Appointments: ClearSky HR; Hill Dickinson; CBRE; TGE; Innova

LAW firm Hill Dickinson has appointed Joanne Raisbeck as solicitor to its family team in Liverpool.

She has joined from the Manchester office of Pannone, and has previously worked for Bell Lamb & Joynson, and Nelsons.

Raisbeck, who has more than 14 years of experience in family law, is a member of Resolution, the organisation dedicated to a non-confrontational approach to family law.

Tricia Cottrell, head of the family team, said: “The appointment of Joanne is a valuable boost to the team and will contribute to the range of services offered by the firm. During family disputes, financial issues are often an area of contention, therefore, Joanne’s experience in family businesses amongst other areas will undoubtedly be of benefit to our new and existing clients.”

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CBRE has boosted its building consultancy team with five appointments.

Stuart Mercer and Gary Baxter have joined as associate directors into the engineering Services team under Jason Nuttall. They will be based in the firm’s Manchester and Liverpool offices respectively.  

Stacey Robinson joins from Balfour Beatty ES as a CAD technician/project coordinator. Oliver Cottam is the new senior surveyor in the building surveying team based in of Manchester and Peter Rigby has been appointed as a surveyor in Liverpool. Both surveyors previously worked at Deloitte.

Angela Seddon, senior director and head of building consultancy in the North West, said: “Over the last three years we have continued to grow in strength. Our team has more than doubled in size, with 20 people now working for us in the North West, which is a real achievement in what has been a very difficult market. As the economy changes and we emerge into a new market place, I believe that by restructuring our team and sourcing the best people in the industry, we are now best placed amongst our peers in the North West to offer our clients – both in the public and private sectors – an unrivalled level of expertise, advice and service.”

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TGE Group, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of renewable energy and heat technologies, has appointed Richard Forde-Johnston as its new head of sales.

Based at the head office in Nantwich, he will be responsible for improving sales processes and building sales strategies.

Managing director Rupert Higgin said: “We look forward to working with him and drawing on his experience to help implement our ambitious strategy with the continued development of commercial sales.”

Forde-Johnston has previously headed and developed sales territories for Vodafone as well as SMEs operating in a number of business sectors.

He said: “TGE Group is a very ambitious company within a growing sector. I can’t wait to get stuck in and help the business to continue to drive sales forward amongst key commercial clients and maximise the company’s impact within the renewables sector.”

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EMPLOYMENT law and human resources (HR) consultancy ClearSky HR has appointed Sharon Bishop as its new head of sales.

With more than 12 years’ industry experience, she joins the Warrington-based professional services provider from rival firm Bibby Consulting.

Prior to Bibby’s acquisition by Citation in August of this year, Bishop was in charge of business development, where she managed a team of 38 in-house and field-sales representatives. She will now be responsible for developing and expanding the ClearSky HR sales team.

Derek Kelly, managing director of ClearSky HR, said: “Sharon’s wealth of experience is exemplary, with a significant track record in driving HR sales and delivering against targets. She shares our commitment to providing outstanding service and will play an integral role in building and maintaining relationships with Britain’s growing army of small businesses.”

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FURNITURE manufacturer and supplier Innova Design Solutions has appointed Philip Parry as quality manager.

Parry, 44, joins Innova after 15 years running his own consultancy business, delivering quality assurance to a number of major clients including Transport for London and the London Underground.

Working across the company, he is looking to deliver quality management standard ISO 9001:2008, as well as ISO’s health and safety and environmental standards under an integrated management system.

Stockport-based Innova recently invested £1m in new premises and equipment to meet increasing demand for its products across the education, commercial and health sectors.

He said: “It is an exciting time to be joining Innova, which is expanding very successfully. That inevitably means a lot of changes so I am working to make sure we have a system that continues to meet or exceed our customer and regulatory requirements and which is also suitable for our specific business needs and growth aspirations.”