People: Burton Roofing Group; TestCard; Card Factory; and more

York-based Burton Roofing Group has appointed Tom Wood as its new finance director.

He joins the Group from Actavo, where he spent seven years with the business and was responsible for the financial performance of Actavo’s £50m multi-site hire and sales operation, which comprised 24 depots.

He also held senior finance roles with Bupa Care Services and multinational utility business ENGIE.

Burton Roofing Group, which trades under the Burton Roofing Merchants, Rinus Roofing Supplies and Discount Roofing and Building Supplies, operates 40 branches across the UK and employs 450 people.

The Group’s annual turnover is approximately £170m, and it is part of the multinational Cupa Group, which comprises 75 businesses with subsidiaries in nine countries and 25 quarries.

Paul Hattee, group managing director, said:  “Tom is a hugely experienced finance professional and brings with him the skills and expertise we need to increase our footprint across the UK.

“He’ll be a key member of our senior leadership team, and we look forward to working with him to build a strong and resilient business.”

Wood added: “The Burton Roofing Group operates well-respected brands in the construction industry, and I’m joining the business at an exciting stage in its history.

“Everyone in the business is committed to making the business a leader in its field, and I’m looking forward to working with colleagues across the UK who are focused on ensuring customers get the best products complemented by a first-class service.”

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Medtech company, TestCard, has appointed a new chief executive officer to manage its next phase of growth.

Elmer Monster has over 20 years of experience across the healthcare industry. He held various senior leadership roles in commercial, finance and strategy at Roche across both the pharmaceuticals and diagnostics divisions.

He was recently CFO of Swiss medtech company Coretag. He has been a commercial advisor to TestCard for several years and was appointed to TestCard’s Board earlier this year.

Monster takes over as CEO from Chris Craig-Wood who remains a substantial shareholder going forward.

Craig-Wood said: “I’m very pleased to be handing the leadership baton to Elmer as we enter such an exciting phase in the company’s growth.

“We always planned to transition to a new leader for the next chapter with the requisite deep domain knowledge to build on the solid foundations that are now in place, particularly following the recent signing of our landmark contract with Roche.”

Monster said: “It’s a great honour to become chief executive of such an innovative company. TestCard is bringing testing into the digital age, empowering people to test at the point of care, both at home and in clinical settings and enabling access to improved patient outcomes.”

Scarborough-based TestCard is a digital diagnostics company which is increasing the accessibility and diagnostic capability of non-invasive testing.

The business launched its first commercial product, a urinary tract infection self-test, at the end of 2020. It went on to launch ClearScreen – a digital reading, recording, and reporting solution for medical tests developed in collaboration with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and SureScreen Diagnostics Ltd in July 2021.

It comprises a mobile app which provides rapid reading and recording of test results at the point of care, while reducing admin time for hospital staff and improving traceability.

TestCard raised more than $10m in its latest round of fundraising earlier this year and recently signed a collaboration contract with Roche that will see its ClearScreen app included on Roche’s newest point-of-care solution – the cobas® pulse system.

Howard Meitiner, TestCard chairman, said: “Elmer has had a hugely successful career growing healthcare businesses across multiple continents. This vast domain experience will be enormously valuable to help TestCard fully realise its potential over the coming years.”

“The Board would like to thank Chris for his very significant contribution in building out TestCard over the last two years.”

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Wakefield-based greeting cards and gifts retailer, Card Factory, says Octavia Morley intends to step down from the Board at the end of the current financial year.

She joined the Board in April 2014, fulfilling the roles as senior independent non-executive director and chair of the Remuneration Committee.

Roger Whiteside has agreed to assume the role as senior independent non-executive director and Indira Thambiah will be appointed chair of the Remuneration Committee, with effect from 1 February 2023.

The Board is not planning to recruit a further non-executive director at this time.

Paul Moody, chairman, said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Octavia for her invaluable contribution to Card Factory over the past nine years.

“Octavia has always provided clear counsel and commercial insight to the Board and as chair of the Remuneration Committee has helped navigate us through the increasingly tricky landscape of executive remuneration.

“I have enjoyed working with Octavia and very much appreciated her pragmatism, courage and direct engagement on, sometimes, challenging issues.”

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Matt Barker has been appointed as house builder Keepmoat’s newest land and partnerships director.

He will be using his 24-year industry expertise to oversee land opportunities to regenerate communities in the Yorkshire East and East Midlands regions.

To align with Doncaster-based Keepmoat’s plans for regional growth, Barker, who was previously land and planning director at Persimmon Homes, Linden Homes and Redrow Homes, has been appointed to support the existing land teams in the housebuilder’s East Midlands and Yorkshire East regions.

He will be looking to fill gaps within the business’ development portfolio, and secure land opportunities to align with the homebuilder’s growth plans.

Barker said: “The East of the country, most specifically Lincolnshire and the East Riding, are areas of great potential for housebuilding, with some booming industries adding to the appeal, such as large-scale agriculture, engineering, and manufacturing.

“The region is also fantastically placed with towns such as York, Grantham, Newark and Retford having convenient rail and motorway connections, and there are some exciting developments proposed in North and North East Lincolnshire, which is also driving housing growth in the area.

“I am keen to continue Keepmoat’s previous success of providing regenerated sites and thriving communities through our relationships with landowners, local authorities, land agents, and partners such as Homes England.

“Key to my role will be identifying and securing opportunities in the eastern corridor to push Keepmoat’s operational boundaries into Lincolnshire and strengthen its presence in East Yorkshire.”