People: Beaumont on the up at gunnercooke & more

MANCHESTER law firm gunnercooke has appointed Anna Beaumont as chief executive.

Beaumont joined the firm in 2011 from Enterprise plc, where she worked in-house as a corporate lawyer and was the firm’s first partner hire.

In her new role, she will use her experience to continue to develop gunnercooke’s culture and central structure, across both London and Manchester offices. 
 
Founding partner Darryl Cooke said: “Anna is one of the most gifted corporate lawyers I have ever worked with and we were incredibly lucky to recruit her at an early stage of gunnercooke’s growth. Since then, Anna’s contribution has been a huge asset, and we are delighted to appoint her to the board as CEO. For both Anna and for the business this is a much needed step forward, and we’re very excited about what we can achieve together.”
 
Beaumont said: “Since joining gunnercooke in 2011, we’ve been evolving at a rapid rate, and so too has our support structure. Now, at almost 100 partners, it’s crucial that we elevate a gear, so that we continue to deliver a better working environment for our lawyers, and service to our clients. I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved in five years since inception, and there’s a definite momentum behind the next phase of our growth. The next 12 months will be really very exciting.”
 
Marketing director Laura Jordan has also been appointed to the board. Jordan has been with gunnercooke for three years.

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MAG Property, the property and development arm of Manchester Airports Group has appointed Julian Stott as development manager.

Stott joins from JLL and will be responsible for working across MAG Property’s diverse land bank and development portfolio which extends across London Stansted, Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth Airports.

Stott has also worked for PwC, Ask Developments and Cushman & Wakefield and latterly worked in JLL’s hotels and hospitality group.

Lynda Shillaw, chief executive of MAG Property said: “Establishing a strong team is really important for us as we move into the next phase of our growth. MAG Property is well placed to capitalise on its knowledge and expertise gained as a leading property company within the aviation sector.”

Jonathan Haigh, director of development management & infrastructure, added: “MAG Property has strong aspirations to realise the full potential of the substantial land bank across our airports and Julian joins the Development team at a really exciting time.

“We have a portfolio rich with development opportunity and Julian’s arrival reflects our ambition to step up our masterplanning and transactional activity to drive more schemes and deals forward at Manchester, London Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth, as well as the £800m Airport City Manchester project.”

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SPECIALIST travel management company Diversity Travel, based in Manchester, has appointed a customer relations expert to its senior team to enhance its client service offering.

Jean Crisp joins the firm as general manager with more than 20 years’ experience working in customer-focussed service development roles.

She joins Diversity in a newly created position to ensure the company continues to maximise service levels and optimises the customer experience.

Crisp will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the firm’s reservations, ticketing, fares, Visa, quality and training and rail teams.

Diversity Travel offers tailored travel management services to more than 2,000 clients in the charity, academic and not-for-profit sector including Save the Children International, Marie Stopes International and ActionAid. 

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MANCHESTER Building Society Group has announced changes to its senior management team.

Rob Green has joined the Society as interim finance director from Wesleyan Assurance, the UK’s fifth largest mutual Insurer, where he held the role of group finance director, succeeding Paul Gittins.

Ed Lord has also joined as chief risk and compliance officer. Lord has arrived following a career working across a number of senior risk management roles at financial institutions including the Co-operative Bank, National Bank of Australia, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays.