People: New regional director at facilities management firm; Chief operating officer taken on; and more

Leeds-based NIC Services Group has confirmed the promotion of Gary Haman to regional director.

Ken Atherton national operations director for NIC, said: “The NIC Board are delighted to promote Gary to this new role which will complement our continued growth.

“His vast experience in the industry embodies the company’s vision and values. We look forward to him continuing to support and expand our multi service solutions offer to both our current and new clients.”

NIC provides a wide range of services for businesses across the UK and Ireland, including cleaning, pest control, waste management, security and catering.

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Leeds civil and structural engineering specialist RWO Associates has appointed a civil engineer as it gears up for expansion in the face of strong demand.

Vincent Wai, 28, joins the Park Place-based firm in a move that will see him working on highway and drainage design contracts for several of the firm’s clients.He will also be responsible for mentoring and training junior members as well as providing on-going support to the senior management team.

He brings experience in civil and infrastructure engineering roles to the company having worked on a variety of projects with a national consultancy, including close involvement in several multi-million-pound projects across the residential, retail and commercial sectors.

RWO Associates is targeting the £1.5m turnover mark in the next 12 months while seeing its regional presence grow on the back of significant new work, which is part of a wider strategic development plan.

This includes pre-planning drainage and flood risk work, detailed highways and drainage design services and earthworks analysis for over 1,700 new residential properties being built by Persimmon Homes, Gleeson Homes, Barratt Homes, Harron Homes and Mulgrave Property Group across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Managing director Ross Oakley said the firm, which will continue to recruit for engineering roles in Leeds as the volume of work ramps up, is looking to the future with confidence.

He said: “We are investing in the best people to support our ambitions, so it’s great to have Vincent on board, he will be a big asset as we go for growth in 2020, while enabling us to provide all our clients with the highest standards of service and added value engineering solutions.”

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Leeds-based BigChange, a mobile workforce management company, has appointed Jo Godsmark as its chief operating officer.

She will lead the company’s customer-facing activities in this new role, managing teams responsible for implementing BigChange’s JobWatch technology and training users, as well as its account management, customer service, and consulting activities.

A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport, Godsmark has 30 years’ experience working in manufacturing, supply chain and logistics environments. She has previously worked for Mars Inc. and the Ford Motor Company. She joined BigChange in January 2019 with the acquisition of her company, Labyrinth Logistics Consulting.

Her promotion coincides with a prolonged period of growth at BigChange. The company was recognised recently as one of the UK’s fastest growing privately owned technology businesses, with annualised sales growth of 77% over the last three years.

Martin Port, founder and CEO of BigChange, said: “Jo has made a big impact at BigChange, integrating Labyrinth successfully and expanding our consulting capabilities.

“With the continued growth of BigChange, it has become increasingly important to have someone of Jo’s calibre looking across the operational side of the business to ensure that it runs smoothly for our customers.”

Jo added: “I am very excited to take on this new role at BigChange. This is clearly a company going in the right direction, creating growth, new opportunities and incredible value for customers. I’m looking forward to supporting that further by working across the BigChange business.”

BigChange provides a pioneering mobile workforce management management system called JobWatch that is used by over 1,000 organisations and 35,000 individual users globally.

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Machine learning (ML) and AI brand Third Foundation has grown its team further following the arrival of an experienced technical director.

Sam Kirkbride joins the recently launched tech start-up with the core focus of leading a team of engineers to help businesses integrate the enterprise’s intuitive programme, Prime Radiant, into their existing systems.

This intuitive tech sits at the heart of Third Foundation’s ability to deliver a real difference using AI and ML.

Following nearly a decade with strategic marketing agency HOME – where he became the firm’s head of technology – Kirkbride has experience in leading web development projects, building chatbots and voice assistant-based systems.

He was also a key driver in upskilling the organisation’s data and SEO teams in computer programming.

The former website developer is now using his technical knowledge to bolster Third Foundation’s critical data expertise and helping companies understand how to extract crucial online detail so that they can make stronger, commercially savvy decisions.

Sam said: “It’s an exciting time to be part of an organisation which is eager to revolutionise the marketplace utilising the power of ML and AI. I’m looking forward to a fresh challenge and bringing my experience to the fore.

“If data is at the heart of a business, they’re in a much stronger position to be able to modernise their approach for the clients they serve, as well as build on outdated legacy systems and eradicate manually intensive jobs through automation.”

Third Foundation’s CEO, Michael Ward, said: “We have another very experienced, bright individual capable of making a serious difference in the industry.

“Having worked in marketing agencies for several years, Sam understands the need to develop systems and processes that make a material difference to the client’s performance – and that’s what excites him.”

Third Foundation, in only its fourth month, is now a seven-strong team based in Leeds. It shows companies how to use AI and ML to dissect critical online insight, in order to identify trends, analyse performance patterns, understand business pain points and automate dynamic decision-making.

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Yorkshire and North Derbyshire accountancy firm has strengthened its expanding tax department with the appointment of Joanne Powell as a tax partner working across its Leeds and Cleckheaton offices.

She specialises in advising mid-market businesses and their owners on all aspects of tax. Prior to joining BHP, she worked at KPMG and Grant Thornton for over 16 years.

She said: “I was drawn to BHP as there’s a lot of buzz about them in the market at the moment.

“They’ve been winning several awards and come across as an ambitious but friendly firm which is really going somewhere.

“I wanted to join an independent firm that was firmly focused on providing high quality advice to mid-market companies and BHP was the obvious fit.”

Joint managing partner, Hamish Morrison, said: “Joanne brings with her a wealth of experience. She boosts our tax team to 57, making it one of the largest in the region.

“This is a really exciting time for the business, and we’re delighted that this is shining through and attracting talent like Joanne.”

With more than 300 staff, over the last 10 years BHP has increased its turnover from £8m to over £22m.