People: Harrison Drury; Prospect Homes; B-North; Trafford Housing Trust; Hampson Hughes Solicitors; Kyma Media
North West law firm Harrison Drury has appointed three solicitors as it responds to increased demand across a number of services.
Commercial property lawyer Gemma Eastham, residential conveyancing expert Paula Hodkinson-Smith, and wills and inheritance specialist Scarlett Richardson have all the joined the firm.
John Chesworth, executive chairman at Harrison Drury, said: “We’ve seen growing demand for commercial property services as businesses assess their future property requirements. An increase in business transactions for our corporate and commercial division is also fuelling the demand for property advice on these deals.
“Our residential conveyancing team remains busy due to continued high levels of activity in the housing market. We’re also seeing more people seeking out estate planning services, particularly for the more complex estates.”
He added: “Investing in our people is the principal business strategy for Harrison Drury to fulfil our mission of building an exciting, rewarding and supportive working environment that our people are proud of, allowing them to deliver outstanding client service and make a positive impact in our communities.
“Gemma, Paula and Scarlett all bring experience and knowledge to their respective teams and will help our clients enormously.”
Gemma, who joins from Dyland Nair Solicitors, will be based at Harrison Drury’s Clitheroe office and will advise clients in all aspects of commercial property including commercial property transactions.
Paula joins from Laker Legal Solicitors. Working as part of the residential conveyancing team in Preston, she will oversee home sales, purchases, remortgages, and the transfer of equity.
Scarlett joins from Blackpool firm BBE Law and will be part of Harrison Drury’s private client team in Preston. She will advise clients on a wide range of matters including wills, lasting powers of attorney, probate applications to the Court of Protection, and tax planning.
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North West housebuilder, Prospect Homes, has welcomed three new non-executive board members to assist with the company’s growth plans.
Liz Green, Paul Newbold and Bernard Rooney all have extensive backgrounds within the housing industry, and they will be working closely with Prospect’s parent company, Liverpool-based Riverside, to develop larger scale mixed tenure opportunities.
Liz Green
Liz Green founded The Green Consultancy, which provides support and tailored packages to companies looking to improve their sales and marketing function. Prior to launching her consultancy in 2019, Liz has gained more than 25 years’ experience in the housebuilding industry with roles including sales and marketing director at McCarthy and Stone North East and sales director at Shepherd Homes.
Paul Newbold is currently working as director of development at Freebridge Community Housing. Paul started his career training as an engineer at Breckland District Council in 1982.
His first role in housebuilding was with Wimpey Homes in 1990 as a land negotiator. Since then he has worked in various roles across the housebuilding industry including at various housing associations as well as opening his own consultancy business where he delivered interim management and development solutions aimed at local authorities, housing associations and developers.
Bernard Rooney joins from housebuilder Barratt where he has worked for 40 years, most recently as a regional managing director, a position he has held for 11 years. Looking after the housebuilding operations of Barratt Group’s Central region, Bernard has been responsible for five divisions; two in the North West, two in the West Midlands and one in Cardiff.
Paul Newbold
He has also worked for Barratt Newcastle as managing director and commercial director and held various finance positions at Barratt Manchester.
Paul Newbold will be chair of the board until Bernard retires and takes up the chair role until later this year.
Prospect Homes is part of The Riverside Group and builds high quality residential homes across the North West. All of Prospect Homes’ profits are gifted back to The Riverside Group to fund a wide range of social purpose business including affordable homes and care and community support services.
Cris McGuiness, chief financial officer at The Riverside Group, said: “We are delighted to welcome Liz, Paul and Bernard to our board to help lead the next stage of our development. They have extensive knowledge of the industry, and I am sure they will bring new ideas which will benefit both our customers and the wider team. They are a great addition to the Prospect board.”
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B-North, the Manchester-based challenger building an SME lending bank for the UK has further strengthened its team with five important hires in its finance and risk teams.
David Travis joins as company secretary and general counsel, Andrea Harrison has been appointed head of financial reporting and control, Simon Nicholson joins as risk and compliance manager, Faye Comerford joins as financial crime manager and deputy money laundering reporting manager, and Sarah Hewitt joins as underwriter, credit risk, as the company moves towards securing its banking licence.
