People: Addleshaw Goddard; Extreme; Social; and more

Addleshaw Goddard, which has a base in Leeds, has confirmed that Andrew Johnston has been elected managing partner in an uncontested election for a term of four years, with effect from 1 May 2024.

Johnston joined Addleshaw Goddard in 2013, to lead the firm’s M&A practice in the Middle East.

He has been a Board member since 2014, and was appointed head of Middle East and Asia in 2019. Earlier in his career, he worked with Clifford Chance in London before being seconded to the Middle East.

Johnston succeeds John Joyce who became managing partner in 2014, and was re-elected in 2017 and 2021.

His decision to step-down after a decade in office earlier this year brought forward by one year the process to find his successor.

Johnston said: “My ambition is for AG to double in size by 2030. I am looking forward to the firm capitalising on the strong platform created under John’s leadership and using it as a springboard for greater success.

“We will continue to invest where clients need us the most and I will be giving as much focus as I can to ensuring that we flourish as a thriving global business, dominant across the UK, with greater influence in the City, and even more famous for high-quality imaginative, impactful advice that delivers real competitive advantage.”

Aster Crawshaw, Addleshaw Goddard senior partner, said: “Thank you again to John who has been instrumental in Addleshaw Goddard becoming one of the most successful UK-headquartered international law firms and many congratulations to Andrew.

“Andrew has a strong track record of success and all the qualities to be an excellent leader. I am hugely excited about the next phase of Addleshaw Goddard’s development with Andrew as managing partner.

“The energy he will bring to the role will drive forward the firm’s strategy, performance, culture and client relationships.”

Johnston has led AG’s business in the Middle East to record financial performances.

It was the firm’s fastest growing region in the financial year ending April 2023, delivering 43% income growth.

Earlier this year, the firm unveiled plans for a new office in Riyadh, AGs fourth in the region, and is targeting revenue growth in the Middle East of 60% over the next five years.

As well as steering the firm through successful mergers in Scotland with HBJ in 2017 and Ireland’s Eugene F Collins in 2022, Joyce has been the architect of the firm’s growing international footprint over recent years, with four offices opening in Germany, and one in France and Luxembourg.

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Lucy Willis

Harrogate-based digital marketing agency, Extreme, has confirmed a duo of new hires.

Social media manager Lucy Willis and Developer Garon Ross join to help with growing demand in their respective departments.

Willis has experience in working on social media strategy for several major brands including Warner Brothers and Cath Kidston.

Ross will support the development team with a variety of e-commerce projects, support tickets and more.

Garon Ross

Willis said: “I’m really excited to have joined the team here at Extreme, especially to be working alongside a brilliant group of creative social strategists.

“I’m enjoying getting stuck in with my new clients and looking forward to working across a variety of exciting projects.”

Mark Gledhill, director, added: “2023 has been another busy year, with demand for our web development and social services particularly high, so we’re thrilled to welcome Lucy and Garon to enable us to meet that need.”

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Communications agency, Social, has made two senior promotions within its northern offices in Manchester and Leeds.

Becki Ord has been promoted to head of the Manchester office, having been with the company since February 2019, while Racheal Johnson is now head of the Leeds office, three years after her arrival.

Both will also now be part of Social’s Senior Leadership Team.

Prior to her promotion, Ord was head of PR within the Manchester team at Social, building on her experience within key sectors such as social housing, local government, property and construction.

Her background was initially as a journalist and her skills and experience have been used in work with clients such as The Growth Company, Muse Developments and housing association One Manchester.

She said: “We have an incredibly talented team who are delivering results which deliver real positive impact for our clients.

“After celebrating our 10-year anniversary earlier this year, I’m looking forward with great confidence to leading and growing the Manchester office as we enter Social’s next decade.”

For the last three years Johnson has played a crucial role as Social’s head of strategy, leading strategy sprint activity with clients across the country.

She is now leading the Leeds office with a roster of clients including Extra MSA Group, Caddick Developments and NP11.

Her prior experience was in local government in West Yorkshire, where she worked across the region’s devolution, place and growth strategies as head of communications and engagement for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Region LEP.

She said: “Since opening the Leeds office seven years ago, Social has established itself as one of the region’s leading place, built environment and public sector communications agencies.

“From global engineering consultancies to regional property developers, local authorities to our leading universities, we have been proud to deliver high impact campaigns, consultations and communications activity to help our clients deliver on their ambitions.

“There is real energy and confidence within our region and our Leeds office as we head into 2024 – and it’s a privilege to lead our talented team through the next chapter of our growth.”

Pete Wrathmell, director, said: “Both Becki and Racheal have shown fantastic leadership skills during their time at Social and our Manchester and Leeds teams couldn’t be in better hands.

“They embody our strong company values, provide superb advice to our clients, and will help to lead us through our next successful phase of growth.”

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H&H, an internal communications and employee experience agency based at Hesslewood Hall, has appointed Cathy Phillips as its new managing director.

She has been with the agency for four years as its head of consultancy and learning, working with both regional and global clients.

Prior to joining, she worked at telecoms and IT business KCOM for over 20 years, holding a number of senior communications roles, including director of communications and chief marketing officer.

While she will take over operational responsibility for the business, co-founders Helen Bissett and Hannah Thoresby – who now become founding directors – will focus their time on nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit of the agency on which it was founded.

H&H was established in 2011 and currently employs 45 people.

Bissett said: “Hannah and I have spent the last 12 years building H&H into the thriving business it is today.

“As any entrepreneur will know, that initial growth phase requires you to be hands-on across every aspect of the business.

“We’ve now reached a size where that’s simply not possible. Our culture is such an important part of what makes us, us so we needed someone to join the leadership team who believes the same things as we do – Cathy was the obvious choice.”

Phillips said: “I joined H&H in early 2020, just before the world of work changed forever. Since then the agency has doubled in size in terms of people and revenue, and we continue to work with some of the world’s leading organisations.

“It’s been fantastic to see the impact our campaigns are having on over five million employees across the globe.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to take on this role and to continue working with our clients and everyone at H&H on our ambitious plans.”