People: DWF; Preston City Council; Quantuma; Fletchers Solicitors; Gateley Legal; The Insights Family
DWF, the Manchester-based global law firm, has bolstered its insurance offering with the appointment of major injury expert Ruth Graham, as a new partner in Manchester.
Ruth joins from Clyde & Co, where she held the position of partner and led their transport team.
With more than 35 years of experience advising on injuries in the transport sector, Ruth has a wealth of experience in motor, bus, coach, rail and tram accident claims as well as multi-party road traffic accidents in foreign jurisdictions. She also has a special interest in the insurance implications of driverless auto vehicles and electric scooters.
Ruth’s appointment follows DWF’s strong FY24 performance, which included growth of 24% for the group’s Insurance Services business, driven by its client delivery and the successful addition of Whitelaw Twining in Canada.
Claire Bowler, Head of Major Injury and Casualty, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Ruth to the complex and major injury team. She has built a strong reputation in the industry, and her invaluable experience and understanding of complex cases will significantly enhance our capabilities and strengthen our offering to clients.”
Ruth said: “DWF is a global leader in insurance services and has ambitious plans for the future – I am really looking forward to getting started.”
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Shirah Bamber
An Innovation Ambassador has been appointed by Preston City Council in response to the recent “Nurturing Preston’s Innovation Ecosystem” report published by Plexal.
As a founding member of Preston Partnership, Preston City Council participated in the consultation process and welcomed the report.
Cllr Valerie Wise, Cabinet Member for Community Wealth Building at Preston City Council said: “We recognise that Preston is on the precipice of opportunity in relation to the cyber, technology, and digital sector with the imminent arrival of the National Cyber Force at Salmesbury. The report provides us with useful insight into how we can progress this important agenda, and I am pleased that we have been able to respond so quickly by commissioning an Innovation Ambassador to facilitate this process.”
Shirah Bamber, who co-founded Alma, a Preston-based consultancy, has been appointed as Innovation Ambassador to represent Preston and raise its profile as a hub for innovation, cyber, tech and digital businesses. Acting as a single point of contact, Shirah will engage with the digital, tech, and innovation community across the city to identify opportunities for collaboration, good news stories, and further development.
Shirah said: “This is a really exciting project to be working on, and one that I feel strongly about as a local resident, business owner, and mother of teenage children who are currently considering their career options.
“Preston has so much potential, and I am looking forward to working with the different businesses, agencies, and organisations who are already fostering innovation, community building, and promoting this sector across the city, and region.”
With more than a decade of experience working in senior roles for organisations such as The Foxton Centre, Preston City Council, and Network Plus, Shirah has an extensive network of contacts across the city and region and has already started to meet with key stakeholders.
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Tracey Pye
Cross-border advisory firm Quantuma has appointed restructuring expert, Tracey Pye as a managing director.
Joining Quantuma’s Restructuring & Insolvency team, Tracey will be based in Manchester, and she will also spend time in the firm’s Leeds office.
Tracey is a qualified accountant and a licenced insolvency practitioner who has an extensive restructuring and insolvency background. She specialises in supporting companies facing financial challenges or a significant change. Her experience spans a wide variety of Northern-based business clients. Tracey’s sector expertise includes retail, hospitality, automotive and professional financial services.
Tracey joins Quantuma from an independent boutique advisory practice based in Manchester, where she was a managing director. Prior to this, she held senior roles with independent business advisory firms, as well as senior roles with global accounting firms, including Big 4.
Tracey’s arrival at Quantuma follows the recent appointment of Scott Peters, who joined the firm as a managing director in the firm’s Birmingham office in August 2024.
She said: “I am very pleased to join Quantuma and to be working with such a strong team. I welcome the opportunity to play my part in increasing our capabilities in the North West region and supporting the firm’s ambitious growth plans.”
Managing Director, Jeremy Woodside, said: “Her arrival adds further senior expertise to our team, enabling us to further support even more business clients. Tracey is very well connected in the North West, and we are delighted she is joining us at such an exciting time, as we expand our regional presence.”
