People: Eddisons; Gray Scanlan Hill; SpectrumX; MediaCom; BGEN; WasteQuoteSupermarket.com
Property consultancy Eddisons has made two new appointments to its nine-strong North West valuation team, which works with lenders, property investors, developers and a raft of other organisations across the UK.
Rebecca Welch has joined the firm as a director from national firm Aitchison Rafferty, where she was associate director, carrying out ‘red book’ valuations and providing agency services across the West Midlands and North Wales, as well as landlord and tenant advice and specialist estate strategy for the education sector.
Kate Smith has also joined Eddisons’ North West valuation team as a graduate surveyor, after gaining a distinction in her RICS-accredited MSc Surveying (Real Estate) at Northumbria University. She began her career as a rating analyst with Exacta in Manchester before becoming a senior rating researcher for Analyse Local, which provides business rating information for local authorities. Kate is set to qualify as a chartered surveyor later this year.
Phil Deakin, Eddisons’ regional director for the North West, said: “We are really pleased to welcome Rebecca and Kate to our expanding valuation team. Rebecca’s role will include broadening our geographic coverage and expertise into the West Midlands, where she has amassed strong local knowledge and a wealth of contacts. She has already hit the ground running and is assisting our strong client base in this region.”
He added: “Kate‘s rating experience will be a great asset and, as evidenced by her outstanding performance in her Masters, she is set to become a valued member of the team. Our ability to attract and recruit this calibre of professional is a reflection of the strength of the Eddisons valuation business and our continued aspirations for growth.”
Eddisons now employs more than 300 people across 23 offices.
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Independent building surveying practice, Gray Scanlan Hill, has appointed a new director to its neighbourly matters technical team based in Manchester.
Neil Lovell-Kennedy has joined the practice after 11 years as a director of Avison Young (formerly GVA) and 25 years at Edmund Kirby, specialising in rights of light and daylight and sunlight advice. With close to 40 years working in the field and possessing a broad range of experience, this strategic appointment strengthens Gray Scanlan Hill’s specialist advisory service.
Neil’s skills strengthen the company’s market specialism in rights of light, the assessment of daylight, sunlight, shadow and glare amenity impacts, access to land/oversailing, and the administration of the Party Wall Act 1996.
Neil Lovell-Kennedy
Lovell-Kennedy said: “I am excited to bring my broad sector experience and skills to bear in supporting a specialist practice in its growth and working with an already established team including Mike Scanlan, Jerome Muir and Dan Horrocks. I’m looking forward to providing strategic, considered, and pragmatic rights to light and daylight and sunlight advice on our clients’ development projects.”
Mike Scanlan, director and head of neighbourly matters at Gray Scanlan Hill, said: “I’ve been badgering Neil to join our neighbourly matters team for several years and I am delighted that he has taken the plunge. He brings with him a proven track record and wealth of experience.
“His appointment will increase our capacity to represent and advise clients at an expert, director led level. This appointment makes Gray Scanlan Hill the largest team of front line, client facing, light impact advisors in the North of England.”
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Knutsford-based SpectrumX, a healthcare and pharmaceutical company, has appointed Barry Saint as chief financial officer and Debra Leeves as non-executive director as the company progresses towards its IPO.
Barry Saint, who worked alongside the company before joining full time in January, brings more than 25 years’ experience in senior finance roles for public and private companies and in investment banking with Dresdner Kleinwort. Most recently, Barry was CFO of early stage biotechnology company, Camallergy. Prior to that, he served as global director of corporate finance and group treasurer of FTSE-250 speciality pharmaceuticals group, Indivior, which was formed through a $1.4bn demerger from Reckitt Benckiser.
Barry has worked extensively in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Returning recently from several years in the US, he has guided company boards and backers to source and secure international, value-accretive collaborations. He has substantial US, UK and cross-border experience in M&A, debt and equity financing projects and in raising capital for growth companies, including at IPO stage.
Pharmaceutical industry expert Debra Leeves brings more than 25 years of international experience in both business and clinical roles including sales, marketing, finance, quality and medical affairs. Debra has held board roles amongst public and private companies including senior level positions in both start-ups and large multinationals, such as Pfizer, GSK and GE Healthcare.
Barry Saint
Currently, Debra serves as CEO for Vertual, a global supplier of virtual reality training systems in radiation therapy, and was previously CEO of Physeon GmbH and managing director for Avita Medical. Additionally, she currently serves as chair of Atelerix, chair of the Institute of Directors (East Yorkshire) and non-executive director of AIM-listed Cambridge Cognition.
Damien Hancox, CEO and co-founder of SpectrumX, said: “Barry and Debra bring a wealth of financial, capital markets, corporate and industry experience that will be invaluable as we prepare for our upcoming IPO and progress the commercialisation of our solutions. Barry’s career in finance ranges from investment banking to CFO for start-ups through to companies in the FTSE-250 and Debra has worked for the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and GSK.
“I believe the addition of their expertise will deliver immediate appreciable value, and on behalf of SpectrumX I would like to warmly welcome them to our team.”
Barry Saint said: “The company has the potential to revolutionise healthcare and, most importantly, to save lives. I look forward to being part of this journey and to achieving value accretive growth for our stakeholders.”
