People: Connexus; Howden; McLaren Construction
Matt Pitt has joined the rural housing association Connexus as people director, with responsibility for transformation, people and culture at the 10,000-home landlord.
With experience as a senior leader, Pitt’s last role was with maintenance business Novus Property Solutions, where he spent four years as people director.
Before this, he worked for six years at the global environmental solutions business Veolia in a variety of senior HR roles, including head of people development.
He also has experience within the housing sector, as well as manufacturing and financial services.
Pitt said: “Joining Connexus is an exciting opportunity, and I can’t wait to contribute to the people and transformation work being planned over the next few years. Making sure we have effective services supported by a strong culture will be essential over the next few years if we’re to deliver an improving service for our customers. For our colleagues, I’m keen to help us take the next steps to become a great local employer in the regions we operate in.”
Chief executive Kate Smith said: “We’re pleased to welcome Matt to Connexus. He brings valuable experience and joins us at a key moment as we strive to improve our offer to colleagues and customers and become a leading voice for rural affordable housing.”
Howden Insurance, an insurance broker in Shrewsbury, is celebrating the graduation of two apprentices and the appointment of a new branch manager.
Ethan Jones and Hannah Spencer have completed their level 3 business administration apprenticeship with SBC Training, whilst Ellie Cole has been promoted to the Shrewsbury branch manager, with former manager Chris Beane remaining with the business as divisional director.
Beane said: “I hadn’t considered the apprenticeship scheme before, but I was so bowled over by the quality of applicants that we took on two people rather than one. It has been a fantastic opportunity to develop our team. Ethan and Hannah have both been brilliant and we are so pleased to see them complete their apprenticeships. Ethan has now joined the sales team as a full-time member of the team, and Hannah is staying with us to undertake a level 2 apprenticeship in accounting and finance.”
The Howden Shrewsbury team has also recently welcomed Maddie Armstrong as the branch’s newest apprentice, starting a level 3 apprenticeship in business administration.
New branch manager Ellie Cole joined the business as a junior member of the team six years ago and said she never imagined taking on this role in such a short space of time. Six years have flown by and it’s still sinking in that I’m branch manager. I am grateful for the support everyone at Howden has given me to help develop my career.
“We have a fantastic team here in Shrewsbury that I am delighted to be part of. Here’s to an exciting future leading this incredible team and achieving great things together, building on our successes and continuing to deliver for our clients and community.”
Three new senior roles have been announced within McLaren Construction’s Midlands and North division.
As part of the team’s growth strategy, Luke Arnold has been appointed operations director, Darren Harding as divisional director and Adam Craven as regional commercial director within the Midlands and North division.
Luke Arnold will be working alongside managing director, Gary Cramp, to expand the Midlands and North business – developing into new sectors through public sector frameworks, alongside building the current teams to deliver success.
Adam Craven
He brings 25 years of experience to the role and will be concentrating on building and motivating high-performing teams alongside maximising both operational and commercial performance within the region.
Arnold said: “I am extremely proud of my client relationships and my ability to develop long-standing relationships with supply chain and customers. With a wealth of experience across many different sectors of the industry, along with strong regional knowledge and long-standing customer and supply chain relationships – it’s exciting to have the opportunity to work with Gary and develop the Midlands and North region and I look forward to bringing new opportunities to the business.”
Darren Harding will be responsible for the full day-to-day responsibility of all PBSA (Purpose Built Student Accommodation) schemes across the Midlands and North regions, continuing to build on the success of the contractor’s completed schemes, whilst building new high-performing site teams for opportunities in the pipeline.
With over 40 years of experience in the industry – relationship building will be a key focus of Darren’s new role – allowing him to build strong, professional connections to fortify teams and create new streams of work.
Harding, said: “In my new role I will continue to reinforce my client relationships across the Midlands and North region, whilst pursuing a variety of varied workload opportunities. I thrive on the ‘team building’ aspect of my role using listening, nurturing, and encouraging all team members to take full ownership of their roles, which ultimately allows them to grow and develop, whilst allowing me to build professional and high-performing teams. The future is looking very positive for the business with a full pipeline of new opportunities.”
Regional commercial director, Adam Craven, will lead and oversee the commercial function within the regional business.
Bringing over 22 years’ experience to the role, his position will include ensuring that consistent commercial performance is delivered across the board within the commercial team, at both pre-construction and delivery stages.
Providing key technical skills in commercial governance and control including forecasting discipline, robust contractual knowledge and cash management, Craven will provide commercial and management support to the regional director to ensure that the financial performance of the region meets and exceeds profitability targets, as well as supporting the group commercial director in all commercial activities across the region and wider business.
Craven said: “I’m really delighted to be here, and excited for the future of the business. I will be pushing to support and develop our people and will be part of continued growth, ensuring it is done so in a sustainable and profitable way. Whilst the business has already demonstrated its success and resilience over many years, what really appealed to me and differentiates Mclaren Construction Midlands & North was the empowerment given to me to influence and make a meaningful difference to an already successful business, as we seek those marginal improvements which will make all the difference.
“With the quality of the existing skillset within the business, together with developing the right recruitment strategy, this will enable us to diversify our workload and allow for controlled, sustainable, and profitable growth.”
