People: Yorkshire Building Society; Schofield Sweeney; Knights; and more
Yorkshire Building Society has announced that Mark Parsons is to join its Board as a non-executive director.
He was chief executive of Coventry Building Society from 2014 until his retirement in April 2020.
He has more than 30 years’ experience in financial services, working at executive level across finance, investor relations, product and retail management, risk management and human resources.
Parsons has previously worked at Barclays, where he was the chief financial officer for Retail and Business Banking and also served as the deputy chief executive of Barclays UK Retail Bank.
He has also held posts at Abbey National and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he helped to build its retail banking performance improvement practice.
He will join the Board on 20 October 2020, after vice chair and senior independent director Mark Pain stepped down on 30 September 2020.
Non-executive director Alison Hutchinson will take on the role of senior independent director and vice chair with effect from 1 October 2020, subject to regulatory approval.
John Heaps, chairman of Yorkshire Building Society, said: “I would like to thank Mark Pain for his outstanding contribution to the Society’s success over the past seven years and to wish him well for the future.
“I am delighted to welcome Mark Parsons to our Board. His leadership skills and experience, alongside his broad ranging skillset, mean he is well-placed to serve the Society in this senior leadership position.
“His depth and breadth of experience in managing retail financial services at an executive level will further strengthen the Board.”
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Michael Cracknell
Schofield Sweeney has welcomed four new recruits to the firm.
Michael Cracknell joins as the company’s first dedicated business development manager, to work alongside its existing Marketing team.
He brings over 20 years’ professional services marketing and business development experience, including from PwC, Baker Tilly (now RSM), Mazars and international law firm Bird & Bird.
His main focus, amongst others, will be on understanding the often complex needs of clients across the West Yorkshire region, and helping the firm improve its already strong track record in meeting and exceeding their expectations.
He also aims to grow the firm’s business network and profile across the region and nationally.
Cracknell said: “The pandemic has clearly created a host of new challenges for businesses and individuals, in addition to the ones which already exist and those that are on the horizon.
“I strongly believe that, with the capability and service breadth we offer to the market, as well as a really genuine and human way of engaging with our clients, we’re really well placed to guide and assist them.”
Fiona Crothers joins the Education and Charities team as a solicitor in Bradford, bringing with her significant experience of acting on behalf of single and multi-academy trusts, advising faith, community and foundation schools through the conversion process.
Fiona Crothers
With a background in charity law, specialising in charity property, she advises charities and not-for-profit organisations on a wide range of matters including the establishment and incorporation of charities, trading and general governance matters.
She said: “I am thrilled to be joining Schofield Sweeney and the firm’s fantastic Education and Charities team.
“Working for such a well-regarded, forward thinking firm, which offers such a wide range of advice and services to the Charities and Education sector is a very exciting step in my career and I am very much looking forward to growing with the firm going forward.”
The firm has strengthened its Restructuring and Insolvency team with the appointment of Hannah Dunn.
Dunn trained and qualified at a niche commercial practice and specialises in contentious insolvency. Her added expertise will cement our growing reputation in this sector.
She said: “I am delighted to be joining the Restructuring and insolvency team at Schofield Sweeney.
“For me, Schofield Sweeney seemed to be the perfect fit, it is a prominent Yorkshire based firm which prides itself on providing a personal and commercial service for its clients, something that I am very passionate about.”
Richard Fergusson, a partner in the team, said: “We are really pleased Hannah has joined as she is a great fit for us.
“We have steadily built up a well-regarded team specialising in Restructuring and Insolvency and have a reputation for timely, consistent and well-judged advice and Hannah provides the expert background to support the further growth of the firm’s reach in this area.”
Finally, new associate Ben Jackson joins the Corporate team. He specialises in company law, group restructuring and shareholder agreements.
He will also be advising clients on share option schemes including EMI schemes and SEIS and EIS funding arrangements.
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David Beech
Legal and professional services business, Knights, has announced 83 promotions across its 13 locations, reflecting its continued commitment to develop talent and build the leading legal and professional services business in key markets outside London.
Of the 83 promotions, 22 relate to Knights’ Leeds office.
The promotion of eight individuals to partner, 26 to senior associate and 31 to associate, alongside 18 promotions across its operations teams, follows the hiring of nearly 30 high calibre partners in recent months, providing greater capacity to deliver a broader range of high-quality services to clients.
David Beech, CEO of Knights, said: “We’re delighted to announce the promotions of over 80 of our people as Knights continues to maintain its momentum in developing talent in the industry.
“As Knights has grown, we have remained dedicated to investing, developing and retaining the very best people which, alongside our career-supporting ‘one team’ culture, is critical to the success and growth of Knights and our ability to provide high-quality services to our clients.
“We are excited by the high calibre talent we have in place across the Group as we continue to build the leading legal and professional services business outside London.”
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Matthew Watson
Savills has reinforced its commitment to its graduate programme by strengthening its rural management team in York with the appointment of graduate surveyor Laura Oxtoby.
Since 2007, Savills has welcomed over 700 graduates to its national programme.
The programme offers graduates training and development alongside industry professionals allowing them to achieve professional qualifications in Surveying, Planning, Urban Design, Food & Farming and Forestry across 44 locations.
Oxtoby graduated from the University of St Andrews with a degree in Geography.
At Savills, she will be working towards her Assessment of Professional Competence exams and qualifications with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) while undertaking a part-time accredited Master’s degree with The University College of Estate Management.
Matthew Watson, head of Savills York, said: “We’re committed to developing young talent through our graduate programme at Savills and are delighted to be welcoming Laura to the office.
“Laura will work with our experienced teams to develop her skills and knowledge as she progresses in the role and builds her career at Savills.”
Noel McGonigle, Savills human resources director UK, said: “Savills is proud to have maintained all of its 104 graduate and sandwich placement offers for 2020 across the UK business, which is testament to the commitment and value that we put on our programme.
“In 2019, Savills recruited 127 graduates and sandwich placement students across the UK, so 2020 sees a slight reduction in numbers.
“However, demand for graduates remains strong and we are continuing to recruit onto the programme outside of the central recruitment round.
“In light of Covid-19, the business has continued to adapt and our graduate programme induction this year will be a virtual learning programme, which will be interactive throughout to ensure our graduates are on-boarded into Savills effectively throughout these circumstances.”
