People: Cooper Parry; McCann Birmingham; RKW; Anthony Collins

Birmingham-based accountancy firm Cooper Parry (CP) has announced Simon Shaw will be its new partner & head of indirect tax.

Shaw brings with him over 25 years of experience in the indirect tax space.

Many of those were spent with KPMG, and after joining the firm in 1999, Shaw worked his way up to VAT partner and UK head of indirect tax.

He also spent two years at HMRC as a VAT anti-avoidance adviser, developing his skillset and technical knowledge.

He said:“After a brilliant stint at KPMG, moving to Cooper Parry feels like an exciting next step. I love the fast-moving, bold ethos of the business, and I see a lot of myself in everything CP stands for.

We’ll be building out our Indirect Tax offering to reflect the growing size of CP, and we’ll be recruiting and expanding across the UK and into Ireland in the near future. Being a lad from Oldham with no university degree, I’m particularly keen to fine-tune how we develop the team and open doors for them, and CP’s culture is the perfect environment for that. So, if you’re an Indirect Tax expert looking to switch things up, let’s chat.”

Simon Baines, partner & national head of tax at CP, said: “Simon is held in the highest regard in the tax world, and we’re thrilled to welcome him to CP. We’ve made no secret of our growth plans, in Tax and across the business, and it’s leaders like Simon that will help us take those to the next level, with a client service that keeps getting better and better to boot.

He’s also a great mentor, and I know our people will learn tons from Simon. Exciting times ahead, for sure.”

McCann Birmingham announced today that Jo Jacques has been appointed managing director of advertising at the agency.

In her new role, Jo Jacques will continue to drive client delivery and satisfaction, growth, and culture within McCann Birmingham.

McCann Birmingham is a fully integrated agency with services covering advertising, creative, production, media, research and strategy, PR and social.

Jo Jacques

The integrated agency has also announced a further 25 promotions across all departments including business leadership and project management, creative, design and production, strategy, planning and research, PR and social, media, and growth.

The news follows the recent appointment of Lucy Hudson as managing director at McCann Birmingham, formerly managing director at McCann Demand.

Hudson said: “Jo has done an amazing job of leading our Business Leadership team and consistently delivering outstanding results for our clients. Since joining us nearly 13 years ago, Jo has become an integral part of our creative community and a trusted advisor to our clients. Her continued success is a testament to her efforts and craft, and I look forward to working with her as we continue to drive effectiveness and growth across the business.”

Jacques will continue to sit on the senior leadership team, which is headed by Lucy Hudson, alongside Sophie Hewitt, managing director of PR & social, Lisa Barrett and Ruepal Aujla, joint heads of media, Adam Bodfish, executive creative director, Ollie Dew, head of operations, James Wilson, managing partner finance, and Graham Cox, chief growth officer.

RKW, a manufacturer and distributor of small domestic appliances and housewares products has appointed new roles in its senior leadership team to strengthen its cook and kitchen accessories category and efforts in the grocery and high-end markets.

The company has appointed Nicol McGuinness as category director for Cook and Kitchen Accessories, Jeremy Grant as head of the grocery and discount channel and Darren Nickolls will take on a new role as head of high end and traditional retail.

McGuinness said, “I am honoured to join RKW and take on the role of Category Director for Cook and Kitchen Accessories. I am excited to collaborate with the talented teams at RKW to further enhance our offerings – continuing to provide exceptional value to our customers and launch products with a consumer-first mindset by developing products which address their pain points and meet their needs.”

Throughout her career, McGuinness has demonstrated a commercial mindset and a strategic focus driving impactful growth strategies and fostering innovation.

In her new role, she will lead the strategic planning and implementation of initiatives focussed on driving profitable growth of RKW’s second-largest category which forms a key strategic pillar for the future growth of the business.

Jeremy Grant brings over two decades of experience working in the housewares and electrical sector for premium consumer brands across a wide range of accounts and categories.

At RKW, he will continue to grow brand awareness and market share by implementing key initiatives to increase the distribution of RKW’s product assortment within the Grocery and Discount sector.

He said: “I am really delighted to join RKW and take on the new role of Head of Grocery and Discount whilst developing the new channel strategies for my sector. I am looking forward to working with the existing RKW team to further develop and grow our UK retail business within my channel, and I feel that I have joined the business at a really exciting time.”

Strengthening RKW’s high-end and traditional retail sector, Darren Nickolls takes on a new role as head of high end and traditional retail to offer further support to independent retailers who remain a firm focus for RKW.

He said: “As a business, we remain steadfast in our dedication to our independent customer base and true to our core values in delivering high quality products at exceptional value for money.  I am very excited to be working with our talented Area Sales Managers to reach our business goals and drive mutual growth for our customers.”

Birmingham-based law firm, Anthony Collins, has announced eight associate and senior associate promotions spanning several sector-facing teams, as part of an ongoing focus on investing in its employees.  

In the property team, Cara McNeely has been promoted to senior associate. She specialises in property and land acquisitions for registered providers and charities, with a particular focus on social housing.

In the private client team, both Lucy Bluck and Charlotte Raybould have been promoted to senior associate.

Bluck is a family lawyer specialising in areas such as wills, probate, power of attorney and estates, while Raybould advises families in cases where there is a dispute over living and or contact arrangements for children.  

The fourth senior associate promotion is Lorna Kenyon-Pain in the corporate litigation team, who works with clients in the health and social care and social housing sectors, advising on regulatory and criminal investigations, health and safety matters and inquests. 

The firm has also promoted four solicitors to associates – Mohamed Karim in the property team, and Matt Marsh, Rumandeep Dhariwal and Tom Corrigan in the projects team. 

Matthew Wort, senior partner at Anthony Collins, said: “It is a privilege to work at a firm so dedicated to championing its people and these eight promotions are all very well deserved. As a B Corp accredited firm, we want to see all of our people achieve more with us than they ever thought possible. Making a substantial investment into developing our people is a key part of our ongoing strategy.”