People: TRV Group; Momentum Group; LGH; DLA Piper; Campfire; FSB
Trafford Park-based TRV Group has announced news of two new hires after a successful growth period.
The online lighting retailer and manufacturer has doubled its revenue to £7.5m since 2020. Looking to triple its size over the next five years, it has recently launched Ultralec, which will provide electric vehicle charging boxes for professional installers and tradesmen across the UK.
As part of the group’s aim to build a key management team it has hired marketing director, Andy Jones, and finance director, Matt Ellis, for its ambitious growth plans.
Andy Jones, who has more than 20 years’ experience in marketing specialising in brand, digital and e-commerce, has joined the company to help it achieve its growth goals, while also helping position the group as a market leader and trusted brand in the sector.
Andy said: “Updated technology, increased legislation and awareness are driving the growth in areas such as LED adoption. We are seeing a rise in the use of LEDs across a number of sectors, due to reduced costs and an increase in quality.”
Matt Ellis joins the group after working in finance for almost 15 years. A chartered management accountant, his career has mainly been within the manufacturing industry so he’s looking forward to a new challenge. He previously worked for Kersia Group, the Luxfer Group and the TPG Group.
Matt said: “TRV Group has gone from strength to strength over the past few years, and has already proven itself to be a major player in its sector. The future is looking incredibly bright for the company, with plenty of exciting opportunities already in the pipeline.”
Founder and director, Thomas Ralston, said: “TRV group has had a great run of success coming out of what has been a very challenging time for everyone. I’m really looking forward to the future and working with Andy and Matt on delivering our vision for the company. Their combined experience is going to be essential in navigating the business through the next stages of expansion, and we are lucky to have them aboard.”
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The Momentum Group has appointed two new senior project managers to its growing team. Paul Cammack and Tony Brooker have been appointed to drive and deliver projects due to continued growth within the Liverpool business.
Paul Cammack
Senior project manager, Paul Cammack will lead Momentum’s retail delivery projects bringing a wealth of experience from his work with clients including, Sport England’s world class national sports facilities, together with the Royal British Legion’s Battle Back rehab facility, at Lilleshall NSC. He will be the key interface between management teams, consultants, and clients.
Senior construction project manager, Tony Brooker, brings an international dimension to the team having worked for blue chip companies in the Middle East. His most recent project was in Dubai, as design and build contractor for the World EXPO 2020. He has wide experience in leading successful projects, operations, and cross-functional teams across diverse industries.
Tony Brooker
The Momentum Group provides advisory, construction, management, and maintenance solutions to clients across the private and public sector. It has seen significant growth since its inception three years ago, supporting property investors, landlords and occupiers at work and home.
Co-founder, Chris Renshaw, said: “Both Paul and Tony bring a wealth of experience and fresh thinking to our growing team. Their knowledge in the sector is impressive and we are delighted to have them on board. They will be instrumental in helping us grow The Momentum Group and continue to deliver exceptional service for our clients.”
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Sister companies LGH and the Rotrex Group have made two new appointments to the combined HR team who will cover both firms’ UK and EU operations.
The Rotrex Group is a winch specialist in Europe, and Atherton-based LGH is a lifting equipment hire company.
Laura Gilchrist has been named as HR business partner and is based in Manchester. Her focus will be on working with senior leaders within both companies to improve HR-related processes and procedures. She will also be driving employee engagement and development.
Prior to joining, Laura worked at Cantel for six years where she streamlined the human resource function in the UK and EU and introduced a business-partnered HR model that promoted a ‘one brand’ approach across the group’s acquisitions and 200+ employee group. She has also worked at Premier Group Recruitment with her achievements included forming a HR department including L&D.
Laura Gilchrist, left, and Linda Hordijk
Laura said: “LGH and Rotrex are leaders in their respective fields, so I’m really excited to be joining such a dynamic and forward thinking business. People are at the very heart of every firm’s success so my focus – alongside Linda’s – will be to develop the HR function to ensure the very best practices are rolled out and that our employees are central to that process.”
The second new appointment is Linda Hordijk, based in the Netherlands, who will support Laura as the new HR coordinator. She said: “This appointment is a fantastic step in my career and I’m looking forward to helping LGH and Rotrex build a prosperous future built on world class working conditions, benefits and real opportunities for career development for the team.”
