People: 21Digital; Redrow; Avison Young; First Bus; Inciner8; Embrace Marketing
Mindy Gofton has joined 21Digital as head of digital, bringing with her more than 20 years of experience in digital marketing.
Mindy’s career has included both client-side and senior agency roles, including more than nine years with Manchester-based I-COM, culminating in the role of head of marketing strategy and innovation, and then most recently, head of SEO at Bolton-based Own Your Own Space before joining Blackburn’s 21Digital earlier this year.
Sam Fletcher, 21Digital managing director, said: “It’s great to welcome Mindy to the team. She has a huge variety of experience working with clients from single-person start-ups to high street brands, as well as experience in developing teams and managing strategies across content marketing, email marketing and marketing automation, PPC and social media.”
Mindy said: “I’m really pleased to have joined the team at 21Digital. They’ve got a great company culture. It’s a very diverse team – there’s a brilliant mix of ages, expertise and personalities here, so we’re sparking ideas off each other all the time.”
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Megan Thomas
Two new graduates are building on their careers by joining North West housebuilder Redrow’s two-year graduate training scheme.
Malik Abdo and Megan Thomas join 11 other graduates across the UK in Redrow’s 2023 Graduate Development Programme, helping to develop and futureproof talent in the property sector.
Malik, from Eccles, and Megan, from Huyton, are both participating in the Divisional Graduate Development Programme and will be based at Redrow NW’s head office in Daresbury.
“The construction industry offers a wide range of job roles especially at Redrow,” said Malik, who studied construction project management at The University of Salford.
Malik Abdo
“The training process that Redrow provides will serve as an invaluable springboard for my career, allowing me to learn the ropes of all areas within the business.”
With a degree in construction management and a masters in project management, Megan has her eyes firmly set on climbing the career ladder: “I applied for this graduate scheme as it looked like a great opportunity and offered a real insight for me to learn more about each aspect of the business,” she said.
Karen Jones, Redrow’s HR director, said: “In order to tackle the UK’s housing shortage, it is necessary that we address the industry’s recruitment challenges and develop talent early on. Redrow’s Graduate Development Programme provides a pipeline of highly skilled and experienced people who will lead the industry into the future.”
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Daniel Matthias
Global real estate firm, Avison Young, has welcomed new senior project manager, Daniel Matthias, to its building and project consultancy team in Manchester.
Daniel will be supporting across an array of sectors and projects and is already providing support to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and East Cheshire NHS Trust. He has joined the AY team from healthcare infrastructure specialist, Archus, where he acted as a project management consultant, supporting and leading NHS project delivery teams across Yorkshire and the North West, most notably Mid Cheshire Hospital NHS Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Trust, and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.
He said: “It is an exciting time to be joining Avison Young as there are huge opportunities on offer across the business. We have a strong and diverse client base, which has already been bolstered by numerous recent wins, a fantastic new office in the heart of Manchester on York Street, and new managing director leadership. All of which forms a strong foundation for the future and promises an exciting 2024 and beyond, something I’m looking forward to being a part of.”
Barry Crichton, regional managing director of Avison Young’s Manchester officer, said: “Daniel’s specialisms centre around his programme and project management skills, which allows him to provide a holistic project, risk, and contract management service, and deliver complex and high value projects and programmes on time and to budget, whilst prioritising client needs.”
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Paul Townley
First Bus has promoted Paul Townley to the newly-created role of general manager of its Rochdale business.
The appointment comes as the bus operator continues preparations to begin running services in the Bee Network from March next year.
Paul takes up his new position from the beginning of November and will report to Zoe Hands, managing director of First Bus Manchester, Midlands and South Yorkshire. He will lead a management team at the Rochdale depot and be responsible for overseeing all aspects of its operations, engineering, commercial and support functions. Paul will also manage regular engagement with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and the delivery of franchise commitments.
He said: “This is an exciting time to be involved from the start a fresh challenge as the way bus services operate in Greater Manchester changes. First Bus is getting ready to make its mark in the Bee Network and I’m looking forward to helping build our team as we prepare to deliver excellent bus services in Rochdale and the wider community.”
Paul joined First Bus in 2010 and has held various roles in its Greater Manchester operations before moving into the commercial team for the expanded Manchester, Midlands and South Yorkshire business unit.
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Darren Spencer
Inciner8, the Southport-based manufacturer of incinerators supplied around the world, has appointed Darren Spencer as its new chief executive.
Spencer, a talented business leader with global experience in the machinery industry, will steer the business into its next stage of development and deliver on ambitious goals for expansion and innovation.
Inciner8 manufactures and supplies incinerators globally for customers in sectors including healthcare, municipal waste, mining, NGOs, agriculture and remote island hospitality.
With more than 30 years’ experience in the manufacturing sector, Spencer has the strategic thinking and commercial acumen to lead the business, a triple Queen’s Award-winning business which exports 98% of all products.
Spencer said: “I am hugely excited to be joining the Inciner8 team. As someone who has worked for 30+ years in manufacturing and global distribution, witnessing what the team at Inciner8 have achieved in the past few years is highly impressive, and an example of what a driven team with a clear vision can do.”
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Embrace Marketing, a Macclesfield-based brand development, website design and outsourced marketing agency, has announced an expanded team and key promotions. Embrace has welcomed four new team members since December 2022 to expand the team to 12.
Most recently, Sarah Broughton and Jenny Matthewman joined Embrace Marketing as marketing account managers to strengthen its client services and support its growth. Sarah Broughton has seven years of experience in marketing and has a Master’s Degree in digital marketing. She has previously worked in-house at a law business as a marketing assistant and executive. Jenny Matthewman attended Gloucestershire University studying marketing, advertising and branding. She first worked with a start-up retailer in London and then moved to Manchester working with a leading wholesaler in their marketing department.
Katie Hargreaves and Jack Lenton were promoted to content manager from October 1, 2023, being key contributors to Embrace’s creative content and copywriting services to support client growth. After originally joining Embrace in 2021 as a content executive, Katie Hargreaves has progressed to senior content executive and now onto content manager.
Previously a journalist for five years, Jack Lenton joined Embrace in December 2022, as a senior content executive. In the short time he’s been with Embrace, he quickly got to grips with generating content across the full marketing mix for a whole range of clients and will continue doing this in his new role as content manager for the agency.
Bradley Laycock has expanded the agency’s design team. His previous experience includes design roles in a full service print design agency and a B2B lighting company. He has worked across all design aspects, including both print and digital.
Managing director, Becky Reardon, said “We’ve invested in leadership training and taken the time to develop relevant and solid processes and clear career development pathways. This, combined with our fantastic team culture, has brought solid long term client partnerships. We are also attracting clients across B2B and not-for-profit organisations that align with our purpose and values – to work with organisations that make a genuine difference to our world.”
