People: MHA Moore and Smalley; BGFG; Time Finance; Liverpool City Council; Capital&Centric
North West accountancy and business advisory firm MHA Moore and Smalley has made a senior hire at its Preston office which will strengthen its tax team.
Rachel Somerville has been appointed as corporate tax senior manager. She has joined the practice from Lancaster-based Azets where she worked as a senior tax manager.
Rachel’s experience spans a range of global consultancy practices. She began her career at EY in London as a tax associate, working her way up to senior tax manager at a number of roles. She has worked for KPMG both in London and Hong Kong as well as Deloitte and Grant Thornton.
Rachel will advise clients across the North West on a range of tax compliance and planning issues.
David Bennett, tax partner, MHA Moore and Smalley, said: “Companies across the UK are reviewing their financial practices and how they operate as the UK economy recovers from the pandemic. MHA Moore and Smalley is experiencing strong growth in demand for our services as a result.
“Strengthening our tax team is an important part of our strategy to create up to 60 new jobs across the business to support our growth and Rachel’s strong experience in a range of roles across a variety of locations will be invaluable to the company and our clients over the coming years.”
Rachel said: “MHA Moore and Smalley is an ambitious firm with a growing team of experts. I am looking forward to using my knowledge and experience in tax compliance and planning to support MHA Moore and Smalley’s wide ranging client base.”
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Manchester-based By Gamers for Gamers has expanded its leadership team with the appointment of an editor and a non-executive director.
Richie Shoemaker and Steve Charnock join the PC gaming and tech publishing house after significant investor funding was provided to support a large scale recruitment campaign.
Their appointments also follow the news of a former Dennis Publishing editorial director joining the team in April as editorial director across all BGFG brands.
Richie Shoemaker has been writing and editing gaming content for nearly 25 years for brands such as PC Zone and CVG, as well as through freelance contracts on sites such as IGN and Eurogamer.
More recently, he’s been involved in the publishing side of things, consulting on various titles for the likes of Ubisoft, and developing community focused content for companies such as CCP Games, EA Sports and My.com.
In his new role, Richie will be editor of the firm’s online brand gamingverdict.com and will be responsible for overseeing the site’s content creation, developing and managing the strategy to ensure the highest quality and most relevant content is shared with readers.
He will also develop and support the existing team with a view to ensuring Gaming Verdict enhances its presence within the gaming industry.
Steve Charnock, left and Richie Shoemaker
Richie said: “Games journalism is my first love and it’s something I’ve missed, so the chance to come out from the publishing shadows is a massive attraction. The fact that BGFG is a young and ambitious company that appreciates the value of experience, creativity and persistence also helps.
“Starting on something new is always exciting but getting to know the BGFG team and growing alongside them is what I’m most excited about. I’ve worked on enough editorial projects to know that when you have a bunch of people who know, love and believe in what they’re doing, great things always happen.”
Steve Charnock, a chartered accountant and successful investor who advised BGFG on its recent investment round, has agreed to be a non-executive director and oversee the finance function.
As the co-founder of Cenkos Fund Managers and Seneca Partners, he has a wealth of experience in supporting the growth of ambitious companies and providing sound financial direction.
He will use his knowledge and experience to lead the firm through the next stage of its recruitment campaign and advise on what is needed for the firm to achieve its global expansion ambitions.
Steve said: “When I met Craig, Andrew and Will I immediately liked their enthusiasm and ambition, as well as the growth potential of BGFG. Having a quality management team and a company that has the potential to grow rapidly is an exciting combination. I believe I can help BGFG on this growth journey and I am looking forward to being part of this excellent management team.”
By Gamers for Gamers was founded in April 2019 by brothers Andrew and Craig Kirkcaldy and Will Blears after the trio spotted a gap in the market. Its team of experienced, passionate individuals are dedicated to bringing readers the best in unbiased PC tech, gaming, and eSports news.
Co-founder Craig Kirkcaldy said: “Over the course of the last few months, we’ve been able to provide a number of career opportunities to people across the North, and now we’re in a position where we can focus on growing our senior leadership team.
“Both Richard and Steve are experts in their field and we’re over the moon to welcome them to the team. Richard brings with him over 25 years in the sector and some fantastic experience in the wider gaming niche, which will help us build out our consumer-focused gaming sites.
“Steve brings with him a wealth of corporate and finance experience which will support us in scaling BGFG.”
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Time Finance, which has operations in Manchester and Warrington, has appointed Rob Walters as business development manager in its invoice finance division.
Rob joins with 25 years’ industry experience, having spent his career generating new business opportunities and supporting UK SME owners access finance solutions that support their growth plans. In his new role, he will be responsible for building and maintaining strong introducer relations while expanding Time Finance’s Invoice Finance offering in the North of England, with a focus on Lancashire and Cumbria.
He said: “I’m delighted to be joining the team at Time Finance who have an excellent reputation amongst both their introducer and client bases for delivering a market leading service. I look forward to building on their success and helping more business owners access the vital funding support they need to grow and prosper.”