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Margaret Ryan
Fletchers Solicitors has appointed Margaret Ryan as a Partner, to its clinical negligence team. Margaret, has joined Fletchers’ Manchester-based specialist birth injury team from Irwin Mitchell and reports to Peter Rigby, Director of Clinical Negligence.
She has extensive experience of representing clients with a wide variety of injuries including: birth injury, paediatric brain injury, wrongful birth , and spinal injury cases.
Peter Rigby said: “Margaret is a tenacious litigator with an outstanding track record of success for her clients. She understands the different pressures faced by clients, and is thorough, responsive and a great advocate for Fletchers’ own values and ethos.”
Margaret Ryan said: “Fletchers’ reputation in clinical negligence speaks for itself.
I’m very happy to be in this new role and look forward to playing my part in helping the team deliver its long term ambitions.”
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Sean Williams (left) and Adam West
Gateley Legal has hired a new partner into its private client team in Manchester.
Adam West has joined from Knights, where he held the position of private wealth partner. Manchester-native Adam joins Gateley Legal with a host of accolades to his name, having been named 2021 Citywealth Future Leaders Partner of the Year and featured on Eprivateclient’s ‘Top 35 under 35’ list on four occasions.
In his new role, Adam will lead a diverse portfolio of private client engagements, providing strategic guidance to entrepreneurs, non-domiciled individuals, ultra-high-net-worth individuals, shareholders and family enterprises.
Sean Williams, partner and head of Gateley Legal’s private client team, said: “We’re excited to welcome Adam. His achievements to date speak for themselves and I’m sure that he’ll be able to exceed these working alongside our team of private client experts, in order to provide the best results for our clients.”
Adam West said: “In the coming months much of my focus will be on guiding clients through the raft of changes on the horizon in the private client space, including the likelihood of changes to the non-dom regime, inheritance tax and capital gains tax in the upcoming Budget.
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From left: Andrew Roocroft, Sophie Tanner, Stephen Finch, Adam Woodgate
The Insights Family, which provides kids, teens, parents, and family market intelligence, has made key appointments to its Manchester team following significant investment from BGF.
Appointments include Adam Woodgate as VP of Research Solutions. Adam brings a wealth of expertise in programming, content creation, and media research to the role. He will oversee the research solutions team, working closely with brands, media buyers, and content creators, providing strategic advice based on media consumption patterns and emerging kids and family trends from the 700,000 interviews conducted annually by The Insights Family.
Other key additions include: Stephen Finch as VP of Product. He brings 13 years of experience in product management, including a significant tenure at Dunnhumby, Sophie Tanner as VP of Marketing. She joins with a strong background in driving growth across different revenue streams through strategic marketing initiatives. Sophie has previously worked at Thomson Reuters and The Business of Fashion, where she led marketing for their subscription and events business.
Also, Andrew Roocroft as VP of Finance. Andrew brings a decade of experience in enabling and scaling high growth finance teams, most recently at Gartner Magic Quadrant software businesses Blue Prism and Dematic Software. He trained as a Chartered Accountant at Grant Thornton in Manchester and Paris.
Victoria Cookson joins as People & Culture Manager. Previously working at Resonance Labs and Havas Lynx, Victoria has a strong background in the AI and digital agency landscape, managing HR strategies and large scale culture initiatives for global businesses.
Tom Williams, CEO, said: “We are strongly committed to attracting top talent in the region, with each person bringing a wealth of experience and expertise to our business. Together with the great team we already have in place here, they will enable us to enhance our product development capabilities, drive business growth and further recruit the best talent.”
Nick Richardson, founder of The Insights Family, said: “These hires are of critical importance as we look to move our business to the next level, these key hires based in our Manchester headquarters will play a critical role to drive our ambitious growth plans, and will now enable us to focus our attention on opening other offices for our commercial teams to operate from.”
