People: Forbes Solicitors; Very Group; Glass Futures; Alcedo Care Group; Bibby Financial Services; Aaron & Partners
Four new hires have joined the Manchester office of Forbes Solicitors, as the firm expands its commercial litigation, property litigation and contentious probate services in the city.
The new joiners are partner Paul Magee, associate Nicola Laurie, trainee solicitor Alexandra Adesina and paralegal Harry Silverman.
Each join from Linder Myers Solicitors, with Paul specialising in commercial and property litigation. He brings more than 30 years of experience to Forbes’s commercial and property litigation team and is able to advise on a range of contentious issues covering property – commercial and residential – partnerships and shareholdings, contracts, and leases.
He has also acted in many complex and high value cases including defective builds, lottery wins and insurance disputes. Paul’s clients range from famous musicians, footballers and TV personalities to large corporate entities and SMEs.
Trainee Alexandra Adesina and paralegal Harry Silverman will support the team in Manchester, which works closely with Forbes’s other specialisms including the employment law team and assists growing businesses across the city and nationally.
Nicola Laurie has joined the contentious trusts and probate team in Manchester and is a qualified member of the Association of Contentious Probate Specialists. She has extensive experience acting for beneficiaries, executors, claimants, defendants, trustees and third parties involved in challenging the validity of a will.
The new starters follow a trio of hires earlier in 2022, when partner Laura McHugh and senior associates Jo Handler and Richard Kay joined the employment law team in Forbes’s Manchester office.
Managing partner, Pauline Rigby, said: “Our Manchester office has gone from strength to strength, despite the economic challenges of the past few years. We’ve worked hard to grow our insurance and employment law teams in the city, and the four new hires continues this trend in our other teams and is a statement of intent for our ambitions in Manchester and the North West.”
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The Very Group, operator of digital retailer Very, has appointed its CFO Ben Fletcher to the newly created role of chief finance and transformation officer with immediate effect. Ben continues to be part of the company’s executive team and board, reporting to group CEO Lionel Desclée.
Ben Fletcher
Ben, who joined the Liverpool-based business in 2020 to lead its finance team, expands his remit to also include heading-up the continuing development of the business’s operating model and introducing new ways of working that increase customer-centricity.
Lionel Desclée said: “We need to consistently land customer-focused change in the ways we work. This will position us to give the families we serve, as well as our people, the best possible experiences. Ben is the ideal person to represent transformation at the executive table and lead these exciting developments in our business over the coming years.”
Ben Fletcher said: “We are already making big strides in our multi-year tech transformation. Alongside this, I’m passionate about continuing to develop the best ways of working to ensure we capitalise on this investment and continue providing the convenience, value and flexibility our customers value.”
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Two new appointments to the Glass Futures board of directors further strengthens its ability to address industry’s decarbonisation challenges with R&D to accelerate innovation.
Glass Futures last month completed the main building work for the 165,000 sq ft Global Centre of Excellence for Glass, in St Helens, which will spearhead research into decarbonising glass and other industries and be home to an experimental furnace capable of producing up to 30 tonnes of glass per day.
Prof Anthony Hollander
The two new appointments are Prof Anthony Hollander, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Impact and Professor of Stem Cell Biology at the University of Liverpool, and Mark Higham, who has held a variety of leadership positions over the years in Siemens UK and is currently general manager of the Siemens process automation business based in Manchester.
Prof. Hollander provides strategic leadership for the development of research policy and for ensuring impact of the university’s research programmes in Liverpool and around the world. He is also responsible for commercialisation of research, for developing partnerships with companies and other external stakeholders and for the training of postgraduate research students. He is also chair of the N8 Senior Executive Group.
Mark Higham
Mark Higham has held a variety of leadership positions over the years in Siemens UK. He has more than 30 years’ experience delivering innovative solutions to the process industries to help companies increase productivity, flexibility and quality.
Prof Hollander said: “Collaboration is at the heart of the Glass Futures mission and I look forward to ensuring that the university plays a major role in supporting this and that our research, facilities and expertise contributes to the success of this exciting initiative.”
