People: Custerian; Deloitte Legal; Bedspace; Virgin Money Business; Oddfellows; Royal Exchange Theatre; Swansway Motor Group

Jen Hollowood-Smith

Business transformation specialist Custerian has appointed a former senior executive of Robiquity and AO as director.

The Darebury-based business was founded by Nicola Collister and Simon Norie in 2013 and has worked with a number of blue chip clients including Arm, Northern Gas Networks, Yorkshire Water and retail giant Argos.

Jen Hollowood-Smith has joined from Manchester automation software company Robiquity, where she was head of consumer markets. Before that she spent nine years at online retailer AO, where she ended up as head of customer operations.

Collister, who has worked at a number of 100 FTSE listed companies, said Hollowood-Smith’s appointment was a “statement of intent” by Custerian.

She said: “We celebrate our 10th anniversary in 2023 and her arrival is a key piece of the jigsaw moving forward. Jen is extremely versatile with 18 years’ experience working in operations, supply chain and customer-led transformation and change. She has a track record of building high performing teams.”

Hollowood-Smith said: “A lot of companies call themselves ‘strategic business transformation specialists’ but Custerian take a people-centric approach to driving improvement.”

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Natalie Crook

Deloitte Legal has appointed Andy Casey as a partner in its legal entity management (LEM) team.

With 18 years’ experience working in professional services and industry, Andy joins Deloitte Legal from Law Debenture where he was head of corporate secretarial services, a role he previously held at Konexo and Eversheds Sutherland. Prior to this, Andy worked at PwC.

In addition to Andy’s appointment, Deloitte Legal has also appointed Natalie Crook as a director in the LEM team. Based in the firm’s Manchester office, Natalie brings a range of private practice and in-house legal experience in both the private and public sector, including Travel Counsellors, Co-operative Group, Transport for Greater Manchester and Cheshire West and Chester Council. In her new role, Natalie will drive Deloitte Legal’s LEM growth ambitions in the North West. Her appointment follows the recent announcement of four partner hires to establish Deloitte Legal’s real estate legal business.

Daniel Connell, partner and head of legal entity management at Deloitte, said: “Andy has a proven track record of leading managed service and governance advisory businesses in legal entity management, helping clients understand the ever-changing regulatory landscape and delivering sustainable long-term growth.

“The addition of Natalie in Manchester is further testament to Deloitte Legal’s growing footprint across the UK’s regions, with 40 legal practitioners now in the North West alone.”

Andy Casey said: “I’m looking forward to building on Deloitte Legal’s strong reputation in the market by using the firm’s technology expertise and knowledge to help our clients gain competitive advantage through adopting smarter legal entity management.”

His appointment is the eighth partner hire for Deloitte Legal in fiscal year 2023, following the recent appointments of Isabel Parker, Julia Gorham and Clare Jenkinson, as well as four partners, Vaqas Farooq, Wayne Nash, Lisa On-Iam and Dan Hargreaves, brought in to create Deloitte Legal’s new real estate offering.

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Mark Warburton

Housing organisation, Bedspace, has appointed Mark Warburton as its new property director, to oversee the management of its growing portfolio of properties in the North West.

Mark has more than 30 years’ experience in the housing sector, having previously worked within Manchester City Council’s housing team and with in excess of 50 different local authorities. In his new role, he will be responsible for guiding Bedspace with its business strategy and the continued growth and development of its housing services.

Mark will also be heavily involved in ensuring that Bedspace is well equipped to meet the impending OFSTED regulations in the sector, and ensuring its properties comply with the Decent Homes Standard.

He said: “Although I have always worked in the housing sector, working with a housing provider like Bedspace is a newer challenge for me and it was the organisation’s social purpose and commitment to supporting vulnerable people which attracted me to the role.”

Managing director, Nick Thornhill, said: “Mark’s appointment is central to the development of our wider property strategy and in driving forward our ambitious growth plans, so that we can continue to work with more landlords across the North West to provide housing and support to some of society’s most vulnerable.”

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Kenny Orpin

Virgin Money Business has appointed a further senior hire to its North West strategic finance team to support its growth ambitions across the corporate, private equity-backed and leveraged business markets within the region.

