People: Pets at Home; Bexley Beaumont; Broudie Jackson Canter; Delkia; Hessian
Pets at Home, the Cheshire-based pet care brand, has appointed Anja Madsen as its new Chief Operating Officer – Retail, effective early April 2024.
Anja joins with extensive retail experience in both the UK and Denmark, having held prominent positions at Tesco and Sainsbury’s, and most recently serving as CEO of føtex, a premier supermarket chain in Denmark. Over the course of the past 15 years, Anja has successfully led across all parts of retail operations including commercial, strategy, transformation, supply chain and operational management.
Anja will be responsible for leading Pets at Home’s Retail business and 9,000 retail colleagues across more than 450 stores, operations, logistics, supply chain and commercial, and will be focused on further enhancing the pet care centre estate along with delivering fantastic products, services, and support to Pets at Home customers.
Chief executive, Lyssa McGowan, said: “We have made significant investments into our retail operations over the last 18 months and Anja’s experience leading consumer-focused businesses will help us to realise our next phase of growth as we continue to deliver for pets and the people who love them.”
Anja Madsen said: “As a specialist retailer with such passionate and purpose-led colleagues, Pets at Home is a business I have admired from afar. With the new distribution centre in operation, the roll-out of the Pets re-brand and the digital transformation under way, the business is well placed to achieve its goal of building the world’s best pet care platform, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Anja takes over the role from Lisa Miao after announcing her retirement last summer following a 34-year career at the forefront of retail in the UK.
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Sarah Savage
Boutique Manchester law firm Bexley Beaumont has welcomed the arrival of experienced Housing and Regeneration Partner, Sarah Savage.
Chief executive, Karen Bexley, said: “Sarah has swiftly proven to be another valuable addition, providing expertise which complements the existing skills in what is already an incredibly capable team.
“With more than a decade spent representing both landlords and tenants on matters stretching across many different areas of housing law, she is in something of a unique position.
“Sarah has immediately made her presence felt, generating a surge in extra work and we expect to make further appointments to expand our housing law provision in the very near future.”
Ms Savage joined Bexley Beaumont after almost a decade at Forbes Solicitors, where she was a Partner and Head of its Housing Management Team.
Her arrival means that Bexley Beaumont is now able to boast 17 partners across its real estate, planning and development team despite only opening its doors in 2020.
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Hannah Bibby
Broudie Jackson Canter has appointed Hannah Bibby as a Family Law Solicitor.
Hannah joins the Merseyside family team with a wealth of experience in children law. She is a member of the Law Society Children Law Accreditation Scheme and has experience representing both parents and children in the family court.
Hannah said: “I am pleased to be joining Broudie Jackson Canter and I am excited to be part of such a talented team. I look forward to contributing towards the development and expansion of the team.”
Haley Farrell, Deputy Managing Director and Head of Family Law, said: “Hannah is a welcome addition to the team. She is exactly what we have been looking for to support our team’s ongoing growth.”
Broudie Jackson Canter is a part of Jackson Lees Group.
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Craig Henderson
Cumbria specialist systems integrator, Delkia, has recently appointed three senior engineers, two EC&I engineers and an Avionics engineer, and welcome back an intern. In addition, it also welcomes its recent work experience student, Rebecca Young.
Delkia has grown significantly since 2020, from 15 to 56 employees, including the addition of 37 consultant engineers, accompanied by an increased turnover of £6.4m to £7.3m. This has led to Delkia growing its staff numbers within variety of departments.
The two new Senior EC&I Engineers are Craig Henderson and Kevin Montfort.
Craig has a background as an RPI Mechanic at Cavendish Nuclear, he has experience in fixing and configuring various radiation monitoring equipment, and said: “Delkia interested me as they are a young company that is making great strides forward to becoming a major player in the engineering industry.”
Kevin Montfort
Kevin Montfort’s role entails digital and design engineering, system integration, technical consultancy, and complex control systems support. He said: “I was interested in the job location, type, vision, values, and the benefits at Delkia.”
Sam Southwell has joined Delkia Preston as an Avionics Systems Engineer, with 28 years of experience. He spent 22 years with the Royal Air Force and 16 years at Synthesis where he specialised in secure comms and tactical data links. He said: “I was looking for a new challenge and it was time to go back to where I started as part of the bigger picture of avionics.”
Aaron Kelly joins from Lancaster University where he is studying a Computer Science BSc (Hons) degree reading Systems and Security. He has rejoined as an intern on a part time basis to support with IT systems across the business.”
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Liz Taylor and Chris Yates
Liz Taylor, managing director of Manchester-based Liz Taylor Consultancy (LTC) and CEO of event planners, the Taylor Lynn Corporation (TLC), has been appointed to the board of the fast growing external catering business, Hessian.
Joining the hospitality company behind the successful Chef Lab brand, Liz said: “I am thrilled to be joining Hessian. It’s a business with a real energy and a dynamic, exciting approach to bringing innovative menu design to the external event sector.
“Working alongside Chris Yates, managing director, we are developing an ambitious strategy to grow the company as preferred caterers for leading venues, and in addition, exclusive caterers for corporate and private events right across the UK and Europe.”
Chris Yates welcomed Liz, saying: “Her reputation is synonymous with events that raise the bar in terms of experience, creativity, and imaginative production. Her expertise, drive, and ‘out of the box’ thinking will bring us a fresh approach to our growth, and new opportunities to develop the company on the international event scene.”
