People: Sodexo; JLL; UM Terminals; Identity Consult; Champion Group; Claritas Tax

Food and FM provider, Sodexo, has appointed Seb Thompson as its new head of communications for its corporate services, Ireland and Sodexo Live! businesses.

Seb joins Sodexo from Manchester Airports Group (MAG).

As head of media at MAG, Seb was responsible for a small team and during his time there he led on reputation management, stakeholder engagement, PR, external relations, crisis, social media and CSR comms.

During his career, which also includes roles at agencies such as Weber Shandwick and Brazen PR, Seb has covered both internal and external communications.

In his new role Seb will join the senior leadership teams in the UK for Sodexo’s corporate services, Ireland and Sodexo Live! as well as the UK & Ireland brand and communications team.

He will work closely with all internal stakeholders to identify, advise and deliver integrated internal and external communications strategies across various channels. Seb will be based in Sodexo’s Salford office located at MediaCity.

Seb said: “Sodexo is a large complex organisation and I am looking forward to driving the internal and external communications plans to support the organisation’s business plans and growth. I will be working closely with the company’s external PR and campaigns team as well as the employee communications team to enhance its brand reputation and deepen employee engagement.”

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Property company JLL has expanded its property management team in Manchester with the appointment of four new team members.

The team, which specialises in the management of retail and industrial properties on behalf of clients, has welcomed Gaby Haugh as a senior surveyor in property asset management who previously spent four years at Colliers. She will be responsible for the management of a number of retail assets across the North West.

Eliot Gannon has also joined as a senior surveyor, with a focus on shopping centre and industrial property management. He joins from Workman where he spent the past three-and-a-half years.

Gaby Haugh

Dom Goodwin has also joined from Workman as a surveyor and will be focusing on retail assets, working closely with Gaby.

Rounding out the quartet, Emily Johnson will be joining the team as an assistant surveyor from Rendall and Rittner. She will be focusing on mixed-use assets.

The new hires have increased the team by 25%, taking it to 12 team members.

Louise Ashall, head of surveying services at JLL in the North West, said: “We’ve seen increased demand for our services from clients over the past few years, as property owners look to keep up with the ongoing changes in sustainability and consumer habits. We’re incredibly excited to be able to welcome four new team members to further strengthen our client service and bring invaluable external expertise.”

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One of the UK’s leading bulk liquid storage specialists has appointed a new managing director. Phil McEvoy takes up the role at UM Terminals after having held several senior roles in the UK and Europe.

Most recently, Phil was operations director for the UK, Ireland and Northern Europe at global chemicals distributor Univar Solutions.

Prior to that he was group operations director for Argent Energy, a specialist in renewable fuels. He has also previously been responsible for engineering and asset management at Manchester Airport Group.

Phil replaces Vic Brodrick who has been combining the roles of interim managing director and commercial director since the summer. Vic will continue as commercial director.

Phil McEvoy

Phil, a chartered mechanical engineer, said: “This is an exciting time to join UM Terminals. While we are not the biggest company in our sector, we believe our unrelenting customer focus, ability to flex and add value sets us apart.

“We are also committed to the storage of a diverse portfolio of products, a portfolio that will continue to evolve as we meet the requirements of our customers, not least in the area of energy transition.”

A recent example of the company meeting the needs of one long term customer in the chemicals sector saw UM Terminals invest in the region of £2m, enabling the Scandinavian-headquartered client to take a much larger tank that was specially converted to store and blend a range of AdBlue NOx reduction products.

UM Terminals operates out of eight terminals, strategically located across the UK, handling more than 40 different products. It has its head office in Liverpool.

It currently has a capacity of more than 300,000 cubic metres of bulk liquid storage, but the plan is to grow this to in excess of 400,000 cubic metres.

Product solutions include vegetable oils, industrial, food and feed, chemical, fertiliser, fuels, biofuels and base oils.

Phil added: “We are carrying out a strategic review of our assets, ensuring they are best able to continue meeting the requirements of our customers today and in the future with further investment being made where appropriate.”