Debra Leeves said: “SpectrumX is developing ground-breaking treatments for patients across the world and I am excited to be joining as the company pushes forward the market roll out of its proprietary HOCI formulations. I look forward to working with the dedicated and skilled leadership team and supporting their long term growth strategy as it disrupts and enhances the pharmaceutical industry.”
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MediaCom has appointed a new senior people partner to oversee teams within its MediaCom Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham offices, which form the MediaCom North group.
Holly Jackson joins MediaCom’s HR leadership team having previously worked at online retailer, Liverpool-based The Very Group where she progressed from HR advisor to talent partner and finally HR business partner for retail.
Her new role at MediaCom North will focus on embedding MediaCom’s UK-wide strategy within the group and leading the HR operations function in the North, that has helped to onboard more than 100 new employees in the past 12 months.
A key focus will be on cultivating MediaCom’s inclusive culture and supporting its people first, better results ethos. She aims to collaborate with employee resource groups to foster the culture through programmes and initiatives that connect underrepresented groups and their allies. She will also have a big focus on mental health training, career progression and personal growth.
Holly Jackson
Holly said: “A diverse and inclusive culture is something most businesses are striving for right now but what really attracted me to this position is how MediaCom North is already achieving this. There is such a strong feeling that everyone belongs and commitment at all levels to put wellbeing and D&I front and centre.
“Working in the fast-paced and ever-changing world of retail certainly kept me busy over the last seven years and I am excited to bring this skill set alongside a fresh perspective to the agency business. This for me is an invaluable skill at MediaCom, we are industry leading in a lot of what we do and are constantly thinking of innovative and creative solutions as well as adapting to the changing consumer and client landscape, so it’s important that I can move at pace. too.”
Managing director, Nicola Marsh, said: “It’s an exciting time for us to have brought Holly into the senior team and to be adding a new layer of expertise to the business. Career progression and encouraging new talent into the industry sits at the heart of our culture. As we all continue to adapt to hybrid working, and plan our forthcoming move to the new WPP Campus later this year, having a robust HR structure is paramount.”
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Warrington-based BGEN, a specialist, multi-discipline engineering solutions business, has appointed Greg Duncan as group health & safety director.
The board level appointment reinforces the company’s commitment to health and safety and will see Greg tasked with continuing the company’s journey to zero harm. This will include overseeing the ongoing digitalisation of the organisation’s health and safety systems
Robin Whitehead, chief executive, said: “As a business we’ve always placed paramount importance on health and safety. This board level appointment, a first for the company, will give Greg the platform to further improve our health and safety systems. Health and safety will remain our number one value.”
Greg Duncan
Prior to joining BGEN, Greg has held various senior health and safety roles during his 20-plus year career at companies including Balfour Beatty. During this time, he has worked across several sectors, including nuclear, which have extremely high health and safety standards. He also holds a number of formal qualifications and has been a chartered member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health for more than 15 years.
In the short term, Greg’s main priority will be developing a detailed understanding of BGEN. This will include visiting BGEN’s customers onsite, many of which operate in industries such as FMCG, heavy industry, pharmaceutical and utilities. Medium to long term, Greg will oversee the ongoing digitalisation of the company’s health and safety systems. This will provide the business with real time analytics and leading indicators to inform future decisions on investment such as training and spend to support the organisation’s continuous journey to zero harm.
Greg Duncan said: “I have joined BGEN at an exciting time following its recent rebrand from Boulting, with the company firmly focused on the future. I am looking forward to supporting BGEN’s next generation engineering solutions with forward thinking and strategic health and safety support. I have a blank canvass to help evolve the company’s approach and make a real difference”
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Utility tech dynamo Chris Gee has joined the Manchester-based commercial waste comparison company WasteQuoteSupermarket.com as chief technology officer as the business continues in its mission to disrupt the B2B waste management market.
Gee will bring almost two decades of experience in defining and embedding strong technical growth strategies and building world class technical teams to position WasteQuoteSupermarket.com as the leading tech platform for B2B waste, recycling, sustainability and carbon reduction services.
His appointment reunites him with ex-Verastar CEO, Chris Earle, who joined WasteQuoteSupermarket.com last summer as an investor and shareholder.
Chris Gee said: “Despite playing an integral role in transforming Verastar into a multimillion-pound business, I’m passionate about working with start-ups and small businesses with potential. I love a challenge and the chance to make a difference. I’m already learning so much about the waste industry from CEO and founder, Carl Bennett – and working together, I believe we have the perfect balance of industry knowledge and tech expertise to exceed our goals in the next 12 months and beyond.”
WasteQuoteSupermarket.com, which is based in Sale, was founded by Carl Bennett, who wanted to disrupt the UK’s fragmented waste management sector, worth £11bn, by reinventing how businesses access and compare their second-largest utility expense after energy. By combining 25 years of experience in the waste sector and developing AI technology, the comparison and switching platform has been able to offer impartial waste management deals to more than 7,500 businesses.
Carl Bennett, WasteQuoteSupermarket founder and CEO, welcomed Gee to the team: “His vast experience in delivering industry leading technical strategies is second to none, and we’re excited to evolve our technology to ensure all businesses have instant access to good value waste management deals that are tailored to their needs.”
