People on the move: Roma Finance; Ward Hadaway; WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff

ROMA Finance, the Manchester based bridging finance and development lender, has appointed Steve Baker, as a non-executive director, and Simon Micklethwaite formerly of HSBC as relationship manager

Previously managing director (retail) at Together Money, Baker has more than 35 years’ senior experience in financial services and specialist lending, covering everything from board level sales and operations roles to defining and implementing business strategy programmes.

At Roma he will be helping to take the company to the next level of its growth and be influential in developing its future strategy, reviewing and improving processes and introducing new products.

As a non-executive board member, he will undertake a review of the bridging sector, including distribution and fulfilment, in order to prepare a road map for Roma Finance to ensure they continue to be an innovative lender and capitalise on new opportunities in a buoyant but changing market.  

Micklethwaite (pictured) was previously at HSBC for 18 years in senior roles including working in UK commercial banking committed to providing excellent customer service to enable clients to grow their business and providing structured financial solutions to facilitate the funding requirements via trade loans, and invoice finance facilities.
 
In his new role, he will develop new introducer relationships to enable Roma to facilitate customers borrowing requirements by utilising some of the new funds made available through the new funding line.

Roma Finance recently reported a multi-million pound post-Brexit funding facility via The Royal Bank of Scotland and an impressive 300% increase in lending volumes in Quarter one.

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LAW firm Ward Hadaway is expanding the range of services offered in its Manchester office with the recruitment of an experienced professional regulation lawyer.

Rachel Birks has joined the UK Top 100 law firm as a partner with more than 13 years’ experience advising on regulatory matters across the healthcare, social care, childcare and professional services sectors.

Birks started her regulatory career as an in-house lawyer at the General Medical Council and has gone on to act for five of the nine healthcare regulators in the UK.

She has been involved in the delivery of significant fitness to practise investigation contracts for two of the largest healthcare regulators.

Paul Johnson, executive partner at Ward Hadaway’s Manchester office, said: “Rachel’s recruitment further expands the range of services which we are able to offer to our clients from our Manchester operation.

“Her strong background and experience advising on matters across a range of different regulatory sectors adds greatly to the already strong line-up we have here.
“She has already shown herself to be a strong team player as well as a figure of authority in her specialist field so we are really pleased to welcome her on board.”

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THE Manchester office of global professional services consultancy WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff is stepping up its ambitions in the nuclear sector with the appointment of a leading industry figure.
 
Chris Conboy joins as business development director for the energy and industry team with a specific focus on growing the nuclear arm of the business.  

Conboy, who grew up in Warrington and has lived in Manchester for more than 15 years, joins the company from his previous role as director of account management at Amec Foster Wheeler where he was responsible for business development across its decommissioning, consultancy and European nuclear businesses.

With a remit to harness the growing number of opportunities in the UK nuclear sector, Conboy will build on WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff’s established reputation in the UK generation, decommissioning and new build sectors.

He will draw on his international expertise having previously established a new international nuclear business for a previous employer in Abu Dhabi, securing contracts across the UAE and Saudi Arabia.