People on the Move: Seneca Partners; RSM; Fanatics; Dow Schofield Watts; ESE Energy Group
Seneca Partners has announced the appointment of Chris Hood, who joins the Haydock-based investment firm as its new sales director to help promote its tax-advantaged services.#
Chris will be responsible for Seneca’s relationships with wealth managers, IFAs and other intermediaries.
Seneca utilises capital from high net worth investors to support ambitious SMEs.
This year should see Seneca reach a big milestone and exceed £130m in tax-advantaged investments.
Seneca back management teams running growing and scalable businesses by providing them with the assistance they need to achieve their goals, supplying both capital and strategic support throughout the investment term.
Chris said: “I’m very pleased to have joined Seneca. We recently announced our intentions to invest £15m this year into well-managed SMEs who have aspirations to accelerate their growth.
“This is an excellent opportunity for me to work with a highly regarded management team, in a dynamic business with a quality service offering.
“This is a perfect time to be joining Seneca as it continues to grow and support UK businesses via its various funds and services. Our target is to invest a further £15m of growth capital, but my aim is to provide the foundations to allow the investment team to exceed those expectations.”
Chris began his career in financial services in 1986 with Norwich Union where he worked for 10 years as a business development manager across the North West of England. After two years of working as an independent financial adviser he embarked on an 18-year career with Clerical Medical/ Scottish Widows where he led many successful teams in his role as regional sales manager.
In 2012 Chris joined London & Capital as a business development manager where he represented the discretionary fund manager in the North West. He joins Seneca from LV=, where he led their North regional sales team for the past five years.
Chris holds the Regulated Diploma in Financial Planning from the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Richard Manley, Seneca Partners chief executive, said: “Chris’s appointment couldn’t be more timely and we’re delighted to welcome him to the team. We’ve entered an exciting phase for our Growth Capital Team and we’re starting to see significant traction with our VCT which we launched 18 months ago.
“We have a great pipeline of SME investment opportunities currently and we are excited about the prospects of continuing to expand our funds under management and add to our existing investment portfolio. During 2020 I expect Seneca to move beyond £130m of tax-advantaged investment made to date, and that’s a big achievement for us.”
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Audit, tax and consulting firm RSM has expanded its North West tax practice with a key partner hire.
Graham Steele joins from KPMG where he headed up the North innovation tax reliefs team.
He specialises in innovation tax reliefs, including R&D tax reliefs, patent box and creative sector tax reliefs.
In his new role, Graham will work with the 110-strong North West tax team to grow the regional innovation relief offering and further enhance RSM’s technical and sector expertise within the team.
The expansion in the North West team, which now comprises more than 670 partners and staff, underlines RSM’s growth ambitions in the local market.
Graham Steele
Colin Smyth, tax partner at RSM, said: “More and more businesses are taking advantage of innovation tax reliefs, like R&D tax relief, patent box and creative sector tax reliefs, and it’s great to further enhance our 10-strong North West team with Graham’s appointment.
“Graham is well known and respected throughout the North and we are delighted to welcome him to RSM.”
Graham Steele added: “It’s great to be joining such an experienced, established team and we have ambitious plans to further grow our innovation tax reliefs practice.
“There is a huge amount of opportunity, given the latest HMRC statistics show the number of claims for R&D tax credits continues to rise, with a record £4.4bn of government support claimed in the last year.
“The need for quality advice in this area has also never been greater, as we have seen both an increase in HMRC checks on claims and a proliferation of new advisors entering the marketplace.”
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Fanatics, the global leader in licensed sports merchandise, has announced that Ria Murphy has been appointed as international finance director, based at the international headquarters in Ancoats, Manchester.
Murphy joined Fanatics in 2014 and was previously head of commercial finance for the organisation.
Her new role will see her lead a team of 30, based primarily at Fanatics’ international HQ in Manchester, where Fanatics work with some of the biggest sports organisations in the world including Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, NBA, NFL, The FA, England Rugby and European Tour.
Fanatics’ international presence has grown significantly over the past year, with the company now operating offices and manufacturing and fulfilment centres in the USA, UK, Germany, Spain, India, Hong Kong and Japan.
Ria Murphy
Murphy will be responsible for the financial management, governance, control and reporting for all areas of Fanatics’ international business.
Prior to Fanatics, Murphy held a number of senior positions at Manchester Airport Group, Enterprise and Hewden and started her career at Deloitte.
She will report into chief financial officer Mich Chandlee, and will take over the role immediately from Martin Smith, who will move to Tampa to work on projects with the company’s internal apparel division, Fanatics Brands, as supply chain controller.
Mich Chandlee said: “It is extremely pleasing that we have been able to promote from within the company and Ria is an outstanding, talented member of the team who understands our culture, business and our customers.
“Profitable growth of our international business is a priority for Fanatics and I am confident that Ria will lead the team to success and help to guide the business and our partners towards achieving our goals of serving more sports fans in more countries across the world.”
Ria Murphy said: “I am incredibly excited to be taking on this role at such an exciting time for Fanatics. Having the opportunity to lead a talented team as we continue to grow our international offering for our partners and fans is something that I am very much looking forward to.
“Being the global leader in licensed sports merchandise, with a global footprint, puts us in the perfect place to deliver for our partners and customers and I am confident we will continue to do so in 2020 and beyond.”
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Independent advisory firm Dow Schofield Watts, based in Daresbury, has promoted Ros Jones to director within its North West transaction services team.
Ros, who joined in June 2015, is now the most long-standing member of the team, aside from the partners.
Ros Jones
During that time she has worked closely with a number of clients including NWF, Wavenet and Assura, with a series of acquisitions, and advised on some significant private equity transactions, such as the recent refinancing of A2E-backed ASG.
Ed Brentnall, joint head of the transaction services team, said: “Ros is a highly-respected due diligence practitioner, within both the firm and our client base.
“Her promotion is enormously well deserved and recognises her key role within the team, as well as our commitment to developing talented individuals and investing in the North West deals market.”
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Liverpool-based ESE Energy Group has appointed Liz Goodwin, a former senior Crown prosecutor, to its board of directors.
Goodwin, who still practices law, is clear on her ambitions as director and has already set to work to raise ESE’s profile to that of a leading household name in the renewable energy sector.
Since starting in the role at the end of last year, Liz has been busy spreading the ESE word.
Amongst dealing with regulators, stakeholders and partners, Liz also represented the company at the UK’s largest renewable energy exhibition, Solar & Storage Live.
ESE Group is currently one of Britain’s largest supplies of solar PV energy and battery power systems. The company is expanding this year to offer a range of new products and services.
Liz said: “It’s hard not to be aware of the challenges we face globally due to climate change and when given the opportunity I wanted to be part of an industry that was helping to tackle this.
Liz Goodwin
“I want to contribute to a sustainable future for my children as part of what I see as an energy revolution.
“By investing in renewable energy, we are not only reducing the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere, but we are also helping to ensure security of supply which, in our ever-changing world, is extremely important.”
As a successful senior Crown prosecutor Liz brings a wealth of knowledge on risk, compliance and regulatory matters. A busy mum of three who is also co-chair of the school PTA, Liz is extremely passionate about the fight against climate change.