David Travis
David Travis will support B-North as a member of the executive team to ensure strong corporate governance and provide effective management of legal risk as the business continues to grow. Before joining B-North, David was general counsel and company secretary of tech advisory and investment firm GP Bullhound.
David, who also serves as the joint honorary secretary of Manchester Law Society, has previously worked at leading financial services firms including Interactive Investor, RBS, the Co-operative Bank and Citigroup. David began his career as a solicitor at law firm DLA Piper, holds a degree in Law and French from the University of Sheffield and is an associate member of the Chartered Governance Institute.
Andrea Harrison, an accomplished finance leader, was previously head of finance at UK Asset Resolution, where she worked for a decade in different roles in the finance function. Andrea will support B-North in establishing its financial framework, processes and controls to support all the bank’s financial reporting and operational obligations, and will draw on her coaching and mentoring background to help the business grow.
Andrea Harrison
She has previously worked at Bradford and Bingley, where she served as a senior finance manager. Andrea holds a Law degree from the University of Sheffield and began her career on the KPMG graduate scheme where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Simon Nicholson will support the B-North team across operational risk management and compliance to help ensure the business can scale efficiently. Before joining B-North, Simon worked at RBS as a risk partner (commercial), after serving as operational risk manager SVP at Bank of America, where he led the implementation and delivery of a new operational risk framework.
He has worked at other major financial services businesses including, UK Asset Resolution, Capita and Citigroup, acquiring significant operational risk management experience, and building a track record of helping organisations improve their risk management capability.
Faye Comerford will work with the B-North team to prevent and detect potential financial crimes, such as fraud and money laundering. This role is vital to the smooth and secure operations of the bank, protecting the business and customers.
Simon Nicholson
She is an accomplished senior manager specialising in compliance and financial crime risk management. Faye joins B-North from the Yorkshire Building Society, where she began her career on the graduate scheme and gained more than 17 years’ experience in various roles, latterly as senior financial crime risk manager. Faye, who has also gained experience at AXA UK, holds a History degree from The University of Hull, and an ICA Diploma in Anti-Money Laundering.
Sarah Hewitt will play an important role in supporting B-North through the initial planning and then the mobilisation stage, helping to make loan delivery to SME clients as smooth as possible. Before joining B-North, Sarah worked at Yorkshire Bank as a commercial relationship manager. Prior to this, Sarah worked across several risk, regional management and front line roles at RBS. Sarah began her career at HSBC, joining their commercial graduate scheme. She holds a degree in Business Studies from De Montfort University.
The five new hires come as B-North continues to accelerate towards securing its banking licence, and completion of a £20m ‘Series A’ fundraise.
Jonathan Thompson, co-founder and CEO, said: “We are delighted to welcome David, Andrea, Simon, Faye, and Sarah to the B-North team, they bring a vast range of knowledge and experience gained at some of the biggest names in financial services.
“We have always prided ourselves on building an expert team, and these five new hires are just the latest example of B-North attracting the best and the brightest. There couldn’t be a better time to join the team, as we move through our ‘Series A’ fundraise as well as continue to work with the FCA/PRA to secure a banking license, all while working hard to build the best possible model we can to deliver much needed support to UK SMEs.”
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Lisa Leather has been appointed as building safety manager at Trafford Housing Trust.
Lisa was previously building safety contracts coordinator at the trust and has more than 12 years’ experience working in housing and project management, including supporting and working closely with customers on building and fire safety.
She was also an instrumental part of the team that helped the trust become the first organisation in the UK to achieve the new British Standard BS9997 certification in fire risk management in 2020.
Lisa Leather
Lisa said: “I am thrilled to be appointed as building safety manager and looking forward to bringing my passion for working with customers to the team. I am confident that by building on our sector leading approach to fire risk management we can continue to put customers at the heart of our building and fire safety programmes, developing new measures and methods to keep improving.”
