People: Guest Walker; Futures; Harrison Bathrooms; and more

York-based property and life planning solicitor’s firm, Guest Walker, has made a number of key senior appointments to strengthen its management and Life Planning teams.

This is as a result of expansion and increased demand for the firm’s property and life planning services.

Rowena Rogers, head of life planning, has been appointed a director and joins the senior management team which includes John Walker, Helen Burrows, Deborah Barton and commercial property solicitor, Alison Munro, who became a director last year.

Rogers is delighted to lead the Life Planning department starting in 2019 and advising clients on all aspects of personal asset management and associated property matters, including Wills and Probate, Powers of Attorney, Deputyship, Trusts, Tax and Estate Planning.

The department’s team has doubled in the last 12 months with the appointment of two new senior solicitors, Hudda Morgan and Nick Clarke.

Morgan is a senior solicitor with over 25 years’ experience in the York area and has an established reputation as a specialist in this field, particularly in complex probates and estate administration.

Clarke joined the team in April 2021 with over 25 years’ experience and advises clients on all aspects relating to Powers of Attorney, Wills and Probate as well as advice on personal asset management such as gifts, trusts and estate planning.

With demand for residential conveyancing soaring during the pandemic, Guest Walker has appointed Amanda Alden as a conveyancing executive joining long term members of the team, Rachel Butterfield and Vicky Middleton.

Alden has worked for Bromets Jackson Heath in Tadcaster for over 20 years and will be working on traditional residential conveyancing such as house, apartment and flat sales and purchases, re-mortgages, transfers of equity, equity release and purchasing new build as well as providing advice on investing in buy-to-let property.

John Walker, director, Guest Walker, said: “Whilst the past 18 months have had many challenges, we are proud of the firm’s resilience and, as the demand for our services has continued to grow at pace, we are delighted to have been able to make some exceptional appointments.

“As the firm continues to expand, we are steadfast in our commitment to continuing to offer our clients a truly personal service that has been our ethos from the very beginning.

“The expansion of our specialist Life Planning team means we are able to offer more of our clients a holistic approach to all of their property, business and personal matters making their lives easier and taking away the complications of otherwise having to work with multiple firms.”

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Specialist recruitment agency, Futures, has seen rapid business growth through the past year, with new hires and plans to increase its headcount even further in the coming months.

The Leeds-based firm, which specialises in public sector recruitment, has already made two key hires this year to assist in accelerating its business growth further.

Dan Wilson, who has over six years of experience in recruitment marketing has been appointed marketing manager, and Jane Loftus has been appointed talent acquisition manager having worked in the recruitment sector for 15 years.

In addition to these senior hires, Futures also has a further five associate consultants joining its team next month, which will bring its total headcount up to 50, with plans to increase the team by a further 30% this year with 20 additional hires.

This comes after Futures report exceptional growth over the past year, following a 19.3% increase in its compound annual growth rate and a total revenue of £19.2m.

Wilson said: “After six years of working in recruitment marketing, I’m incredibly excited to be joining the Futures team and stepping into the role of marketing manager to help build and strengthen their marketing strategy in this period of rapid business growth.

“We already have a lot of exciting projects on the way for the company, and the future is definitely bright.”

Loftus said: “From only being at Futures for a few months, I can already see the immense amount of talent that is already available in the team.

“I’m looking forward to the new challenges ahead in my new role as talent acquisition manager and supporting the team in finding the best talent out there.” 

 Tim Liptrot, managing director, added: “Dan and Jane have both already made an incredibly big impact on the business, and I’m excited to see what more is to come from their new roles. 

“We can’t wait to welcome even more talented professionals to the team, and watch the business go from strength-to-strength.”

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Leeds-based bathroom products suppliers, Harrison Bathrooms, has appointed four new area sales managers across Scotland, Ireland, South Wales and the South West, and the South East, to support its future growth strategy.

Bringing with them a wealth of valuable experience from across the industry, the four hires will be using their expert knowledge to drive new business and expand future growth across the UK, for Harrison Bathrooms’ Scudo brand.

Danyal Qureshi, area sales manager South East Central, kicked off his career in the bathroom industry aged 16 and has since spent over 13 years working as a sales manager across established businesses, including Formula Bathrooms and Fired Earth.

He will use both new and existing contacts to focus on developing and establishing a presence for Scudo across the South East.

Derek Cowan, area sales manager Scotland, joins the team with over 20 years’ sales experience across the flooring, bathroom, and plumbing industries.

Having previously worked with brands including Marshalls PLC and City Plumbing, he has spent the last eight years on the road selling direct to showrooms and will bring beneficial expertise to the Scudo team.

Wayne Cooney, area sales manager Ireland, has more than 30 years’ sales experience working in Ireland and has most recently worked as a sales manager with My Life Bathrooms.

He already has an extensive network of contacts across the Republic of Ireland.

Kevin Pearman, area sales manager South Wales and South West, has over 20 years’ experience in sales and has spent 18 years of this time selling bathroom products, both into showrooms and direct to consumer.

With previous experience working with Thomas Dudley and International Decorative Surfaces (IDS), he is tasked with growing and maintaining the existing Scudo customer base across South Wales and the South West.

The latest appointments come just months after the launch of the Scudo showroom in Leeds and just over a year since Harrison Bathrooms moved to its new 68,000 sq ft premises.

Shaun Corcoran, commercial director, said: “Although it’s been a challenging time recently, it’s been a really exciting period for us.

“We’re thrilled to be expanding our team and the appointment of our new sales managers will help us meet increased demand and accelerate our ambitious growth plans.”

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The Art House has confirmed Damon Jackson-Waldock will be joining the Wakefield-based visual arts charity and studio complex as its programme director.

The Yorkshire-based curator and producer brings a wealth of creative talent to the organisation following his 11 years as deputy curator at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP).

He will begin his new role at the centre – which showcases a programme of exhibitions, events and workshops and provides a creative hub for artists, makers and creative businesses – from September 2021.

Jackson-Waldock brings a wealth of expertise and an impressive portfolio of regional and international work in programming and producing cultural projects.

As well as his time as a curator at YSP, he has spent the last year working as creative producer on the Oak Project; a pioneering five-year partnership between YSP and the University of Derby to raise awareness of climate emergency by creating an arts programme which explores relationships with the natural world.

He also has produced large-scale public realm commissions as guest curator for The Piece Hall in Halifax.

He is passionate about supporting emerging talent and has been a career mentor at Sheffield Hallam since 2017.

Jackson-Waldock said: “I’m so excited to join The Art House team. I’ve had an incredible decade at YSP, having been taken on as a graduate and working my way up to be a curator.

“I have been involved in some amazing projects in Yorkshire with many ground-breaking artists.

“For me, the most rewarding part of the role is nurturing new ideas or supporting artists who are looking to take that next step in their artistic practice, and giving them the opportunity to do that, which is exactly the philosophy of The Art House.”

His new role will see him bring engaging and diverse projects to the gallery and oversee the development of the artist residency programme, including its vital scheme for graduates at critical stages of their careers.

He also aims to expand opportunities beyond the walls of the gallery into the community as part of The Art House’s ethos to make high quality visual art more accessible to those who have limited opportunities to engage otherwise.

Sydney Thornbury, CEO/artistic director of The Art House said: “We’re thrilled to have Damon join us at such a pivotal time.

“His appointment comes on the back of a number of exciting changes to the senior team over the last year and I think we’re in a really strong position to be bold and ambitious with the work we showcase and the role we play here in Wakefield.

“Throughout the pandemic we proved how vital a place like The Art House is as a community resource.”