People: Walker Morris; Knight Frank; Iridium; and more

Leeds-based law firm, Walker Morris, has appointed Russell Kelsall as a partner and head of consumer and motor finance in its regulatory team.

He was formerly a partner at TLT LLP, where he led a team of non-contentious and contentious lawyers specialising in consumer, motor, and asset finance.

Kelsall has extensive experience in retail financial services regulation. He acts for a wide range of leading financial services providers including banks, building societies, debt purchasers and motor, asset, and consumer finance lenders.

He is also retained by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) to provide training to its members.

He has recently advised the FLA on its lobbying of HM Treasury for changes to the regulation of consumer credit and has been instructed by the FLA to review best practice guidance for the industry.

Jeanette Burgess, head of the regulatory and compliance team at Walker Morris, said: “Russell brings extensive experience and knowledge of the consumer credit sector, building upon our existing expertise.

“Russell’s appointment follows a run of recent hires from associate to director level making the Walker Morris regulatory team the largest outside of London – demonstrating our commitment to strengthening our practice.

“We’re impressed by Russell’s commitment to his clients and relationship with the FLA. We’re thrilled to be expanding our team at a time of growing regulatory demands on players in this key sector.”

Kelsall said: “It’s a great time to be joining Walker Morris’ highly-regarded regulatory team to further develop and build our full-service offering; a specialist team providing high-quality and commercial advice to firms on a range of issues from permissions to documentation to challenges to the way in which retail finance providers do business.

“We’ve made some fantastic recent hires, and have more to come, which will truly provide a one-stop shop for retail finance providers.

“I’m looking forward to supporting clients, new and old, through the current and future challenges posed by the regulators, the Financial Ombudsman Service and through activity in the court.”

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Global property consultancy, Knight Frank, has appointed Ben Hill as a partner in its Commercial Property Asset Management team in Leeds.

Hill, who has 20 years’ experience in the commercial property sector working with Europe’s largest and most complex retail assets, joins from British Land where he was a director and member of the retail property management senior leadership team.

He was responsible for the management of about £1bn worth of assets in Sheffield including Meadowhall Shopping Centre and surrounding sites.

Earlier in his career he spent 12 years working as a director of property management at Smith Young Partnership in Sheffield.

Based between Knight Frank’s Leeds and Sheffield offices, his newly created role will have national coverage and his appointment as partner will strengthen the company’s shopping centre management capabilities and bolster the shopping centre portfolio.

Michael Lewis, head of property & asset management at Knight Frank, said: “Hill has a proven record as one of the leading property management experts across UK retail space and will have a key role to play in our expansion of our shopping centre team in Leeds.

“Shopping centres are an integral part of our retail capability. Servicing a range of REITs, institutions, property companies and local authorities, our experience in the core market of strong regional centres is unrivalled.

“Hill brings with him an in-depth knowledge of one of the UK’s most complex and well-known retail assets and we are happy to have him on board.”

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Leeds-based business transformation consultancy, Iridium, which has just celebrated its fifth anniversary, has promoted Matt Pickin to operations director.

Pickin, who has been with Iridium as head of operations for just over four years, has been elevated to director role, joining founders Sinclair Elliott and Ben Dainton on the company’s senior leadership team.

The consultancy started life in 2018 with Elliott and Dainton delivering IT solutions in partnership with leading consultants.

It now has an internal team of 22, with seven specialist practices covering cloud solutions, quality assurance, cards and payments, software engineering, regulation and compliance, risk decisioning, and digital transformation.

The consultancy has also established its first overseas office in Budapest to allow existing and prospective clients to tap into a wider and more cost-effective IT talent pool.

Dainton said: “Matt was clearly going to become a pivotal part of Iridium from the word go. He brings organisation, great people skills, leadership qualities and a very healthy dedication to deliver the highest quality processes and results.”

Elliott added: “The next three years is all about expansion for our business, across new industries, clients and our own service lines, and with Matt at the helm of operations, we are in no doubt that we’ll achieve all of our strategic goals with ease.”

Pickin said: “Over the past four years, I have witnessed first hand Iridium develop, evolve and thrive through some difficult times – all due to the culture, reputation and relationships that Ben and Sinclair have carefully nurtured.

“To be given the trust and autonomy to make board-level decisions and be part of the company’s ongoing success means the world to me. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next few years bring for us.”

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International executive search agency, Spencer Riley, has promoted Adam Dowson to divisional manager as it continues to expand its specialist cold chain and life science logistics division.

Dowson joined Leeds-based Spencer Riley in 2017 as a trainee and has progressed through the ranks to executive, senior executive search consultant and then principal search consultant before his latest promotion to divisional manager.

He has established himself as an experienced global consultant in the highly regulated cold chain and life science logistics sector.

Spencer Riley continues to invest and grow this and other specialist teams.

Dowson said: “It is great to have my role at Spencer Riley recognised with this latest promotion. My ambition now is to build my team further and to expand into niche areas within the life science logistics and packaging sectors.”

Managing director, Scott Ellam, said: “Congratulations to Adam on his latest well-deserved promotion which recognises his drive and commitment as well as his consistently exceptional performance on behalf of clients and candidates.

“Adam has been with me from near the beginning and is a key member of our team. His skill set and experience is invaluable to Spencer Riley as we continue our journey.

“We’ve had a great 12 months in terms of growth, and I look forward to supporting Adam as he builds his team and expands his portfolio offering.

“Adam’s clients, candidates and colleagues will know how much their successes matter to him and his character is reflected in the relationships he builds both within the company and with our partners.”