Mark Higham said: “I’m very interested in Glass Futures’ mission to accelerate the decarbonisation of the glass industry. By exploring production methods and technologies we can assess the long term benefits that impact industry as a whole, nationally and internationally.”
Glass Futures chief executive, Richard Katz, said: “The combined knowledge and expertise of Prof Anthony Hollander and Mark Higham will substantially add to Glass Futures’ capability to deliver innovation and technology for the benefit of its members and the global glass and foundation industries.”
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Adam Garvey, 33, from St Helens, has been promoted to group events manager at North West independent care provider, Alcedo Care Group.
In his new role, Adam takes responsibility for the company’s low wheelbase exhibition-style corporate vehicle, taking it out and about across the North West to communicate Alcedo’s service offering to potential new users and highlight career opportunities to potential new employees.
Adam will also support the company’s growing network of branches by taking the vehicle to new office openings. He will also attend charity and community events to help worthy causes raise funds to help those in need.
Adam Garvey
He said: “I aim to ensure that everyone across the North West has heard about Alcedo and knows what we can offer. Over the course of this year I will be aiming to build the events team, growing the department so that we can have more than one vehicle at an event at the same time or attend more than one event on the same day.”
Prior to joining Alcedo Care Group, Adam worked in hospitality, most recently as manager of a restaurant in Liverpool. Before this, he worked in hotels for more than 10 years covering all aspects of running the property from rotas, day-to-day shift management and risk assessments.
Alcedo Care Group managing director, Andy Boardman, said: “Having demonstrated his passion for caring, Adam is exactly the right person to go out and chat to potential new customers and also new employees about the Alcedo Care Group and everything we can offer for service users and those who join our team. I am fully confident he will excel in this role.”
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Liverpool-based Bibby Financial Services’ asset finance division, Bibby Leasing, has announced a series of new hires and a refocused growth strategy to increase lending throughout the UK.
With more than 50 years’ combined experience in asset finance, the new team will support the business’s strategy, led by managing director, Sean Neville.
Lauren Davis
Sean said: “The depth and breadth of experience of our new team, combined with our existing asset finance expertise, is testament to our growth strategy, which saw us almost double new business volumes in 2022 alongside 20% growth in our portfolio during in the same period.”
Sean Taylor joins as head of national broker sales from Renaissance Asset Finance where he was senior corporate sales executive. With more than 16 years’ experience in asset finance, Sean has held sales roles with Five Arrows Business Finance and State Securities.
James Pegler joins as senior risk manager – specialised and structured transactions. He previously held underwriting, credit and client-facing roles at Renaissance Asset Finance, Shawbrook Bank and Barclays UK.
Jonathan Sollitt has held credit and underwriting positions with CSI Leasing Europe and HSBC, and joins as credit manager.
James Pegler
Lauren Davis, joins as manager for Bibby Leasing’s newly created sales support team, from Renaissance Asset Finance where she spent almost seven years developing such a unit.
The new hires follow the appointment of Brian Cartwright as director of strategic partnerships and market expansion last year and the return of Rebekah Middleton as head of corporate and structured transactions, after almost two years with Time Finance.
Sean Neville added: “This is a really exciting time for Bibby Leasing and the wider Bibby Financial Services family. We have highly experienced people, a great range of products to support SMEs and brokers, and are well positioned for growth.”
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Chester-based law firm Aaron & Partners has appointed Mark Bergin in the newly created role of chief operating officer.
Mark, who throughout his career has specialised in the mortgage and lending industries, brings to the firm a wealth of experience in growing businesses.
Mark Bergin
In a career stemming back to 1984, he has worked in various high profile roles at leading firms, including HBOS, Investec, Deutsche Bank and Irwin Mitchell.
Mark’s role at Aaron & Partners will include overseeing the continued growth of the firm, which currently employs more than 150 people and has offices in Chester, Shrewsbury, Altrincham and Wirral.
He said: “I am looking forward to helping the company continue on its strong growth trajectory.
“Having worked for a number of different businesses – mainly in financial services – it’s a great challenge for me in a fascinating role.”
