People: GSC Grays and Ficep UK

GSC Grays, a rural land and property specialist, has promoted six members of its staff as the company continues to expand its team of experts.

The promoted six are:

Rachel Morris – promoted to general practice associate director

Jake Nixon – promoted to farm business consultant

Hannah Proctor –  promoted to farm business consultant

Helen Simpson – promoted to rural associate director

Hamish Smales – promoted to rural associate director

Georgina Watson – promoted to rural director

In addition, the Richmond-based firm has recently opened a new office in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire.

The expansion comes as GSC Grays has been appointed to deliver customised free farm business advice across the North of England as part of Defra’s £32m Future Farming Resilience Fund (FFRF) Scale Up Project.

Guy Coggrave, managing director, paid tribute to the drive and determination of the six team members who have been promoted.

He said: “Here at GSC Grays we bring extraordinary people together to build a brighter future for the rural land and business community across the North of England.

“Central to our ethos is recognising and rewarding talent and we are happy to announce the promotion of six of our outstanding colleagues at a time of exciting opportunities for the company which includes our recent appointment by Defra as a provider to the Future Farming Resilience Fund (FFRF) Scale Up Project.

“This project will involve providing individually customised farm business advice to 1,650 farms across the North of England in addition to workshops, webinars and business group meetings and the quality of our staff is the key to our success.”

:::

Three directors with 38 years’ combined experience of working at steel fabrication machinery supplier, Ficep UK, have been appointed to the board.

Finance director Pam Allen, sales director Chris Berriman and operations director Richard Clark now take responsibility for the management of the Castleford-based company, along with existing company director and group CEO, Christian Colombo.

Allen leads on developing, implementing, and overseeing the financial reporting processes for the business.

She joined Ficep UK in 2010 working on accounting projects before she took the permanent position of accounts manager, working her way up to become finance director this year.

She has knowledge spanning all Ficep departments and will continue to use her expertise to input into the overall running of the business.

Berriman joined Ficep UK as area sales manager for the north of England, in 2003.

After six years he became UK sales manager responsible for a team of area sales managers.

He is well known and respected in the industry, having worked at Ficep UK for over 19 years. He is also in charge of sales and marketing as well as budget management and company turnover.

Operations director, Richard Clark, joined as service manager in 2015.

Clark is responsible for budgeting for the operational side of the business, covering spare parts sales, on demand work, service contracts and tooling and vending which is growing year on year.

He manages a team of engineers and office staff as well as being involved commercially and being a key contact for customers.

The new leadership team follows the departure of Ficep UK founder and MD, Mark Jones, who stepped down in July after 23 years leading the business. Jones takes on a new role as Ficep UK’s non-executive director, for a short period.

Christian Colombo, Ficep group CEO, said: “Pam, Chris and Richard are highly qualified and have demonstrated their wisdom in their respective areas as well as in the industry as a whole.

“They have already played an integral role in getting the business to the stage it is at now and have the drive and ambition to take it further forward.

“It’s an exciting time for the business and their appointment to the board will continue to invigorate the incredible work that has already been done in the UK.”