People: Source PR; Kendal BID; Hill Dickinson; Bank North; Deloitte; mmadigital

From left: Jessica McDonnell, Adam Stanworth, Jill Mathers

Chester PR and digital agency, Source PR, has made three new appointments as part of its plans to strengthen the B2B arm of the business, as well as an appointment to its B2C side to support new business wins.

The new appointments include Jess McDonnell, who joins as senior account manager to drive B2B growth for the agency, and Adam Stanworth, who joins to support this growth.

With a background in construction, property and finance PR, Jess joins the team bringing with her a wealth of both in house and agency experience.

Adam Stanworth joins the agency having completed a Masters’ Degree in Journalism at the University of Sheffield. Adam previously worked as an intern at SWNS Media Group and creative sports agency Ear to the Ground.

Source has also made a new addition to the B2C side of the agency, with the appointment of Jill Mathers.

Jill has been studying business and PR at Liverpool John Moores University and previously worked at National Museums Northern Ireland.

The new hires come on the back of recent new business wins. Cheshire-based companies Three Wrens Gin, Pura and Muller Property have all recently appointed Source PR to help them raise their profile in the media and online.

Louis Hill, managing director at Source PR, said: “Our people are our best asset and to be in the position to be able to expand the team is great. We’ve had some exciting new client wins in 2022 and by hiring the best people we can produce the highest quality work, results and service for our clients.”

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An organisation which aims to support businesses in Kendal and boost the local economy has appointed a new manager to drive forward its ambitious plans.

Peter Brendling, 60, of Mealbank, is the new manager of Kendal BID, which represents nearly 700 businesses in the town. He said: “My role is to be the public face of Kendal BID, to be its point of contact and to ensure we are communicating effectively with local businesses.

“It is about promoting Kendal businesses to local people and to the wider world and for me to be someone businesses can turn to for advice, support and help with any issues which might arise.”

Peter Brendling

He said one of the main challenges facing Kendal was the number of empty shops, which could affect the overall appeal of the town: “We need to ensure we have a busy, vibrant town so people are attracted to come here. We are keen to talk to commercial letting agents and landlords to encourage them to let their shop units.

“We are also looking at creating pop-up shops where new businesses are not contracted to a seven-year lease, but can have a four-month lease to operate on a trial basis.”

He said Kendal BID was also keen to promote festivals and events in the town to attract more visitors.

Kendal BID, a not-for-profit organisation, was established in 2014 and is now in its second five-year period of operation.

Mr Brendling has spent much of his career in the travel and tourism industry. One of his early jobs was working in the Caribbean teaching sailing and windsurfing. He ran his own company in the late 1990s, guiding backpackers from abroad around England, Wales and Scotland, before managing Ambleside Youth Hostel for 14 years.

He was commercial director for Mountain Goat from 2014-2017, and was general manager at the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. For the past three years he and his partner have run the successful The Bakehouse in Blackhall Yard in Kendal.

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Commercial law firm Hill Dickinson has begun its new financial year by announcing the promotion of 11 of its senior associates to legal director.

The promotions are effective from May 1, 2022, and centre on the firm’s three largest UK offices, in Liverpool, London and Manchester.

From left: Joe Orme, Katie Austin, Rebecca Layton

Alison Batchelor and Siôn Davies

Spanning all three of Hill Dickinson’s key business groups – Business Services, Marine and Health – the 11 new legal directors cover a range of practice areas, including corporate, real estate, employment, private client health advisory, health litigation and shipping. Three of the promotions are in the Liverpool office, six in London and two in Manchester.

Hill Dickinson chief executive Peter Jackson said: “It gives me great pleasure to support our people in building their careers with Hill Dickinson and see their efforts rewarded by promotion through the ranks. These 11 individuals have worked tremendously hard to make their mark within their respective practice area teams and have very bright futures ahead of them. In promoting them to legal director we acknowledge their contribution to the success of our firm and share their pride in becoming senior lawyers at Hill Dickinson.”

Liverpool and Manchester promotions in the Business Services group are: Rebecca Layton (corporate), Joe Orme (employment), Katie Austin (private client), all in Liverpool, and Alison Batchelor (real estate) in Manchester. Also based in Manchester, Siôn Davies (health advisory) was promoted in the Health Business group.

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Regional business bank, Bank North, has announced the internal promotion of two senior team members, to take effect once the bank reaches full launch.

Regional managing director, Rebecca Owen, has been promoted to commercial director, and head of savings, Louise Halliwell, has been promoted to savings director. To meet significant customer demand, Bank North has also made two key hires to further strengthen the Manchester Lending Pod.

Rebecca Owen

Rebecca Owen joined Bank North two years ago as regional managing director after gaining vast commercial experience from a 23-year stint at RBS. Since joining Bank North, Rebecca has played a significant part in the company’s regulatory and commercial journey, recently overseeing the successful launch of lending to SMEs, showcasing Bank North’s fast, agile loan delivery.

Rebecca’s expanded role as commercial director at full launch will see her shape Bank North’s proposition, lending to SMEs by working with commercial brokers across the UK, helping to provide vital lending support in the face of the challenging economic environment.