The announcement follows a number of recent appointments and promotions within Time Finance, including Ed Rimmer to permanent CEO and Simon Holian to business development manager.
Rob Walters
Andy Hume, head of sales (North), said: “We’re delighted to welcome Rob on board as we continue to expand the team and bring great talent into the business. He will undoubtedly be a great addition given his proven track record of delivering innovative solutions and building strong relationships with his network of introducers.
“Invoice Finance continues to be a valuable and staple finance solution for businesses who are looking to release additional working capital to fund innovation and growth. We have ambitious growth objectives to continue enabling UK businesses to gain easy access to it and Rob’s appointment will help us in achieving this.”
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Liverpool City Council has appointed Mark Bousfield to lead on city development for the next 12 months.
Following a six month secondment from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, providing extra support to the council, Mark began his new role on June 28, as interim director.
A highly qualified and respected figure in the development sector, Mark’s new role comes in the wake of the Best Value report into the council and the arrival of government-appointed commissioners to oversee the authority’s highways and property functions.
Mark’s focus will be on major projects that support Liverpool’s recently published City Plan and the Local Plan, the latter a 15-year masterplan for economic growth. The Local Plan will be going out to public consultation this summer, after cabinet ratified modifications on Friday.
He will also lead a team that is overseeing a multibillion-pound stimulus programme, such as the development of the city’s Knowledge Quarter as well as its booming film industry, to help Liverpool’s economy bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mark will also be working with the Mayor of Liverpool, council chief executive and the commissioners to implement changes to the department so that it operates effectively and staff feel supported and equipped with the right skills, processes and tools to do their jobs.
Mark Bousfield
His interim director role will be reviewed once the council completes a senior management restructure. The restructure is open to consultation and is scheduled to go to the Mayor and cabinet for approval in early autumn.
Mark, 40, first began his career at Google shortly after it launched in the UK and then worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He joined the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority in April 2018, to run its new public investment team. He also previously worked for responsible property business, igloo Regeneration.
Originally from the Wirral, Mark has a Masters degree in Modern Languages from the University of Oxford and a Masters in International Economics and Policy from John Hopkins University (USA).
He said: “I’m delighted to be able to carry on the work I’ve started, supporting the council at this critical time. We’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us delivering some key projects, tackling the issues raised by the Best Value inspection and rebuilding the trust of the public, our partners, developers and investors.”
Council chief Executive, Tony Reeves, said: “In the short space of time Mark has been with us, he has proved what a talented and experienced leader he is. He is a fantastic addition to the team and I have no doubt that he will continue to make great strides in transforming our approach to development, strengthening relations with developers and investors, boosting the city’s economy, and helping to bring new jobs and opportunities, for the benefit of all who live, work and visit Liverpool.”
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Manchester-based social impact developer Capital&Centric has made five new hires as the company continues to grow.
Bolstering the development team is David Wells, who joins after a decade at Muse Developments where he was the regional director running the Leeds office.
David brings a wealth of experience in public/private sector partnerships and large scale regeneration projects. He said: “It’s a great time to be joining Capital&Centric as they look to breathe new life into town centres across the UK, something that’s even more important in a post-COVID world. It’s a really exciting and impressive list of projects.
“I’ve always kept an eye on what Tim and Adam have been up to and really admire what they’ve done to shake up the property market by banning investors at Crusader and Phoenix. Their focus on people over property and creating social value really appealed to me.”
He joins Emma Cooper who is moving from Cube Homes where she has worked for the past eight years as a project manager across the company’s North West residential portfolio.
They join other recent hire Richard Spackman who was previously project manager at DeTrafford where he was working on the company’s residential portfolio across the North West, including the Manchester Gardens masterplan.
Andrew Bargh has also been appointed, who joins from CityBlock Group in Lancaster where he was development manager working across residential, student and commercial development.
From left: Andrew Bargh, Emma Cooper, Richard Spackman, Emma Cooper, David Wells
The four will support Capital&Centric’s recent expansion into Greater Manchester towns, with plans for new communities in Rochdale, Stockport and Bolton, and into Stoke in the Midlands.
The company is also planning a new community on Swan Street in Manchester’s New Cross district and recently launched rentals at its £250m new garden neighbourhood Kampus – a joint venture with HBD.
Residents have now also started moving into the owner-occupier community created at Crusader Mill, which recently featured in the BBC2 documentary, Manctopia.
Adam said: “It’s been a busy year for us with owner occupiers starting to move into Phoenix and Crusader in Piccadilly East and our garden neighbourhood, Kampus, opening its doors. Add to this the partnerships we’ve announced with Rochdale, Stockport, Bolton and Stoke, and it was time to grow the team.
“We’ve got around 3,000 homes under development, so we’re definitely not the new kid on the block anymore. We’re always looking for new opportunities and the guys will be helping us to find more town centre sites in need of some love that can be repurposed into buzzing new communities.”
To add to the in-house marketing and design team, Ellen Petty will join as marketing manager from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Ellen will work alongside Capital&Centric’s retained PR agency, Font Communications.
