People: The latest West Midlands hires

Smith Cooper’s Birmingham team has continued to go grow in recent months, bolstering its tax, corporate finance and audit divisions.

Those joining include:
Adam Rollason - Tax Advisor (Head of Tax in Birmingham)
Nicholas Dean– Tax Advisor
Harry Cook – Tax Assistant
Elle Coton – Audit Semi Senior
Tina Mushambi – Audit Semi Senior
Georgina Tyler – Audit Assistant
Sophie Knight – Audit Assistant
Joshua Gurton - Corporate Finance Executive

Stephen Newman, partner at Smith Cooper, based in Birmingham, said “We’re really pleased to welcome our new recruits. These appointments highlight Smith Cooper’s commitment to investing in promising talent in challenging market conditions and our continued investment in the region.

“In the last year, our services have become increasingly relevant to a much wider range of businesses, which has resulted in continued growth for the firm.”

Darren Hodson, partner at Smith Cooper, also based in Birmingham, added: “The outbreak of COVID-19 has challenged businesses in every sector, ourselves included. Yet despite this, we have an exceptionally talented and pro-active team who deliver unparalleled support to our clients.

“In Birmingham we will continue to enhance our offering to regional businesses. Our hands-on proposition and our breadth of specialist value added services really resonate with our target client base being entrepreneurs and owner managed businesses. We hope to help our clients on their upward trajectory, which helps us grow and allows us to recruit and retain exceptional talent. I look forward to watching our new additions help us thrive as a team.”

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Solihull-based Prologis, the developer of industrial logistics parks, is strengthening its UK capital deployment and leasing team with three senior hires in London and the Midlands.

Recently, the property company announced that Gavin Quinn, a former partner with Levy Real Estate in London, would join Prologis as director, capital deployment and leasing on November 30. He will help Prologis grow its presence in the London and South East markets,

Prologis has now announced two further senior hires with the news that Ian Romano and Sally Duggleby will join the company as vice presidents, capital deployment and leasing, in the New Year.

Duggleby joins Prologis from Savills, where she joined in 2017 to set-up the industrial and logistics occupier team.

Prior to that, she was head of real estate for Amazon for over seven years and has a wealth of experience as a customer, developer and consultant.

She will be based in the Solihull office where she will work across a number of projects in the property company’s core markets.

Romano joins Prologis from St. Modwen‘s national industrial and logistics business, where he focused on new site identification and building a pipeline of strategic land.

Based in Solihull, he will focus on strategic land acquisition in the Midlands and will take over the reins from Alan Sarjant, who is retiring after 25 years with the company.

Robin Woodbridge, head of capital deployment for Prologis in the UK, said: “We’re delighted to welcome three new faces to our experienced and well-established leasing and capital deployment team. Their respective expertise will help us further strengthen our position across our core UK markets and ensure we can continue to provide our customers with the best buildings in the right locations.”

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The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) has begun the search for a new deputy chair to lead the delivery of its growth programme for the Greater Birmingham region.

The organisation’s current deputy chair for delivery, Chris Loughran, will step down at the end of 2020 following four and a half years serving on the board.

The role of deputy chair will take the lead in activities related to the LEP’s capital projects, a pipeline and existing portfolio of exciting and strategically important projects that are key to creating the conditions for the economy to continue to grow.

Chair of GBSLEP, Tim Pile, said: “Chris has made a quite exceptional contribution to the GBSLEP and to the region – we are profoundly indebted to him for everything he has achieved on so many levels: for being a fantastic ambassador for the LEP over the last four and a half years; for his leadership of our capital interventions that drive inclusive economic growth; for his relentless focus on delivery…..and for so much more! I would like to publicly thank him for his service.

“This position presents a fantastic opportunity to play an active and influential role in our region’s recovery, driving inclusive economic growth, creating jobs and improving the quality of life for all of our residents. Working with partners to bring forward interventions, GBSLEP, as a business-led partnership of the Private, Public and Educational sectors, can make a genuinely positive difference in shaping the future of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull region, thus improving the lives of our citizens. ”