People: Aon; Armstrong Watson; Sheffield Chamber of Commerce; and more
Aon, a global professional services firm has appointed Paul Winrow as head of office for Leeds and Sheffield.
He succeeds Karen Wilczek, who has retired following a career of over 37 years with Aon.
In his new role, Winrow assumes overall responsibility for the firm’s Leeds Embankment and Sheffield offices, and the 36-strong Corporate Commercial Risk Solutions team.
This expands his current role as the head of office of the firm’s Leicester Corporate Commercial Risk Solutions office.
Drawing on 22 years’ industry experience, he will implement the national and regional strategy, develop colleagues, and drive a positive and supportive culture to ensure clients receive the highest level of service to achieve their goals.
Winrow joined Aon in 2016 as client director overseeing a portfolio of clients.
Over time, his remit expanded to include managing colleagues and joining the Leeds and Sheffield office management teams, before being promoted to head of office for Leicester in October 2022.
Prior to joining Aon, he held roles with Willis Towers Watson and Marsh.
Winrow said: “I am proud to have been appointed head of Aon’s Leeds and Sheffield offices at such an exciting time for the firm and following a busy and successful 2023.
“I am surrounded by a talented and knowledgeable team, and I’m looking forward to developing colleagues to ensure that they can continue to support our extensive roster of clients with their commercial insurance needs.
“It has always been my ambition to progress into a leadership role and Aon has provided me with the opportunity to achieve this goal.
“I am really looking forward to building on all Karen has achieved and working with my colleagues and clients across Leeds and Sheffield.”
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Armstrong Watson’s financial planning team continues to grow with the appointment of a new financial adviser in Yorkshire.
Kathryn Hargrave has worked in financial advice for more than a decade and joins from Skipton Building Society, where she worked in a variety of financial advice roles since 2013, including supervising a region of advisers where she was responsible for the quality of advice given.
Her appointment follows the hires of financial planning consultants Alexander Hill and Benjamin Walsh in Leeds and the promotion of Michael Usher, who is based at the firm’s Kendal office.
Hargrave, who is based in Skipton, helps individuals and business owners across a range of areas, specialising in retirement planning, but also including investments, protection and Inheritance Tax planning.
She prioritises the importance of understanding individual goals and circumstances to provide personalised holistic recommendations to clients.
She said: “I’m really excited to join the fantastic team at Skipton and bring my wealth of skills and experience to help our clients directly.
“I came to Armstrong Watson as it was clear the company lives and breathes its culture, creating a supportive environment where colleagues thrive and bring their best to clients.
“It’s also really important for me to be able to provide independent holistic advice so I can help clients no matter what their needs. My goal is to make financial advice simple, accessible and rewarding.”
James Marlow, regional financial planning manager, said: “It’s fantastic for us as a business that Kathryn has joined to develop our presence in the Skipton area.
“With her experience of assisting many advisers over the last 10 years, she’s a great asset to the team who can work well with our accountancy and audit service lines to help many owner-managed businesses plan effectively for the future.”
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Sheffield businessman and communications specialist, Alexis Krachai, has been appointed Sheffield Chamber of Commerce’s newest chamber president.
He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role, as both managing director of specialist communications agency Counter Context, and a leading figure in the region’s business community.
Krachai is a non-executive director on the chamber’s board. He led the organisation during the pandemic as co-interim chief executive, alongside the now permanent chief executive Louisa Harrison-Walker.
Between 2017 and 2021, he led on the set up of the Sheffield Property Association (S-PA), the only formally constituted property association outside of London.
In 2019, he played a central role in the formation of the Sheffield Culture Collective which was convened through the S-PA’s leadership to drive investment in culture across the city and create the conditions for Sheffield to attract more Government funding for culture.
During the pandemic, he also co-chaired Sheffield’s Covid-19 Business Recovery Group which formulated the first economic (recovery) plan approved by Sheffield City Council in over a decade.
He took over from the outgoing president Karen Mosley, managing director of HLM Architects, at the chamber’s AGM.
Krachai said: “Sheffield has momentum but, like many cities, it must wrestle with many challenges that will impact on businesses and the wider economy over the coming years.
“Together there is nothing we cannot achieve in Sheffield, but we must not dodge the difficult conversations about how to build greater strength and resilience in our economy.
“Without a stronger economy we cannot address the inequality in the city or face the mounting challenges like energy and food price rises and the impacts of extreme weather.
“My focus on driving investment in culture stems from so many conversations over the years – culture will be the answer to many of Sheffield’s questions.
“Investment in culture is all about celebrating diverse communities and ensuring our city and district centres are always buzzing. Over time, a buzzing city creates more jobs, more businesses and wider prosperity.”
Mosley added: “Skills development and employee ownership are inextricably linked.
“Both unlock potential, drive a more inclusive and prosperous economy, develop our workforce for the future, recycle more wealth in our local communities and enable business ownership and higher value jobs to remain rooted in our region.
“During my time as chamber president we have seen great progress in breaking down barriers for young people.
“With the help of our chamber members, we’ve been able to turn policy into funding and an action plan to create a more agile skills system, unleashing more talent to provide real business benefit.”
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York-based multi-discipline planning consultancy, AAH Planning, has appointed associate planner, Ross Sandbach to join its team in York.
Founded in 2006, AAH Planning works with businesses and individuals across the UK providing expert planning advice.
Sandbach has been appointed to support the company’s growth plans with ambitions for AAH to expand its client base further this year, primarily in the rapidly expanding energy sector and residential and commercial land use sectors.
Having started his career in planning 15 years ago, he brings a wealth of experience, having previously worked within the private sector focusing on residential and tourism developments at Lichfields and AMS Planning.
In his new role, he will help to develop AAH Planning’s existing client base, including the strategic promotion of housing land and providing advice and support to its range of clients across the country, with a focus on Yorkshire, the North-East and London.
Planning director, Rob Crolla, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Ross to the team.
“Ross offers a wealth of experience which will support us in delivering our future growth aspirations which are focused primarily on the emergent and rapidly expanding energy sector; and residential and commercial land use sectors, across the United Kingdom.”
Sandbach added: “AAH Planning has grown considerably in recent years, particularly within the renewables sector, expanding their client base and reputation nationally.
“I am really looking forward to using my expertise and experience to continue to build our client base and helping the team to continue looking after our existing clients.”
