People: Unity Trust Bank; Genr8 Developments; Together; Wain Estates; Roxtec; inTAX
Unity Trust Bank has appointed a new chief commercial officer, Alexandra Rice, who will be leading the bank’s customer facing operations across commercial, marketing and digital services.
Alexandra has 20 years of banking experience across Barclays, Coutts and most recently Santander. In that time, she’s held numerous senior leadership positions including industry corporate director, chief data officer and head of change within the Santander’s Corporate Bank.
In her new role, Alexandra will be responsible for developing Unity’s commercial strategy, alongside managing Unity’s front office, customer support and marketing teams. She’ll be using her depth of knowledge in the field to explore market entry opportunities to support the bank’s growth. From her base within Unity’s head office in Birmingham, Alexandra will also oversee regional customer-facing operations in Manchester and London.
Alexandra said: “It’s wonderful to be working for a specialist bank that is both socially minded and well positioned to drive further impact. I’ve come to Unity so I can combine my passion for Unity’s purpose with my corporate banking experience and add that to the collective effort to help enhance the state of our social fabric. That matters more than ever as we face into a more turbulent economic environment. Even after taking that context into account, there are still exciting growth opportunities that lie ahead.”
Deborah Hazell, CEO of Unity Trust Bank, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Alexandra to Unity and to strengthen the executive team during our next exciting phase of growth. Alexandra has an excellent track record and many years of experience in delivering successful commercial and data-driven strategies to corporate and SME customers. She will help the bank to ensure that we are seen, in our target markets, as the partner of choice for ethically minded, value-driven businesses.”
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Genr8 Developments, the Manchester-based regeneration specialists, has recently bolstered its team with the appointment of Tiffany Chevis.
Joining as head of marketing, Tiffany previously worked at Sigma Capital Group where she gained significant experience in promoting new areas and re-energising interest in local neighbourhoods through the build to rent housing model, as well as engaging directly with residents and customers through an extensive events and communications strategy.
The appointment is part of Genr8’s ongoing gameplan to bring more expertise in-house to provide for greater levels of control and independence while strengthening its core business functions. This strategic move comes 18 months after Leonie Edwards joined as head of finance, and Warwick Smither as development director.
Tiffany Chevis
Tiffany said: “It’s a very exciting time to join the Genr8 team, with partnerships building momentum and a real appetite to build awareness of the impactful work the business does.”
Genr8 Developments’ new joint venture with Kajima Europe, Genr8 Kajima Regeneration, is another key facet to Tiffany’s hire in how the partnership’s communication builds, after recently winning two successful bids – Knowsley Council’s Huyton scheme and Newcastle University’s Campus for Ageing and Vitality.
Richard Ingham, partner at Genr8 Developments, said: “Appointing our first head of marketing comes at a time when Genr8 is looking to the future successes of the business through new projects and our growing partnership with Kajima. Having Tiffany on board will help provide a clear sense of direction and purpose, and we look forward to seeing that story unfold.”
Tiffany will also be working on ongoing projects such as Smithfield, Stoke, with detailed planning in place for the next office and residential phase alongside the continued management of the Smithfield Works co-working space. The second phase at Genr8’s Rochdale Riverside development is also under way, where a new hotel and build-to-rent schemes are due to be built.
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Cheadle-based specialist lender Together has appointed Tanya Elmaz to the role of director of intermediary sales for commercial finance.
Tanya’s new role will see her leading and developing Together’s intermediary commercial finance channel. She will provide strategic vision, helping to support the company’s broker partners.
Her team includes eight field sales account managers, four roving underwriters and a 16-strong sales and management support team.
Tanya has worked for Together for seven years, and has 20 years’ experience in the industry. She has previously held roles in management and sales at Bradford & Bingley, before joining Together as business development manager for London.
Tanya Elmaz
She said: “I am so pleased to take up this new appointment. I am excited about working with business partners internally and externally towards a common goal – the delivery of an outstanding service and a positive outcome for our customers.
