People: Senior manager joins financial advisers; Interim Finance Director announced at listed manufacturer; New Chief People Officer for workplace wellbeing provider ; and more

Independent Financial Advice business Chase de Vere has recruited Gary Cairns as Senior Manager for its Leeds and Sheffield offices.

He will be responsible for running these offices and managing the team of 18 advisers who are based there. These advisers provide investment and retirement planning advice to private clients and employee benefits and pension advice to businesses throughout Yorkshire.

Cairns has 26 years of industry experience across a variety of financial services roles. Most recently he worked for HSBC, managing a team which gave financial planning advice to clients in Yorkshire. Prior to this he worked for Bank of Scotland, initially as a financial adviser and then as an area manager.

Outside of work, Cairns, who lives in Horsforth, enjoys playing five-a-side football and golf, watching Formula 1 racing and going to the gym.

He said: “The independence of the Chase de Vere proposition aligns with my values and experience. I am looking forward to working with the advisers in the Leeds and Sheffield offices and helping them deliver exceptional financial advice and service to their clients.”

Stephen Kavanagh, Chief Executive of Chase de Vere, said: “I am delighted that we have recruited Gary to manage our advice teams in Yorkshire.

“He is an experienced professional with high standards and a real focus on ‘doing the right thing’.  Yorkshire is an important and growing part of our business and I look forward to seeing it flourish even more under Gary’s leadership.”

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Carclo, the listed Ossett-based manufacturer of fine tolerance injection moulded plastic parts, has appointed Paul Below as Group Finance Director designate.

Below is a Chartered Accountant and an experienced Interim Finance Director, with a strong track record of delivery in turnaround situations across a variety of industries in the publicly listed, private equity and family owned company environments.

He starts with immediate effect and after a suitable hand-over period will become the Group Finance Director, and join the Board, when the current Group Finance Director, Sarah Matthews-DeMers, leaves the Group in October.

It is currently intended that Below will fill the Group Finance Director role on an interim basis, while the ongoing restructuring of the Group is completed and a platform from which to set the long-term strategy is established.

He will be attending the Annual General Meeting on 25 September for shareholders wishing to meet him.

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Sheffield-based Westfield Health has appointed Becky Wright as its new Chief People Officer.

She joins with over a decade’s experience in HR and organisational development, having previously held roles with First Direct and Aviva.

With her track record of managing change whilst focusing on people and organisational culture, Wright has been tasked with helping to accelerate the IiP Gold-awarded organisation’s ambition to deliver a people experience that other companies look to replicate.

Speaking about what attracted her to the role, she said: “There are very few businesses where commercial success results in the ability to improve people’s lives.

“I am also personally interested in the Health and Wellbeing agenda.  The opportunity to join a business, whose ambitious plans align with one of my biggest passions in life was a dream come true. I’m beyond excited about the opening of our new active space which will give staff a place to unwind and focus on their fitness.”

Dave Capper, CEO for Westfield Health, added: “I’m really pleased to welcome Becky to the Westfield team. As an organisation committed to nurturing people, her passion to motivate the wider team with an empowering and leading outlook is set to make Westfield Health a best in class employer.”

Outlining her approach, Wright added: “Change is naturally daunting for some people and we all transition at different paces. To steal Google’s mantra, ‘if you start with the end user in mind the rest will follow’. I do believe if you start with, ‘what does this mean for our customers and people?’, you can’t really get it wrong”.

She said she aims to build on Westfield Health’s legacy commitment to its people with a strong training and development focus. She said: “Every single person has something to give. Hire the attitude and train the skill.

“As a leader, I think we are given a huge bunch of keys and we need to figure out which one unlocks our people’s talent door.  I love finding hidden talent and allowing them the chance to exceed their career dreams. I really believe anyone can do anything, they just have to want to do it.

“My philosophy I guess is simple, treat everyone as individuals, work out what makes them tick and create an environment for them to flourish and grow.”

Commenting on the challenges in the role, she said: “We need to make sure we get the balance right. We have big plans and want to deliver at pace but we have to harmonise that with creating a culture that allows us to truly embrace our commitment to health and wellbeing.”

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Leeds-based CPP Group UK has taken on new Commercial Director Dave Ross and new Sales Manager Joanne Neill, to strengthen the InsurTech firm’s expansion into the broker market.

The organisation, part of global financial assistance provider CPP Group, develops products to help insurers and brokers add further value to their products and services through its innovative suite of products in FinTech, InsurTech and cyber security.

Commercial director Dave Ross brings deep industry knowledge from his career in the insurance sector, including as MD of Keycare and two decades in various roles at AXA Insurance.

He established his own general insurance business, Valeos, before selling it to CPP Group in June 2018.

Following the acquisition this has been developed into Smart Key Protection, a white-labelled app and Bluetooth device that can be attached to keys and helps users locate keys or phones, preventing losses and reducing insurance claims.

Ross, who served on the board of the Chartered Insurance Institute for three years until June this year, will use his strong experience to lead the sales strategy for CPP Group UK’s New Business Team. This follows the firm’s recent re-entry into the UK market, with specific focus on its plans for the broker space.

Also joining the team of insurance professionals is ACII qualified Joanne Neill, an additional sales manager with over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry – 15 of which were spent at Zurich Insurance.

She began her career as an underwriter in the high net worth arena, before moving into business development and sales in personal lines schemes and affinity areas, including in home, motor and travel.

Her role will involve using her industry knowledge and business development expertise to bring CPP Group UK’s innovative products to new and existing partners and customers, bolstering the firm’s goals in the InsurTech market.

Ross said: “Jo’s appointment reinforces an already strong and dynamic team. She brings with her a great deal of experience in the personal lines schemes and affinity areas, which will greatly enhance our drive forward in these key areas.

“In previous roles I worked in partnership with CPP, so I have always closely followed the business and admired its achievements.

“I am delighted to be working within this new and vibrant team, made up of industry experts with a shared determination to make waves in InsurTech. A huge amount of groundwork has been laid, and I believe we now have the ambition and resource to become international standard bearers in InsurTech.”

Neill said: “The aspect of CPP that appealed to me the most is that customer’s needs are met in a completely different way to anything I’ve seen previously in the sector.

“The new and innovative products and services are so beneficial when combined with insurance policies that it is exciting to be a part of bringing them to the market.

“I am looking forward to this journey, having joined at such a pivotal moment for the company. I’m incredibly confident that the hard work and innovation of the team will pay off.”

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Claire Glaister has been appointed as a partner at Leeds-based family law firm Lake Legal. The move comes after Glaister first worked with the firm’s founder, Lyn Ayrton, nearly 20 years ago during a work experience placement.

Ayrton recruited Claire to join Lake Legal as a solicitor in 2010 and she has been pivotal to the firm’s growth.

Commenting on the appointment, Ayrton, Managing Partner at the practice, said: “I spotted Claire’s talent during her work experience placement with me. She has gone on to develop a successful career in family law and has played a key role in the development of Lake Legal. She is respected by colleagues and clients alike, and I am proud to see her take the next step in her career at Lake Legal.”

Glaister said: “Lyn is a valued friend and mentor. We share a belief that exceptional client service should be at the heart of everything we do. Together with a very talented team, we have built a leading family law firm that is respected across the UK. I look forward to playing my part in the next stage of Lake Legal’s development.”

 

 

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