People on the Move: Brown Turner Ross; Join the Dots; Lancashire County Council; BDO; MASH; Create Group
Liverpool City Region solicitors Brown Turner Ross is growing its family law team with the appointment of new solicitor Abigail Davidson.
Abigail will be working across both the firm’s offices in Liverpool and Southport.
She studied law at Liverpool John Moores University and BPP Law School and has since gained vast experience in public and private law.
Abigail specialises in all family matters, including children’s law, domestic abuse, divorce, financial matters, legal aid, injunctions, and undertakes both private and publicly funded work.
She joins Brown Turner Ross following two years with Levins Solicitors where she qualified as a solicitor in the family law department.
Prior to that role, Abigail obtained experience as a paralegal with Heaney Watson and helped at her local Citizens’ Advice Bureau.
Kendra McKinney, director at Brown Turner Ross, said: “Abigail is a welcome addition to the family law department and her appointment enables us to continue to expand in an area where the firm is in high demand. She’s a solicitor of great promise and she comes with a reputation of being an outstanding family lawyer.”
Abigail Davidson added: “I’m pleased to be joining Brown Turner Ross at this exciting time for the firm.
“Accepting the role was an easy decision thanks to the firm’s reputation for excellence in the North West and I’m looking forward to working alongside some of the most respected expert family lawyers in the UK.”
The appointment of Abigail sees the firm continuing its growth drive in 2019, having already appointed two new directors, Thomas Rimmington and Matt Skeels, in its private client department and added a new practice manager, Tracy Jones, who joined from international solicitors Trowers & Hamlins Solicitors.
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Consumer insights agency, Join the Dots, has announced a number of significant appointments as part of a global expansion drive.
Following the recent appointment of Maria Spinelli as head of Asia, leading the team in Singapore, the agency has also grown its teams in the US and UK.
In the US Natasha Trever joins as a research manager, while Emma Kirk relocates from the UK to take up a new role as an associate director.
Emma Kirk
Kirk, who joined the business as a research manager in 2014, demonstrated a passion for client development that saw her role transition from research manager to business development director during her time at the agency’s Manchester headquarters.
In her new role as associate director, Kirk will support the head of North America, Jeff Haselum, across a range of accounts, delivering insight and exploring new and innovative research opportunities for global clients to bring them closer to the consumer in the US and worldwide.
Previously senior marketing insights manager at Conde Nast, Trever brings a wealth of experience crafting compelling research and insights strategy to help clients better understand their target audiences.
At the UK head office, Vicki Kateley replaces Kirk in the business development team, joining as a business development manager.
Kateley brings more than 15 years’ experience to the team having previously worked for Millward Brown, Green Light and Discovery Research – predominantly as a qualitative specialist.
Join the Dots has also bolstered its social intelligence team, led by Ellie Osborne, to include Will Jakaitis, Hannah Lendrum and new hire, Claire Powell.
Claire Powell
Powell joins the team as a social intelligence manager, following previous positions as a social insights manager at 360i and a brand strategist at True North.
She will be responsible for developing and delivering Join the Dots’ social intelligence offer across all areas of the business.
Join the Dots chief executive, Quentin Ashby, said: “We’ve had a really good start to 2019 and there are no signs of things slowing.
“The wealth of knowledge, experience and talent we have attracted across the board demonstrates our commitment to understanding people and helping clients all over the world make better business decisions. On behalf of Join the Dots, I extend a very warm welcome to our new colleagues.”
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Lancashire County Council has appointed Phil Green as director of growth, environment and planning.
The role covers several departments including business growth, strategic development and planning.
Phil joins Lancashire from neighbouring Bolton Council, where he has worked for more than 23 years.
He is currently assistant director of economic development and regeneration.
Phil, who lives in Bolton, will start his new role with the county council on Monday, July 29.
He takes up the director post on a permanent basis from Richard Kenny, who has held the post on an interim basis.
Phil Green
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Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO has promoted more than 30 people across the North West across all levels and departments, effective from May 1.
This latest announcement means a third of BDO’s workforce in the region has been promoted in the past three years.
The promotions span the firm’s tax, audit, BDODrive and M&A practices, as well as its support functions.
These include three at director level with Karen Fan as associate director, Helen Berry as tax director and Chris Cumber as assistant director. A further 11 have been promoted to manager level.
Ed Dwan
Ed Dwan, partner and head of BDO in the North West, said: “What an honour to announce further promotions in the region.
“These are a testament to the hard work and dedication shown by our colleagues which has directly contributed to helping achieve our ongoing success as a growing team.
“These are the people who have consistently gone above and beyond in the last year to uphold our commitment to clients.
“They have each demonstrated exceptional knowledge in delivering quality advice which helps our clients succeed.”
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A partnership of Manchester charities has appointed Safia Griffin as Women’s Influencer Worker to amplify the voices of women who have experienced challenges including homelessness, addiction and mental illness and ensure they have a say on services.
Safia has been appointed into the newly-created role to work with funders and partners to create spaces for women’s voices and experiences to influence change in areas that matter to them.
She will be based at MASH (Manchester Action on Street Health), a charity which supports female sex workers but will be working with all women experiencing multiple disadvantage.
Safia takes up the role following two years at Healthwatch Salford as an engagement officer where she managed a series of projects and patient engagement activities to ensure the seldom heard and marginalised voices were heard on both a system and service level.
Safia Griffin
She also worked with commissioners and providers and their service users to improve service pathways and standards. She will bring her previous experience to the role of Women’s Influence Worker to equip women to undertake peer research and support them in influencing policy and service development in Manchester.
Safia Griffin said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring women together, meet new people and help to create a platform to influence positive changes for women in our city who are facing real challenges.
“I strongly believe that we can make change by working collaboratively with other partners and groups and I’ve already been fortunate to meet many of them and hear about their great work to date in my first few weeks.”
Safia will also be using a proportion of her time to lead on service user involvement at MASH, ensuring female sex workers have the opportunity to help shape the charity and its services to meet their needs.
Cate Allison, chief executive at MASH, said: “Women experiencing multiple disadvantage are rarely able to get their voices heard or influence the services they use or need.
“I’m so pleased that we’ve had the opportunity to create this new role and have no doubt that Safia’s experience, energy and enthusiasm will enable us all to build new relationships, change attitudes and make positive changes.”
The role is jointly-funded by MASH, Inspiring Change Manchester and the Our Manchester Investment Fund.
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Due to the considerable growth and success of Create Construction and Create Homes, part of the Create Group, the Blackpool-based company has announced that Andrew Martin has been appointed as group finance director.
Andrew joined the business in September last year as group interim finance director and has already made a positive impact on the business.
He brings a wealth of experience, having previously worked in a number of finance director roles within the manufacturing/warehousing (logistics) and construction sectors for the past 20 years.
Andrew’s role will be to oversee the expansion of the company, ensuring that robust systems and processes of managing and reporting are embedded within the organisation.
Andrew Martin
Create has recently upgraded its accounting software to allow for a more efficient way of working and put in place a strategy to staff each business seperately, in order to provide the right level of support for each individual company within the group.
Andrew said: “I’m thrilled to join the board of Create at such an exciting time for the company.
“I have been really impressed by the organisation and the ambitious plans we have for the future. The
investment in the new software and procedures will allow us to ensure we continue to provide better reporting, the
right level of support and improve our performance.”
Create Group chief executive, Paul Mathison, said: “We are delighted that Andrew has joined the board of directors.
His breadth of experience and substantial knowledge of the construction industry will be instrumental in ensuring
that the finance department continues to support the growth of the group.”