Louise Halliwell has been promoted to savings director as Bank North continues to gain momentum ahead of launching savings products to UK consumers later this year. After joining as head of savings in 2021, Louise has played an integral role to ensure Bank North can deliver the most attractive and efficient proposition to savers.

As savings director, Louise will continue to apply her vast knowledge of the savings market, including eight years as a senior manager at the Yorkshire Building Society, to ensure that Bank North’s future customers get the best service.

Rebecca and Louise will both formally assume their new positions at full launch.

Louise Halliwell

Rebecca Owen said: “I am thrilled to be appointed as Bank North’s commercial director, and I look forward to continuing my work in helping to build a truly regional bank. Since joining as regional managing director, we have achieved so much, from Authorisation with Restrictions (AWR), to delivering loans to great businesses. I look forward to continuing to work with our outstanding team, attracting more talent as we roll out across the UK.”

Louise Halliwell said: “I joined Bank North at such an exciting time for the company and the savings market, I want to continue to apply my knowledge in launching a range of dynamic saving products that offer great value for customers.”

Alongside these senior promotions, Bank North welcomes Ellie Woodhouse as lending director and Shane Francis as lending manager for the Manchester Pod. Ellie joins the team at Bank North after 11 years of experience as a manager at Handelsbanken and will bring her local banking expertise to the Manchester pod team. Shane joins after a career in service and case management with Santander and four years’ experience in relationship management at Cater Allen Private Bank. Ellie and Shane will work to strengthen and grow Bank North’s regional expertise and contacts with local brokers and companies.

Jonathan Thompson, Bank North CEO and co-founder, said: “Since joining, Rebecca and Louise have become key members of the team, and these promotions reflect their hard work. The promotions, along with our new Manchester Pod recruits Ellie and Shane, come at a vital stage in our journey, as we look not just to aid a post-COVID economic recovery, but to help rebalance the nation’s economy and, importantly, as we look ahead to when we will be welcoming savers to Bank North.”

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Business advisory firm Deloitte has strengthened its offering in its regional business in the North West with two senior hires in consulting and financial advisory (FA). Emma Franklin and Alastair Stewart have been appointed as directors to work across Deloitte’s regional public sector business and will be growing their teams to support the firm’s growth strategy.

Emma Franklin has joined the firm from PwC. She started her career in children’s services before moving into consultancy to specialise in local and regional government. Her focus is supporting local government clients and partners develop financial sustainability while creating improved life outcomes for their citizens. Emma leads a team with a breadth of experience across public sector.

Emma Franklin and Alastair Stewart

Alastair is a transport specialist having worked in this sector as a management consultant and in industry. He joins the firm from PA Consulting. He will primarily work with public sector transport organisations, helping to grow Deloitte’s regional transport business.

He specialises in supporting transport organisations to make the case for transformational projects and programmes and has helped clients to secure more than £40bn of transport investment within the past five years. Deloitte has a market leading national transport practice – this hire represents the investment being made by Deloitte to support its regional client base.

Richard Bray, partner in consulting at Deloitte across the North of England, said: “It’s an exciting time to join the firm as we grow our consulting offering in the North of England. From our bases in Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle, we bring all the creativity and capabilities of our global business to achieve sustainable, long term impact with Northern organisations and communities. Emma and Alistair have a shared desire to improve our public services to make them more efficient to deliver and more accessible for the people that need them, and I am pleased to welcome them to Deloitte.”

Simon Bedford, partner and leader of the regional real assets advisory business at Deloitte, said: “Our regional transport business is a key area of growth where we support public and private sector clients across the connected topics of economic growth, development and transport.”

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Jayne Hennessey has been appointed to the newly-created role of head of people for West Didsbury-based mmadigital, a customer acquisition specialist for the legal sector.

In her role, Hennessey will be responsible for developing and leading a new people strategy, including talent acquisition and development, benefits and wellbeing and employee engagement, plus the wider internal culture agenda as the company goes through its next phase of growth.

Jayne Hennessey

Hennessey has extensive experience in leading people across a range of sectors with particular focus on HR transformation roles. She joins mmadigital from Borough Care where she implemented a new people strategy designed to improve performance and wellbeing, and led the organisation through a cultural change programme.

Prior to this, she held strategic roles with SharpFutures CIC, a social enterprise that supports diverse young people into employment in the creative digital and tech sectors, Barburrito and Blemain Finance, now known as Together Money.

Dez Derry, mmadigital’s founder and CEO said: “Having Jayne here as our first head of people is amazing, and is central to our future success. Our people are at the heart of this business and by preserving and building on what has already made us successful and respected by our team – rich talent, vibrant culture and teamwork, Jayne will develop and deliver an outstanding employee experience.”

Jayne Hennessey said: “Joining a company at this stage in its transition is so very exciting, and it was the perfect opportunity I’ve been waiting for. There is so much potential in this new role and I can’t wait to embed the mmadigital ethos and culture across the organisation, and create an even more positive work environment for all our people.”

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