Kenny Orpin joins Virgin Money and will be responsible for supporting North West businesses with their day-to-day banking requirements, while providing a wide range of specialist products and structured lending solutions to facilitate business growth and investment needs where total commitments typically range from £1m to £15m.

He has undertaken a variety of roles across the financial services sector over a 20-year career to date including corporate relationship management roles within Barclays and Santander, together with experience within professional advisory at CBRE.

Ian Hardman, head of strategic finance at Virgin Money, said: ‘Kenny is a strong addition to our growing North West team.”

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Keith Ashcroft

Not-for-profit friendly society the Manchester-based Oddfellows has made a series of senior appointments across the business as it seeks to strengthen its commitment to improving the quality of life for communities nationwide.

Established in 1810, it is one of the largest and oldest friendly societies in the UK, helping to make a difference for its members and policy holders through friendship, care and charity.

Bringing nearly 30 years of experience in financial services, Keith Ashcroft has been appointed the Oddfellows new finance director. Spending the past five years at Healthy Investment, he brings with him a wealth of experience in investment assets, actuarial functions, business growth, and risk management. He said: “I’m thrilled to join the Oddfellows and I look forward to supporting the organisation’s growth through optimising our investment strategies.”

Sarah Hopwood

An active member of the Oddfellows for nearly a decade, Sarah Hopwood has been promoted to head of branch development, leading a proactive team working to support, strengthen, and grow the organisation’s Branch infrastructure. She said: “Having worked for the Oddfellows for over nine years, seeing the progress we’ve made as an organisation and the commitment that our network of branches show for supporting their members gives me the motivation to keep pushing forward.”

John Aitken has been appointed as head of care and welfare, responsible for the management and delivery of the organisation’s care and welfare offer to members.

Jayne Holgate also joins the organisation as head of marketing communications. She joins from the NHS and brings experience in strategic communications.

Oddfellows CEO, Jane Nelson, said: “Our new appointments give us a renewed vigour to continue at pace on our mission to improve the quality of life of our 388,000 members and policy holders and make a difference within our wider communities.”

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Armoghan Mohammed, Kate Vokes, Steve Freeman

Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre has appointed Armoghan Mohammed as new chair of trustees. Armoghan is regional chair for the North for PwC.

Alongside Armoghan’s appointment current board member Kate Vokes, non-executive director at Bruntwood, will step into the role of deputy chair. Her long standing relationship with the Royal Exchange, via her role as trustee and through the Bruntwood Prize, provides a deep understanding of the theatre.

Armoghan Mohammed said: “The Royal Exchange Theatre is a Manchester institution and one of the most intimate theatres in the UK. Personally, I’ve always loved the theatre, even from a young age.”

Kate Vokes said: “Supporting arts and culture to thrive is extremely important to me. I am passionate about how vital a dynamic, innovative and ambitious arts landscape is to any city, and that’s why becoming deputy chair of such a unique theatre, committed to supporting artists and communities and to making new work right here in Manchester, is incredibly exciting.”

Steve Freeman, executive director and joint CEO of the Royal Exchange, said: “Armoghan is a brilliant strategist with a wealth of experience in dynamic governance structures. His and Kate’s clear commitment to the performing arts and widening access is something that will help us drive the Royal Exchange forward.”

Armoghan takes over the role of chair form Ben Caldwell who has been with the theatre for 10 years.

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Keith Warrilow, left, and Stuart Sutherland

Swansway Motor Group recently welcomed two new aftersales managers to strengthen its Blackburn Audi and Crewe Volkswagen management teams.

Keith Warrilow joins to head up the aftersales team at Blackburn Audi, while Stuart Sutherland joins the Crewe Volkswagen team after previous aftersales manager, James Keir was recently promoted to head of business at the retailer.

Keith Warrilow with 42 years of experience in the motor industry. He said: “I’ve just got the biggest smile on my face. Working at Blackburn Audi has been a personal goal for many years, and now I’ve arrived and am starting to settle in, I can see that the team are fantastic. It’s firing me up to see what we can achieve together.”

Like Keith, Stuart Sutherland started his career as an apprentice technician and has worked through the ranks. He said: “I can’t wait to get stuck in and continue the success of the business.”

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