People on the Move: Restons Solicitors; Imagile Professional Services; every1; Pixel Kicks; KPMG

Peter Stewart

Warrington-based Restons Solicitors has appointed Peter Stewart as chief executive.

He will lead the firm supported by Neil Kelly as chief operating officer, Lee Warburton as finance director and Jeremy Bouchier as chief legal officer.

Peter, a member of the Restons family, is a highly experienced and qualified Solicitor having spent several years with Allen & Overy before focusing on a career in corporate finance.

He joins Restons from Peel Hunt where he was director of technology investment banking.

He said: “I am delighted to be joining the talented team at Restons Solicitors.

“We’ve always been a family-owned business, and we are now looking forward to the next phase of our development, building from an impressive foundation of strong customer experience, innovative use of data and technology, and our own unique depth of experience in the collections market.”

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A UK asset management consultancy has announced a senior hire to lead a new division working exclusively with public-private partnership (PPP) stakeholders and managing assets that are ready to be handed back as long-term projects come to an end.

Imagile Professional Services – an independent consultancy with headquarters in Warrington and offices in London, Glasgow and Bristol – has promoted Tom Dewar to head up its new handback division and help manage the effective transition of infrastructure assets back to a range of procuring authorities.

The new role is believed to be one of the first of its type in the UK and will see Tom, who joined the firm at its inception in 2017 as a senior lifecyle manager and has in excess of 15 years’ experience, working with a diverse portfolio of PPP projects belonging to the investment group Semperian PPP Investment Partners, managed by Semperian Capital Management.

Tom said: “It’s a huge honour to have been appointed to lead a new division within the IPSL business and I’m excited to be taking on this new role.

“The PPP market in the UK is set to undergo a significant period of change over the next 30 years with a vast number of long-term contracts and projects coming to an end. As part of that, we have an important role to play in ensuring that assets are handed back in the right way and that will be a key focus of IPSL’s new Handback division.

“I’m confident that through my experience and knowledge of the industry I’ll be able to lead IPSL through this process and I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Tom will be working closely with the team at Semperian Capital Management to facilitate the pragmatic transition of assets and operations back to clients on projects that have reached the end of their contractual periods.

Tom Dewar

Tom said: “Having previously worked at Semperian for over four years, I have personal experience of the firm and I’ve built strong relationships with the team which will allow me to provide fantastic service and support in this role.”

Gary Brown, managing director at IPSL, added: “Tom has been an invaluable member of the team since IPSL’s inception in 2017 and, in my mind, there is no-one better qualified to take on this new role for us.

“This is a completely new department within IPSL and within our industry, too, so we’ll be working closely with Tom to shape a series of processes and strategies that will ensure all assets are handed back to our procuring authority partners as seamlessly as possible.”

Semperian Investment Partners invests in UK social infrastructure, providing essential public services to local communities.

Richard Little, deputy managing director at Semperian Capital Management, said: “As the Semperian portfolio continues to mature and individual projects near the end of their contractual concessions, a thorough understanding of the project-specific handback obligations is crucial in terms of fully delivering on all stakeholder expectations.

“This new department within Imagile will be crucial in understanding this final phase in the project timelines.”

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Lancashire digital marketing agency every1 has appointed Charlotte Haslam as head of strategy to help grow the company, with the aim to become one of the flagship agencies in the North West.

Charlotte Haslam

Charlotte, who has more than 20 years’ experience working in client services across the UK, aims to expand the Preston company to help “trail blaze” the agency market outside of Manchester.

The new head of strategy plans to grow every1’s digital marketing offering and lead its team of specialists to develop creative digital campaigns.

This will include focusing on driving enquiries through targeted and creative campaigns, and specialising in paid and organic search for the company’s clients.

Charlotte said: “Businesses are seeing the benefit of using digital channels to drive business growth. Driving enquiries through targeted and creative campaigns to reach your prospects at the right time, in the right place, has never been more achievable or successful.

“I want us to be THE flagship Lancashire agency, developing creative campaigns that deliver real value to our clients.”

Before joining every1, Charlotte worked for more than four years as the client services director for Preston agency Motionlab.

Her other key experience includes 12 years as a senior project director for McCann Manchester. She also worked for more than two years as an account manager at AKQA, which involved working on the digital delivery for brands such as Nike, Orange and Sainsbury’s.

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Pixel Kicks, the Manchester-based full-service digital agency, has added three new members to its team.

Dan Parr has joined as a senior digital designer from 90degrees in Manchester. Dan is a UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) designer with extensive experience across many sectors including the built environment.

As well as specialising in problem-solving for the digital user, he is also a talented print and brand identity creative. Dan has previously worked at Praxis Manchester, Redinc Manchester and has interned at Maestro Design and Advertising in Amsterdam. He holds a BA Hons in graphic design from Salford University

Shannon Howarth is Pixel Kicks’ newest web developer. Prior to arriving at Pixel Kicks, Shannon worked at North West Design Studios in Bolton which is where she started her career in 2014. She specialises in all core web development disciplines including WordPress, PHP, CSS, Responsive Design, Magento and eCommerce.

From left: Dan Parr, Shannon Howarth, Fred Burrow

The agency’s final new starter is Fred Burrow who has joined the business as a digital marketing apprentice from the Juice Academy, the UK’s first industry-led social media apprenticeship programme.

Prior to enrolling at the Juice Academy, Fred was in the British Army for four years. Over the coming months, Fred will be working closely with the digital marketing team on a range of SEO, social media and PPC campaigns.

Dan said: “I’d always admired Pixel Kicks, and after meeting the MD and the rest of the team I knew I could be a good fit. The variety of work is fantastic and I’m now focused on heading up some exciting projects for our clients.”

Managing director Chris Buckley said: “Pixel Kicks is an incredibly close and talented team so it’s vital that we find the right people. As soon we met Dan, Shannon and Fred we knew they shared our love of creativity, insight and tech so we are all excited that they are now part of our journey.”

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Business advisory firm KPMG has expanded its Northern financial services team with the appointment of Sarah Walker as transaction services director.

Sarah is a financial services deals specialist with more than 10 years’ experience in supporting mergers and acquisitions activity across banking, consumer finance, wealth management, insurance and fintech.

She joins a team that has advised on a range of high profile transactions in recent years, including the sales of Nexus Vehicle Rental, CallCredit Information Group and Zenith Vehicle Leasing and the admission to AIM of The Simplybiz Group plc.

In her new role Sarah will work closely with fellow transaction services director Andrew Nelson and Stewart Cape who leads the financial services sector for KPMG’s Northern corporate finance practice.

Sarah Walker

Together they will further build relationships within the financial and investment communities, support growing M&A interest in the North and further enhance the strength of KPMG’s regional presence in the sector.

Originally from Huddersfield Sarah started her career in 2000 with KPMG’s audit practice in Leeds before transferring to the firm’s Sydney office in Australia where she built her experience in providing due diligence for transactions.

In 2012, Sarah returned to the UK where she held various senior roles within the firm’s deal advisory team in Canary Wharf, including interim COO and head of performance and operations for deal advisory.

Sarah said: “We are building a formidable team to support the North’s financial services community.

“There is strong interest from trade buyers and investors looking for acquisitions in the region, but also a growing demand from firms based in the North to expand into new markets and consider M&A targets themselves. It is great to be back and be in the thick of what is an exciting market with heaps of opportunity.”

Andrew Nelson, transaction services director at KPMG, said: “Sarah is joining at an exciting time for the financial services market in the North of England, with an increase in mid-market deals and investors keen for a stake in growing businesses. Her breadth of experience across the banking, consumer finance and fintech sector complements the existing team well.”

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