People: HURST; Innova Design Solutions; Hilary Meredith Solicitors & more

ACCOUNTANCY firm HURST has appointed partner Mike Jackson to succeed Andrew Milnes as head of its business services team.

Milnes, who joined HURST in 1990, has headed the team for 15 years. He will stay on at HURST in a consultancy role.

The business services team provides advisory, audit and assurance services to companies across the North West and beyond. It is the largest team at HURST with 45 staff.

Over the past 12 months, the team has won dozens of new clients, including HMG Paints, The fresh Group, online nutrition business Monocore, utilities services firm PN Daly, of Milnrow, and Solutions SK of Stockport.

Mike, 36, of Saddleworth, joined HURST in 2004 from Deloitte. He became a partner last year and has played a leading role in the business services team’s expansion.

He said: “I’m extremely proud to take on Andrew’s mantle and will be working hard to ensure we build on the momentum and success we have had over recent years.

“We have a great proposition for the market, great clients and a fantastic team which Andrew has worked so hard to put together.

“Our mission remains unchanged – to achieve continued, sustainable growth for the team while supporting our clients to help them grow their businesses.”

HURST chief executive Tim Potter said: “Andrew feels the time is now right to hand over the reins and we believe Mike is the ideal successor.

“He has led on several key firm-wide initiatives and has been tremendously successful at winning new clients and becoming the key adviser to entrepreneurial businesses across a range of sectors.

“He has all the right qualities to lead the business services team and I have total confidence that he will continue to build on the excellent progress made under Andrew’s leadership.”

Meanwhile, Jo Warburton has been promoted from senior manager to associate partner in the team, which has also been strengthened by the recent arrival of audit senior Steven Moon from PwC and the addition of Vivienne Wong and Isabelle Luscombe, who are the latest trainees to enrol on to HURST’s graduate scheme.

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INNOVA Design Solutions has expanded its sales team with a trio of new recruits.

Daniel Heginbotham, Debbie Tunnicliffe and Jeremy Chuchla join the Stockport-based education and commercial interior specialist, bringing more than 50 years’ combined experience in sales.
 
Daniel Heginbotham joins Innova as national sales manager. Formerly the sales and business development leader at Demco Interiors, Heginbotham has secured and led manufacturing projects across the education and commercial sectors.

With a focus on South East expansion, Jeremy Chuchla, who previously spent more than 10 years at British Thornton, joins as area sales manager for the South East. Debbie Tunnicliffe has been appointed to support the team and joins as project co-ordinator.
 
Melanie Laing, director at Innova, said: ‘‘The expansion of the sales team is a reflection of an exciting time ahead for Innova. With a growing order book we identified the need for a strategic focus that eyes nationwide opportunities and expansion in key geographic areas including the South East.

“Daniel’s track record in sales and business development will help us identify and engage with prospects. With Jeremy’s extensive knowledge of the South East we are now able to target this key region, and with Debbie’s support, we can look forward to driving the business even further.”

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WILMSLOW-based Hilary Meredith Solicitors has appointed Mark Farrell as managing director.
 
Farrell, who joined the firm last year as operations director, has extensive experience in the legal, claims management and financial services sectors.

Previous roles include chief executive at Beresfords Solicitors and managing director at Capita.  He also has extensive experience in the insurance sector, having worked at Aon and Royal & Sun Alliance.
 
Hilary Meredith said: “Since joining as Operations Director at the beginning of 2015, Mark has been instrumental in increasing the strategic focus of the business.

“As a member of our main board he has an important role to play in the ongoing development of the firm.  We are delighted to appoint him as managing director.”
 
Farrell said: “In a fast changing legal services market, we are continuing to build the business by delivering an outstanding service to our clients.”

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LAMBERT Smith Hampton (LSH) has announced the promotion of Josh Levy and John Sullivan to the position of director.
 
Sullivan heads up LSH’s Manchester industrial agency team and has grown the team four-fold over the last two years.
 
He acts for a number of high profile clients such as Hermes Parcelnet, which has just instructed LSH to market a distribution warehouse at Knowsley Industrial Estate Park on Merseyside.
 
Levy oversees LSH’s office agency team based in Spinningfields, Manchester and has just been instructed on one of the region’s largest office requirements.

He plans on doubling the team’s turnover in just two years and is spearheading the introduction of a number of client-focussed services to cater for the ‘modern workplace’.
 
Matthew Scrimshaw, head of North region at LSH said: “We have very ambitious plans for LSH in the North West, and both Josh and John have proven that they are client-focussed and capable leaders. As such we have elevated them to the position of director and I look forward to working with them as they continue to grow their teams.”