People: Azets; Novacyt; Shoosmiths; Level; Grant Thornton; Direct Access

Accountancy firm Azets has made three senior hires in tax, VAT and corporate finance. 

Advising clients across the North West, Keith Miller joins as VAT Partner, Simon Copeland joins as Director in the corporate finance team and Vincent Costello joins as Director in the tax team.

Keith Miller has been advising clients for over 30 years in roles at HMRC, Deloitte and KPMG, specialising in property VAT, M&A transactions and financial services, amongst many other areas.

Simon Copeland joins following 12 years at HSBC, where he facilitated funding to a wide range of businesses, from start-ups through to established commercial entities, mid-market corporates and large multinational corporates. 

With over 25 years of experience Vincent Costello specialises in dealing with HMRC enquiries, complex disclosures and providing strategic advice on the day-to-day management of tax disputes.

Susanna Cassey, regional managing director, commented: “It’s great to welcome Keith, Simon and Vincent to Azets. The North West is a thriving region, and we’re continuing to grow our teams to respond to client demand for specialist services. I look forward to working closely with Keith, Simon and Vincent as we continue to advise our clients on VAT, tax and corporate finance issues and trends.”

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Steve Gibson

Novacyt, the international molecular diagnostics company which acquired YourGene, has appointed Steve Gibson as chief financial officer. He joined Novacyt in 2017 and has served as group finance director since 2020. Prior to joining Novacyt, he spent over 10 years in various finance departments at Hewlett-Packard and then Hewlett Packard Enterprise in positions of increasing seniority. He is a Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA) and has more than 18 years of international commercial experience.

Commenting, James Wakefield, non-executive chairman, said of Gibson: “He has impressed us with his financial and operational expertise and was instrumental in the acquisition of Yourgene Health plc as well as delivering the strategic changes to the Company over the last two years. The Board looks forward to working with him as we continue to execute our growth strategy.”

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Jody Kite, construction and engineering partner at Shoosmiths

Jody Kite has joined Shoosmiths’ national construction and engineering team as a new dispute resolution partner. He joins from Dandara, where he spent eight years developing and leading the housebuilder and build to rent specialist’s construction law and dispute resolution function, while also advising on non-contentious matters and forward funding transactions.

Operating from Shoosmiths’ Manchester office, he will work as part of the law firm’s national construction and engineering practice advising leading developers, financial institutions, employers and contractors.

He said: “What attracted me to the firm was the team’s entrepreneurial spirit and ability to focus on what truly matters for clients. Having spent time working within a national developer and contractor at board level, I understand the needs of real estate and construction businesses and what they seek from their advisers. Shoosmiths gets it. This is why I’m thrilled to be part of the firm, contributing to its success.”

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Director John Shinnick with Sergey Hochberg and Joe Averill

Segev Hochberg has joined property locator business Level as fractional chief operating officer.

Founder Joe Averill said: “We are building with the mentality of scale and sale. We are building with this mentality because it keeps us sharp and it brings a better structure to the business.”

Segev has founded two businesses, including B2B SaaS Lunio and Averill said he has worked with him in his time at Lunio to deliver office space searches both in Manchester and London. 

“Our styles complement each other extremely well – he loves the work I don’t, I love the work he doesn’t and with his proven track record of scaling his former business from 3 to 80+ people we are confident in his ability to support in taking us to new heights.” 

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Mick Frankish has taken over as practice leader for Grant Thornton across the North West.

He succeeds Carl Williams who he described as “a tough act to follow after a hugely successful period” under his leadership. “Seven years ago I joined the firm and I cannot wait to get started on the next chapter.”

Carl Williams has been with Grant Thornton for 28 years and has been North West Managing partner for nine years.

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Peter Brassington

Direct Access has appointed Peter Brassington to the new role of managing director for the Direct Access Consultancy in the UK. 

Established in 2004 as an accessibility and  inclusion consultancy, the Nantwich, Cheshire-based firm with seventeen staff, the majority who  have a disability, undertakes architectural design reviews of new builds and accessibility audits of  established premises. These enable building owners to identify ways of improving access for  disabled people. 

Peter’s background in the packaging manufacturing industry will be an important part of growing Direct  Access’ new tactile map team – creating 3D maps and tactile models for blind and neurodiverse  visitors to museums, stations and recreational facilities. He will be joined by a new bid writer in mid-January as part of an enhanced business development team covering all aspects of UK business.  

Direct Access’ founder, Steven Mifsud MBE is to focus on international growth.

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