People: Equilibrium; Zappify; Turquoise PR; P3 People Management; HOST

IFA Equilibrium Financial Planning, based in Cheshire, has announced the appointment of a new head of marketing following a period of planned, sustained growth.

Rachel Griffiths has extensive experience in marcomms and strategic coaching, having joined from RADA Business where she was head of leadership and the North West office.

She also co-founded Reputation Consultancy, a reputation management and coaching business which helps organisations optimise their performance and embed purposeful, sustainable practices.

Prior to this, she was deputy chief executive of the Association of Mutual Insurers and head of public relations at award winning agency Brahm.

Rachel said: “Equilibrium’s reputation among its clients and the industry comes from its relentless dedication to doing business better, through the values of integrity, growth, simplicity and excellence.

“Our purpose is already at the heart of our business and I’m hugely excited to put that at the centre of our marketing and communications.”

Rachel will guide the five-strong team in putting the company’s purpose at the heart of marketing and with a continued emphasis on digital brand communications.

She brings more than 21 years of marketing, communications, external affairs, and reputation experience to Equilibrium. Agency-side, she has offered consultancy for clients including the Guardian, Unilever, and Oxfam.

Equilibrium’s 2019/20 fiscal year was its most successful to date, with the company hitting a new turnover high of £10.25m and reaching £1bn in assets under management for the first time.

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The Bury entrepreneurs behind the Zappify virtual business card and a contactless track and trace system for retail and hospitality venues have added to their suite of products and recruited a key member to the team.

Keith Robinson and Paul Smith launched the contactless business card as the coronavirus pandemic took hold, and followed it with a free track and trace system for hair salons, pubs, cafés and restaurants as they reopened last July.

Now Keith and Paul have developed a corporate system which enables companies and organisations to manage virtual business cards for all of their employees.

From left: Paul Smith, Amy Conlock, Keith Robinson

Following the expansion of the Zappify portfolio, marketing professional Amy Conlock has been recruited to oversee the brand and content development. Amy said: “I‘m delighted to be working with Keith and Paul on such an exciting and innovative business.

“The growth potential is enormous, and it’s very rewarding to have seen Zappify’s progression in extremely challenging economic conditions. The environmental benefit of paperless products is more important than ever, and the pandemic has brought into focus the value of going contactless.”

Keith said: “Having Amy on board at this exciting time will help us expand our user base and is a great boost as we develop the brand and add to the platform’s functionality.”

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Turquoise PR, the Manchester-based B2B agency, has strengthened its strategic corporate and financial communications capability with the appointment of Samantha Kennerley as account director.

Sam, who has recently returned to the UK after 10 years in Australia, is the founder of Dabbs PR & Marketing which she led for 13 years prior to moving to Australia in 2010. Clients included EY, DWF, Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank, Bank of Ireland, Clearwater International and HSBC Private Equity.

She has more than 25 years’ experience as a communications and marketing director and CEO. She has provided strategic advice to executive teams and boards on transactions, mergers and acquisitions, stakeholder engagement and investor relations. She has also worked across professional services, FMCG, engineering, philanthropy and not-for-profit sectors in the UK and the APAC region.

Sam Kennerley, left, and Pauline Rawsterne

During her time in Australia, Sam was CEO of a large philanthropic trust, CEO of a charity for young people with high care needs and chair of a social housing provider. She was also director of marketing & external relations for a leading business school. Sam is a qualified company director and Fellow of the CIM, and Governance Institute of Australia.

She said: “The UK has always had a strong finance sector and it is now very much at the forefront of global innovation. I’m delighted to be back and join Turquoise, which combines an in depth understanding of the financial sector with PR and digital skills.

“We are well positioned to help both traditional finance firms seeking to take advantage of the post-pandemic opportunities as well as fintech and other challenger brands which want to establish themselves and build their profile in the market.”

Pauline Rawsterne, Turquoise founder, said: “Sam has a solid track record in financial and corporate PR via her agency and brings additional skills including governance and strategy as well as international experience at board level. Her appointment will help us consolidate our position as one of the leading financial PR agencies outside London.”

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Altrincham-based HR services provider, P3 People Management, has appointed a new HR consultant to join its team of HR specialists.

Lyndsey Price, from Melling in Liverpool, has joined the team with a wealth of experience in HR, gained from more than 13 years working within professional services, law firms and, more recently, in the public sector.

P3 is a specialist outsourced HR provider which supports businesses to increase their profits through the performance of their people. Lyndsey has joined at a pivotal time in its growth, having adapted to the challenges of COVID-19 and refocussed its products and services for its SME clients based across the North West.

Prior to her career in HR, Lyndsey worked within the health and social care sector, in both acute and community settings, supporting some of society’s most vulnerable people.

Lyndsey Price

Prior to the COVID pandemic, Lyndsey, along with her husband and four children, spent five months travelling across America, Australia and Indonesia. She is also a founding member of the Women’s Equality Party and has lobbied the Government on issues such as domestic violence and, more recently, unpaid carers of disabled children.

Charlotte Dean, P3 founder and managing director, said: “Lyndsey brings a wealth of experience to P3 that is going to be of great benefit to the business both now and in the future. Her rich professional and personal experience and her own personal values fit perfectly with our ethos and vision and we are really excited that she has decided to join us.”

Lyndsey said: “I am really looking forward to working with P3 and supporting our clients through the challenging times that lay ahead. I was immediately attracted to P3 because I loved their approach. The culture and style of the business is very different to other outsourced HR businesses. It is an ethical business with strong people-focused values and this really appealed to me.”

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Innovation hub HOST, the Home of Skills & Technology at MediaCityUK, has strengthened its team with the appointment of a new director of innovation for cyber, data science and AI.

Saskia Coplans will lead on the development of HOST’s open innovation blueprint, where partner organisations from across Greater Manchester will converge at HOST to work together to champion and support innovation in the region.

She will help to establish and lead HOST’s Cyber Innovation Exchange (CIX) with an innovation and start-up incubation stream, as well as contribute to HOST’s Skills City talent development activities, which includes supporting employers with achieving their diversity and inclusion ambitions.

Saskia Coplans

Saskia has more than a decade’s experience in information security and governance, along with standards and policy development. She has worked across Europe and Central Asia for governments, NGO’s, regulators and the private sector.

Mo Isap, CEO of IN4.0 Group, operators of HOST, said: “We are delighted to have Saskia in the team, she has achieved great success already in her entrepreneurial career, her experiences and knowledge will ensure our support is relevant, accessible and leads to long term success.”

Saskia said: “I’m committed to community, sharing and collaboration so I’m really looking forward to working with the team at HOST. The future of cyber security sits with intelligent tool development, to achieve this we need to work together to better share skills, information and knowledge across the technology sector.”