People: Optionis Group; Horwich Farrelly; Place Capital; Bromleys Solicitors; JMW Solicitors
Optionis Group has announced the appointment of senior executive Greet Brosens, who joins the team as chief sales officer.
With more than 25 years of experience in driving multimillion-pound brands, Greet joins the professional services group with a focus on increasing Warrington-based Optionis’ market share and helping to shape future business strategy.
Having previously worked for major recruiters including Robert Half and AMS, as well as having experience sitting on the UK board for The Adecco Group, Greet is a renowned figure in the industry with a track record of implementing successful sales strategies on an international scale.
Joining the team from Thomas International, she will play a key role at Optionis, which provides specialist tax, accountancy and umbrella services for freelancers and contractors, spearheading the group’s next phase of growth with a focus on commercial performance.
The strategic appointment completes a series of senior hires at Optionis. Other notable recruits include Tony Killeen as chief operating officer, Jonathan James as chief information officer, Kathryn Andrew as director of transformational change and Karen Pay as chief people officer. Greet will also work closely with chief digital officer, Neal Preece, an eCommerce expert who joined the business having previously worked in the UK retail sector.
Doug Crawford, CEO at Optionis Group, said: “I’m pleased to be welcoming Greet to the team who, as a highly respected executive in the industry, is a real coup for our business and this signals our intent to continue growing for years to come.
“We take pride in an executive board with unrivalled knowledge in their respective fields, and I’m excited to see the long lasting, positive impact they will have on Optionis. I’m confident this is the start of an exciting and progressive chapter for us.”
Greet said: “I’m looking forward to the challenge of building on the solid commercial foundations the team has already laid, and bringing my experiences of the industry to take our performance and reputation to the next level.
“It’s a very exciting time to be at Optionis, and as part of a team with a fantastic amount of insight to offer in management, operations, digital, transformation and HR, I’m confident we have the ability to offer a service that exceeds expectations in all areas.”
::
Horwich Farrelly, the Manchester-based insurance industry law firm, has appointed finance services expert, Andy Young, as its new chief financial officer.
Andy joins the firm from LV=, where he was known to current Horwich Farrelly chairman, John O’Roarke.
Having held several senior leadership finance roles at LV= in the general insurance, life and with profit business areas, as well as in the central group function, his experience covers all areas of the finance function with a strong focus on business partnering and driving better business outcomes.
Andy said: “I am delighted to be taking up this role in a law firm that is so successful within the insurance market – a sector I know very well. I am truly excited by the opportunity this gives me in an incredibly innovative and rapidly growing business.
Andy Young
“Having taken a lead role from inception through to integration in LV’s merger and acquisition activity – and more recently in the disposal of the general insurance business – I am confident I can help with Horwich Farrelly’s ambitious growth plan for the future.”
Horwich Farrelly managing partner, Ronan McCann, welcomed Andy’s appointment and praised his experience: “Even without the current crisis, the legal market is changing faster than ever with increasing pressures on improving efficiencies without compromising quality of services and Andy did just that in his time at LV=. We are looking forward to working with him on our own ambitious plans.”
Chairman, John O’Roarke, said: “I know Andy well from our time together at LV= and, like all at Horwich Farrelly, he is results driven, pragmatic but commercially focused and places great value on team leadership, development and engagement. He is as excited by the ambitious plans we have for Horwich Farrelly as we are and is a great addition to the team as we look to expand in the future.”
::
Place Capital Group, the Manchester housing estate regeneration specialist that works with large social landlords to revive inner urban communities, has added two senior property industry specialists to its board.
Karl Eddy
Joining the business as non-executive directors are Karl Eddy, former senior partner at Grant Thornton and Scot Morrison, a senior partner at Pinsent Masons with 25 years’ experience in property, housing and regeneration.
Founded by David Smith-Milne and Peter Martin earlier this year, Place Capital Group is working with major owners of social housing stock to bring new life and place-led investment to large scale housing estates. The company is growing through a buy and build strategy and announced its first acquisition, Fourth Street Place Consultants, in February 2021.
With a strong project and acquisition pipeline, the company is now expanding its board to support the group’s corporate development and governance. Karl Eddy joins from a career that includes senior roles with Drivers Jonas, KPMG and, more recently, Grant Thornton, where he was a member of the senior leadership team and previously headed up the government and infrastructure advisory team.
