People: The Law Society; Savills and more
Leeds-based employment lawyer Jodie Hill, managing director and founder of specialist HR and employment law firm Thrive Law, has been selected by the Law Society to sit as a member of its Employment Law Committee.
Her appointment draws upon her experience as a practitioner in the field of employment and HR law, advising both employers and employees, and builds on Thrive Law’s recent selection by the Solicitors Regulation Authority as a principal provider of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) mentoring support to small and medium sized law practices.s.
Max Winthrop, outgoing chair of the Law Society’s Employment Law Committee commented, “I was really impressed with Jodie’s achievements at a time in her career when many of us are still just finding our feet professionally. Setting up your own firm is never easy, and being able to combine a successful practice with Jodie’s active advocacy for mental health issues [with her #OneMind campaign] while demonstrating a real commitment to neuro diversity is particularly impressive.
“These are challenging times for the profession, for solicitors and for employment lawyers and I have no doubt that Jodie’s abilities will be a significant asset to the work of the Committee in the coming months.”
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Savills has strengthened its rural offering in the north of England with the appointment of Wayne Scurrah as director and Head of North Forestry.
Based in the York office, Scurrah will head up the forestry team in the north of England and will be responsible for advising clients, including rural estates, farmers, public bodies and commercial forestry investors, on all aspects of commercial forestry and woodland management.
He has over 30 years’ forestry experience, having started his career as a forestry manager, before to setting up his own company at the start of the millennium, which he later sold to an overseas buyer in 2016.
Scurrah’s appointment bolsters the team operating from the firm’s York office and comes less than a year since the arrival of Simon Rochester as senior forestry manager, who is also based in York.
David Goodson, head of the rural, energy and projects division for Savills in the north, comments: “We are thrilled to be welcoming Wayne to the team. He has an extensive background in management and contracting within the woodland and vegetation management sectors, which will be of great benefit to our client base. His broad ranging experience, coupled with a strong understanding of upland farming issues, perfectly complements our existing capabilities and further enhances the service we can provide our clients.”
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Senior insurance executive Mark Cliff has been appointed chairman of Avid Insurance Services. Cliff takes up his role, which has been approved by the FCA, with immediate effect.
Avid, an managing general agent, is majority owned by Beech Tree Private Equity and specialises in social housing, council leasehold markets and travel.
The firm’s founder and MD Stephen Gibson, said: ‘I am extremely pleased to welcome Mark as Avid Chairman. His wide-ranging experience will be an invaluable asset to Avid as we move forward with our exciting plans for growth in our existing markets and in new sectors and products.
“Mark will help steer our strategy and assist our business development, including inorganic growth, where we have made no secret of our desire to acquire businesses and specialist underwriting teams, where they make strategic sense.”
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MET Marketing, a Leeds based digital and marketing recruitment consultancy, has strengthened its operations across the North of England with the appointment of James Nelson as head of agency.
Nelson is the first appointment in a planned growth of digital recruitment services following the rapid shift in market needs due to mass digitalisation by businesses as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. His focus will primarily be in supporting marketing agencies with any digital recruitment requirements.
Bringing nearly 10 years of experience with him, he has worked in marketing recruitment for Michael Page, Network Marketing and Sphere.
MET co-founder Ed Sutcliffe said “As a well-known recruiter across the North of England who genuinely cares and is passionate about the Creative and Digital sector we were delighted that James got in touch with us. He is a fantastic hire for the business at an important time in our development and we are looking forward to him leading the expansion of our agency offering”.
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SHIFT Marketplace has recruited four new team members after securing 11 accounts across multiple retail sectors including sportswear, beauty, garden and outdoor, cosmetics, and workwear.
Joining the team to manage these clients’ marketplace channels globally are Marc Lupton who has been appointed to the senior team as operations director overseeing the set up and performance of all clients. He brings previous marketplaces experience managing brands including Fitbit, Go-Pro, Toshiba and Victorinox.
Alongside Lupton, Matt Riddell has been brought in to enhance the team’s retail digital marketing offering, with Stefan Gandhi and Adam Wilton completing the agency’s new hires.
Tom Bagnall, Commercial Director, SHIFT Marketplace comments “It has been a remarkable trading period for us, our offering seems to resonate perfectly with business owners during uncertain economic conditions as we look to continue to grow our business alongside client revenues”.
Steven Berke, Managing Director, SHIFT Marketplace was equally as bullish “We saw a gap in the market a year ago for a marketplace managed service run entirely by seasoned professionals with genuine marketplace trading experience. In a sea of “agencies” offering diluted services and limited expertise, our team comprises senior level retailers with a combined experience of over 40 years in the marketplace space. We’ve been delighted by the early response to our proposition and we now embark on scaling our business with the next tranche of key strategic hires to mirror our growth”.
