People: Digital tech firm appoints account director; Internet service provider welcomes chief sales officer; and more

Vapour Cloud, the Elland-based digital transformation firm, has appointed Alec Stephens as Account Director.

With more than 15 years’ experience in the technology sector, Stephens began his career as an inbound contact centre agent. He went on to progress through telemarketing and account executive roles when the business became ntl:Telewest, and subsequently Virgin Media.

It was here that he first worked for Tim Mercer, now CEO of Vapour Cloud. He progressed through field sales, corporate sales, account director, commercial finance management and systems integrations roles, before he moved on to Redcentric.

Stephens was an Account Director here, and at Exponential-e, until joining Vapour.

In this role, Stephens will be responsible for new business development, particularly for network and voice projects. He will also support existing clients with their ongoing digital transformation journeys.

Mercer said: “I have first-hand experience of Alec’s knowledge, tenacity and approach to customer service, and it is exactly this level of acumen that I look for in our colleagues. I’m delighted that, having worked with him as an up-and-coming star, he’s now back on board as a world-class striker!”

Stephen added: “I was extremely interested in the opportunity – Vapour has a strong team, great partners on board, a sustained growth journey under its belt and an impressive roadmap for further expansion.

“There is such a sweet spot for Vapour’s services at the moment and because we’ve been a cloud-first business since the beginning – even before the market was ready perhaps – organisations are now entrusting projects large and small with our specialist team.”

:::

Schools Broadband, the Ilkley-based internet service provider, has appointed Sean Donohoe as Chief Sales Officer.

Schools Broadband, part of the Talk Straight Group, made this appointment after investing over £500,000 in its latest Web Filtering, Security and Connectivity platform.

Donohoe has previously worked in the education ICT sector for a number of key providers, including; Akhter, Viglen, RM and Joskos.

He said: “I’m incredibly excited to have joined Schools Broadband at what feels like a crucial time for schools; a significant shift in use of cloud services, whilst ensuring access to the internet is in a controlled and utterly secure manner.

“I will be driving ambitious but achievable growth plans for the business, whilst continuing to differentiate ourselves from the competition and deliver outstanding value to schools.

“I’m committed to making sure we provide services of the highest quality and ensuring that we make a real difference to schools, teachers and ultimately learners.”

:::

Hull-based charity the Tigers Sport and Education Trust has announced Catherine Bishop as its new Chief Executive.

Bishop, one of the founding directors at social enterprise EN:Able Futures CIC, joins the Trust in April and will be responsible for leading and managing the development and strategic direction of the charity.

She was also assistant director at regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, and national director for programmes at the National Youth Agency, where she worked on a number of programmes including the National Citizen Service (NCS) programme which was delivered  through Newcastle United and Middlesbrough football clubs.

The new appointment comes after the Trust’s previous manager, John Davies, stepped down to pursue other opportunities, following 28 years running the organisation.

Founded in 1990, the Tigers Sport and Education Trust is governed by a board of trustees and supported by Hull City Football Club, the Premier League Charitable Fund, the English Football League Trust.

Bishop said: “I’m very excited and feel extremely privileged to be offered the opportunity to lead the Tigers Trust at this time.

“Social health and wellbeing is incredibly important in creating vibrant and inclusive communities, and I look forward to leading the various Tigers Trust sports and education activities in support of this.

“There is huge potential in Hull and the East Riding, and I’m eager to explore what we can do in order to further support growth and regeneration in the city.”

Chair Sean Royce added: “We are delighted to welcome Catherine to the team and we look forward to her bringing in fresh, new ideas to further enhance the Tigers Sport and Education Trust.

“As a value-based leader, Catherine is an ideal fit for us, and with her unrivalled experience I am confident she will help the organisation go from strength to strength.”

:::

Bellingham IT, which provide tailored support to SME’s in Wakefield and Leeds, has expanded its team with the appointment of Paul Lockwood as Operations Manager.

Lockwood joins the company from Fujitsu, where he spent 10 years specialising in technical engineering and IT service desk support before progressing to management positions for the UK and Ireland.

He will be responsible for delivering the day to day operations for Bellingham IT, managing the support helpdesk and maintaining all processes and procedures to an ITIL standard, staying one step ahead when dealing with IT related issues.

Lockwood said: “I am thrilled to have joined the Bellingham team. All the staff deliver a world class service and its culture and values of always putting the customer first, no matter what the size of the organisation, is something that I am proud to be a part of.”

“I strongly believe that we should talk less and listen more – this is an approach shared by the business. I’m certainly looking forward to listening to our customers to understand what their pains are – we can then look to remedy this through our IT solutions and support.”

Paul Heigham, Director of Bellingham IT, added: “Paul has a wealth of experience and an excellent attitude, which we know will strengthen our approach and help the future growth of our business.”