Andy Mault, Group CEO, said: “The new HR department is key to adding real value to our companies and will solidify our HR practices as we continue to grow across the UK and EU.”
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DLA Piper has strengthened its UK real estate and planning team with the appointment of Sophie Stewart as a partner in its North West Office. She re-joins the firm from Brabners.
Sophie Stewart
Sophie’s practice spans the full range of development planning, infrastructure and highways work with a particular focus on compulsory purchase and regeneration work, where her clients are a mixture of public and private sector. Her clients, both public and private, operate in the real estate, infrastructure, construction and transport, and energy and natural resources sectors.
She will be supporting the DLA Piper planning team on the significant pipeline of work it is currently working on, as well as helping to build business.
North West office managing partner, Mark Beardwood, said: “Our real estate and planning teams have been exceptionally busy for some time. Sophie will be a great addition to the team as we continue to build our real estate offering at both the global and regional level.”
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Campfire has welcomed two new hires to its senior leadership team, as the Manchester digital agency transitions from social media and TikTok specialists to social-first digital performance agency.
Vic McKevitt-Smith
Vic McKevitt-Smith joins as managing partner, from Dentsu X, where she was performance MD. She will head-up Campfire’s performance arm, driving new business, developing market leading insight tools, and establishing its social-first performance methodology.
Kate Roberts joins from Beauty Bay as account director and will take charge of key accounts including The INKEY List, St.Tropez and Revolution Beauty.
CEO Joe Gradwell said: “These two appointments represent a huge milestone for Campfire.
“Since we formed in 2019 we’ve made sure our clients succeeded on TikTok and across the social media mix. But we’ve also understood the power of harnessing emerging trends and what this can do for wider performance channels.
“With Vic and Kate on board, we’re now in a position to deliver on our vision for the next stage of Campfire.”
Vic brings with her 14 years of network agency experience. She started her career at MediaVest, before heading up SEO at Carat and leading iProspect’s performance channels across Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Dublin.
Kate Roberts
Vic said: “The potential for this role is huge. It’s been impossible not to see the impact that Joe, Alex and the rest of the Campfire team have had since 2019. For me, after 14 years at the same network agency, I’m ready to be part of something new. And the unique way Campfire approaches performance is something I’m already proud of.”
Kate joins Campfire after four years as a key account manager at Beauty Bay. Coming from previous roles in digital marketing, she worked alongside Vic at iProspect for two years, where she led the social media department after her time at ao.com leading the growth and strategy of the social team. She takes over from Sophie Angell who has been promoted to business director.
CCO Alex Brown said: “Due to our expansion across beauty, we knew that Kate would be the ideal person to lead the accounts team at Campfire. Her experience at Beauty Bay means she’s well versed in dealing with multiple brands and relationships simultaneously.”
Kate said: “It’s incredibly exciting to come into a business that inherently understands how important social is. That understands trends and the importance of getting ahead of them. Right now, there’s a huge buzz around getting on things first. All businesses want to do it, but they don’t know how. This agency knows how.”
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The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has selected a Stockport businessman to help lead the Blackpool organisation’s work in Greater Manchester.
Anthony Hurley
Anthony Hurley, who co-owns a Salford based accountancy firm, HDH Accountants, assumes the position with immediate effect following an internal selection process, and is now one of the areas two leaders in GM for the country’s largest business lobbying and membership organisation.
Anthony, 43, who hails from Heaton Mersey, said: “It’s brilliant to have been chosen to help lead FSB in what’s going to be a challenging period for small firms, fresh on the back of a draining two years with COVID.
“As we enter the recovery phase, I want to ensure the voice of small business across Greater Manchester is heard loud and clear with genuine decision makers. That’s what FSB’s lobbying is about – making sure the little guys are heard. We need look no further than the Clean Air Zone to understand that sentiment.”
Chris Manka, FSB NW regional chair, welcomed Anthony to the FSB team, saying: “We are very proud that, as a grassroots organisation, our activists help shape local policy and decisions that have massive impact on small businesses. It’s with activist like Anthony who are able to draw on their own experiences of the business scene we can be such a strong campaigning voice – locally and nationally.”