Pete Paton, head of building safety at Trafford Housing Trust, said: “Lisa’s promotion means she will continue to be a key member of our team, bringing a wealth of knowledge and transferrable skills from her previous roles in housing, the private sector and customer engagement experience.
“The safety of our customers is our number one priority, and Lisa’s experience and passion will help us to ensure our customers are safe and also feel safe, as well as supporting the trust’s statutory obligations and best practice goals.”
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A Liverpool lawyer has been given the seal of approval by the Law Society for his work across both clinical negligence and personal injury.
Carlos Lopez, head of clinical negligence at Hampson Hughes Solicitors, is the only legal expert in Liverpool to be accredited by the industry panels for the two practice areas.
It is the first time he has been accredited for his work in clinical negligence, while it is the third re-accreditation for personal injury.
The accreditations, which were confirmed this month, recognise specialist knowledge among the legal profession and act as a benchmark for clients when selecting the most appropriate solicitor for their needs.
Individuals are awarded an accreditation by the Law Society based on their technical expertise and quality of client service in specific areas of law.
And, Carlos’s double accreditation means his efforts across personal injury, which includes public liability, abuse claims and accidents at work, and clinical negligence, which focuses on matters where healthcare has been below standard, offers clients peace of mind and reassurance of expertise.
Carlos Lopez
Carlos, who has practised law for 26 years and is already an assessor for the clinical negligence panel, said: “Quality, trust and experience should be at the core of any practice area of law, especially when dealing with claimants pursuing clinical negligence or personal injury cases.
“These are often extremely sensitive cases, with clients unsure about how they navigate the process and sometimes reluctant to hold those responsible to account. It’s therefore vital that the service they receive is of the utmost quality and tailored to their needs – this is something I’m incredibly passionate about, so I’m thrilled to be recognised by the Law Society.
“I’m extremely grateful to Hampson Hughes for supporting me in my applications and am looking forward to taking the business forward.”
Hampson Hughes specialises in civil litigation, including road traffic accidents, accidents at work, and slips, trips and falls, as well as clinical negligence, sexual abuse claims, criminal injury claims and dog bite claims.
Emma McConlough, managing director, said: “We’re extremely proud to have such an industry-leading expert as Carlos on our team, providing the very best in client services. To be recognised by both the personal injury and clinical negligence panels is a rare feat and is true testament to his versatility and commitment to achieving the best outcomes for our clients.”
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Manchester-based Kyma Media has hired Hannah Anderson as its director of social and creative.
Listed in Vogue’s 25 Most Influential Women 2018, Hannah joins Kyma as the agency sets sights on future growth following a raft of appointments to its Manchester team.
In her new role Hannah will be responsible for growing Kyma’s media brand portfolio, delivering best-in-class content and innovation on the platforms while elevating the Kyma business within the media landscape.
Originally from Washington, Tyne & Wear and currently residing in Manchester, Hannah brings 11 years of experience in the social media industry, with a back catalogue of campaign work for brands including Nike, Apple and Amazon.
Hannah said: “I am very much looking forward to joining Kyma at such an exciting point in their journey.
“I’ve been super impressed with the growth of Kairos Group in recent years and I can’t wait to be a part of the next chapter.
Hannah Anderson
“The team has achieved some amazing things recently and, coming in with a core focus on audience building and ad revenue generation, I hope to add to those achievements. The team seems super impressive and I can’t wait to connect with them all and learn more.”
Sitting under the Kairos Group umbrella, which also houses social creative agency Kairos Media and full service management agency Turopium, Kyma Media is a creative-led, social first media publisher.
Established in 2019, Kyma’s content reaches more than 185m views per month, with a client roster including Heinz, Rovio and Gameloft. Kyma also manages the Facebook page Manchester United Latest News and gaming entertainment page, Gaming Plus.
Mike Craddock, co-founder and CEO of Kairos Group and Kyma Media, said: “We are extremely excited to announce the recent hire of Hannah to enhance our media division.
“As a business we live and breathe social and we want our media to be taken to the next level. Hannah is the best in the business and we feel that she is the right leading woman for this job.”
