People on the Move: Primas; hero; St Ann’s Hospice; OON Media; BLM
Corporate and commercial law firm, Primas has appointed Yasar Kaushal as partner in its real estate team to respond to growing demand in the sector.
Joining the company from Linder Myers, where he was head of commercial property, Yasar’s appointment is set to further expand the firm’s real estate offering.
As a specialist in property and commercial services, Yasar is experienced in working closely with a range of clients including property investors, developers and SMEs as well as those in the restaurant and hospitality sector.
His key skills include acquisitions and disposals, property finance, development and lease transactions, although Yasar also prides himself on his expansive and well-rounded knowledge of the real estate sector as a whole.
This appointment is the latest in a line of significant hires at Primas, which recently expanded its service offering to include a new built environment and projects department, headed by David Vayro, and a corporate recoveries and insolvency offering, led by Chris Love.
Yasar said: “I’m really pleased to have joined Primas. From day one I bought into their vision of quality being the priority. They take a much more modern approach to law, which is incredibly refreshing and puts the firm in a great position for future growth.
“Being Manchester born and bred, I look forward to working alongside businesses in the North West, utilising my broad commercial experience to help them achieve their growth targets, delivering on the full spectrum of their real estate needs.”
Head of real estate, Simon Baxter, said: “We’re thrilled to have Yasar on board. The real estate arm of the business has grown significantly in the last 12 months, and Yasar’s expertise will certainly help this area continue to thrive.”
Primas has offices in Cheshire, Manchester and London and offers a wide range of services including corporate and commercial, employment, real estate, insolvency and litigation.
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Considered one of the best players of his generation, Jamie Peacock has won every honour in the domestic game of rugby league and has now joined the hero team to help tackle issues around health and wellbeing in the workplace.
Manchester-based health-tech company hero has welcomed Jamie to its content and delivery team and as a result added a range of new and unique courses to hero’s Mindset programme – hero’s portfolio of innovative, educational programmes including Jamie’s well-known leadership development, ‘No White Flag’ programme.
Jamie will also be working with hero’s national and international client base to deliver a whole host of other workshops and courses such as building champions, Jamie’s mentoring programme based on key principles of success.
Sam Gaunt, head of content and delivery at hero, said: “Jamie’s achievements in captaining our GB and national team as well as the honours he’s achieved off the pitch are incredible. We are delighted to welcome Jamie to the team and further expand our services, programmes and support to our clients.
Jamie Peacock
“Mindset is central to creating a positive change in behaviour and Jamie can offer a unique view on this based on his successful career and many achievements. If we can inspire and create simple, yet effective mindset changes, we can help, and support individuals and businesses achieve great results.”
Jamie said: “I am really excited about working with hero. The service we offer and the support via our online platform Navigator is market-leading and from my experience is game-changing for the world of corporate wellbeing.
“Investing in the health and wellbeing of your employees is vital in the world we’re living in today and I am proud to be working with such a forward-thinking and innovative team.”
Hero works with more than 100 clients to support with health and wellbeing strategies which include the delivery of educational content, using data, digital interventions and face-to-face support to help create positive behaviour changes and long-term benefits for both people and businesses.
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St Ann’s Hospice has appointed a new director of clinical services to help lead the charity into its 50th anniversary year and beyond.
Emma Dixon, who joined the organisation as head of clinical services in March this year, will take over from Rachel McMillan, who has been appointed as chief executive.
Emma said: “It’s such an exciting time to be part of the St Ann’s team and I’m thrilled to be taking on this new role. It’s a real honour to be part of such a dedicated and hardworking team, and as we approach our 50th birthday in May 2021, it’s going to be fantastic to look back at half a century of caring for local people, whilst also focusing on the path ahead.
“Hospice care has changed significantly since 1971 when we opened our doors, but the ethos of patient-centred care has always remained the same.”
Emma Dixon
Emma is a Registered Nurse and joined St Ann’s from her previous role as cancer services manager at Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Her experience also includes time as matron at East Cheshire Hospice, and senior clinical quality and clinical project manager (cancer & end of life care) for NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group.
Rachel McMillan said: “I’m so pleased that Emma is taking on this important role, especially at such an exciting time for the organisation. Since joining us earlier this year she has made a real impact, and has worked with our clinical teams and others across the organisation to ensure that our patients and their loved ones have been able to continue accessing the care and support they need throughout the pandemic.”
St Ann’s Hospice provides care and support for thousands of people from across Greater Manchester from its three sites in Heald Green, Little Hulton, and The Neil Cliffe Centre in Wythenshawe Hospital, as well as via a range of community and outreach services. It is one of the oldest and largest hospices outside London.
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Wirral digital marketing agency OON Media is expanding its team to create five new roles and moving to new premises in a bid to ride the pandemic wave and strengthen the business.
All pre-booked work was cancelled following lockdown, so the team took the opportunity to conduct an internal skills analysis to identify areas to develop, strengthen and expand its portfolio of services, skills and expertise.
As part of the evaluation the company has now relocated to bigger premises in Birkenhead.
Five new job roles also are being created to cover production and post-production, social media and online marketing, website development, graphic design, and media and communications. The jobs range from full-time to a flexible freelance basis.
Mike Sowden
Christopher O’Neill is a First Class Honours Graduate from Dublin University. He has relocated from Ireland to join OON Media as a full-time member of staff to work on production shoots.
The second post is full-time, and an experienced post-production editor will be joining the team shortly.
Two further full-time staff will also be recruited as part of the Government’s Kickstart scheme to help young people aged between 16 and 24 into jobs and training.
Former journalist Erica Dillon completes the team in a flexible role, providing media and communications support on a freelance basis.
Chief executive Mike Sowden said: “We used lockdown as an opportunity to regroup, re-evaluate and reinvigorate, taking a good look at the business and our next steps. It’s a real turning point and will help us to stabilise, plant roots, and further grow the business.”
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Insurance risk and commercial law specialist BLM has announced 14 promotions across its North West offices, including three appointments to partner.
The promotions span four of the firm’s seven business streams with six promotions in claims solutions, four in speciality & financial lines, two in large loss & technical, and two in commercial advisory & private wealth, across both its Liverpool and Manchester offices.
In total, BLM promoted 12 associates to partner and 23 solicitors to associate level this year, across nine of the firm’s 13 offices.
Matthew Harrington, BLM senior partner, said: “In what has been a challenging year for many firms it is rewarding to celebrate the success of our teams across offices and specialties.
“As we grow and diversify our business streams, focusing on areas of strength and opportunity, it’s vital we have the right people in place. Our new partners and associates embody the future of our firm, and have enabled us to continue to provide clients with exceptional expertise and service, during a time of great change for many businesses.”
The promotions in Manchester are: Angela Crisall (partner); Marie Atkinson (partner); Kendra McKinney (partner); Danielle Fairfield (associate); Christopher Glynn (associate); Rachel Smith (associate,); Chloe Jenkins (associate); Gemma Stewart (associate); Janet Walters (associate); Katie Connell (associate); Charlotte Pritchard (associate); and in Liverpool David Grimsditch (associate – Chartered Legal Executive, FCILEx); Elizabeth McCulloch (associate); Vicky Garner (associate).
