People: Seven partner promotions at law firm; New CEO for marketing services group; Senior appointment at events company; and more

Law firm Ward Hadaway has announced a string of promotions with seven of its lawyers promoted to partner.

Sophie Bohill, Saji Bratch, Matt Cormack, Sarah Crilly, Tom Pollard, Julia Thomson and Graham Vials have all now joined the partnership at the firm, which operates from offices in Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester.

The newly promoted partners work in a range of different departments across Ward Hadaway.

Jamie Martin, managing partner at Ward Hadaway, said: “We are delighted to promote no fewer than seven of our outstanding lawyers to the partnership here at Ward Hadaway.

“All seven have proved themselves to be invaluable to their respective teams and to the clients who they carry out work for and their promotions are richly deserved.

“It is particularly pleasing to see the high number of newly promoted female partners at the firm, emphasising how committed we are to developing the careers of all of our lawyers.

“In a similar vein, many of our new partners began their careers as trainees at Ward Hadaway and are repaying our faith and investment in their abilities.

“The in-depth expertise, extensive experience and commitment to client service excellence which all of our newly promoted Partners possess makes us look forward to the future with confidence.”

The firm now has 93 partners and employs a total of more than 450 people across its three offices.

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People’s Holdings has strengthened its management team with the appointment of Vikki Macleod as chief executive.

The marketing services group has grown quickly in the last two years to now employ 85 people at its Leeds headquarters.

Peoples Holding’s offers ethical and data-led acquisition services to partners, to ensure they receive the right customers at the right time. It supports consumers throughout their journey both online and offline and allows partners to benefit from targeted social marketing.

Macleod joins the business from senior roles at Tesco Bank and Virgin Money, where she was director of insurance and new partnership product development. She brings extensive experience from the financial services, software, fin-tech, and gaming sectors.

Macleod said: “People’s Holdings has grown quickly by putting the customer at the heart of its business. By championing the customer and using the latest social media and digital marketing techniques it has created a new model for the sector that is winning clients across the UK.”

The company’s current chief executive, Joseph Battle, will move to a strategic role on the board.

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West Yorkshire’s Simply Better Events has appointed Lisa Roberts-Jones as a senior project manager.

She joins the corporate events company’s operations team from We are Vista, where she was senior logistics manager.

Roberts-Jones has 11 years’ experience in event delivery, venue search and delegate management. She’s worked with clients in a variety of sectors, including financial, automotive, retail, healthcare, technology, and the music industry, managing and delivering a variety of roadshows, conferences, AGMs, awards ceremonies and experiential events. She also has a degree in Events Management from Leeds Metropolitan University.

Simply Better Events has been appointed by seven new clients in the last three months, and increased turnover by 19% in the last year to £2.86m.

Rob Woodhead, managing director, said: “Lisa is a great fit with our business, her expertise will strengthen our team and ensure that we continue to deliver remarkable experiences for our clients old and new.”