People: Hurst; Matthews & Goodman; Quantuma; Illumar; GC Business Finance
A corporate finance specialist at North West accounting and business advisory firm Hurst has been promoted to associate partner.
Ben Bradley joined Hurst as a graduate trainee in September 2011, following a 12-month university placement. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 2014 while working in the firm’s business services team, then joined Hurst corporate finance in 2015 after a secondment with Moore Colson, an accountancy practice in Atlanta, USA.
Since his move to Hurst corporate finance, Ben has advised on more than 20 transactions with a total deal value of £920m.
Ben has progressed through the ranks to manager, associate director and now associate partner. His latest promotion, effective from April 1, gives him a seat on the board.
Nigel Barratt, head of Hurst corporate finance, said: “Ben’s promotion is deserved recognition for his hard work and commitment to helping clients to complete transactions even during the toughest of times. It is particularly pleasing that Ben has committed his career to Hurst and that, in turn, we have provided him with the opportunity to learn and develop by working on interesting and challenging transactions.
“He is a great team player who is fun to work with, and we all look forward to seeing him succeed in this new phase in his career.”
Ben said: “Hurst has provided me with a vast amount of experience and support in my professional development since I joined following a university placement in 2009. It’s a proud moment to be joining the board and I am excited for the future in my new role.
“We have a great team and I look forward to working with them and my professional network across the North West on many more deals in the future.”
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Matthews & Goodman, the specialist commercial property consultancy, has invited Paul Jolley to join the proprietary partnership and is pleased to announce his membership of the LLP.
Jolley will be responsible for directing the firm’s property and asset management team in the North and will work closely with Jeremy Dowding, head of the property & asset management team in the South.
A highly experienced property & asset manager, Jolley has spent more than 20 years advising a wide variety of local and national investor and developer clients, as well as local authorities. His clients included Royal Bank of Scotland, Mayfair Capital, Hillview Real Estate and Rianta Capital.
Paul Jolley
Prior to joining Matthews & Goodman, Jolley was a director and head of property & asset management NW at Lambert Smith Hampton and spent more than 15 years at CBRE.
James Routledge, a member of the LLP, said “Paul has a very clear vision for our property & asset management teams, in terms of evolving our offer to ensure tenants and occupiers continue to live and work safely in a post-COVID world.
“Added to these challenges is the fact that our clients also expect us to help them meet their ESG obligations, without compromising their financial models. These are the realities of property management today and we are very confident that Paul has the energy and enthusiasm to help the team evolve, adapt and embrace these changes.”
Paul Jolley said “I’m excited to join a well established firm with an excellent reputation both nationally and in the North West. What’s more, it has a diverse and loyal client base and strong track record of delivering a high quality bespoke service.”
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Business advisory firm Quantuma has appointed Mike Horton as director as it strengthens its North West team and financial advisory practice.
Mike has more than 18 years’ experience working in the financial services sector, spending in excess of half of his career advising businesses exhibiting signs of financial distress or entering a formal insolvency process. His expertise spans refinancing, new lending for businesses, portfolio management, and advising corporates and their financial stakeholders in turnaround situations.
Before joining Quantuma, Mike managed the recoveries portfolio of peer-to-peer lender Assetz Capital for more than four years. Prior to this role, he worked at Co-op Bank as a credit risk manager, and the Royal Bank of Scotland as a corporate manager within the bank’s global restructuring group.
In his role at Quantuma’s Manchester office, Mike will advise both businesses and a range of financial stakeholders across turnaround and performance improvement, options reviews, crisis and contingency planning, and cash and working capital management.
Mike Horton
His appointment continues the strong headcount growth seen by Quantuma in the North West. Since launching in January 2019, the firm has seen a more than 100% rise in demand for its services across the region and has expanded to 14 members of staff, with specialisms covering financial advisory, restructuring and insolvency and forensic accounting.
Mike said: “I’ve been very impressed by the pace at which Quantuma’s team in the North West and the firm’s wider financial advisory practice has grown over the last few years and I’m excited to be joining a firm whose reputation has gone from strength to strength.”
Robert Parry, managing director at Quantuma, said: “Growing our team is a natural step for us and will allow us to support more businesses than ever across the region. We are pleased to welcome Mike who will be an excellent addition to our Manchester team.”
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Warrington-based housing data management firm, Illumar, has appointed Peter Luke as commercial director and Jonathan Gould as client solutions consultant.
