Appointments: RBS; Cranswick; Avacta
ROYAL Bank of Scotland Corporate & Institutional Banking (RBS CIB) has made two senior promotions in its Leeds office to help support strong business demand in the Yorkshire region.
David Keenan has been appointed to the role of business development director, replacing Andy Croasdell who has been promoted to relationship director.
Both are based in the corporate office in Leeds and report to Dave Harris, regional director for the Yorkshire region.
Dave Harris, regional director – Yorkshire, RBS CIB, said: “We’re delighted with the appointments of Andy and David to their new roles. Both are very well deserved and I know they will work hard to support the strong business community in Yorkshire. Andy Croasdell has built excellent, sustainable client relationships in the last three years and brings a true understanding of the Yorkshire business landscape to our team of already-experienced relationship directors.”
“David Keenan has a comprehensive range of experience, achieved thanks to his diverse background at RBS, dealing, most recently, with asset based lending and large corporate connections, and I’m sure he will continue to build dialogue with new, potential local clients. The business sector in Yorkshire is constantly evolving and with the increased support of both Andy and David, we are looking forward to meeting and exceeding the high aspirations of local businesses.”
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PATRICK Farnsworth has retired as a non-executive director at food producer Cranswick.
He was appointed a non-executive director in 2004 and was the current chairman of the nomination committee.
“The board would like to thank Patrick for his valuable contribution to Cranswick over the years, and to wish him well in his retirement,” said the East Yorkshire-based business.
Martin Davey, chairman of Cranswick, has been appointed chairman of the nomination committee.
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HEALTHCARE company Avacta Group has welcomed Dr Trevor Nicholls to the board as a non-executive director.
Dr Nicholls has over 30 years of commercial experience building international businesses in the life sciences sector. As chief commercial officer and executive vice president of Affymetrix, Dr Nicholls was responsible for global operations including sales, marketing, product development and manufacturing, overseeing approximately 600 staff across eight locations worldwide.
In this role he grew product revenue from US$249 million to US$330 million in two years with the launch of a large number of new products including major instrument systems during that period.
Dr Nicholls is currently chief executive of the not-for-profit CAB International, an intergovernmental organisation owned by 47 member countries whose mission is to improve lives worldwide by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment.
He is also non-executive chairman of Activiomics, a UK biomarker discovery and drug profiling services business and was founder and CEO of Oxagen, a UK biotech company where he successfully raised approximately £50m over three venture-backed financing rounds and secured major commercial partnerships. Prior to that he held senior commercial positions with Amersham International and worked in consultancy with McKinsey.
Alastair Smith, chief executive of Wetherby-based Avacta Group, said: “The board is delighted that Trevor is joining the board as a non-executive director. We will benefit greatly from his experience in commercialising new products and in developing strategic commercial relationships in the life sciences sector. Trevor’s appointment is particularly timely at this stage of the company’s development, as Avacta progresses from a period of focused and intensive product development to one in which it is expanding its commercial activities with new products and affinity reagents.”
