients a differentiated service and this is only possible by ensuring a dynamic and diverse team of professionals who, together, deliver the unexpected.

“Our new appointments demonstrate our commitment to hiring exceptional individuals, and we are delighted to welcome them to the team as we continue to grow our presence across the regions.”

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Chester-based Deepbridge Capital, the tax-efficient investment manager, has announced the appointment of Anjali Roberts as strategic partnerships manager.

The new position involves being Deepbridge’s primary representative with nationwide financial advisory firms, networks and support service providers.

Prior to joining Deepbridge, in January 2018 as a business development manager, Anjali had established considerable experience in the financial services sector, having previously been an investment manager at Charles Stanley, Vestra Wealth LLP and UBS, and a portfolio manager at Close Asset Management.

Anjali Roberts

Deepbridge provides investors with access to growth-focused investment opportunities via its Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS, Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS, Deepbridge Innovation SEIS and Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS.

Ian Warwick, managing partner at Deepbridge Capital, said: “Deepbridge works proactively with many adviser support services, networks and national firms, enabling us to support thousands of financial advisers across the UK.

“I am delighted that Anjali is taking on this role and bringing her considerable financial services experience to these relationships.

“It is an exciting new role and an important next step for us as we continue our commitment to providing leading tax-efficient investments to the financial adviser community.”

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Chewable vitamin brand Yumi Nutrition, based in Manchester, has appointed Jonathan Legdon as a non-executive director.

He brings more than 20 years of relevant experience in leading businesses through transformation, from the development of product strategies through to execution and, ultimately, organisational growth.

He joins Yumi Nutrition having previously held roles of sales & marketing director, managing director and CEO of NGA UK & Ireland, a software and services business with more than 1,800 employees and an annual turnover in excess of £140m.

Jonathan Legdon

Jonathan has demonstrated consistent, strong leadership and performance in both increasing revenue and profitability at NGA UK & Ireland over the past five-plus years and Yumi is looking forward to benefiting from his expertise and insight to boost the overall business performance and support its exciting plans for growth.

Sebastien Vanderlinden, Yumi chief executive and co-founder, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Jonathan as a non-executive director. We all believe that his experience will add great value to the company as we upscale the business over the coming months and years.”

Jonathan added: “I am very excited to be working with Yumi at this interesting and exciting time. The people and products behind the company are great and it’s my opinion that Yumi has amazing potential for fast and successful growth.”