Appointments: Lawyer moves to Chorley Group; Dame Nancy & more
A LANCASHIRE lawyer has joined a fast-growing motor dealership in an executive position.
Stacey Carter, 30, has moved from law firm Napthens to Chorley Group, where she had joined the board as HR director and legal counsel.
The family-run business, which turned over £113m in the last financial year, is looking to expand its dealership network in the region.
It operates Nissan, Kia, Fiat and Hyundai franchises across the North West, has already submitted plans to build a vehicle storage and maintenance workshop and offices on the site of a former forensic science laboratory at Washington Hall, Euxton.
Carter said: “This is an exciting time to be joining the Chorley Group and I’m really relishing the challenge this new role presents. The business has major growth ambitions and I’m looking forward to playing my part, working alongside the other directors.”
Chairman Andy Turner, who founded the Chorley Group in 1989, added: “It’s great to have someone with Stacey’s legal knowledge and experience on the board.
“As the company expands, HR will become increasingly important as we look to develop our own people so the time was right to appoint the first HR director in the company’s history.”
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DAME Nancy Rothwell, president & vice chancellor of The University of Manchester has been appointed as the new chair of Corridor Manchester, the partnership of key institutions within the Oxford Road area of Manchester.
Prof Rothwell took over as chair from Prof John Brooks on June 1 following his retirement from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Dame Nancy said: “Corridor Manchester is a unique partnership which aims to make the Corridor one of the UK’s leading locations for knowledge-based businesses, R&D and learning and knowledge. The University of Manchester will continue to work with our partners to deliver the future success of the Corridor and, as chair, I am committed to progressing the strategy and building on the great work started by John.”
Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “There’s no doubt that Corridor Manchester – right at the heart of Manchester’s knowledge-based industries – has made a major contribution to the success of the city and is going to have an even more important part to play in the years ahead.”
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ANITA Harrison-Carroll has been promoted to director of Sovini Trade Supplies, the specialist building and timber merchants in Merseyside.
She has been with the group since January 2010, initially employed as a contracts manager for One Vision Housing. After introduction of the Sovini Group structure in 2012, she was appointed as group procurement manager. Last year she helped launch the trade supplies business as head of operations.
Harrison-Carroll has played a key in securing a number of contracts with Keepmoat, Mark One Interiors, Upholland Property Services, and North Liverpool Construction.
She said: “Setting up this new business has certainly been challenging, but after its first pivotal year we surpassed our goals and expectations; which the team and I are extremely proud of.
“This is just the start. Our sales target for the next four years is £20 to £25m, which we plan to achieve by investing in our people, systems and environment to provide forward-thinking and innovate supply chain solutions to existing and future customers across the North West.”
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BLACKBURN-based business telecoms provider Abbey Telecom has strengthened its executive team with the hire of an experienced sector professional as a director.
Andy Wilson was the head of sales and service for BT Conferencing in the 1990s before becoming sales and marketing director at Ryder Systems. He helped in the sale of the business to the US software company The CTI Group, where he became the worldwide vice president for sales and marketing. Prior to this move, he was managing director of PCMG, a cost management consultancy firm.
He said: “My primary objective is to build on recent progress and accelerate our growth by generating more sales in the North West region. We’ve hundreds of clients nationally but it always makes sense to win business locally and we’re as keen as ever to do more on our home patch.”
Abbey Telecom managing director Tony Raynor added: “I have known Andy for over 20 years and he has a brilliant track record for helping companies increase their turnover.”
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LAW firm Hill Dickinson has announced the appointment of Paul Walsh as partner, further strengthening the commercial litigation team at a senior level.
Walsh, 33, joins the firm’s Liverpool office from DLA, where he spent 12 years.
He has wide ranging commercial dispute resolution experience acting for a spread of international, national and regional corporate clients in relation to domestic and cross-border disputes.
Walsh joins the team following its success in winning the dispute resolution award at the Liverpool Legal Awards last month, upon which judges described the team as “demonstrating evidence of leadership, initiative, innovative thinking and excellent client service.”
Hill Dickinson’s Head of Business Services, David Chinn, said: “This announcement follows on from a number of recent senior level appointments across the business services group and demonstrates our ambition to grow the firm with the most talented lawyers in our field.”
