People on the Move: Primas; Cushman & Wakefield; It’s Gone Viral; The Marketing Centre

Manchester, Cheshire and London-based law firm, Primas, has made three new hires as part of its ambitious growth plans for the North West.

Specialising in commercial, corporate and real estate law, Primas has welcomed solicitors Katie Hitchen and Katy Williamson to its real estate team, and paralegal, Dammy Osemwenkhae, into its litigation department.

Katie Hitchen joins the team from SAS Daniels in Stockport where she trained and qualified as a solicitor in 2018, with experience in development work, landlord and tenant matters, property finance and other general commercial property.

Katy Williamson joins from Cambridge firm Ashtons Legal, where she advised on complex conditional contracts, development schemes, property finance and general commercial real estate work for developers, housing associations and private landowners. Katy qualified as a solicitor in New Zealand in 2016.

Joining the litigation arm of the firm is paralegal, Dammy Osemwenkhae. Dammy joins with experience in the finance litigation sector, assisting on volume debt recovery matters for the UK’s leading banks and financial institutions.

Simon Baxter, partner and head of real estate, said: “We’re really pleased to welcome both Katy and Katie to the real estate team. They both add enthusiasm and talent to our already strong offering. We’ve got ambitious plans and the new hires help support the exciting client growth that we are experiencing.”

Daniel Thomas, partner and head of litigation at Primas, added: “Following our recent merger at the end of last year, we really want to see Primas go from strength to strength so, adding the right members to our team is a huge part of that. Dammy has already proven to be a great support to the litigation team and we’re really pleased to have her join us.”

The rapidly-growing law firm merged with Manchester-based law firm, Freeman Fisher, last year and has big plans for further growth and expansion. This latest raft of recruits takes their team to 36.

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Cushman & Wakefield has appointed Rob Taylor to head its logistics and industrial team in Manchester.

Taylor joins as a partner from the Manchester office of Knight Frank where he headed its North West Industrial team.

In his new role he will be responsible for developing Cushman & Wakefield’s logistics and industrial business across the North West region and providing market-leading client service working in conjunction with the firm’s London and Leeds offices.

Rob Taylor

He brings 16 years’ experience in the industrial sector, dealing with both disposal and acquisition work for a number of key fund, developer and occupier clients including Cabot, Quorum, LaSalle IM, Canmoor, BlackRock, M&G, CBREGi, L&G, Harworth Estates, Redsun, BMO and PLP.

Caroline Baker, partner and head of Cushman & Wakefield’s Manchester office, said: “Rob is well-known within the North West industrial market and we are delighted he has joined the team.

“Cushman & Wakefield has been strengthening its logistics capabilities in key markets and appointing a market leader to head the team will bolster our regional expertise.”

Cushman & Wakefield is currently advising a number of clients including Cabot, Quorum, Peel, Schroders, Trebor Developments, PIN and Travis Perkins on schemes across the region, including, Q110 in Crewe and Boundary Park in Deeside.

Rob Taylor said: “This is an exciting opportunity to join a talented team.

“Cushman & Wakefield is a well-established and respected name in the logistics and industrial sector and I’m looking forward to building on an already strong order book of clients and increase our market presence across in the North West.”

Over the past 12 months, Cushman & Wakefield has made several senior appointments across its UK logistics and industrial team, including: Richard Evans who joined as head of UK logistics and industrial, Tim Crighton, a logistics and retail specialist who joined as a partner, Chris Knight, also recruited as partner within the London and South East team, and Dave Robinson who is heading the Yorkshire logistics and industrial team.

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It’s Gone Viral, the Manchester-based social media marketing company, has appointed Urban Splash’s Sam Lenehan as a non-executive director.

Sam is associate director of award-winning housing developer House by Urban Splash, a partnership between Manchester-based regeneration pioneers Urban Splash, the UK Government, via Homes England, and the largest house builder in the world, Japan-based Sekisui House.

In his new role Sam will be working closely with Andrew Trotman and Ryan Williams, It’s Gone Viral’s founders, on executing the firm’s ongoing growth strategy.

