People: Interpath Advisory; Frenkel Topping; Absurd; Redrow
Interpath Advisory has announced that it has appointed Ben Smith as a director in its growing debt advisory team.
Based in Manchester, Ben joins Interpath Advisory from Bibby Financial Services (BFS), where he led BFS’s corporate sales team to deliver a range of asset-based lending solutions through its intermediary network to UK SMEs.
Ben joins Interpath’s UK debt advisory team, led by managing director John Miesner.
The team advises organisations large and small throughout all stages of their fundraising journey – from refinancing existing facilities at maturity, through to funding initiatives that fuel organic growth or raising capital to support acquisitions, as well as advising those businesses that may need to navigate liquidity issues or challenging conversations with their lenders.
John Miesner said: “The ever growing diversity of debt providers, bouyancy of M&A markets, the evolution of ESG-focused financings and, of course, the fallout from the pandemic is driving an ever greater need for companies to seek timely and objective advice on navigating the options available to them.”
He added: “Ben brings a wealth of experience and know-how to the Interpath team, and has a fantastic track record of advising fast growing, ambitious SMEs on their funding options. We’re absolutely delighted to have him on board as we seek to build and grow our debt advisory capability.”
Ben Smith said: “Whether facing challenge or opportunity, the range of funding options available to businesses has evolved enormously over the past few years, meaning the requirement for sharp, clear-headed independent advice has never been more pressing. I’m excited to be joining Interpath at this exciting stage in their journey.”
Formerly KPMG’s UK Restructuring practice, Interpath is an independent financial advisory business with a broad range of specialisms that helps organisations facing challenge or opportunity to navigate what’s next.
::
Specialist financial services firm, Salford-based Frenkel Topping Group, has appointed Prof Robina Shah as director of wellbeing & inclusion as it extends its commitment to driving much needed change in the professional services sector.
Prof Shah’s appointment at the fast growing firm comes as it works towards becoming B Corporations (B Corps) certified – an assessment that recognises the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability in business.
Robina has an extensive public service record spanning over 25 years. She was appointed to her first NHS non-executive director role in 1993 and was appointed chair of Stockport NHS Acute Trust in 2007. Robina led the Trust to be one of the first of only 10 NHS Trusts to be awarded Foundation Trust Status in 2004. When she completed her tenure, Robina was the youngest and longest serving chair of an NHS Trust in England.
Robina is Professor of Medical Education and Psychosocial Medicine in the Division of Medical Education, University of Manchester. She is a Chartered Consultant Psychologist, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and President of the Medicine and Society Council at the Royal Society of Medicine.
Prof Robina Shah
She is an established author with a specialist interest in psychosocial medicine, equality diversity and inclusion, person centered care, supporting family carers and children with a learning disability.
Since 2004, Robina has been a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater Manchester and between 2018-2019, she was honoured to be appointed by The Queen as ‘High Sheriff for the County of Greater Manchester’. In September 2018, Robina was also honoured to be one of only 25 women in England and Wales nominated by the public for a living statute that acknowledged their personal and professional life achievements.
In her capacity as UK Health Service Director and Vice Chair of the 999 Cenotaph Charity she is supporting the building of the very first UK 999 Cenotaph in remembrance and recognition of all staff and volunteers working in the NHS and other emergency services.
Robina is extremely passionate about promoting the voice and presence of young people, particularly involving them in decisions about their education, employment, future careers and, most importantly, their mental health and wellbeing.
In recognition of her work in this area Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham appointed Robina chief ambassador of his gateway programme for young people ‘Meet Your Future and Bridge GM’.
Prof Shah said: “I am excited by the opportunity to transfer my knowledge, skills and experience in this new role and further strengthen Frenkel Topping’s commitment to embed greater equality, diversity and inclusion in the sector.
“We will work hard to facilitate greater awareness of the need to attract, recruit, retain and progress talented professionals and high achievers from diverse backgrounds. They contribute already so effectively in other sectors and I am confident that they will also feel valued and welcome in ours.”
Frenkel Topping group CEO, Richard Fraser, said: “Those who have worked in professional services for more than 30 years like I have will know that we have made some progress in terms of equality, diversity and inclusion, but nowhere near enough. As an industry we still have a lot of work to do to create authentic environments where people can bring their whole selves to work and see themselves in senior positions.
