People on the Move: Forbes Solicitors; alldayPA; Mercia Fund Managers; Stuart Canvas Group; Clothes2order; Liverpool Society of Chartered Accountants

From left: Shirley Wignall, Amy Stirton, Jenny Burke and Gill Carr

Lancashire-based Forbes Solicitors has announced the appointment of two new partners and two new associates as part of its continued growth.

Shirley Wignall and Gill Carr have been promoted to partners from associates.

Jenny Burke and Amy Stirton have been promoted from solicitors to associates.

Forbes said that it championed equality and diversity and, although promotions were decided purely on merit, the number of women in senior posts was increasing.

Siobhan Hardy, senior partner, said: “These well-deserved appointments underline the strength in depth which we have at Forbes and our track record or nurturing talent and helping people to build careers with us.

“The fact that all four promotions involve women underlines our commitment to equality and diversity and bring the total of women partners in the firm to over 40%.”

Shirley Wignall, based in Blackburn, is a solicitor in the family law department with more than 20 years’ experience having qualified as a solicitor in 1996. Her particular area of expertise is children law.

Gill Carr, also based in Blackburn, has worked in family law since 1996 and holds Law Society accreditation for the Family Law and Children Panel..

She specialises in matters relating to families who are involved with children’s services which includes representing parents, children and family members in meetings and also in proceedings issued before the court.

Jenny Burke, based in Forbes’ central Lancashire office, works in the corporate team and assists business clients of all sizes from a range of sectors with work varying from assisting with new business start-ups to working on mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructures and re-organisations and drafting partnership and shareholders agreements.

Amy Stirton is part of the housing and regeneration team and is based in Chorley. She represents local authorities and social landlords in relation to all aspects of housing management work, but deals predominantly with cases involving anti-social behaviour, breach of tenancy and hoarding.

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Outsourced contact centre for the SME industry, alldayPA, has made a new senior appointment, which comes as part of its plans to increase the turnover of the Isher Capital portfolio of contact centre businesses to £100m.

Philomena Scully joins the business as the head of service delivery, with more than 18 years’ experience within the call centre industry.

Her extensive background in telecommunications started within the mobile provider O2 Telefonica, she quickly became a team leader and rose to call centre manager by 2005.

She was then promoted to a senior management role within O2 Telefonica, before later moving to Capita in 2012, where she was responsible for more than 300 call centre advisors and managing their service delivery.

Her new role at alldayPA and in the wider portfolio will see her play a pivotal part in helping the company to achieve its extensive growth targets by working with both new and existing clients.

She will report directly to CEO Reuben Singh.

Mr Singh said: “Philomena’s appointment comes at a crucial time when we have some really ambitious, yet achievable, plans in place.”

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Mercia Fund Managers is expanding its equity team with the appointment of a new investment director, following the announcement of the closing of the £45.1m EV Growth II fund in December 2017.

Based in Mercia’s office on King Street in Manchester, Jill Williams will focus on investing in high-growth SMEs across the UK in a range of sectors and managing portfolio companies.

Jill Williams

Originally from the North West, Jill has worked with the Wheatsheaf Group, a long-term investor in food and agriculture businesses, and she has spent several years in the corporate finance and corporate tax teams at PwC as a chartered accountant.

Prior to joining Mercia, Jill was an investment director at RJD Partners based in London, investing in businesses across the UK mid and lower-mid market.

Jill has joined the established EV Growth team and will be working alongside investment director and fund manager Wayne Thomas and investment executive Melanie Hooper.

Mr Thomas, who leads the EV Growth team, said: “We are really excited to have Jill on board the Mercia team as we continue to raise awareness of the new EV Growth II fund and source strong deal flow from the North West regions and beyond.”

Ms Williams said: “I am looking forward to working with the Mercia team to back ambitious management teams to grow their businesses.”

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Stuart Canvas Group has appointed Nic Coward as non-executive chairman to succeed Compton Hellyer, with effect from June 1.

Mr Coward is chairman or director of a number of businesses in diverse areas, including sports, the retail motor trade, data and analytics, and forensic science.

He is chairman of England Golf, as well as advising sports and entertainment businesses in the UK and across the world.

He has spent more than 20 years in senior executive roles in sport, including as general secretary of the Premier League and chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority.

Compton Hellyer has been chairman since 2006. He will remain on the board as a non-executive director, working with Mr Coward and chief executive Ed Stoddart.

Mr Stoddart said: “I’m delighted that Nic is taking on the role of chairman. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience. His previous and ongoing roles in the world of sport in particular make a great fit with our long-standing sports business.”

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Staff numbers at personalised clothing business Clothes2order.com have risen to nearly 170 following a raft of appointments.

The Traffofd Park company has created new management roles in line with its continued growth, as well as adding to its web and IT development team and recruiting account managers and production staff.

Paul Rigby has joined as warehouse manager from The Hut Group, while Greg Cockcroft has been promoted to client services manager for Clothes2order.com’s on-demand service, a fast-growing division which supplies UK and overseas retailers with clothing where they require a quick turnaround on customer orders.

Maria Plachecka has joined as a production planner from malt loaf manufacturer Soreen.

Meanwhile, the firm has bolstered its development team with the arrival of Carlos Castillo, Michael Holland and Mason Jackson.

Kieran Grundy and Jane Toner have joined as account managers as the sales team expands to support growth in key client accounts.

Clothes2order.com is the fastest-growing part of Quayside Group, which was founded by executive chairman Michael Conway in his Salford flat in 1995.

Managing director Sam Jones said: “We continue to see strong growth across all business channels and we have created a number of roles to cater for the increased demand.

“At the same time, we have promoted from within in line with our strategy of nurturing our own talent.”

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Carol McLachlan is the new president of the Liverpool Society of Chartered Accountants.

She qualified with EY in London, moving back to her roots in Liverpool shortly afterwards.

She takes the reins from past president, Andrew Lloyd of RSM, who led the society during 2017/2018.

Carol McLachlan

She will support the Society’s members from across Merseyside, Cheshire & North Wales and the Isle of Man, which forms part of ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales).

She will be supported in this role by deputy president Andrew Lovelady and vice president Robert Young and the committee.

Ms McLachlan, founder of theaccountantscoach.com, said: “It is with great pleasure, and more than a little excitement, that I take on the presidency of the Liverpool Society.

“In this era of fast-paced, relentless change, our society is about to enter its 150th year of operation. With its rich heritage and roots in the 19th century I am truly proud of the legacy bestowed on me to take the reins at this pivotal point.”

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