Having recently played a key role in the assembly of the House by Urban Splash partnership, Sam’s background is largely within the property sector, with experience in the formation and delivery of partnerships, property developments and corporate strategy.

Sam said: “Social media has become a fundamental part of how consumers interact with the brands they love.

“Having built some of the biggest social media brands in the country over the past three years, the guys at It’s Gone Viral have an almost unparalleled expertise. By falling into the agency space, they’ve become some of the most qualified social media advisors in the country.”

From left: Ryan Thomas, Andrew Trotman, Sam Lenehan

He added: “I genuinely believe that having built and maintained their own internal portfolio of pages, It’s Gone Viral has the opportunity to be something different – disrupting the agency market through its unique expertise, backed by a visible track record that’s there for all to see.”

Sam concluded: “The board and I have developed and begun implementing a new strategy for the business over the past six months and I am delighted to formalise my appointment with the group as we start to see the next exciting stages of this unfold.”

Andrew Trotman said: “Sam brings a unique set of skills and experience that have already proved incredibly valuable.

“The past six months have seen us quadruple our headcount, move into Manchester city centre and deliver six billion impressions across our portfolio. We are extremely excited on the journey ahead. 2020 is going to be a year of significant growth and we’re only just getting started.”

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The Marketing Centre is responding to an increasing demand from SME’s looking to invest in strategic marketing by adding a breadth of talent to its team in the North West with its latest appointees, Andy Chadbourne and Helen Keefe.

With Julie Brook leading the North West regional team, Andy and Helen, through their roles as part-time marketing directors, will be working with local businesses who are seeking access to professional, experienced marketing advice and support.

They bring a wealth of experience between them, including tech experience, a skillset that will enable the team to accommodate the growing needs of a region where the fintech industry is seeing unprecedented growth.

The Marketing Centre, a nine-year-old business with 90+ part-time marketing directors across the UK, says it has pioneered the concept of providing ambitious and growing SMEs with access to part-time marketing directors with a proven track record of delivering significant impact.

The concept gives small and mid-size businesses in-house access to the knowledge, passion and experience required to build and develop a company at a seniority level that many companies cannot afford on a full-time basis.

Andy Chadbourne

The Marketing Centre’s stringent selection process means that only the best marketing directors are selected.

Andy has more than 20 years’ global experience in product and service marketing and a strong track record of helping ambitious businesses grow.

His career has included board-level roles in large organisations, a tech start-up and two start-ups of his own.

For the past two years he has run a successful marketing consultancy where he has been involved in a range of strategic marketing projects with private businesses and the University of Manchester, where he also lectured in marketing and market research to final year PhD students.

Andy said: “I’m delighted to be part of The Marketing Centre’s North West team and looking forward to introducing more tech businesses into the family.

“I’ve had the privilege to work with some amazing companies on a project basis, but the unique longer-term, part-time model of The Marketing Centre and the amazing network of fellow professionals really appealed to me and I can’t wait to get started.”

Helen is a highly-experienced commercial marketing director with knowledge of a diverse range of sectors, including technology, software, consumer and business electronics, public and third sector and travel and transport.

She has worked at executive level in large corporates and smaller organisations and brings a varied and transferable skill set to B2B and B2C businesses.

Helen has proven she is able to deliver outstanding results at pace and has helped many businesses achieve high growth in challenging and competitive markets. These include Manchester Airport Group, Sage Software, LEGO, Sharp Electronics, Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester City Council.

She said: “I am passionate about helping organisations in the region to succeed. Joining the Marketing Centre is a further opportunity for me to share my 25 years’ strategic marketing experience with North West SMEs and help them exceed their business goals.”

Julie Brook, regional director for the North West, said: “I am delighted to have Andy and Helen joining the Marketing Centre.

“There are many tech businesses in the North West region that are scaling up and need a marketing professional to help drive growth.

“With Andy and Helen on board, we have the ability to work with even more businesses in the region to help build growth and profitability for their shareholders.”