People: Montane Group; IoD; Aspire CRM
Buxton-based specialist independent brokerage the Montane Group has announced the launch of its new division – Montane Hotel & Leisure.
The new business line will headed by Chris Jones, who joins Montane Hotel & Leisure with over 25 years’ experience gained within residential and commercial investment, development, and hospitality. He has worked as a specialist supporting private offices, high net worth individuals and funds through the disposal and acquisition of assets throughout the UK and Europe.
Scott Murcott, managing director of the Montane Group, said: “I am proud to welcome Chris to the team. This is a very exciting time of growth for the Montane Group and Chris brings the ambition, network and personality to help create and develop a unique offering to market. We are aiming for Montane Hotel & Leisure to be known as the independent and boutique advisory service of choice for ambitious clients on the acquisition trail in the sector. The launch of this new specialist division also further cements our commitment to our chosen sectors and validates our group vision, ethos, and passion, bringing further strength to our portfolio of services.”
Jones added: “I am honoured to be joining such an exciting business, supported by a highly experienced team with great passion and dynamism. With the launch of the business now live, I look forward to meeting with clients and contacts old and new to discuss how we can provide value to their business strategy.”
Craig Bentley
The Institute of Directors (IoD) has appointed Craig Bentley as vice-chair for Leicestershire and South East Midlands.
Bentley is director of specialist management consulting firm Bentley Management and Consulting. He is also co-founder of Swotly, an ed-tech business which uses voice technology to improve parental engagement with children’s learning.
He succeeds Dr Shamir Ghumra as vice-chair and will remain as the branch ambassador for policy and governance.
Bentley said: said: “I am delighted to take on this role. We want to support local directors to deal with the challenges facing their organisations but also to provide them with the tools they need to prosper. I will be using my experience in helping clients to manage change and think through better ways of working.”
Dan Orton has joined Derby-based Aspire CRM and will be responsible for the delivery of the projects for both commercial and public sector.
Dan Orton and Richard Ashmole
Orton will be working with both the client teams and the technical delivery team at Aspire CRM and will be responsible for driving customer success across all projects, continuing to build on our strong customer relationships
He has had over 15 years’ experience in IT, managing teams in sales, project delivery and service delivery.
Orton said: “Having spent the vast majority of my career servicing enterprise IT clients in the maintenance space I felt like I needed new challenge with company that has the right culture fit and the desire to do right by the customer every time. From the initial conversations with the managing director Richard Ashmole plus people I knew who already worked in the business it was clear to see we all shared the same values which isn’t something I’d experienced previously.”
Ashmole said: “As we continue to grow as a business it was clear that we needed someone full time to manage our overall project delivery and relationships. Having spoken with Dan and understood his values and his previous experience it was clear he was the right individual to help us continue our growth and customer success, it’s a key position for the business, one that requires excellent people skills, stakeholder management and a commercial acumen. Dan ticks all of these boxes and we can’t wait to get started together.”
