People: Professional services firm makes director hire; Executive search specialist recruits from Bombardier; and more

Financial and professional services firm Smith & Williamson has bolstered its team in Birmingham with the appointment of Krista Woodman.

Woodman joins Smith & Williamson in the Birmingham office as a director of private client tax Services, after previously having headed up the same team at Smith & Williamson in Cheltenham up to 2018.

She is the latest in a series of new appointments and promotions in Birmingham in a year which saw Stephen Drew appointed professional services managing partner and fellow partner Matt Watts become head of Birmingham business tax services.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Elnaugh was this year promoted to director in the transactions team and there have also been three new associate director and two manager appointments at Smith & Williamson’s offices in Colmore Row.

Woodman’s core specialism involves managing the tax affairs of high net worth individuals, their families, business interests and trusts, both within the UK and for those who are non-resident, non-domiciled and internationally mobile.

She said: “I am thrilled to be joining Smith & Williamson in Birmingham at such an exciting time of growth for the office. The team here has established an exceptional reputation and I look forward to working both with them and with the impressive array of experts across the rest of the firm.”

“We have ambitious growth plans for our Birmingham office and aim to become one of the most recognised financial and professional services firms in the region,” said Stephen Drew.

“Krista is another excellent addition to the team and we will continue to heavily invest in our people and infrastructure to enable us to offer a wide range of financial services to our growing local, national and international client base.”

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Executive search firm Berwick Partners has hired the former leader of global executive talent assignments at Bombardier as principal consultant in its manufacturing and engineering practice.

Katie Poxon brings 20 years of senior executive level search and recruitment experience in the transportation, energy, construction and built environment sectors, and specialises in leading European and international mandates.

Most recently she was Bombardier’s global executive search talent leader for nine years.

Berwick Partners’ manufacturing and engineering practice is led by  Jonathan Burke. It delivers business-critical senior appointments to the manufacturing and engineering sector, capitalising on its long-standing track record and sector knowledge within the industrials arena.

Poxon will specialise in recruiting senior management and director-level positions in the UK and internationally for businesses in the automotive, rail, aerospace and defence, shipbuilding / marine and energy markets.

“This is a significant period of change and opportunity in the global and UK industrials markets, which are facing ongoing pressure to deliver world class engineered products and infrastructure in a timely, cost competitive and sustainable way,” she said.

“AI and digitalisation are driving technological advancements in the sectors, which are undergoing massive transformation, and this is impacting established business models. Now more than ever, the sector needs exceptional, visionary leaders who can champion change, as well as motivate and manage a high-performing team to drive transformation, enable growth and ensure success and sustainability.”

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Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO is set to recruit a record number of new trainees in 2020 in in its Midlands offices.

Applications are now open for more than 54 new roles which will be based across the firm’s Birmingham and Nottingham offices and split across its four key programmes: graduate, apprenticeship, summer intern and summer school.

Eighteen of the new roles are apprenticeships and there are 36 graduate roles on offer. The majority of both apprentice and graduate trainees are able to undertake a level-7 apprenticeship programme – a qualification equivalent to a master’s degree.

This news comes a month after the firm promoted 95 people across its Midlands team. The promotions spanned the firm’s tax, audit, BDODrive and M&A practices, as well as its support functions.

Richard Rose, partner and head of BDO in the Midlands, said: “We are really pleased to announce our largest ever intake of trainees for 2020, demonstrating our ongoing commitment of investing in people. We’re proud to attract dynamic and forward-thinking trainees who share our ambitions and will become ‘advisers of the future’.

“The most rewarding part of my role is seeing our people succeed in their own careers and thriving in our dynamic and supportive culture.

“The accountancy profession has long been an advocate of apprenticeships. BDO wants to see the government continue to support this route into work and reform the Ofsted assessment system to increase the number and quality of apprenticeship places on offer – this in turn will help address the UK skills and productivity gap.”