People: Bespoke; Downing; Rossendale Council; e4enable; JTAPE; STFC Hartree Centre
Lead generation specialist agency Bespoke has appointed Helen Lockley as website project manager to reflect the increase in web design projects for the Chorley and London-based digital agency.
Lockley brings with her 17 years of marketing experience including 12 years’ account management experience in marketing agencies, working with major brands including Timberland, Ralph Lauren, GSK, Argos and Homebase. She was also previously in-house marketing manager for five years at Rossall School.
Her appointment at Bespoke comes in response to a recent increase in demand for web design projects for the agency, whose websites and digital marketing campaigns have generated more than £1bn for clients since the company launched in 2002.
She said: “I’m really excited to be joining Bespoke. Their partnership approach to delivering effective online strategies, hand-in-hand with in-house client teams, really sets a benchmark in the industry and the results they achieve speak for themselves.
“My role at Bespoke will be to manage the effective delivery of website design projects for a wide range of clients looking to achieve outstanding results online.”
Employing 12 staff in both Lancashire and London, Bespoke designs and builds websites, and delivers online campaigns through retainers to help in-house marketing teams maximise their returns from their online spend.
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Liverpool developer Downing has welcomed Barry Landrum and Gustavo Balagué to its design team, as the firm drives forward growth as part of a raft of transformative projects.
Boasting more than 20 years’ experience in delivering major healthcare, education and residential construction projects, Barry has been appointed team leader within Downing’s design management team.
Barry Landrum
Award-winning RIBA Chartered Architect Gustavo Balagué, who comes with a wealth of experience from within the architecture and property development industries having worked on projects across the globe, has swapped Barcelona for Manchester to relocate for a role in the design team.
Both new additions will play a key role in a number of large scale projects at Downing, but will initially support on the developer’s larger single development to-date, the £400m First Street development in Manchester.
Barry Landrum said: “Having worked on a number of major developments in Manchester, including The Christie Hospital and two residential towers, I am excited to be returning to the North West.
“Joining such a well established developer, at a key moment in its growth strategy is a very attractive prospect. There is a strong pipeline of major developments across the UK, where I am looking forward to contributing my wealth of experience.”
As a Chartered Professional Landrum has experienced success in the UK and further afield, having delivered a £900m Children’s Hospital in Kuwait and a £190m Military Hospital in Qatar.
Gustavo Balagué said: “It is great to join such a dynamic team and I am very exciting to get started on some of the upcoming projects over the next 12 months, including First Street and The Meadows.
“Our like-minded approach to client engagement and fulfilment has already become apparent, with exciting progress being made across a number of developments.”
Gustavo Balagué
Most recently working as a RIBA Chartered Architect in New York, Balagué’s work has received award winning recognition. In 2012, he was awarded RIBA’s President Silver Medal for Sunbloc, a solar house made out of polyethylene, as well as being recognised as the Best Faculty Project from London Metropolitan University architecture faculty in the same year.
He will oversee work on site, manage designs, provide guidance and support to both site and design teams, as well as exercise complete control for the consultant and contractor co-ordination and approval process.
Ian Orton, head of construction at Downing, said: “It is testament to our fantastic team and the exciting projects we have in the pipeline that we have been able to attract such world-class creatives to join us. These appointments come at an exciting period of growth for Downing, as we roll out our growth strategy across the UK and continue to actively look for further development opportunities to build on our existing £1 billion pipeline portfolio.”
With more than £1.5bn of development successfully completed, Downing continues to significantly expand its presence across the UK, working to deliver a further £1bn of new landmark schemes.
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Rossendale Council has appointed Mandy Lewis to spearhead the investment, regeneration and economic development of the borough.
Mandy, previously with Flintshire Council as development services manager, took on the role as new director of economic development from January 2022, after the departure of the previous director, Cath Burns, last year.
Mandy Lewis
Ms Lewis, who has a background in planning, said: “I’m incredibly excited to take on this new role at Rossendale and I’m looking forward to this new challenge.”
As well as the inward investment, regeneration and economic development of the borough, Ms Lewis will also oversee planning and housing in Rossendale.
She added: “Rossendale’s size and geographical location offer it unique opportunities and it’s exciting to see so many great initiatives and plans already under way here. The fantastic links the council has with local businesses and the recently approved local plan demonstrate the forward thinking proactive approach they have.”
Council leader, Alyson Barnes, said: “Everyone at Rossendale Council would like to welcome Mandy. She was a standout candidate and I’m sure her knowledge, experience and expertise will be a great asset to Rossendale.”
