People: Boughey; DF Capital; Grant Thornton; CoolKit; Social; Momentum Group
Boughey Distribution, part of NWF plc, has appointed Emma Fitzsimons as Commercial Director from contract manufacturer of beauty and personal care products, Fareva, where she held the role of Vice President of Sales UK.
She has notched up over 25 years of FMCG branded sales experience and developing successful partnerships with retailers.
The newly-created position coincides with Boughey taking occupancy of a new 332,000 sq ft ambient warehouse in Newcastle-under-Lyme to increase the company’s overall storage capacity to 187,000 pallet spaces across that site and at Crewe.
She will join four other Boughey Directors to lead the company’s five-year growth plan. As well as leading customer relationships, she will also direct the Business Development, Customer Service and Marketing Teams.
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Angela Goulding, DF Capital
DF Capital has appointed Angela Goulding as its new managing director – powersports. In her role, Angela will assume full accountability for the division and oversee relationships with both dealer and manufacturer partners.
She said: “It’s the perfect time to join DF Capital. The role not only aligns with my passion for the industry but also presents an exciting opportunity to contribute to the growth of a young and ambitious company. I am looking forward to developing the bank’s inventory finance offering and driving growth via both new and existing partnerships.”
With over 18 years of experience in the financial and banking space, she joins from Wells Fargo where she was strategic relationship manager for its European marine business line. Prior to this, she held the role of head of marketing for GE Capital’s inventory finance division for Europe.
Garry Frew, DF Capital’s chief commercial officer, said: “I am thrilled to welcome Angela to DF Capital. We have a wide range of customers in our portfolio and Angela is the ideal person to extend our relationships further. I am confident that her wealth of experience, expertise and knowledge of inventory financing will significantly contribute to the success of our offering. Welcome to the team, Angela.”
Manchester-headquartered DF Capital is a specialist bank providing inventory finance solutions to dealer and manufacturing businesses across the UK, and personal savings products to retail customers. It employs over 100 people and provides over £3.5bn of funding across a variety of leisure and commercial sectors, including motorhome & caravan; lodges & holiday homes; specialist/prestige cars, motorcycles/all-terrain vehicles; marine; agriculture; industrial and transport.
Mick Frankish, Grant Thornton
Mick Frankish, Grant Thornton’s new practice lead for the North West, has promoted Liverpool-based Mike Delf to Entrepreneurial Services Partner.
Liverpool-based Delf, who joined Grant Thornton 22 years ago and is UK Lead to Accounting Services, will continue to support entrepreneurial clients with their accounting needs across a wide sector base.
Philip Stephenson has returned to the North West region to head up the Restructuring and Debt Advisory department after spending several years in London with the firm. Steph Baker has also been promoted to Restructuring Director within the team.
After joining Grant Thornton in 2016 as an audit associate, Zeenat Patel has been promoted to Audit Director in the 150-strong audit team. Building on the promotion of Paul Atherton to Director in mid-2023, both Laura Wycherley and Harry Simpson have been promoted to Tax Director roles.
Frankish said: “The expert, multidisciplinary teams across our Manchester and Liverpool office are testament to the supportive culture and ambitions for further growth here at Grant Thornton and the recent successes we have achieved.
“We are always looking for new ways to grow and innovate and a part of that process has been to really invest in our people and their development. This latest round of promotions really reflects that ethos, and it is a strong start to a promising year for the North West.”
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Joe Gleave, CoolKit
CoolKit, a specialist in temperature-controlled vans, has appointed Joe Gleave as its new operations director.
He joins CoolKit as it looks to bounce back from a blaze which destroyed its main van conversion premises in Burnley only six months ago to fulfil record sales orders for a second successive year.
Since then, CoolKit has re-established its conversion premises at a new site that is some 50% larger than previously. Situated on a secure four-acre plot just off the M65 at Whitebirk, Blackburn, the site includes 75,000 square feet of workshop that accommodates 60 vans at a time. At the same time it has relocated and upscaled its panel manufacturing operations to its other Burnley site.
He said he had joined CoolKit to implement the transformation required to grow in line with the company’s business plan to double output within three years.
He said: “I’ve come for the challenge, a complex challenge. And, while I have been here only a short time, I already know I’m not on my own. There’s a ton of people with a can-do attitude trying to continually improve our processes and that’s massive.”
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(L-R) John Quinton-Barber and Pete Wrathmell
Social has appointed Pete Wrathmell as managing director. Pete joined the company in 2014 as an account director in Manchester, before setting up the agency’s Leeds office in 2016.
The move also sees founder and former chief executive John Quinton-Barber stepping into a new role as partnerships director and executive chairman.
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Chris Renshaw, Ian O’Doherty, Yvonne Emmett Cannell and Chris Bliss, from left to right.
Property services company The Momentum Group has appointed Yvonne Emmett Cannell and Ian O’Doherty to its board. Both join as advisors to The Momentum Group’s co-founders, Chris Bliss and Chris Renshaw, and will help shape the company as it moves into phase two of its growth.
Former deputy chief executive and Finance Director Yvonne Emmett Cannell has extensive board-level experience across the NHS, local government, charities, and subsidiary companies. She currently holds a number of non-executive director positions, including Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Hospice of the Good Shepherd in Chester and Trustee at Chester Zoo.
With many years of board-level experience across the globe, Ian O’Doherty has had widespread involvement in listed and private companies across financial service, hospitality and consumer sectors in UK, Europe and America, including over years at MBNA, culminating in his role as chief executive of MBNA Limited.
His other current board positions include Non-Executive Chair for Chester Race Company and Trustee of Crewe Youth Zone, and he has previously held board member positions at UK Finance and King’s School in Chester.
He first met The Momentum Group’s co-founders when the company was appointed as project manager for Appreciate Group’s move from Birkenhead to Liverpool.
