People on the move: Adept4; Pinsent Masons; Hall Brown Family Law; Deloitte; Redwood Bank

Mark Whitehead

Adept4 has announced the appointment of Mark Whitehead as its new sales and marketing director as it plans for the next phase of growth.

The ex-GCI sales director, who latterly was responsible for the creation of a £6m-turnover channel business, has a proven track record in selling disruptive cloud technologies. He joins Daresbury-based Adept4 as it sets its sights on breaking the £20m barrier by the end of 2018.

Reporting to managing director, Dave Griffiths, Mark will be responsible for delivering the company-wide sales and marketing strategy, for the financial success of the sales plan, and for leading and inspiring a sales team as Adept4 strives to become a leading managed cloud service provider offering industry-leading client experience.

“Mark is a first-class leader, people manager and business developer. He is commercially and financially astute with a high energy and passion for change so we’re delighted that he has joined the management team at a time when we’re transforming the business, to grow significantly over the next five years and to cement our position as market leader,” said Mr Griffiths.

Mr Whitehead said: “Joining Adept4 at such a pivotal time of development is very exciting.

“It’s a great opportunity to really harness my skills in supporting our customers, growing new business, and in implementing fresh, collaborative marketing strategies that will really help put Adept4 on the map as a market leading managed cloud service provider.”

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International law firm Pinsent Masons has promoted 23 staff to its global partnership, four of them in its Manchester office – Amie Norris, Tim Fearn, Hayley Goldstone and Helen Robinson.

Amie joined Pinsent Masons as a trainee and qualified into the corporate team in March 2008. Tim qualified into the banking team in 2007. Hayley joined the firm in 2004 as a commercial litigator and in 2010 began to focus on pensions litigation and specialise in that area. Helen specialises in large, high profile regeneration projects. She works with a variety of private and public sector clients across the UK, including Manchester City Council, Harworth Group, Morgan Sindall Investments and Homes England. She qualified in 2003 and has been with Pinsent Masons since 2015.

In addition, Manchester-based Pippa Whitmore and Matthew Rowlands have been promoted to legal director.

Helen Ridge, head of the Manchester office, said: “The promotion of Amie, Tim, Hayley and Helen to partner and Pippa and Matt to legal director demonstrates our continued commitment to investment in the North West and to developing our home grown talent.”

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Fast-growing Manchester family law firm Hall Brown Family Law has recognised the contribution played by staff in its rise with a series of promotions.

It has elevated three of its employees to the position of senior associate, while two others are made associate solicitors.

Senior partner and co-founder, Sam Hall, described the move as reward for the part played by the five in Hall Brown’s progress so far: “A decision about whether to promote someone shouldn’t ever be taken lightly and, in this case, we are underlining our appreciation for the way in which our colleagues have not only driven this firm onwards but begun realising some of the vast potential within our team,” he said.

Mr Hall outlined how Hall Brown’s first recruit, Laura Guillon, had been promoted to senior associate only months after being listed as one of the UK’s top 35 private client professionals under the age of 35.

From left: Alice Couriel, Katie Dillon, Abigail Lowther, Laura Guillon, Ellen Walker

Her promotion mirrors that of Abigail Lowther, formerly of leading North West law firm Pannone.

Katie Dillon, who came on board last August to lead a specialist division dealing with cases involving children spanning English and international law, also becomes a senior associate.

Solicitors Alice Couriel and Ellen Walker, who both joined Hall Brown in its first few months from JMW Solicitors, are, meanwhile, made up to associates.

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Deloitte North West practice senior partner, Richard Bell, has taken over the leadership of the firm’s UK Financial Advisory practice.

The UK Financial Advisory practice comprises the firm’s transaction services, advisory corporate finance, restructuring services, Deloitte forensic and Deloitte real estate businesses.

Richard has 18 years’ experience as an advisory partner and sits on the UK firm’s executive. Having joined the firm in August 1987, Richard led Deloitte’s transaction services team across the UK regions for more than a decade. He has held the role of North West practice senior partner since 2013 and managing partner, UK Regions since 2015.

Mr Bell said: “Working closely with my predecessor, Neville Kahn, we will continue to drive closer international collaboration across our advisory practices in Europe and beyond.

“The dynamic UK business landscape continues to present us with fantastic opportunities within our financial advisory business.”

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A Warrington-based challenger bank has hired another wave of specialists in response to “phenomenal interest” in its commercial mortgages from businesses across the town, the North West region, and beyond.

Redwood Bank, launched in August 2017, has employed a further six people, bringing its total to 44.

The new recruits have more than 150 years’ of combined banking experience between them and have all worked for several major household banking names.

Graham Reynolds, commercial director, said: “Our new larger team means we can help more smaller businesses and property owners get access to finance and help with their growth plans. The team’s passion and experience will be of great value to our broker and business customers, who we have seen phenomenal interest from.”

Redwood Bank has welcomed two new business development officers. Callum Finnigan joins the team from Royal Bank of Scotland. Joanna Carroll, also joins from RBS, where she specialised in supporting businesses with complex cases.

The bank has also made other hires across its business. Lee Casey has joined as a business development manager for the South and East region. John Hall joins the South and East team as business development manager. Lynn Kemp is looking forward to bringing her expertise to her new role in the South and East team as business development officer, while Paul Holmes has joined the credit and underwriting team.

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