People: Scarborough Group International; Delkia; Capify; ANS; Palatine; Bromleys
Property regeneration and placemaking specialist, Scarborough Group International (SGI) has promoted Nicola Wallis to its board of directors, as it seeks to expand its residential service offering.
She will continue to lead the residential sales and marketing discipline within the group, working closely with the development team to deliver award winning mixed-use neighbourhoods.
Nicola joined SGI in 2014, when she became the first employee in the Manchester office, responsible for launching the group’s residential sales business. Since then, she has played a pivotal role in the success of several residential schemes including the award winning, mixed-use neighbourhood, Middlewood Locks in Salford, and Hatbox in Manchester.
With more than 23 years of experience in the industry, 13 of which were gained at Urban Splash, where she spearheaded the delivery of national residential sales pipelines, Nicola boasts a depth of knowledge and expertise across all aspects of new home sales, including branding, marketing, events, customer care, and developing strong relationships with both private and public sector partners.
Nicola said: “Throughout my career, I have always loved helping people achieve home ownership and building vibrant communities where our customers can truly thrive. It is, therefore, extremely humbling and gratifying that the board has recognised my commitment by placing their trust in me to drive the growth of our residential business forward.”
Simon McCabe, Chief Executive of SGI, said: “Since she joined us in 2014, Nicola has played a key role in propelling the success of our residential sales and marketing efforts, and developing collaborative partnerships with prominent public sector entities such as Salford City Council and Homes England.
“Her leadership and expertise will become increasingly vital over the coming months and years, as we seek to accelerate the growth of our development and management pipeline, so it is with great pride that we announce her promotion to the board of directors.”
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Geoff Cooper
Cumbrian engineering and technology specialist, Delkia, has made a major new appointment with Geoff Cooper, as Technical and Engineering Director.
This is an internal promotion from Technical Manager and Head of Airworthiness to a newly created position as the company strengthens its top team.
CEO, Kurt Canfield, said: ‘This is part of Delkia’s strategic commitment to provide the very best service and delivery to our clients now, whilst developing the technology and capability development to meet the needs of the future.
“As Technical and Engineering Director, Geoff will ensure we develop our capabilities to meet the needs of major customers such as BAE Systems and Sellafield Ltd, develop innovative technologies and products to continue our success story as a growing British engineering and technology company.”
Geoff said: “I am pleased to accept the new challenge of Technical and Engineering Director, as a cross sector role it is exciting to extend my own knowledge and develop the Delkia engineering capability to provide excellence to our customers.”
With decades of experience in engineering Geoff started his career an apprentice with BAE
Systems, eventually managed manufacturing and maintenance for multiple air systems. He then
moved onto Typhoon and UAS engineering projects before becoming Engineering Data Manager
and a configuration management expert. Geoff then spent three ½ years at Thales ISR where he
Geoff joined Delkia, which has sites in Whitehaven, Egremont and Preston, in March 2023 as Technical Manager for Aerospace and has made a massive contribution to the company’s growth in this sector. His experience of through life product and service management including airworthiness, consultancy and regulatory compliance in the aerospace sector will be invaluable to support the development of other sectors within Delkia.”
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Mike Morris
Online SME lender, Capify, has appointed Mike Morris to lead its broker business in the UK.
Mike joins Alrincham-based Capify after five years with Funding Circle, most recently as Head of Business Development, where he was responsible for leading the lender’s broker network.
With nearly 20 years’ experience in the finance industry, including time at Close Brothers retail finance, Mike will focus on the growth and expansion of Capify’s introducer relationships and its marketplace offering.
He said: “I’m hugely excited to join Capify to build out its broker programme and exponentially grow this channel for one of the first online SME lenders in the UK market.”
John Rozenbroek, Capify COO/CFO, welcomed Mike, saying: “Brokers play an integral role in helping businesses understand the complex funding landscape and the types of finance that are best suited to their needs. His appointment underlines our commitment to introducers and marks an exciting new stage in Capify’s continued growth.”
