People on the Move: Kirwans; Metis Real Estate Advisors; University of Chester; B-North; Peaks and Plains Housing Trust
A solicitor has been named as the first female managing partner of the firm where she completed her training contract just 12 years ago.
Claire Currie has taken over the running of Liverpool-based Kirwans law firm after David Kirwan stood down following 37 years in the role in order to focus on his client work and other professional duties.
The legal expert joined Kirwans in 2006 after an earlier career in the science industry, and qualified as a solicitor in 2008.
She went on to become partner, head up the private client and family departments, and start networking group Mums in Business before being appointed managing partner.
Claire, a single mum-of-two, who is based at the firm’s Moreton office, said: “I am delighted to follow in the footsteps of David Kirwan in leading such a long-established and well-loved firm and look forward to taking the firm from strength to strength in the coming years.
“In an industry where it has historically been difficult for women to rise through the ranks, hopefully my appointment will inspire even more girls to believe that it is possible to make your mark as not only a woman, but also a mum, in law.
“I look forward to building on all that has been achieved by Mr Kirwan over the years and to seeing Kirwans continue to evolve as it supports the Merseyside community with all of its legal needs.”
Claire’s appointment is a further boost to the legal sector, which has been battling to improve the disparity between the number of male and female equity partners.
Figures show that in 2017-2018, more than two-thirds of entrants to law school were women, yet data from the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority revealed that in the same year just 33% of partners in law firms were female – a figure that dropped to just 29% in the largest law firms with more than 50 partners.
David Kirwan said: “Claire’s talent and passion have stood out since she joined the firm 14 years ago, and her incredible knowledge and understanding of both the law and business means she is perfectly positioned to take over the reins as managing partner.
“I have every confidence that, under her tenure, the firm will thrive, and look forward to seeing both Claire and Kirwans excel as she goes forward in her new role.”
Claire will now spend more time concentrating on the development and growth of the business as the profession continues to undergo dramatic change.
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Manchester-based Metis Real Estate Advisors, the independent retail, leisure and investment agency business, has announced the formation of a brand new residential division with the appointment of Ellis Hearfield as director and Mi Zhou joins as analyst on the team.
Ellis joins from Lambert Smith Hampton, having previously worked in the build to rent and PRS team which was run nationally from Manchester.
The team advised on more than £250m of transactions across a two-year period in the regions, notably the forward-sale of Renaker’s 44-storey 100 Greengate development, which is now known as “Anaconda Cut”.
Ellis Hearfield
Mi brings with her a strong financial and analytical background from her career as a Chartered Financial Analyst at Barclays Capital and, more recently, Bank of East China in Shanghai.
Paul Jones, director–investment agency, Metis, said “The creation of this new residential division is a fantastic start to 2020 and we are pleased to welcome both Ellis and Mi to the team.
“This is part of our strategic growth plan and an important component in enabling Metis REA to support existing and new clients in both stand alone and truly mixed-use sustainable schemes.
“The real estate landscape, in all sectors and particularly retail, continues to rapidly morph and alter to reflect the wider changes in how people and businesses want to live, work, entertain, shop, consume and occupy in a sustainable way.
Mi Zhou
“We view the next decade as the most exciting period for real estate in living memory and are shaping our business to lead from the front whilst continuing our core, creative team and thought leadership ethos.”
Ellis Hearfield said: “I am delighted to be joining Metis as the business goes through an exciting period of change, proactively reacting to the evolution of the retail and leisure landscape.
“The natural overlap from our collective clients enables our team to provide a new specialist service to Metis’ strongly-established client base, whilst continuing to service our existing network of developers, funders and investors.
“The early addition of Mi Zhou is testament to our collective vision to positively influence the private rented sector and her specialised background will enable us to continue to provide an excellent and unique standard of service to our clients.”
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Prof Chris Haslam has been named as the new provost of the University of Chester’s Warrington Campus, following the recent retirement of Prof Annette McIntosh-Scott.
Prof Haslam also holds the post of senior pro-vice-chancellor and has held a number of positions at the university since joining the institution from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education and, prior to that, working elsewhere in the higher education sector and in industry.
Prof Chris Haslam
He said: “I’m very much looking forward to working with both colleagues and students here at Warrington to deliver a high quality and enriching academic experience.
“I’m also very much looking forward to working with businesses, both large and small, in Warrington and its surrounding areas to explore how we can work more closely together – not only to help develop the strength and performance of individual businesses, but also the economic strength of Warrington and the region.