“This new appointment also a great step forward for diversity and inclusion across the industry – seeing more women in leadership roles in financial services is essential and should be encouraged across the sector.”
Marc Goldberg, commercial finance CEO, said: “Tanya has worked at Together for seven years and has been a valued member of the senior management team in the intermediary channel. She has shown great leadership, commerciality and passion, so when the opportunity arose to appoint a new director of intermediary sales for commercial finance, Tanya was the obvious choice.
“She brings with her hands-on experience of every role in the channel, possessing a firm understanding of what motivates and drives the team and business partners. Using her high levels of drive, initiative and enthusiasm, she will be placing a high priority on developing the team around her. This appointment also highlights Together’s commitment to developing and recognising talent from within the business.”
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Strategic land, property development and regeneration company, Wain Estates, has appointed Kirsty Greener as marketing manager as the business gears up for continued growth in 2023.
Kirsty brings a wealth of property marketing experience to Warrington-based Wain Estates, having previously held similar positions with a number of national and regional housebuilding and construction companies, including Keepmoat and Gleeson.
Kirsty Greener
Kirsty’s brief is to grow regional and national brand awareness of Wain Estates following its rebranding from HIMOR earlier in 2022 and support the ambitious growth plans across the company’s specialisms of land promotion, property and land development.
Will Ainscough, CEO of Wain Estates, said: “Wain Estates is primed to build on a successful 2022 by increasing our investment into land and real estate throughout 2023. Kirsty’s appointment is critical to supporting our key business functions by increasing awareness of our new brand and communicating the unique values which set Wain Estates apart.”
Kirsty Greener said: “There is a positive culture within Wain Estates’ relatively small team where everyone is enthused about exciting plans ahead and where people know they can make a difference. This is largely what attracted me to the role and I am looking forward to working as part of a great team which has developed a reputation for its ability to act quickly and decisively across every market sector.”
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Cable and pipe seal manufacturer, Roxtec UK, has appointed Dayna Ferguson as inside technical sales advisor as it looks for further growth in its power and process division.
In her new role Dayna will provide technical support to the division’s sales team to help it deliver projects and seek out future business opportunities. Dayna joins Bury-based Roxtec UK after spending several years as project specialist for a multi-national business providing technology to the construction and engineering industry.
Dayna Ferguson
Her appointment comes as Roxtec is looking ahead to further growth in the power and process sectors.
Dayna said: “What attracted me to Roxtec was its innovation, how it works hard as a business to find solutions for complex projects its customers are involved with and the whole range of products it offers.
“My role is all about giving technical support to the team as it works to deliver projects, as well as looking at future opportunities. I’m really looking forward to developing the role and playing my part in the future growth of the division.”
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Specialist tax disputes firm inTAX has further strengthened its team with the appointment of Grant Summers as director.
Grant is based in Manchester and specialises in tax investigations. He joins inTAX from a national audit, tax, advisory and risk firm where he was a director. Grant has extensive previous experience at Big Four firms at partner and director level roles.
During his career, Grant has successfully negotiated settlements for numerous clients facing complex HMRC issues. He also worked for HMRC at senior inspector level in the Fraud Investigation Service, before joining the accountancy sector.
Grant Summers
Grant has represented clients at both tax tribunals and the Court of Appeal, as well as providing expert evidence in the Civil and Criminal Courts. He regularly lectures on investigation and employment tax issues and is a member of the ICAEW Tax Investigations sub-committee.
He said: “This is an exciting time to be joining inTAX, helping it to continue its growth journey as a specialist tax disputes firm and expanding its capabilities. I am delighted to be working with such a high calibre team that is dedicated to supporting businesses across the region with tax dispute issues.”
Jeremy Johnson, inTAX’s managing director, said: “Grant is a fantastic addition to our team and brings a wealth of experience, having worked in senior roles at Big Four firms, as well as with HMRC as a senior inspector. We are delighted to have appointed someone of Grant’s calibre to help grow our team and continue to deliver high quality services to support clients with their tax investigations and tax enquiries of all descriptions.”
