People: Videosign; Vega; Keepmoat; QASSS; Mint Property Finance
Digital signature and remote witnessing specialist Videosign has bolstered its sales and marketing division with a series of new appointments.
The expanded team is led by Nina Hinton, who joins the Liverpool-based software company as its new head of business growth.
Nina has a background in business development in the education sector and brings additional board-level experience as a trustee of a charity supporting people with disabilities and/or health related issues. She said: “I was attracted to joining Videosign because of the opportunities to find new ways of using the platform. Videosign was created for signing documents, but we’re interested in how else we can use it – for instance, we have seen a trend of clients using Videosign for exam invigilation.”
Further appointments to the team include Dan Bolton-Allen as sales development manager, Jack Moore as marketing manager, and Finn Mason as sales support executive.
Dan Bolton-Allen said: “It’s exciting to have joined a growing company with such a unique product.”
Videosign launched in 2019 aiming to develop a solution more secure, efficient and convenient than the traditional pen-and-ink signature. Chief executive, Steven Tallant, welcomed the new arrivals, saying: “Their combined experience of working in different sectors and focusing on finding new solutions to difficult problems can help us to unlock the potential of Videosign.”
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Rebecca O’Malley
Independent Manchester agency Vega has appointed EssenceMediacom’s head of AV activation, Rebecca O’Malley, as managing partner to lead its AV proposition.
O’Malley brings a wealth of AV and broadcast experience having been head of broadcast at Mediacom since 2015. Previously she has held roles at ITV as business development controller and AV account director at MediaVest (now Dentsu).
She said: “Having never worked on the independent agency side of the industry before, I look forward to getting stuck in and having some different conversations with media owners and clients. Also, it’s great to be working with ex-colleagues with a proven track record of building successful companies. I’m very excited to see what the future holds.”
Vega was formed in late 2022 by a team of strategy, digital and media co-founders who, between them, have held senior roles at leading agency names such as Carat, dentsu, iProspect, McCann, MediaCom and more.
Ian Lees, Vega co-founder, said: “Rebecca has a fantastic track record of AV planning, buying and sponsorship across a range of sectors for both DR and brand advertisers. We have grown significantly in our first full year of trading and we believe the addition of Rebecca will have a transformative impact on our AV product, clients and future growth potential.”
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Katie Dean
Homebuilder Keepmoat has appointed Katie Dean as land and partnerships director for the North West branch of the business.
Katie’s appointment will see her work alongside the existing land team and manage Keepmoat North West’s land acquisition strategy, with a focus on expanding the division’s land pipeline, forming and maintaining existing relationships with land agents, local authorities and affordable housing providers, alongside building new connections to expand opportunities in the area.
She said: “I am thrilled to have been appointed by such a well established national homebuilder and am looking forward to working with the North West team to continue building on the region’s track record and growing our land pipeline.”
Keepmoat North West has nine operational sites stretching from Lancashire to Stoke on Trent, and Merseyside through to Greater Manchester. There are a number of flagship developments with Homes England and a range of local authority partners such as Salford City Council, Wigan MBC and Knowsley Council.
Tony Mellor, regional managing director for Keepmoat’s North West branch, said: “I’m really pleased that Katie has joined the North West team and I look forward to working with her to further strengthen our land team/pipeline and support the planned growth of our business. I am confident that Katie will work closely with both our public and private sector partners to secure further land opportunities whilst forming new connections to help grow the business. I am excited at what the future holds for both Katie and the North West team.”
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Nicholas Clyde
Dispute resolution expert QASSS has welcomed Nicholas Clyde to its office in Manchester city centre where he will serve as network delivery manager.
Nicholas will be solely responsible for expanding the company’s UK-wide network of home improvement and renewable energy contractors who offer a range of installation and remedial works services, and he will ensure the operation is compliant with 3IP working standards. He will also be transforming the onboarding process for new contractors and will manage compliance and audit to ensure a high quality customer service experience for QASSS clients.
Nicholas joins QASSS from his role at Svella Connect where he helped to successfully transform the Yorkshire network delivery contract under Virgin Media. He has also previously held the role of senior enterprise customer service manager at Salford-based Talk Talk and operational readiness manager in the North of England for Openreach.
He said: “While the operation is already smooth-running, I am looking forward to sharing my expertise and streamlining processes to ensure the contractor network exceeds the expectations of all of our valued clients.”
Ciarán Harkin, managing director of QASSS, said: “Nicholas has many strings to his bow and we are thrilled he will be bringing his expertise and extensive experience to QASSS. Our clients expect the very best, and with Nicholas at the helm I know our contractor network is in safe hands.”
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Ben Broad and Leigh Harwood
Specialist finance lender, Mint Property Finance, has welcomed two new team members to its underwriting department, further increasing the company’s capacity to deliver borrower requirements.
The first of the new hires, Leigh Harwood, joins as development underwriter from Stream Bank and has extensive experience in financial sectors. In a career spanning 20 years, Leigh has worked on mortgages, loans, litigations and collections, holding several titles in that time, including head of underwriting at C&M Wealth International and credit manager at Stream Bank.
Leigh said: “I’m looking forward to bringing my extensive industry knowledge to the company and helping continue their upward growth trajectory.”
Also joining the company as underwriter support is Ben Broad. A recent graduate, Ben is joining straight from Manchester Metropolitan University where he recently achieved a 2.1 in his Banking & Finance Undergraduate Degree. This is Ben’s first full time role.
Ben said: “I’m looking forward to beginning my career at Mint, and have been warmly welcomed into the team. I’m excited to develop my knowledge of the property finance sectors and further my career in this exciting industry.”
Both Leigh and Ben will work in Mint’s underwriting team, led by Adam Robson and Sam Herd. Managing director, Andrew Lazare, said: “Our two new hires reflect our ongoing and growing need for exceptional talent. The addition of Ben and Leigh to our team means we will be even better placed to successfully manage new and existing enquiries through our underwriting process to completion.”
Since its inception in 2011, Cheshire-based Mint has enjoyed year-on-year growth and recently reported its highest quarterly volume of enquiries.
