People: Shakespeare Martineau; PM Connect; Nant; Hoffmann Group
Full-service law firm Shakespeare Martineau has welcomed its largest ever cohort of 11 trainees, including five in the West Midlands.
Kiran Kaushal, Katie Parker, Helen Rowland, Lucy Feghhi and Sophie Roberts will be based in the West Midlands, primarily in Birmingham.
Abigail Lynch, Sarah Johnson, Tait Grundy and Sophie Plant have joined the firm in the East Midlands and will be based in its Nottingham and Leicester hubs.
Camilla Uppal will be working from Shakespeare Martineau’s London hub, while Joseph Shields is the firm’s first Scottish trainee and will be based in Edinburgh.
The trainees will undertake four six-month seats in a variety of specialist practice areas across the firm, including real estate finance, commercial property, education, social housing and litigation.
Emily Cupi, early ambitions development adviser at Shakespeare Martineau, said: “We are delighted to welcome 11 trainees to the firm across a variety of regions, including our first in Scotland, and we are committed to ensuring they receive the very best start to their legal careers.
“Our trainees are our future and make a valuable contribution to the firm. We are proud to support them on their journey to becoming qualified solicitors; they are all extremely talented individuals and I have no doubt they will each be an asset to their teams and the firm.
Birmingham-based global fintech and digital marketing specialist, PM Connect, has strengthened its core tech function by recruiting four developers and promoting three long-serving team members as part of a restructure.
New CTO Sanjay Mistry, who joined the company in June, has quickly boosted the company’s technical resources – which now sits at 23 people.
PM Connect – new starters and promotions
The core of the tech team operates out of PM Connect’s Birmingham (UK) headquarters but technology staff have been added in both South Africa and Portugal to match its global reach.
Peter Colquhoun joins the newly named Operations Performance team as a back-end developer, Lisbon based Hugo Camilo is welcomed as a nearshore Salesforce developer, Tariqur Rahman has been recruited as a core-services developer, and Jakub Kozlowksi joins as a software developer in the company’s product team.
The business has also welcomed Product Manager, Harprit Badyal, to help strengthen its integration and core platform roadmaps.
Alongside the recruitment, Sanjay has promoted George Walker to Operations Performance Team Lead and Shaun Whalen-Smith to Product Team Lead, while Harry Perry has also been promoted to Senior QA Tester.
Sanjay Mistry, Group CTO, said: “I said when I joined PM Connect that we have a top development team, built by my predecessor, Andrew Robins.
“The tech is strong, and the people are of high calibre. We needed to take this further and that starts by restructuring and strengthening resources where demand is highest. With Peter, Hugo, Tariqur, Jakub and Harprit joining us – that is exactly what we’re doing.
“I’d also like to congratulate both Shaun and George for their well-earned promotions to leadership positions, and Harry for his promotion, too. Empowering those who are hungry for more responsibility is something I’m deeply passionate about”.
Former prison officer and founder of Sponsored Breaks, Simon Love has joined water safety specialists Nant in the role of client development liaison officer.
Nant’s new client development liaison officer, Simon Love
Love will be responsible for managing client needs and developing relationships to bring on new business.
He joins the business after spending 15 years in the prison service where he served as a physical education officer. During this time Love supported inmates to gain sports based vocational qualifications to aid them in securing employment upon release.
In February 2021 Simon and his wife Harriet established social enterprise Sponsored Breaks, a unique business providing the most deserving individuals and their families with free UK breaks.
Nant client development liaison officer Simon Love said: “I’ve known the Nant team for 12 months now through Sponsored Breaks and Black Country Chamber activities. Nant are one of our Sponsored Breaks sponsors so I know that our beliefs around supporting local communities are aligned. Leaving the prison service was a huge leap but I’m excited to be part of the journey Nant are on”.
Nant Managing Director Carl Baker added: “Simon is a great fit for the business, we share the same morals and desire to succeed and the skills he brings from the prison service and Sponsored Breaks will be a real asset for us.”
The Hoffmann Group has marked three years of operation in the UK with record sales and 12 new appointments.
The quality tools, workstations and personal protective equipment (PPE) provider opened its UK head office in Birmingham in August 2019.
Tim Paddison, managing director of Hoffmann Group UK
It has expanded its growing sales and operations divisions with eight new specialists, with the businesses’ external sales team having been boosted by Joe Waterworth and Sam Wood having joined as area sales managers, and Rob Evans has also joined the business in the role of key account manager.
Tim Paddison, managing director of Hoffmann Group UK, said: “Britain’s manufacturing industry has long been the envy of the world and, amidst continued reports of fluctuating output and orders in the industry, our manufacturers have never needed support more than ever if they are to thrive, or even survive, over the coming months.
“We are thrilled to have been able to provide support to so many manufacturers over the past three years since first opening our doors in Birmingham, and have grown rapidly as a result of the excellent work from the team”.
