People on the move: Stephensons; SAS Daniels; Tindall Perry Partnership; JLL; DueCourse; CarFinance 24
Legal firm Stephensons has added to its growing commercial law team with two new hires.
Julie Hunter – a commercial litigation expert – and Neil Marshall – specialising in corporate finance and business development, join the 30-strong commercial team based in Bolton.
Hunter joins Stephensons after 24 years at Bermans where she was a partner handling commercial litigation and dispute resolution matters for a number of leading financial institutions.
She specialises in commercial and finance disputes, business and insolvency matters, contesting high profile cases on behalf of clients, including precedent setting cases at the Court of Appeal.
Marshall brings more than 30 years’ experience in the commercial banking sector for NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland where he provided advice and support to growing businesses with a range of commercial transactions.
He will assist Stephensons’ business clients with important development and investment transactions, including mortgages, asset based lending, acquisitions, restructuring and project management.
Jonathan Chadwick, head of commercial at Stephensons, said: “I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to both Julie and Neil as they take up their new roles.
“Each brings added strength to our team of advisors in the North West. Julie is a well-regarded lawyer with a solid background in commercial and financial legal work. Neil is a unique addition to a corporate team, adding to our value proposition.
“The experience that they bring in their respective disciplines is unmatched and this will be a key part of the growth of our commercial law offering. I am certain that they will be a considerable asset to the business.”
::
North West law firm SAS Daniels has appointed Stephen Foster as a partner in its growing Employment Law and HR team.
Foster will lead the employment law side of the firm’s education sector team that services over 85 schools, colleges and academies with employment law and HR advice.
Based at the firm’s Stockport office, he brings more than 15 years’ experience gained at a number of major corporations including Kelloggs, The Co-operative, and law firm DWF.
His experience covers all aspects of employment law and HR including all grounds of discrimination, redundancies and re-organisations, and TUPE transfers.
Foster is an experienced advocate having represented clients in both employment tribunals, but brings a special focus on advising, training and supporting management across issues as diverse as absence management, managing disabilities and reducing claims arising from disciplinaries and grievances in order to save clients’ time and money.
His appointment follows a period of high growth for SAS Daniels’ employment law and HR practice. The team supports clients from all four of the firm’s offices in Stockport, Macclesfield, Chester and Congleton.
It also hit the £1 million mark for the annual value of contracts for its SAS Protect and HR Solutions services in 2016.
Jonathan Whittaker, senior partner and head of the employment law and HR team said “Stephen brings a wealth of experience in managing staff matters across a variety of sectors and his appointment is fundamental to our continued success in the Education sector. As part of our on-going growth strategy, Stephen will also a play a key part in our ambitious plans for our Employment & HR team in 2017
Foster said: “SAS Daniels is ambitious and I’ve been impressed by its ‘no ordinary law firm’ approach to clients and servicing.”
::
Manchester-based Tindall Perry Partnership – the specialist finance recruitment consultancy – has started 2017 with a bang after recruiting Michael Avis from Stark Brooks.
Avis has joined Tindall Perry as a director and will be focusing on the placement of senior financial executives across the UK.
He has worked in the recruitment industry for more than 15 years. He has held positions at ECHM and TMP Worldwide, and was a director at Stark Brooks for nearly nine years.
Over his career Avis has built up a strong network and reputation with a particular focus on blue chip and SME clients. His experience transcends a diverse range of sectors including retail, FMCG, construction, engineering, technology and financial services.
Leyla Tindall – managing director of Tindall Perry – said: “We are delighted that Michael has joined us as he is one of the recruitment industry’s most respected figures. He brings with him a wealth of experience that is already adding commercial value.
“We realise the success of our company is based on the quality of our people, as well as the service we provide to clients and candidates, so our primary goal is to attract the very best recruiters. This will be a focus for us this year as we are aiming to grow the team, our offering and market share.”
Avis said: “Tindall Perry has a first class reputation so the appeal of joining was obvious – especially as Leyla’s vision for the business mirrors my own ambitions. I’m now looking forward to growing the firm’s presence in my specialist areas as well as adding value to its existing client base.”
As well as Avis, the business has also recruited Louise Oakes as its new candidate manager. Her new role will see her co-ordinate the ongoing relationships between Tindall Perry’s consultants and candidates to ensure data and market-intel is up to date.
::
Project architects Alice Parker and Ian Mellor at Pozzoni Architecture in Altrincham, Greater Manchester have both been promoted to associates.
Both architects have been at the practice for just over two years, with Parker working predominately on education projects while Ian has worked with the senior living team on the design of care, extra-care and retirement living schemes.
Amongst other projects, Parker is currently leading on a project at Manchester Enterprise Academy and has played a lead role in Pozzoni’s designs for the high profile private hospital, Nuffield Health Manchester.
As well as working on projects for English Care Villages, including Tattenhall Care Village which is due for completion in February, Mellor plays an active role in Pozzoni’s Academy.
