People: Senior hires for  wealth management firm; Property company promotes; and more

Tilney Smith & Williamson, the wealth management and professional services group, has strengthened its team in Birmingham with two senior appointments.

Adam West and Clare Halligan have joined its Birmingham tax team as a partner and director respectively.

The appointments come ahead of the group’s Birmingham wealth management and professional services teams moving to a new office at the city’s landmark 103 Colmore Row – the tallest office building under construction in the UK outside London and located in the heart of the business district – in 2022.

Based out of the Birmingham office, West will also take a leading role in growing the firm’s tax advisory presence in the North West.

He joins Tilney Smith & Williamson from RSM where, as private client tax director, he headed up the firm’s private client advisory team in Manchester.

Prior to RSM he also spent two years at PWC and six and a half years at BDO.

Halligan joins the Birmingham office with a remit to build a tax dispute and resolution practice.

She joins Tilney Smith & Williamson from Grant Thornton with 10 years tax dispute and resolution experience across the London and Birmingham markets.

Stephen Drew, professional services regional managing partner at Tilney Smith & Williamson in Birmingham added: “I am delighted to welcome Adam and Clare to our growing professional services business in Birmingham. Both bring extensive experience gained at leading firms and will help us keep pace with the increasing demand we are seeing in the region from clients for specialist tax planning and advisory services.

“High calibre appointments like those of Adam and Clare, combined with the fact we are moving to a new landmark building next year, demonstrate our commitment to continue investing in the Midlands. There is currently a great deal of investment in the region and its infrastructure and on the back of this we are seeing considerable opportunities to work with high quality family-owned businesses and their private interests. We will continue to invest in bringing high quality talent to enable us to provide a range of specialist services to our clients in the Midlands.”

:::

A property manager at MetroPM, the residential property management company, has been promoted to the position of associate director.

Faraz Ahmed has worked in the sector for ten years and was previously a property manager at Centrick before joining MetroPM in December 2016.

Ian Smallman, a director at MetroPM, which has offices in Birmingham and Cheltenham, said: “We’re delighted to be promoting Faraz in recognition for his commitment to providing great customer service in the five years he has been with us.

“Faraz is passionate about the sector and has proved to be an expert in dealing with large and major work projects.

“He also has a great skill at calmly but instantly tackling any given situation or challenge, accurately understanding the needs of our clients and customers.

“Faraz’s new position underlines his role as one of MetroPM’s most trusted partners, whose strength is building strong relationships with all stakeholders.”

:::

Heart of England Community Foundation has welcomed new chair Chris West.

Following his previous position as vice-chair, West will be taking on the role after Phil Ewing’s departure last month.

Ewing said: “I have had a wonderful four years as chair at Heart of England, and though I am sad to see it end, I look forward to seeing what’s in store for the charity with Chris leading the way.

“When I first took on my role as chair, a few of my key goals were to increase funds, increase the grants available, and ultimately increase the people we support, and it’s wonderful to see that in my final year, we were able to support over 1.2M in our local communities. I wish Chris the best of luck in his new role, and I cannot wait to see what he has in store for the Foundation.”

West added: “It’s been an honour to work alongside Phil for the last four years, and the entire Board joins me in thanking him for his enormous contribution to the Foundation during his time as Chair. Though Phil will be sorely missed by all, I am pleased to be following in his footsteps as the brand-new Chair and cannot wait to get started in my new role.

“I’ve sat on the board at the Foundation for the last four and a half years, and now it’s an absolute honour to be taking on this role. During my time at Heart of England, I have been witness to many amazing projects, and cannot wait to continue to help lead the way and develop the Foundation further in the next few years.”