Chief Executive, Neil Shaw, said: “Mandy’s previous experience and her excellent knowledge and understanding of planning-related issues as well as her ‘can do’ attitude will, I’m confident, be a real advantage for Rossendale.”
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Altrincham-based sales coaching platform, e4enable, has welcomed Tony Bolland to its board having recently also completed a significant second round of investment.
Bolland joins the board with extensive experience in the technology sector as a former CEO of both AppSense and Avecto and has helped to build three ‘Times Tech-Track 100’ companies. He also has a small number of tech investments in Manchester-based companies through his investment fund, Most Excellent Ventures.
Supporting customers across the UK, Europe and North America, e4enable’s data-driven coaching SaaS platform integrates with other sales platforms to enable sales leaders to define what success looks like, identify skills gaps and achieve a consistent and scalable coaching programme – an area which has been identified as the key investment priority in the latest Sales Enablement Collective Forecast.
Tony Bolland
Bolland said: “Having spent time during my career in sales and leading fast growth businesses, I know first hand how instrumental a thriving sales organisation is. Significant strides have been made in technology to support sales teams, from CRMs to call analytics software, but there has been a gap in the market for technology to support great sales leadership.
“Developing a framework that enables you to truly understand the skills and behaviours that make a sales person effective is extremely powerful and this level of insight and focus will not only benefit a business as a whole, but will empower managers and accelerate sales reps’ careers.”
Kate Lewis, e4enable’s CEO and co-founder, said: “Sales enablement is a growing part of many businesses and data-driven coaching is a vital piece of the jigsaw to ensure that budgets are being spent in the right areas and the impact of enablement activity is embedded for the long term, making a real difference to sales performance.
“Tony’s experience makes him uniquely placed to help us on this journey and we are delighted to welcome him to the board in what is set to be an exciting year for e4enable.”
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JTAPE, the specialist masking tape and protective film manufacturer, has appointed Mark Whelan as its new technical sales representative for the South West and Ireland.
Mark Whelan
Originally trained as an automotive sprayer, Mark has more than 10 years’ sales and technical support experience working in the refinishing market in both the UK and Ireland.
As part of his role supporting existing automotive distributors and customers Mark will also be developing new sales opportunities for Macclesfield-based JTAPE tapes and protective films in other markets across the region.
Managing director, Oliver Jevons, said: “We are really pleased to appoint Mark to the role and he will be a great addition to the JTAPE team. Our customers rely on our knowledge and expertise to help them solve their masking problems which will ultimately make them more efficient and help improve profitability.”
Prior to joining JTAPE Mark worked in the automotive refinishing sector in Ireland.
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Prof Kate Royse will be joining the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Hartree Centre as its new director at the beginning of April 2022.
As director, Prof Royse will drive the continued growth and development of the Hartree Centre, at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory.
Prof Royse joins STFC from the British Geological Survey (BGS) where she is the chief digital officer. She is currently responsible for the development of BGS digital, data and technology strategies, ensuring organisational evolution and efficient and effective exploitation of BGS digital assets to create science and business value.
In 2021, she was awarded a Digital Leaders 100 award as local national champion in recognition of her leadership in digital transformation within the Midlands.
Prof Kate Royse
Over her 24 years at BGS, Prof Royse’s research has taken her from traditional field mapping to a focus on the development of novel methods and techniques to gain insight and added value from BGS’s data holdings.
In 2017, she was recognised by the PraxisUnico/Research Council UK Impact Awards for her novel approach to innovation and commercialisation of geoscience information.
Prof Royse said: “I am excited to be joining the Hartree Centre, internationally recognised for the UK’s advancement in the development of key technologies in high performance computing, big data, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
“The Hartree Centre’s work touches almost every sector of the UK economy and is instrumental to helping solve some of the most important challenges we face as a society. I am really looking forward to working with Hartree Centre collaborators and my new STFC colleagues.”
Paul Vernon, head of STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, said: “It’s fantastic news that Kate is joining the Hartree Centre here at Daresbury Laboratory. As the UK’s only supercomputing facility dedicated to industry engagement, and as part of the recently launched Digital Tech Cluster here at the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus, this is a particularly busy and exhilarating time to join.”
Prof Royse takes over from Alison Kennedy who has been a powerful driving force in the evolution of the Hartree Centre, which has grown from 12 staff to 110 staff since her appointment in 2016.
