People on the Move: Viddyoze; Think Legal Recruitment; GHP Legal

Preston-based SaaS animation firm Viddyoze has appointed former MediaCom executive Fiona Hunt as a board adviser to oversee the next stage of the company’s growth.

Australian by birth, Hunt enjoyed a prestigious marketing career in Sydney and Melbourne including roles at Google, Intrepid Travel, Sydney Opera House and Mahlab Media, before she joined MediaCom in Manchester in 2017 and held a board role.

As head of marketing for MediaCom North, she led marketing for its three agency brands and was head of MediaCom Beyond Advertising, the agency’s content marketing business.

Viddyoze customers include Tesla, Sony and PwC. Its technology allows people to create and use their own video animation and is now being used in 250,000 monthly clips worldwide.

Hunt will be helping Viddyoze launch a new enterprise solution.

Hunt, who has held a range of non-executive board roles across a variety of sectors, said: “I’m really happy to be working with the Viddyoze team. The product offering is a game-changer and the team are inspirational in how they have built the business to date.

“I’m looking forward to working with them to help launch their enterprise products into new markets and help grow this already incredible business.”

David Chamberlain, who founded Viddyoze in 2015 with Jamie Garside and Joey Xoto, said he was delighted with the appointment: “It’s an exciting time for the company and the new enterprise solution will open up new markets to us.

“Fiona has a proven track record and I’m convinced she’ll help us on our journey to the next level.”

Hunt was introduced to the company by Viddyoze’s non-executive director, Ian Wright, through the peer-to-peer non-executive director community Virtualnonexecs.com.

Wright said: “Fiona will be working with the board of directors to progress the cutting-edge enterprise solution that Viddyoze have developed which allows companies – from SME to large corporates – to create bespoke, personalised mass video at scale.”

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Think Legal Recruitment has recruited Lucy Grainger as an associate director focusing on private practice legal recruitment across the North West.

Lucy Grainger

Lucy has extensive experience within the North West market and an excellent reputation of delivering for candidates and clients while building trust and a strong rapport with fee earners at all levels. Lucy joins the Manchester-based firm to build on the growth achieved at Think Legal in recent years including record turnover in 2019/20.

Despite the pandemic, the company said its team remains committed to the regional legal recruitment market and stand ready to help clients and candidates through this very difficult time. Lucy’s addition is key to the team continuing to build its reputation in the North West legal market.

Directors Paul Warburton and Joe Gregory said: “We recognise this has been a challenging and difficult time for everyone, but we are excited by Lucy’s addition which underlines our commitment to helping legal professionals across Manchester and the wider North West.”

Grainger, who joins after a number of successful years at another legal recruitment agency, said: “I’m excited to be part of Think Legal Recruitment which delivers legal recruitment in line with my core values of deep market knowledge, trust and a high level personable service.”

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A Wrexham woman has returned to the law firm where she did work experience as a 17-year old schoolgirl to begin a training contract that will see her qualify as a solicitor in two years’ time.

Jade Snow already had a keen interest in the law when she contacted GHP Legal in her last year at school to ask about work experience. One of the largest independent law firms in the region, GHP is a long-time supporter of the solicitor training programme.

As a multi-disciplinary practice, the firm is able to offer trainees a broad insight into many different aspects of law.

After leaving school Jade gained a degree at the University of Aberystwyth before travelling to Texas where she worked for seven months as a lifeguard.

She returned home and joined Wrexham success story Moneypenny, the global office support company.

Jade Snow

She was part of the team that worked at the Moneypenny office in New Zealand giving her further opportunity for travel.

On her return to Wrexham Jade renewed the interest in law that she had developed as a schoolgirl, this time joining GHP Legal as a legal secretary in the probate and property department while taking her Legal Practice Course and studying part-time for a Masters degree.

Jade went on to work as a paralegal in the real estate team at Knights in Chester before obtaining a distinction in her LPC and returning to GHP Legal this month to complete her solicitor training.

Welcoming Jade back to the firm, GHP Legal training partner, Nathan Wright, said: “When we offer a training contract we look for individuals with a strong academic base who have proved they are hard-working and fresh-thinking. All our trainees undertake a wide ground base, completing four six-month seats in various departments to help them decide the area of law in which they wish to specialise.

“Jade has already shown she is keen to embrace the firm’s values and we look forward to having her in the team.”