“We’re delighted to welcome Robina on board. Her experience in this field is extensive and we are looking forward to learning from her and continuing the work we’ve done so far in our training academy and across the family of businesses.”
::
Manchester-based strategic design agency, Absurd, has appointed highly experienced service design specialist Mark Webster as design director to support its continued growth and expanded team.
Mark, who has previously led teams at LovedBy Design, Common Good and Great Fridays, joins Absurd as the company restructures its senior management team and brings in new staff, taking its head count to 15, with additional, current roles still to be filled.
He will oversee the agency’s design team and operations, helping clients transform their business and user needs into commercially viable and actionable strategies for new product and service delivery. Working alongside Absurd’s two founders, Oliver Bailey and Oli Taylor, he will also input into the agency’s growth and future strategy.
Mark said: “This is such an exciting time to be joining Absurd – an agency that I’ve tracked from inception to present day and seen go from strength to strength. The calibre of the team and scale of the clients I’ll be working on gives me a great opportunity to expand my own skills and career.
Mark Webster
“I look forward to bringing team members back together in the office as well as maintaining a strong remote working culture, and I’ll be looking at new ways to deliver operational design excellence for all of our clients.”
Oli Taylor said: “Mark is a strong design leader with a successful track record of delivering products and services that meet user and organisational goals. Mark joins us in a hybrid role as design ops director, helping to shape and formulate operational processes within the agency as the design team continues to grow.
“His experience, having worked with both UK and global brands, is exactly what we needed to enable us to continue to grow. We’ve had a phenomenal year so far, which sees us working with some of the fastest growing organisations in the UK as well as many businesses looking to expand globally.
“All of our new business has come from ambitious, forward thinking companies looking to scale at pace or accelerate digital services that will better meet the needs of their audiences, be that business customers or consumers.”
The appointments come on the back of Absurd winning a number of major UK-wide and global projects, which include ongoing programmes for Cignpost – Express Test, one of the UK’s largest COVID-19 testing service providers and Australian employee wellbeing platform Prosper Ex. The agency’s long standing clients include Umbro, Brother, Electrical Safety First and Select Property Group.
::
North West housebuilder Redrow has appointed Phil Reeves as its new construction director.
He has risen quickly through the ranks after being promoted twice in less than a year.
Phil joined Redrow’s Daresbury-based division in January 2020 as an area construction manager. After just 11 months in that role, he became head of construction. Seven months later he has started a role he’s pursued for his whole career.
Phil, 42, who lives in Frodsham, joined Redrow after 16 years with Taylor Wimpey, where he worked his way up from assistant site manager to senior site manager and then production manager.
He says his time as head of construction was a great stepping-stone into directorship: “The reason I wanted to join Redrow was because I knew about the company’s commitment to developing its people and knew that if I wanted to achieve my ultimate career goal, then Redrow was the company for me. Paired with my belief in the quality of the homes that Redrow builds and I just knew it was a business I wanted to be part of.”
He added: “Ultimately, I want to increase build output where possible to put us ahead of the game, creating the best working environment for our site teams so we can keep delivering the highest standard of homes for our customers.”
Elsewhere in the construction team, Ian Robertson and Mark Hitchen have been promoted from site managers to area construction managers.
Phil Reeves
Ian, 37, from Maghull, Liverpool, started with the company eight years ago as an assistant site manager. After a year he was promoted to site manager. As area construction manager he is now overseeing the build of homes at Kings Moat Garden Village in Chester, The Pastures in Backford Cross, Cheshire, and Millstone View in Penymynydd, Flintshire
Mark, 47, from Congleton, joined in 2015 as a site manager. After 10 months he was promoted to project manager, a role he spent just over five years in before his promotion to area construction manager.
He will now oversee work at three Cheshire developments – Cranberry Gardens, Congleton, Woodford Garden Village in Woodford and Tabley Park in Knutsford.
Jason Newton, managing director of Redrow NW, said: “Phil is a real asset to the business. Since he started, he has managed our sites excellently and has been instrumental in enabling us to continue to deliver quality, much needed new homes. Ian and Mark are both fully deserving of their promotions and I’m looking forward to seeing them thrive in their new roles.”
From its offices in Daresbury, near Warrington, Redrow NW has circa 15 live outlets across Cheshire and parts of Merseyside and North Wales, building everything from starter homes to large, executive detached homes.