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Kyle Hill
Digital transformation company, ANS, has appointed Kyle Hill as its new Technical Services Delivery Director to lead on delivering value for customers through digitalisation.
Based in Manchester, ANS provides managed service solutions including cloud, security, and digital to SMBs, enterprises and public sector.
With more than 12 years of experience in technology advisory services both in the UK and in South Africa, Hill is a Microsoft Regional Director (RD) and Business Applications Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP). He brings a wealth of technical knowledge to his new role and has most recently worked as a Senior Director and Business Applications Leader at tech advisory firm Avanade to provide digital and cloud advisory services.
As one of only 190 Microsoft Regional Directors (RDs) globally, Hill works together with Microsoft and businesses to gather real-world business insights and translate these into realised value.
Richard Thompson, CEO of ANS, said: “Welcoming Kyle will enable our talented and driven teams to expand and continue delivering expertise at the highest level. With his market leading experience working on the most complex tech transformation challenges in the field, Kyle will play a valuable role in helping to develop our people to achieve incredible results for our clients and our community.”
Kyle Hill said: “After spending over a decade with some of the leading tech transformation advisory teams in the industry, I’m thrilled to be joining the talented team at ANS. The breadth and complexity of the work that ANS does is an exciting challenge for me and I’m looking forward to working with clients on new projects to help them achieve their digitalisation goals and potential.”
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Alistair Armstrong
Experienced mid-market private equity investor, Alistair Armstrong, has joined Palatine as a Partner in the Impact Fund.
Alistair joins from Primary Capital where he spent 16 years gaining strong investment experience. Here, he led B2B-focused investments in companies including Readypower, Foster+Freeman, VJ Technology, Metamark, GatenbySanderson, Amtech and Napier Turbochargers.
In his new role at Palatine, Alistair will be responsible for leading new investment activities in Impact Fund II, following its initial four investments to date, Inclusive Employers, Anthesis, Roydon Recycling and, most recently, Isle Utilities.
Alistair said: “Palatine’s track record, especially as an impact investor, speaks for itself. Having now raised two Impact funds, the firm is uniquely placed in the lower mid-market. Palatine has been a pioneer in proving that returns do not need to be compromised when it comes to creating impact and improving ESG credentials as core to value creation.”
Beth Houghton, Impact Managing Partner at Palatine, said: “Alistair has a strong track record when it comes to finding businesses with great growth potential, but also those that deliver returns in the ‘right way’.
“Palatine’s Impact Fund II has had a strong start to the year, following its investment in global water and environmental tech innovation consultancy Isle Utilities.”
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From left: Jennifer Hall, Jessica Hotchin, Paul Westwell, Lucy Ridler, Raeesah Dudhwala
Law firm Bromleys has appointed two new heads of department.
As part of the continued company progression since joining the Wirral-based MAPD Group, Jessica Hotchin has been promoted to the Head of Property and Anjum Noreen as the Head of Court Protection.
Jessica said: “I’m excited by the opportunity offered by Paul Westwell, our managing partner and Head of Commercial, and the rest of the board at MAPD. I will continue to work with him in the commercial team as closely as I have done, maintaining the excellent service that we provide to all of our clients. My new role will enable me to bring some new ideas to the team.”
As well as Jessica’s promotion, there has also been the addition of Lucy Ridler as a Chartered Legal Executive and Raeesah Dudhwala as a Solicitor to the Property Team.
Jessica added: “The addition of Lucy and Raeesah, added to the extensive experience of the Residential Property team, means that we have a broad knowledge base to draw upon.”
Anjum said: “I am absolutely delighted with myself for earning the promotion, it feels amazing. It’s validation and a recognition of my expertise and hard work.
“I have learnt a lot about myself and my role within the firm in a very short period of time and I have had great mentors and a supporting family helping me along the way.”