Working alongside Academy lead, Emma Tanti, Ian supports students ranging from sixth form through to university level with the practice’s student programme.
Director at Pozzoni, Nigel Saunders, said: “It’s been an incredibly busy few months at Pozzoni and Alice and Ian’s promotions reflect a trajectory of growth for the practice.
“With recent new client wins and current major projects including Manchester’s new Nuffield Hospital, the Village 135 senior living community, the Manchester Enterprise Academy, along with a diverse range of major developments across the country it’s a really exciting time for us.
“We’re all really pleased to see Alice and Ian progress and I’d like to congratulate them both on their success.”
::
Andrew Lynn has been promoted to lead JLL’s industrial agency business unit in Manchester.
Lynn joined the professional services and investment management company in 2013 and has advised on some of the North West’s most notable industrial and logistics schemes including Logistics North, Carrington Business Park and Kingsway Business Park throughout his 12-year career.
In his new role, he will now lead the firm’s team for the North West, replacing Daniel Burn, who recently took up a role at long-term JLL client db symmetry.
Last year the team transacted a total three million sq ft of lettings and sales in the region for clients such as Harworth Estates, Harbet, Miller Developments, LondonMetric, Exeter Property Group, MAG and Standard Life.
David Lathwood, lead director for the North West at JLL, said: “Andrew’s experience and credentials in the North West’s industrial market made him the clear choice to lead the team for the region.
“An increasing number of clients are looking to our teams, from initial planning and development stages through to agency, to support their strategy at a time when the North West market’s long-term shortage of industrial stock and huge occupier demand are driving activity.
“Recruiting and cultivating some of the best talent has put us in the best position to provide senior-level consultancy in the region. Andrew’s thoroughly well-deserved promotion supports the North West office to this end.
“We also want to thank Daniel for his 16 years of work at JLL. We have a great relationship with db symmetry and wish Daniel the best of luck in his new role.”
::
Rapidly expanding Manchester company DueCourse, the smart invoice financing specialist for SMEs, is starting the year on a high with a major recruitment drive following the appointment of an operations director, two software engineers, and a content lead, taking its growing team of experts to 15.
Joining as operations director is Matt Heap who boasts 16 years’ experience across a range of senior management and director roles within the alternative credit market. His credentials include roles at Bellavail IMS, Loan.co.uk and Baines & Ernst.
Also joining the DueCourse team, as a senior software engineer, is Julian Haegar who brings with him a wealth of experience gained at leading firms, Laterooms.com, Waters and Trayport.
DueCourse has also appointed software engineer Andrew Johnson. Having previously worked with Ravelin Technology, Goldman Sachs International and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Johnson is highly experienced in full stack development, application architecture and algorithm design and computation.
Completing the line-up is highly experienced content marketer and journalist Justine Gribbin, who arrives as content hero. Her career history includes creation with TyresOnTheDrive.com and editorial experience with Staffordshire Media makes her an invaluable addition to the DueCourse team.
CEO Paul Haydock said: “It’s great to be able to bring an experienced operations director, two very talented software engineers and a highly talented content lead onto our growing team. Their invaluable skills will help us deliver our aim of developing DueCourse into a global brand.
“We are excited to see what the year ahead brings for our ever-growing team. We intend to secure even more investment to help us support the UK’s SMEs, and we’ll be getting out into the local business community to lend a hand in every way possible.”
::
The UK’s fastest growing online motor finance firm CarFinance 247 has made three senior level appointments to further bolster its capabilities in providing award winning customer service and to support its expansion plans in 2017.
Julie Atkinson joins as compliance director, Matthew Williams has been appointed to a newly- created role of head of learning & development and Andrew Haines becomes head of marketing.
Aktinson brings more than 15 years of experience in compliance to CarFinance 247, joining the company from Different Money (Loans) where she was compliance director. Prior to this Atkinson held senior positions at Travelex, Lifestyle Service Group (Insurance), Hammonds and Thomas Cook.
The appointments come on the back of a hugely successful year for the firm. In the past 12 months it has more than doubled its workforce and created a new employee training division, Academy 247.
Williams has been appointed to oversee Academy 247. He joins from software specialist Sage.
Following the introduction of a new external brand and proposition, Andrew Haines joins to help take the marketing and brand awareness to the next level and to help the business further establish its position as brand leader in the market.
Haines has held high-ranking marketing roles within the Fairpoint Group, MBNA Bank of America, Simplyhealth and BUPA prior to joining CarFinance 247.
Managing director Reg Rix said: “Our ongoing success is very much down to our people, culture and a team effort, with a single-minded goal to continue to deliver the best customer experience in the sector.
“Julie, Matthew and Andrew each bring a wealth of relevant experience into the business and will help us as we expand market share and gain further recognition as a leading motor finance brand in 2017.”