“I really welcome ideas and suggestions as to how the university might work more closely with businesses in the region and I’d be very happy indeed to meet with business colleagues to help develop a better understanding of their needs and how the university might help them.”
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B-North, the Manchester-based firm building an SME lending bank for the UK, has grown its team again with three new audits, accounting and marketing hires.
The move comes as the lender – which will bring fast, efficient funding to the under-serviced SME market – counts down to its second quarter launch of lending activities, following further infrastructure and services construction in 2019.
Paul Sleney
Paul Sleney joins as head of internal audit and brings with him more than 25 years’ financial services experience in audit, conduct, risk and regulatory assurance at some of the UK’s biggest banking names.
At Lloyds Banking Group Paul was head of internal audit for customer services, credit operations and consumer banking. He provided internal audit and risk management advice for one of the UK’s largest charitable organisations, The Royal British Legion, and he led the internal audit function at GE Capital Bank, covering the consumer lending businesses in both the UK and Ireland.
Paul’s CV also includes time at OakNorth Bank, HSBC and Arthur Andersen.
A Chartered Management Accountant who holds an MBA from the Manchester Business School, Paul joins from Grant Thornton, where he was associate director.
Marika Shand, senior management accountant, was in the controlling and management accounting division at npower for three years before joining the B-North team.
Marika Shand
Experienced in financial forecasting, business partnering and financial appraisals, Marika will work on B-North’s cash flow forecast, budget and financial management as the company moves through its licencing process and launch.
She is a fully-qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Sophia Ramsbottom, marketing manager, joins B-North as the company prepares to reach borrowers and brokers, alike.
She was previously at Citation Professional Services, a Health & Safety and HR and employment law firm, and before that, at NCC Group, the software escrow and cybersecurity firm, for five years.
Sophia Ramsbottom
Sophia is responsible for developing B-North’s online presence and will work alongside the sales team to communicate the B-North proposition and drive its entry into the challenger bank space.
She will also lead on new product launches and services between B-North’s different regional pods, the first of which will be in Manchester, followed by Leeds, London and Birmingham.
This highly-localised, technology-enabled, ‘pod model’ will allow loans to be made available to SMEs in as little as 10 working days.
Jonathan Thompson, co-founder and CEO, said: “At B-North we are implementing a leading market solution for essential lending to SMEs.
“To deliver it successfully we are growing in numbers and bringing on talented team members who are instrumental to the delivery and infrastructure of our product.
“At this critical time, as we move closer to launch, to have Paul, Sophia and Marika join us is a huge boost to our capabilities and what we can achieve.
“They are invaluable additions to our highly-experienced banking team, which originates from legacy and challenger banks and offers deep insight into the lending market.
“2019 was an extremely successful year for our growth and we are excited to be entering 2020 with our scheduled launch imminent, having fulfilled each step in our development plan over the past 12 months.”
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Macclesfield-based Peaks & Plains Housing Trust has announced Emma Richman will join the Trust in March as its executive director of operations.
Ms Richman will join from Great Places Housing Group where she held the position of director of assets.
With degrees in Architecture and Building Surveying, Emma has worked in the housing sector for 25 years and will bring a wealth of technical experience to the Trust, having worked with traditional, stock transfer and arms-length management organisations.
Emma’s passion for improving the quality of housing stock is demonstrable in her role with the National Federation of Housing’s Building Safety and Quality of Existing Homes Groups, which she will continue with as part of Peaks & Plains.
In addition, Emma is the current chair of Women in Property (North West branch) and is also a trustee of the Pankhurst Trust.
Emma Richman
In her new position, Emma will oversee the asset, repair, compliance and customer-facing teams, and play a key part in the ongoing delivery of the Trust’s five-year plan.
Emma said: “The opportunity to be part of an executive leadership team with a broader remit is one that I look forward to taking on.
“Understanding the challenges and opportunities with the more rural geography that Peaks & Plains oversees will give me a new perspective and one that I hope to use to build on the Trust’s impressive track record and reputation within the housing sector.”
Mark Howden, interim chief executive at Peaks & Plains, added: “Welcoming someone of Emma’s calibre to the Trust’s executive leadership team is an encouraging step forward as we embark on the year ahead, and will be a key role in our future.
“Having been named as one of the top 10 property disruptor professionals in the region, Emma’s personal passion and fresh approach will prove invaluable as we grow and continue to invest in the regeneration of Macclesfield – improving our existing homes and building innovative new homes across tenures in order to meet housing need.”
The profit-for-purpose housing provider currently oversees more than 5,000 homes across East Cheshire and the High Peak.
