Latest appointments: New VC for Leeds Met; Irwin Mitchell recruits and more

PROFESSOR Susan Price has taken up the role as vice chancellor at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Professor Price joins Leeds Met from the University of East London where she was acting vice chancellor.

She said: “I am absolutely delighted to be here in Leeds and very much looking forward to meeting colleagues over the coming weeks. I have already been struck by just how friendly a place our university is and have no doubt that we will continue to build a strong, enterprising and innovative institution in this great city. ”

Speaking six European languages Professor Price is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

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KATE Lahive has joined Sheffield-based PR firm HR Media as account manager from The Star where she was the health reporter for more than 12 years.

Previously she was a journalist at the Nottingham Evening Post and the Scunthorpe Telegraph.

Ms Lahive will work on a variety of HR Media’s health related clients including Westfield Health, Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, GP Consortium and Weston Park Hospital.

Managing director Martin Ross said: “We are delighted Kate has joined the team. Kate already knows this business well, and we look forward to her contribution to the further development of the company.”

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LAW firm Irwin Mitchell has added to its regulatory and criminal investigations group (RCG) with the appointment of a new solicitor to work at its Sheffield and Manchester offices.
 
Riad Ahmed joins from Cartwright King Solicitors as a specialist in business defence and fraud cases and has extensive experience in defending high value fraud prosecutions.
 
Paul Haycock, associate director of Irwin Mitchell’s RCG team, said: “Riad has a wide range of experience working on serious and complex criminal prosecutions and we are delighted he has joined the team.”

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PHIL Houghton has joined Leeds-based retail logistics specialist Clipper Logistics as business implementation manager.

Mr Houghton has more than 20 years’ logistics industry expertise gained from his previous roles as general manager at Christian Salvesen and business development manager for specialist projects at Wincanton.

With a background in automated solutions and retail logistics Mr Houghton also headed up a number of interim contracts including an operational efficiency programme for the Ministry of Defence.

Clipper was recently listed in this year’s Sunday Times Top Track 250 of Britain’s biggest mid-market businesses and is pursuing plans for increased pan-European operations 12 months after its acquisition of Beständig Group.

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LEEDS-based interior designers Ben Huckerby Design has brought on board a new designer.

Michael Booth studied fashion promotion and fashion design at Huddersfield College and has since worked in retail fashion, starting as supervisor at Russell and Bromley.

He then worked at All Saints holding several roles including standing supervisor, head of alterations and visual merchandising specialist.

Owner and design director Ben Huckerby said: “Michael is a great asset to the team. I am confident that his background in fashion will enable him to input from a new perspective. We’re looking forward to expanding further this year as we have ambitious growth plans for 2010.”