People: Countryside; Xalient; Wrigleys Solicitors; and more

Developer Countryside has cemented its regional growth with the promotion of Chris Penn to managing director, for its Partnerships Yorkshire business.

His promotion comes just over a year after he joined Countryside to set up the new Yorkshire region as its operations director.

With a headcount of 75, the region now has four development sites with a further two in planning and a target of about 600 units to deliver for 2021; comprising a mix of open market, affordable and PRS properties.

The region is also growing geographically with new sites planned in the North East and South Yorkshire.

Penn will be focusing on the day-to-day running of the company, including managing the business forecast, the procurement of land, subcontractors and build.

He said: “I have been extremely pleased at how well the business has performed during the last 12 months.

“Not only are we new to the region and a relatively unknown name, but we have also had the challenges of the pandemic to face.

“Our first scheme in Wakefield, City Fields, sold 40 units before we had even launched our show homes, which demonstrates there is strong confidence from house buyers – not only in the market but with our fantastic homes and our great reputation in other areas.”

Phillip Lyons, interim chief executive, partnerships north, Countryside, said: “Chris has proven himself to be a highly regarded member of the team and a solid leader.

“He has taken a new business and helped to set solid foundations to drive growth as we continue to acquire new sites and develop new partnerships with local authorities and housing associations.”

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Leeds-based network transformation company Xalient has announced the appointments of Abbas Sadiq, Kendal Stacey, Kevin Clarke and Laura Stephenson to its growing global business development team.

Bringing with them experience in both sales and networking technologies, they will be responsible for client management and developing opportunities across the UK and EMEA.

This further strengthens the company’s global growth program, that has seen it expand its customer base substantially in the last 12 months, both in the UK and US.

The company, which also has offices in London and Chicago, specialises in new, disruptive network technologies and services to help organisations transform and secure their networks.

Commercial director EMEA, Steve Tucker, said: “We are delighted to welcome Laura, Kendal and Abbas to the Xalient team during what is a very exciting time for the company.

“The impact of COVID-19 has seen the flexibility and resilience of organizations’ networks take centre stage as they strive to keep their businesses operating as normal whilst preparing for the longer term.

“Mobile workforces, cloud migration and edge security are all areas that have come into the spotlight, providing an added boost to a market that was already developing rapidly prior to the impact.

“This has further validated Xalient’s portfolio of services, and, as a result, we are continuing to see growth in demand.”

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Wrigleys Solicitors has confirmed four promotions across its three offices in Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle.

They are: Charlotte Dyson, Kieran McIvor, Laura Moss and Fiona Wharton.

Dyson works in the practice’s Court of Protection and Personal Injury Trust team in Sheffield. She is a director of the firm’s trust corporation, Wrigleys Trustees Limited and acts as deputy, professional trustee and attorney.

She has spent her whole legal career at Wrigleys after training at the firm and qualifying in 2010.

She specialises in cases involving the Court of Protection, personal injury trusts and asset protection for the young, elderly, and vulnerable.

McIvor qualified as a solicitor in 2010 and joined Wrigleys’ Private Client department, from a leading firm in Harrogate, in 2015.

He is a member of the Landed Estates and Probate teams.

His expertise includes advising farmers and landowners on all Private Client matters, preparation of complex Wills involving overseas assets, advising on high-value Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax planning, advising on tax residency and domicile and dealing with administration of complex UK and cross-border probate matters.

Moss qualified as a solicitor in 2011, starting her career with an international City firm.

She joined the Wrigleys Charities and Social Economy team in 2015 after a short break to cycle round the world.

She is based in Leeds and advises on third sector matters working with charities, social enterprises and community groups, with a particular interest in Community-Led Housing.

Wharton has joined from a large corporate firm in Newcastle-upon-Tyne where she was a partner and head of the Charities team. She now heads the Charities and Social Economy practice in Wrigleys’ Newcastle office.

She advises charities and social enterprises on all aspects of charity and company law and governance, commercial arrangements, mergers and collaborative working, trading, and fundraising.

Marie-Louise Hamilton, Wrigleys’ managing partner, highlighted the range of expertise of the new partners in their respective specialisms. She said: “Such a level of expertise in these niche areas in one firm is rare.

“I very much look forward to working with the new partners as they continue to develop their areas of expertise and support the firm with its strategic plan, delivering excellent, specialist advice to new and existing clients.”

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Sheffield-based Fulcrum Group, a multi-utility infrastructure provider, has announced the appointment of Jennifer Babington as its new non-executive chairman.

Babington, who has been a non-executive director of Fulcrum since May 2020, succeeds current non-executive chairman Phil Holder who steps down with immediate effect.

With extensive experience in energy, infrastructure, law, finance and industry, she is well placed to support Fulcrum’s strategy to contribute to the UK’s net-zero future.

She is a qualified lawyer and entered the energy infrastructure industry as Legal Counsel of renewable energy company Element Power Ltd, where she oversaw its wind and solar developments in northern Europe.

Following this, she served as chief of staff at the UK Green Investment Bank, the UK Government’s green investment fund and is currently operations director and general counsel of Virgin Racing Ltd, which operates the Envision Virgin Racing Formula E Team.

Holder said: “The business is now well placed with an experienced executive leadership team, strong market drivers, a robust balance sheet, and is thus strongly positioned to capitalise on the UK’s journey to net-zero.

“Now is therefore the right time for the Board to transition to new fresh leadership and I am delighted Jennifer has accepted the board’s invitation to step up to the role of non-executive chairman.

“Since joining the business she has impressed me with the energy and insight that she has been able to bring to the Board and I wish her and the business every success.”

Babington said: “I am delighted by the opportunity to lead Fulcrum in an extremely exciting period in its development as we position the business to deliver infrastructure that supports the UK’s net-zero future.

“None of this would be possible without the significant contribution that Phil has made to the business over the past 10 years.

“I would like to thank him for that and for the personal support he has provided to me in the time that we have worked together.”