Eddy said “Place Capital Group is bringing a much needed focus on some of the hardest regeneration challenges. The unique combination of robust advisory and development/investment capabilities will provide a new model for project delivery at a time when government’s focus has rightly shifted to tackling some of the most overlooked places of the UK.”
Scot Morrison
Morrison has spent more than 25 years advising public and private sector clients ranging from central government bodies such as Homes England, local authorities and a variety of developers on structuring large scale regeneration and urban development projects. He is recognised for structuring and delivering public private JVs, partnerships and finance arrangements with the ability to navigate the public private space and associated regulatory space.
He said “Place Capital Group is bringing real innovation to the comprehensive revival of our essential former council estates through its development partnering model and the outputs of this will benefit thousands of people through better quality, affordable homes set within renewed urban spaces.”
David Smith-Milne, CEO of Place Capital Group, said: “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Karl and Scot to the board. Their knowledge of the regeneration sector and the strength of their experience will be invaluable as we grow the business, both organically and through acquisition.”
::
Law firm Bromleys has enhanced its Court of Protection team with two appointments. Chris Brayshaw and Rebecca Calverley have joined the Tameside practice from firms in Manchester city centre.
Bromleys’ Court of Protection team, led by John Longworth, acts for clients who lack the mental capacity to manage their own property and financial affairs due to reasons such as injury, illness or old age.
Solicitor Chris specialises in high-value Court of Protection work and lasting power of attorney cases, acting on behalf of clients from teenagers to the elderly on end-of-life care.
From left: Chris Brayshaw, John Longworth, Mark Hirst, Rebecca Calverley
Chris, who is a member of the Court of Protection Practitioners Association, also has extensive experience of advising on personal injury and wills, trusts and probate matters. He said: “There is a real synergy between my values and those of Bromleys. The firm echoes my belief about the importance of helping others.”
Rebecca has joined Bromleys as a paralegal. She has 10 years’ experience working with clients and their families to support them in managing their financial affairs, and is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. She said: “Having worked in a busy Court of Protection team at a city centre firm for over 10 years, I wanted to seek a new challenge.”
Mark Hirst, senior partner at Bromleys, said “Our Court of Protection team is held in high regard on a regional and a national level. They are experienced, hardworking and dedicated, with a real passion for their work, so it was crucial that we recruited like-minded experts to complement our existing team.
“Chris and Rebecca will each play a key role in helping the department go from strength to strength and I wish them long and happy careers with us.”
::
Manchester-based JMW Solicitors continues its expansion with six partner hires for its London office. This brings the number of new partner hires there to 18 since January 2020.
Greg Thwaites, formerly a partner and consultant at Dentons UK and Middle East, joins the commercial real estate team. John Andrews specialises in mergers and acquisitions work for a variety of SME and larger clients, with particular specialisms in the property, logistics, facilities management and healthcare sectors. He was formerly the head of corporate at Morrisons Solicitors.
Sophie Maryan joins as the co-head of the London real estate residential team. She has more than 10 years’ experience in a broad range of work including leasehold and freehold property acquisitions and disposals for property companies and end users. Sophie joins from Philip Ross Solicitors.
Petar Orlic’s practice focuses on the acquisition and disposal of commercial properties, real estate finance, development and landlord and tenant matters relating to portfolio management. He also advises on high end residential acquisitions. Petar joins from Watson Farley & Williams and brings senior associate, Josip Stajfer, with him.
Joy Kingsley
David Thompson handles all areas of family law, with particular emphasis on complex financial and international issues. He has significant experience in jurisdictional cross-border financial issues and has acted in several difficult leave to remove children cases. David is the chair of the London Region of Resolution, the national organisation for Family Lawyers, and is an active member of the Cambridge Regional committee. He joins from BDB Pitmans.
Daniel Martin specialises in financial and business crime, regulatory investigations and serious general crime. He has a wealth of experience in cases involving serious and organised crime, often with an international element. Daniel specialises in corporate and financial crime, working on cases involving high value and complex fraud. Daniel joins from Blaser Mills Law.
Lee Adams, head of JMW London, said: “In London, we continue to enjoy significant demand from clients as they adapt to the changing working environment. We are attracting the best legal talent in London in the areas that align to demand. We are delighted to welcome them all to the team.”
Senior Partner, Joy Kingsley, said: “Despite the challenging environment, we are continuing to see significant growth in our London office. Our continued investment in the London market is being rewarded by exceptional growth and these latest hires bring the team in London to 44 partners. We will continue to maintain a flexible approach and fully expect this growth to continue throughout 2021 and beyond.”
