People on the Move: EY; Broadgrove Planning and Development; KPMG; Kingswood Holdings
EY has made a raft of senior appointments to its People Advisory Services (PAS) team in Manchester to support the continued growth of the practice.
As well as three managerial appointments and one internal appointment, two new graduates have also taken up permanent positions at the firm, taking the headcount of the PAS team to more than 50 people and underlining EY’s commitment to investing in growth across the North West.
Rachel Akili joins the team as manager in the workforce advisory talent team, from Bentley Motors where she was a lead workforce development specialist.
Iain Chadwick also joins as a manager from Deloitte and will focus on the Manchester market, specialising in global mobility and expatriate tax.
Louise Lucas takes up a senior consultant role, also specialising in global mobility and reward. Louise previously held similar positions at RBS and the British Council and brings a wealth of experience around mobility challenges and processes.
In addition to these three new appointments, Jonathan Teoh has been seconded to the Manchester team from EY in London. He will be working as a manager in the national minimum wage team, supporting on a broad range of clients.
The PAS team also welcomes two new graduates, Josh Hunter and Robert Paunas, who will specialise in global mobility working with private mid-market clients. Josh graduated from the University of Glasgow this Summer after undertaking EY’s Summer internship programme at its Glasgow office in 2018. Robert joins EY after completing his degree in economics at Manchester University and an internship at BMW.
Cara Heaney, partner in the People Advisory Team across the North, said: “It’s fantastic to see the PAS team continue to grow here in the North, and I’m confident each of these new additions will add to the significant talent and experience already within the team.
“This is an exciting period of growth for advisory services across the North and this latest investment will further ensure that we are able to meet our clients’ growing needs and provide them with the best possible advice.”
EY’s multidisciplinary People Advisory Services team looks at complex issues relating to organisation transformation, end-to-end employee lifecycles, effective talent deployment and mobility, gaining value from evolving and virtual workforces, and the changing role of HR.
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Stockport-based Broadgrove Planning and Development has expanded its team and appointed Jack Appleton as principal planner.
Jack joins Broadgrove, established by Richard Walters and Andy McMullan in July 2018, as the planning advisors prepare for growth in a buoyant property market.
With clients throughout the UK and across multiple sectors, neither Brexit nor the new government appears to have stemmed the flow of instructions and new enquiries.
Director Richard Walters is seeing an increased appetite for more diverse developments in town and city centres and believes the stability of a newly-elected government will instil greater confidence: “It is well documented that, in order for towns and cities to be sustainable, the offering has to change.
“But, while retailers may be realigning their strategies, we are seeing a surge in alternative developments and, therefore, opportunities for business growth.
“As principal planner, Jack’s 10 years’ experience in both the public and private sectors will be invaluable in enabling us to grow the business, both in the region and across the UK.”
From left: Richard Walters , Jack Appleton, Andy McMullan
Jack, who joins from Alder King, has been involved in several high-profile mixed-use, housing and commercial developments, covering private sector planning from the preparation of planning appraisals, development plan promotion, through to submission of major planning applications and appeals.
A member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, Jack said: “I am delighted to be joining a hungry commercial practice who have some great ideas and a fantastic caseload of planning projects.”
Andy McMullan added: “We are thrilled to bring Jack to Broadgrove where he will enable us to grow our existing business in providing the highest standard of planning advice.”
Broadgrove advise nationally across all sectors. Recent schemes include Capital and Centric’s Eye Witness Works in Sheffield, residential development in the green belt at the County Hotel in Alderley Edge, and Fusions Students scheme in Liverpool city centre. The company is currently advising on around 12,500 residential plots across the UK.
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Seasoned deals partner Chris Stott has been named as KPMG’s head of deal advisory for the North of England.
He now leads the business advisory firm’s corporate finance, transaction services and restructuring practices across the region.
Chris has more than 20 years’ M&A experience advising on some of the region’s most prominent deals. He has led transaction services in the North since 2010 when he joined the partnership and is also KPMG’s national head of food and drink.
Chris Stott said: “Businesses in this region are exploring buying, selling, partnering, funding or fixing to grow or transform. All of these processes can be complex and risky. So, it’s important that management teams can access specialist advisors who can help them see beyond immediate challenges to future opportunities and provide the confidence needed to make the best decisions.
“We’re privileged to have a deal advisory team in the region that is bursting with talent and experience.
Our recent appointments reflect the incredible hard work colleagues put in to make KPMG deal advisory a great place to work and develop fulfilling careers.”
The news comes as KPMG makes significant investment in growing its deal advisory offering in the North. The practice has further expanded the thriving debt advisory team with the appointment of director Jane Chadwick.
Chris Stott
Jane, who started her career with KPMG, will focus on helping large corporates in the North to access both the private and public debt capital markets, in addition to supporting the region’s higher education and public sector bodies for whom access to capital is increasingly important.
After a six-year period with KPMG, Jane joined the Rothschild debt advisory team where she led a number of large corporate public and private transactions and was later hired by HSBC as a relationship director. A decade since she joined KPMG, Jane has returned to the firm and its debt advisory team, which is led by partner Nick Dodd.
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Kingswood Holdings, the integrated international wealth management company, has announced that Lindsey McMurray and Howard Garland have been appointed to the Kingswood board from Pollen Street Capital, the independent alternative asset investment management company.
The announcement is as per the terms of the investment completed in September this year which saw up to £80m committed by way of an issue of irredeemable convertible preference shares to certain investors and funds managed and/or advised by Pollen Street in a hugely significant milestone for the firm.
Following significant investment and rigorous restructuring over the past two years, Kingswood, which has an office in Spinningfields in central Manchester, has a strong foundation in place to grow and expand, and this substantial investment helps the company to execute its significant acquisition pipeline.
Kingswood is entering the next phase of development, becoming a global, scalable wealth management infrastructure, not just a bolt-on acquisition driven growth model.
Lindsey McMurray founded Pollen Street in 2013 and is the managing partner as well as chairman of the investment committee. She has been a private equity investor for more than 20 years with a focus on the financial services sector.
Howard Garland is a partner of Pollen Street where he focuses on investing in financial services businesses and credit opportunities with current responsibility for BIK and Deko, as well as a number of credit investments including Caledonian Finance and Sancus. Howard was previously responsible for Banca Sistema and Arrow Global.
Buzz West, Kingswood chairman, said: “We are delighted to welcome both Lindsey and Howard to the board. Pollen Street is an excellent partner as we execute our shared global vision for the group.
Gary Wilder
“Pollen Street’s investment is a strong affirmation of the vision and growth strategy set by the board at the beginning of the year. Their level of commitment highlights the growth potential both Kingswood and Pollen Street see in our stock and the potential to add significant value for shareholders.”
Howard Garland said: “We are very pleased to be joining the board of Kingswood. The business is well positioned to take advantage of the opportunity in the wider wealth management sector and has a clear strategy for growth. We look forward to bringing our expertise in building market leading companies to support Kingswood in the implementation of its strategy.”
Gary Wilder, group CEO at Kingswood, said: “This has been a year of highly-effective transformation and we are excited to see what 2020 will bring. The growth capital from Pollen Street has enriched the firm with the ability to capitalise on the consolidation opportunities available in the global wealth management market.
“We have a very strong and experienced management team in the UK and US to take advantage of the opportunities in both markets. Kingswood presents investors with a rare opportunity to achieve outsized returns thanks to an institutional grade financial services management team that is positioned to tap into underlying sector tailwinds in the retail wealth management market.”
