People on the Move: Ison Harrison; IoD, KPMG; Rapidspike; Claritas

A new partner has joined the Huddersfield office of Ison Harrison, strengthening the team and bringing over two decades of legal experience to the region and the firm.

John Burnett joins the firm from Schofield Sweeney where he was a director on the dispute resolution team for nearly two years.

Prior to this he was head of litigation at Armitage Sykes Solicitors.

Burnett has gained 20 years’ experience as a civil and commercial litigation lawyer after qualifying in 1997. He has particular expertise in the areas of contentious probate, partnership disputes and high end consumer disputes.  In his new role at Ison Harrison, he will be responsible for a wide variety of litigation cases.

In 2017, Ison Harrison’s Huddersfield office was the firm’s 11th office to open in West Yorkshire.

Burnett said: “It feels great to have joined Ison Harrison in Huddersfield at such a key time. Since the firm first established its presence in the town in January 2017, the business has gone from strength to strength representing clients both regionally and nationally.  I’m relishing the challenge of adding to this ongoing success by putting my litigation experience to positive use for new and existing clients.”

James Smith, partner and branch manager at the Huddersfield office added: “As a progressive law firm, Ison Harrison is committed to recruiting the very best legal professionals.  Ensuring clients have the greatest access to legal expertise is a key objective for us as a team and we’re delighted to welcome John as a partner. Over 20 years of case experience and commercial litigation knowledge will be a huge boost to the comprehensive service offering in Huddersfield.  John’s appointment will be a major asset to the firm as it moves forward with its growth strategy.”

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The Institute of Directors has appointed Tracey Smith as its deputy chairman for North Yorkshire.

Smith spent eight years as chief executive of York Science Park, home to science, technology, creative, media and IT companies, before leaving the organisation this month.

As well as managing the day-to-day operations of the 137,000 sq ft park, she facilitated knowledge transfer between resident companies and the University of York.

In her new role with the IoD, Smith will also be a regional ambassador for start-ups and entrepreneurs, representing and promoting the IoD within the scientific and creative communities.

She said: “We are living in a time of rapid technological change, which is ushering in a new generation of exciting, tech-savvy entrepreneurs and providing new opportunities for the creative sector. I’m looking forward to using my new role with the IoD to connect such businesses and foster ever greater links between business and academia.”

Jon Geldart, chairman of the IoD’s North Yorkshire branch and Yorkshire and Humber region, said: “Tracey is a driven and passionate leader with a track record of motivating, collaborating and inspiring individuals.

“I’m looking forward to working alongside her to bring even more business leaders of all ages and backgrounds into our community and, in doing so, ensure that this important region has a strong voice on national policy matters.”

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Neil Morley

KPMG’s restructuring practice in the North has announced the appointment of new director in Leeds as part of its latest round of promotions.

Neil Morley joined KPMG’s restructuring department in Leeds in 2003, and operates across the full range of restructuring situations.  Morley has significant experience in construction, haulage, manufacturing and professional services, delivering and leading engagements with a number of local, national and international clients.

In additon, Thomas Swiers has been promoted to senior manager within the firm’s Leeds office. Swiers has a wide range of profit improvement and turnaround experience and leads the team’s focus on the food & drink sector.

Kenny McKay, KPMG’s head of restructuring in Yorkshire and the North East, said: “This significant round of promotions reflects the outstanding talent that we have in the region, and the enormous contribution our people make in supporting businesses who are experiencing operational or financial challenges. These promotions span a range of services including insolvency, profitability improvement, working capital management, financial restructuring and business transformation.

“With economic and market conditions looking increasingly uncertain, more and more clients are turning to us for assistance in strategy setting, performance improvement and contingency planning.  As a team we are committed to delivering the very best advice to them.”

KPMG’s restructuring practice in the North is now 85-strong, with 40 staff in Leeds, 33 in Manchester, nine in Newcastle and three in Liverpool.

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Rapidspike, a web and real user application monitoring, analytics and security solution firm, has appointed Gav Winter as their new chief executive.

Andrew Mason and Robin Hill co-founded Leeds-based Rapidspike after selling RandomStorm to Accumuli (now NCC) in 2015, and have since helped found other businesses like the Data Protection People, Information Security People and Pentest People.

Winter, who founded The Test People in 2006, was instrumental in helping win numerous fast growth awards and is a three time winner at the Yorkshire IoD Director of the Year awards.

He then went on to merge them with Centre4Testing in 2015 to create Ten10
who are the largest independent testing company in the UK with over 250 consultants.

Mason, Hill and Winter met in 2011 when completing the Goldman Sachs 10000 small businesses course and have separately become three of yorkshire’s most well known and successful ‘tech’ entrepreneurs in growing RandomStorm and The Test People respectively. The firm already has a long list of global clients to its name and given the lack of boundaries to growth, feels that will be a Yorkshire Unicorn.

Mason said: “We were looking for an industry leading CEO to take RapidSpike to the next level and the timing was perfect for Gavin to join the management team and lead the future direction of the business. Having known Gavin for the last few years. we are excited to finally be leveraging our combined talents to transform RapidSpike into a world beating platform.”

Winter said: “I’m delighted to be the new CEO of RapidSpike and looking forward to working with some great people. The platform, the company setup and the team building it are a rare gem. Rapidspike is a great all round monitoring platform but there are particular aspects that I believe are world leading, and we intend to focus on ensuring that we use these to grow the business to its full potential.

Hill added: “It feels like the stars have lined up and I am delighted to welcome Gavin to our senior management team. Gavin’s appointment as CEO, reflects the progress we are making as we continue to focus on expanding opportunities in both the retail and digital sectors.”

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Leeds based IT service and support company Claritas Solutions has appointed Barry Alston as director of digital services.

Alston will help steer the company’s ambitious growth strategy.

Claritas recently acquired a new office in Wetherby to accommodate its growing workforce.

Kirsty Sutton, financial director at Claritas, said: “We have big plans for Claritas over the next few years and we’ve put the wheels in motion with Barry’s appointment and our new office to ensure we reach our 50% revenue increase by 2021. Barry’s skills and experience set us apart, and we plan to increase the work we’re doing across the public sector with his support.”