Peter Luke
These appointments mark an exciting time for Illumar with a number of social landlords now using its data management platform.
The firm is a joint venture between Birchwood-based business services provider Inprova and data automation software specialists Insource. The platform, which was set up in October 2020, helps social landlords benefit from their data assets, driving improved business performance, tenant satisfaction and regulatory compliance.
Peter Luke joins from Liverpool-based tech firm Gas Tag where he was commercial director. He has more than 25 years’ experience developing solutions in asset management and operations and previously worked in central government outsourcing as business development director for Capita and at United Utilities in operational and commercial positions.
In his new role, Peter will be responsible for executing an ambitious growth strategy in the social housing sector, working with existing and new customers to deliver their data management strategies.
Jonathan Gould has more than 16 years’ experience in housing and local government, both directly for social landlords and councils and also in a consultant capacity. In previous roles at Ark Consultancy, Oxford City Council, Family Housing Association and Orbit Homes, he managed major ICT and asset management projects.
Jonathan Gould
As client solutions consultant, Jonathan will support housing providers to understand their data landscape and capability, collaborate in the design of data management solutions and deliver the housing data management platform to their organisation.
Peter Luke said: “I’m really excited to drive forward Illumar’s proposition as it addresses a range of highly relevant, data-related policy issues such as building and fire safety, asset management and tenant engagement – all things that social landlords are currently struggling with. The solution can make a real difference in the sector, particularly in providing a single, trusted source of the truth and a ‘golden thread’ for landlords’ data.”
Jonathan Gould, client solutions consultant at Illumar said: “Although the social housing sector is rich in excellent data and knowledge, it’s not currently using it proficiently or to proper effect. I’m looking forward to helping Illumar change this as we support social landlords to release the value of their data and make sure it is accessible and trusted and of the highest quality.”
Illumar CEO, Steve Malone, said: “Recruiting Peter and Jonathan is an important step for Illumar. We have an ambitious product development road map for 2021, including the launch of an automated annual Statistical Data Return, a KPI automated reporting suite, a compliance dashboard and a data maturity and health check service.
“Peter and Jonathan will be critical to ensuring that Illumar products help the sector achieve the changes it needs to make around data integrity, as outlined by the housing regulator.”
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GC Business Finance has recruited two senior loan managers to strengthen its team of advisors dedicated to supporting businesses across the North West.
In their new roles, Dave Martin and Kevin Glover will be responsible for driving the social impact lender’s pipeline of new deals and delivering loans currently under the Coronavirus Business Interruptions Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) and continuing to help businesses access the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) on behalf of the British Business Bank.
They have already made a significant impact supporting North West SME’s in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to withstand business interruptions.
Dave Martin
Dave joins GC Business Finance with more than 20 years’ experience in finance, having spent the past 10 years supporting businesses of all sizes to raise finance to facilitate growth, create jobs and achieve international expansion.
With previous roles at HSBC, Barclays, Santander and TSB Bank, as well as factoring company Regency Factors, Dave has extensive knowledge of the alternative finance market in the UK.
At GC Business Finance, Dave will be responsible for engaging with SME business across Greater Manchester and the wider North West. He will focus on supporting businesses with their growth ambitions identifying areas where additional funding is needed to assist with job creation and business expansion.
Kevin joins with 15 years’ experience as a relationship manager at RBS. With a background in SME trading businesses and commercial customers, Kevin will support entrepreneurs with their applications for loans, using his expertise to open up international markets to businesses in Manchester.
Chris Hutchison, head of lending at GC Business Finance, said: “We are excited to be welcoming Dave and Kevin to the team and look forward to working with them to continue assisting businesses across the North West. During this period, the two new appointments highlight our commitment to supporting SMEs through the pandemic as well as driving our core purpose of economic growth and job creation across the North West.”
Chris Hutchison
Dave Martin said: “It’s a difficult time for businesses in the North West, but entrepreneurs in our region have shown outstanding levels of adaptability enabling them to survive the pandemic. I’m grateful to have this opportunity to work with GC Business Finance to support these businesses in accessing finance, driving growth back into the UK economy through the loans available.”
Kevin Glover said: “There is an incredible host of talent and innovation coming out of this region at the moment, and organisations like the Growth Company are doing all they can to ensure that this talent does not go to waste.
“Businesses are proving themselves to be resilient in the face of the virus. Beyond the pandemic, I’m looking forward to helping GC Business Finance to continue to champion businesses in the region.”