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Having launched its new office in Salford this summer, independent development and construction consultancy Identity Consult has welcomed a new colleague to its business.

Hamza Mohamed takes up the role of assistant cost manager. His move to the new Salford office comes after Identity Consult expanded its portfolio there with clients including Salford City Council.

Hamza Mohamed

The news comes in a period of growth for the company which now boasts 67 colleagues working out of Salford, Preston, York and Sunderland, including two new apprentices. The team has also secured its Investors in People accreditation, established training and mentoring programmes and received an Exceptional Employer Award from Preston College.

Mark Doherty, managing director, said: “Our colleagues are at the heart of our business, and we are proud to have invested in great local talent this past year, nurturing the skills and expertise of our existing colleagues, and welcoming great new people like Hamza.”

Mark was part of, and led, a cohort of colleagues who completed a management buyout of Identity Consult in 2018. In that time, it has more than doubled its headcount from 32 to 67 colleagues.

He added: “We have achieved good results since the MBO, maintaining a strong client base across the North West, North East and Yorkshire and I look forward to undertaking more great projects on behalf of clients in our core sectors moving forward.”

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A host of new accounting talent has joined Champion Group, benefiting from a dedicated trainee programme designed to ensure their careers and professional confidence flourish.

After a recruitment drive that saw dozens of applications from youngsters finishing their A Levels or equivalent qualifications, six have been chosen to take up positions in Champion’s Manchester, Preston, Chester and Blackpool offices.

Ethan Samouelle and Mathew Dyer have joined the Manchester office as management accounts trainees, alongside new audit and accounts trainee Sam Watson. Tharany Vijayaratnam and Thomas Ashbrook have also taken up positions as audit and accounts trainees in Blackpool and Chester, respectively, and audit and accounts trainee Alex Timperley is now stationed in the Preston office.

New Champion trainees

As a Platinum ACCA-accredited employer, Champion has a long history of developing young talent, guiding trainees through further studies and qualifications alongside their day-to-day roles. Working as an integral part of a highly experienced team, these newest trainees will be introduced to industry best practice for a range of exciting clients.

With responsibility given early on in their roles, the new recruits will also have opportunity to shadow senior team members, many of whom arrived at Champion as trainees themselves.

Thomas Ashbrook, who achieved two A*s and an A in his A Levels this summer, said: “I’m excited about the range of experience I’ll get at Champion, and I’m hoping that this early access to real responsibilities, working with experienced colleagues, will help me to get a feel for the type of work I most enjoy and specialisms I might like to pursue in the future.”

Ged Cosgrove, group managing partner, said: “We’re incredibly proud of our trainee programme and the careers that have flourished as a result of it. Many of our senior colleagues began their careers with us as trainees and we’ve also seen plenty of staff go on to achieve incredible things elsewhere in industry after cutting their teeth in our offices, many of whom are now clients of ours.”

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Claritas Tax, the independent tax advisory firm with offices in Manchester and Birmingham, has announced the appointment of Richard Smith, as associate partner and head of indirect tax.

Based in Manchester, his skills and experience will help the firm to drive its growth plans, build on existing and new client relationships and respond to the fast changing needs of clients.

Richard Smith

Richard Smith said: “After many years working in senior leadership positions within the Big 4 environment, I am delighted to be joining such a vibrant, dynamic, and award-winning tax team whose growth trajectory to date has been extremely impressive.

“Claritas’s ambitious expansion plans mirror my own and I feel privileged and excited to be able to join the business and take on the role of leading and developing its indirect tax function. The VAT landscape remains complex and challenging to navigate and one of my key objectives will be to build and maintain trusted advisor relationships to ensure clients mitigate their VAT risk and effectively manage their compliance obligations.”

Matt Hodgson, partner, welcomed Richard, saying: “It’s rare to find someone with such a wealth of experience in the world of indirect tax and with the vision and appetite to build such a service line with us. Richard’s appointment is a real statement for Claritas as we continue to recruit high calibre people and build upon our full service tax offering to the mid-market.”

Iain Wright, partner, said: “Our firm is ending the year in a really strong position and that is down to the fantastic team we have.”