People on the move: Blackstone Solicitors; Studio Jo and Co, Elitetele.com
Blackstone Solicitors in Hale, Greater Manchester has welcomed Mary-Ann Orr to its fast-growing team of professionals.
Orr is a corporate lawyer and has previously worked in-house at a FTSE Top 10 company.
Orr studied law at the University of Cambridge, her experience includes negotiating and drafting commercial contracts; providing proactive commercial legal advice, and policies and procedures regarding compliance with international sanctions.
Managing director of Blackstone Emma Nawaz said: “We are thrilled to welcome Mary-Ann to the Blackstone team. Undoubtedly her vast experience within commercial corporate matters will complement our team of passionate, highly skilled lawyers.”
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Liverpool-based agency Studio Jo and Co has expanded its team and its client reach.
The agency has taken on Steve James as senior designer and Luke Hargreaves as brand executive.
A flurry of recent client wins has led to the agency having a more international flavour.
In addition to working for the Wall Street Journal in New York and Pilotage Asset Management in Zurich, the team have secured work with law firm Lennox Paton in the Bahamas and a brace of Jersey-based companies Catterson Wood Property and Nicola Murray Interiors.
Director Gary Wheat said: “We are excited to welcome these clients to our growing stable. Its always nice when people as far afield have seen our work and liked it enough to trust us with building their brands.
“2017 has been a period of growth for our agency. Its all down to having a team, who care and clients, who let us do our thing. We will be launching a second agency specialising in one sector in the New Year.”
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Chorley-based, Elitetele.com, a provider of unified communications, has promoted its financial director, Rob Burbidge to group chief financial.
Before joining Elite in 2013, Burbidge worked with Knight Corporate Finance advising IT and telecoms companies on acquisitions, sales and refinances.
He has been promoted as part of Elitetele.com’s drive to increase its M&A activity.
The group has £20m to invest in acquisitions and Burbidge will help in the search for suitable companies, alongside Alex Cliffe commercial director and founder and chief executive Matt Newing.
Matt Newing said: “As we move into a highly acquisitive phase for the business, we recognised the need to have a dedicated chief financial with strong acquisition experience.
“Rob has helped Elite find and successfully complete 14 acquisitions to date and he will now lead our internal acquisitions team whose task is to fast-track our M&A activity.
“As a result, we are now seeking a financial director with good telco and acquisitions experience, who will report into the group chief financial.”
