People: Four board members join Sheffield City Region LEP; Director of Nexus announced; Carter Towler make two senior promotions; and more

Laura Bennett

Four board members have joined the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.

The new private sector members were selected from an open application process. They are:

· Laura Bennett. A Sheffield-based specialist in entrepreneurship and the digital economy. Bennett designed and delivered Founders’ Network, a peer-to-peer learning programme for entrepreneurs. Previously she was director of operations for an entrepreneurship education consultancy, and for a social enterprise in Peru.

· Alexa Greaves. Chief executive of AAG, the IT managed services company of Barlborough, Chesterfield. Greaves developed AAG from a start-up business to a £5m revenue service provider, and was previously vice president of corporate foreign exchange with JP Morgan Chase bank.

· Neil MacDonald. A former Master Cutler, MacDonald has been finance director in the international engineering businesses Firth Rixson and AES, and has an in-depth knowledge of corporate structures, public and private. Since retiring he has held numerous trustee and non- executive roles, currently including Pressure Technologies..

· Richard Stubbs. A senior leader in national health and innovation organisations, based in Sheffield. He is currently the chief executive of the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network. In a previous role he was head of commercial and international innovation for NHS England.

The four new private sector members will work with LEP Board Chairman Sir Nigel Knowles, fellow board appointees, and the city region’s political leaders to push forward business growth projects, major infrastructure improvements, skills initiatives and trade and investment work. It is hoped that a fifth new board member will be announced shortly.

The board will also be supported by former board members Chris Scholey and Simon Carr, who will work on specific priorities including housing and infrastructure. Chris Husbands, vice-chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, has also agreed to be co-opted to the board to help lead on skills and employability.

Sir Nigel Knowles, chair of the Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “These appointments continue to strengthen our work, which is central to stimulating economic growth across the region.

“We’ve seen 37,000 jobs created in the region in the past two years, and we lead the way in many international projects, with supercar manufacturers McLaren Automotive and aero giant Boeing opting to join us because of our reputation for research and innovation and our track record of getting things done.”

Current members of the board are Sir Nigel; Vice Chair Nigel Brewster; Gavin Baldwin, CEO of Doncaster Rovers FC; Sir Keith Burnett, Vice Chancellor of the University of Sheffield; Julie Kenny, Chairman of Robson Handling Technology; Martin McKervey, Partner at CMS and the nine local council leaders that make up Sheffield City Region.

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Dr Martin Stow has been appointed as the director of Nexus, the University of Leeds’ new £40m innovation centre.

He will lead a programme to embed new approaches to nurturing and supporting innovation and enterprise across the University.

Nexus will enable external partners to access the University’s health, engineering, environment and data science & technology capabilities and expertise to drive forward collaborative innovation.

Stow, who is due to join the University on 30 October, said: “I am very excited and privileged to start working with the team at Leeds, to catalyse a culture of collaboration, innovation and impact across the University and beyond.

“Together we will bring our world class ideas, concepts and technologies to deliver breakthrough solutions to real world, market-based problems.”

Stow is a biochemist by training with a first class honours degree and DPhil (PhD) from the University of York. He has over 25 years’ experience working in senior worldwide research and development and leadership roles within the healthcare and life science industries both in multinational businesses – as Vice President for Research and Development with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) – and in ‘start up’ organisations, most recently as the CEO of GENEU Ltd, a disruptive and innovative DNA personalised skincare business.

Stow continued: “My role will be to use this perspective to help us unlock the enormous potential and commercial value that resides within the University.”

Professor Lisa Roberts, deputy vice-chancellor: research and innovation at the University of Leeds, said: “I am delighted that Martin is joining us to direct Nexus. He has a superb track record of working at senior levels within industry, so his experience will be invaluable to Leeds in driving forward a culture of innovation, by initiating connections between our Nexus tenants and our researchers and providing both with strong mentorship and support to achieve impactful outcomes.”

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Chartered surveyors Carter Towler has made two senior promotions and appointed six additional staff.

Josh Holmes and Chris Green have been made directors, bringing the total number of directors at Carter Towler to ten.

Holmes, who joined Carter Towler five years ago, has successfully concluded over 450,000 sq ft of deals on multi-let industrial estates in the last year. His clients include Schroders Real Estate Investment Trust, Legal & General’s Industrial Property Investment Fund (IPIF), PGIM, Orchard Street Investment Management LLP, CBRE Global Investors, Marrtree Investments and Frank Marshall Estates.

Green was appointed in 2015 to head up Carter Towler’s professional services team. Working with a number of high street banks and secondary lenders,he has more than doubled the department’s fee income.

The six recent appointments are: Max Vause, trainee surveyor; Chris Harrison, assistant surveyor; Mark Marshall, compliance co-ordinator; Zack Sorkin, graduate property management surveyor; Kim Gray, credit controller and Gary Lewsley, service charge manager.

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A solicitor with a strong track record in family law and social care law is has joined the children’s department at niche family law firm, Jones Myers.

Sasha Williams joins the department’s nine-strong team – which includes an ‘in house’ counsel – and attracts complex and varied casework in the UK and overseas. Her experience spans areas including residence, contact, immigration, asylum and domestic violence.

Williams will be based in the firm’s Leeds office. She said: “The reputation of Jones Myers, which is among the country’s most respected family law firms, is second to none and I’m looking forward to contributing to the ongoing success of the practice.”

Headed by Kate Banerjee, who has Higher Court Rights and is a member of the International Child Abduction and Custody Unit , the department’s team members jointly combine almost nine decades of expertise.

Banerjee added: “In today’s evolving modern world, families are more diverse – bringing wider issues, which impact on children. With a wealth of experience in family law and social care law, Sasha’s expertise compliments our skills as our national and international casework continues to increase.”

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