People: CEO of Britvic takes board role with housebuilder; Credit lender appoints CFO; and more

The chief executive of drinks giant Britvic has joined the board of York-based housebuilder Persimmon.

Simon Litherland has been appointed as non-executive director with effect from April 3, and will also become a member of the company’s audit, remuneration and nomination committees.

Litherland is a qualified accountant and has more than 25 years’ experience in finance and leadership roles within the drinks manufacturing and distribution sector.

Prior to joining Britvic in 2011, he worked for global drinks manufacturer Diageo, ultimately becoming managing director of Diageo Great Britain.

Nicholas Wrigley, chairman of Persimmon, said: “We are delighted to welcome Simon to the Board. His experience in consumer facing industries and his strategic and financial experience will add to the balance of skills and experience of our directors, which will be of great benefit to Persimmon.”

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Leeds credit lender International Personal Finance has appointed Justin Lockwood as chief financial officer.

Lockwood, previously the company’s head of finance, assumed the role of interim CFO in September.

He will maintain his position on the company’s executive committee and is also appointed as an executive director of the board with immediate effect.

Lockwood joined IPF in March 2010 having previously held senior finance positions at Associated British Ports and Marshalls.  

Gerard Ryan, chief executive of IPF, said: “We are delighted to appoint Justin as CFO of IPF. After a thorough and extensive search process, the board concluded that Justin’s experience and depth of insight into the markets in which IPF operates made him the most suitable candidate for this role.”
 

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Yonder new recruitsRapid business growth at the Leeds-based building physics firm Yonder has prompted the recruitment of four staff.

Construction industry adviser Yonder has hired building physics engineers Nina Glover and Saba Maskin, plus senior sustainability consultant Crystal MacLeod and junior building physics engineer Prince Limon.

The new arrivals take the firm’s workforce to 13.

Building physics engineering is a young but rapidly growing discipline whose practitioners use powerful technological tools to model important elements of buildings’ performance and recommend ways of improving them.

Yonder managing director Rob Gill said: “We’re very excited to have recruited the four newcomers and are certain they’ll all play key roles in helping us handle and expand the rapidly increasing demand for our services.    

“We received some help from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership when moving offices from Harrogate to Leeds late last year. A condition of this assistance was that we created at least three new full-time jobs and one part-time role within 18 months. Our growth is so spectacular at present that we’ve achieved this expansion within a few weeks.”    

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