People: Bank fills three senior roles; University appointment for Sir Vince Cable; and more

Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking has made three senior appointments.

Richard Ford and Lee Mason have been appointed as invoice finance directors at the bank’s flagship office on Colmore Row, while Abigail Holloway has been promoted to invoice finance associate director.

All three will be part of Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking’s 12 strong invoice finance team in the Midlands, led by director James Meakin.

Invoice finance and asset-based lending allow firms to unlock working capital, the day-to-day cost of doing business, releasing cash that is tied up in assets such as stock, machinery and unpaid invoices.

Meakin said: “Abi, Lee and Richard boast more than 80 years of combined experience between them, and these promotions will enable them to focus on helping businesses across the Midlands unlock cash that can be used to fund growth.

“Lloyds Bank stands firmly by the side of businesses in the Midlands, the lifeblood of our regional economy. Helping them to better manage their cashflow is a key focus for us as we help them prosper. Our latest Working Capital Index found that Midlands businesses had more than £73 billion tied up in stock and materials, and working capital management can help business to release these funds and enable investment.

“Invoice finance, for example, allows firms to access the money they are owed in unpaid client bills very quickly, often within 24 hours, freeing up cash that can then be used to help catalyse growth.”

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Sir Vince Cable has been appointed visiting professor at the Centre for Brexit Studies at Birmingham City University, as well as BCU’s Institute for Design and Economic Acceleration (IDEA).

Sir Vince was named leader of the Liberal Democrats in July 2017 after a career in politics spanning over 20 years.

He read Natural Sciences and Economics at Cambridge University, where he was President of the Union, followed by a PhD at Glasgow University. In 1981 he joined the Social Democratic Party (now the Liberal Democrat Party) and has been a member ever since. He was first elected as MP for Twickenham in 1997.

During the coalition government, Sir Vince was the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. Before starting his career in politics, he spent a lot of his life in academia and business, including the role of Chief Economist at Shell.

The politician has a track record of supporting the university. On being named Leader of the Liberal Democrats in July 2017, he chose to speak at Birmingham City University at his first engagement in the West Midlands.

It is hoped that Sir Vince will use his extensive list of contacts to add to the stable of collaborators, including economist Vicky Pryce, Research Professor Vernon Bogdanor, political economist Will Hutton and author AC Grayling.

The IDEA Institute think tank, which supports start-ups and entrepreneurial development, will be drawing on the politician’s extensive economic insights and experience as an economist, while the Centre for Brexit Studies will be tapping into Sir Vince Cable’s political expertise.

Sir Vince said: “I was delighted to be responsible for bringing Beverley Nielsen into the Lib Dems and for as long as I have known her she has worked at BCU, most recently leading her think tank, the Institute for Design & Economic Acceleration, IDEA, and her engagement with the University’s innovative Centre for Brexit Studies.”

“Through this relationship I have been able to visit BCU on numerous occasions and very memorably on taking over the leadership of our party. I congratulate the university for its outreach and business engagement and see it is firmly positioned as the university meeting the needs of the people of Birmingham,” he added.

Professor Alex de Ruyter, director at the Centre for Brexit Studies, said: “We are delighted to share the news that Sir Vince Cable has joined us at the Centre for Brexit Studies. We are incredibly proud of the work we do here at the centre, and Vince’s contribution will no doubt benefit the Centre for Brexit Studies in a huge amount of ways.

“We look forward to working with Vince, and collaborating in future work and events.”

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Solihull-headquartered housebuilder Hayfield has promoted Andy Morris to operations director and Dan Hurst to chief finance Officer.

The promotions have been made as the three-year-old housebuilding business gears up for a period of rapid expansion, which will see it build 200 luxury homes over the next 12 months.

Morris has worked alongside Hayfield’s managing director Mark Booth since 2006, when he joined Banner Homes Midlands Division. He was promoted to contracts manager at Banner in 2011 and since the takeover by CALA Homes three years later, he has worked as associate construction director at Rectory Homes and as a senior construction manager at Berkeley Group. Morris joined Hayfield in 2018 from Linden Homes Thames Valley where he was the construction director.

Hurst joined Hayfield 16 months ago. His previous role was as the finance manager of Morris Homes.

Booth said: “As we build up our landbank and embark on a number of new developments, the time was right to acknowledge the huge input from two of our management team by promoting them to Directors.

“I have worked with Andy Morris for over a decade. He is very organised, thorough, driven and has a huge amount of industry experience to bring to the table. Andy has been instrumental in working through the complexities of our development at the former Stanton Harcourt WWII Airfield in Oxfordshire, which we will launch to the market in September.

“Since Dan Hurst joined us in March 2018, he has demonstrated an amazing work rate and in-depth understanding of how Hayfield operates. He has the foresight to assess the needs and performance of the business as we gear up for a period of rapid growth. I am proud of the fact that at 30 years old, he is a young CFO who is fully capable of the challenge this senior role demands. By developing young talent and promoting from within, we are proactively developing the next cohort.”

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Autins Group appoints Neil MacDonald as Non-Executive Director to the board.

Rugby-based Autins is a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of acoustic and thermal insulation solutions for the automotive sector.

MacDonald, a Chartered Accountant with more than 30 years of experience in engineering industries, is the former Group Finance Director of AES Engineering Limited, the international mechanical seals manufacturer; and previously Group Finance Director of the international aerospace company, Firth Rixson.

He currently serves on the board of Pressure Technologies plc as Non-Executive Chairman and  holds numerous other non-executive roles in the public and private sector.

Adam Attwood, non-executive Chairman, said: “We are delighted to welcome Neil to the Board of Autins Group plc.  Neil brings a wealth of experience from his successful finance career in engineering companies and, more recently, from his various non-executive roles.”