People: Confederation of British Industry; Yorkshire Building Society; Rise at Seven; and more

Bailie Group CEO, Fergus Bailie, has been confirmed as the Yorkshire and Humber regional chair of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

He has held the post of vice-chair for the past year. His father, Roy Bailie, previously held the same position — but for the Northern Ireland division in the 1990s.

Having studied for a law degree, Fergus Bailie took his first steps into business 22 years ago.

Taking on a role with PwC, he achieved chartered accountancy status working in the audit team and finally in mergers and acquisitions.

It was from here that he joined the family business, initially taking on a project management position, later working his way up from commercial director to managing director, and finally to the CEO position he occupies today.

He said: “I’ve been a member of the CBI for nine years and have always believed it to be an essential organisation – championing and empowering British businesses to strive for excellence.

“2024 is a hugely important year for Yorkshire businesses and the political landscape will shape all our futures.

“With general and mayoral elections happening this year, the voice of Yorkshire businesses needs to be heard by politicians, and I’m excited to be a part of that.

“It’s an honour to be able to bring my own perspectives to the role. I hope that my experiences as an SME business leader will enhance our ability to further represent the diverse interests of our membership, as we navigate the challenging economic climate that we find ourselves in.”

Beckie Hart, CBI regional director for Yorkshire and Humber, added: “Firstly, I would like to thank Jane Madeley for her steadfast commitment to the role of regional chair and support of the CBI Yorkshire & Humber team.

“I’m pleased that she will continue in the role of vice-chair during 2024.

“I’m pleased Fergus Bailie will be taking on the role of chair in what will be a pivotal year for the country.

“His knowledge and experience of running businesses through difficult periods will bring crucial insight and help shape the agenda for stability and sustainable growth across the UK.

“It’s more important than ever that the voice of business is heard in the run-up to the general election as well as the local and mayoral elections.”

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Yorkshire Building Society has today confirmed that its chief financial officer, Alasdair Lenman, plans to retire in June this year after seven years with the society.

Susan Allen, chief executive, said: “I would like to thank Alasdair for his outstanding contribution to the society over the last seven years.

“He has been CFO during a period of significant challenge as we have addressed the complexities of the Covid Pandemic and a period of historically low interest rates.

“During this period, our mortgage and savings balances have increased to more than £45bn, we have consistently paid higher than the market average rate to our savers and delivered strong profitability.

“We are working with external executive search partners to find a permanent successor to Alasdair. In the meantime, I know colleagues will continue to ensure everything we do is in the long-term best interest of our members and customers.”

Lenman said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Yorkshire Building Society and it has been a great privilege to have been CFO at a member owned mutual building society.

“Now is the right time for me to plan my retirement, particularly when the society is in such good shape.

“I would like to thank all my colleagues for their dedication and hard work and know they will continue to put members at the heart of everything they do.”

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Creative agency, Rise at Seven, has named Harry Wyld as growth marketing manager for the group.

He was the former growth marketing manager at a full-service B2B agency, MOI Global, specialising in marketing for technology brands.

Wyld’s hire further bolsters the agency’s commercial arm.

He is responsible for the strategy, co-ordination and deployment of marketing initiatives to help grow the group’s awareness in the industry and contribute to the overall revenue and commercial success of the agency, which has bases in Sheffield, Manchester, London and New York.

Directly reporting to Karl Loudon, Wyld will provide the agency’s chief commercial officer with a comprehensive overview of essential marketing and growth metrics.

And collaborating with client partner Nick Le Chat, he will ensure alignment between marketing and sales strategies.

In his previous role, Wyld executed several campaigns and programs to target senior decision-makers within large tech enterprises.

He said: “I’m very excited to start my journey at Rise at Seven. The agency has already done such a great job of its own marketing. Rise has built some very strong foundations for me to work with.

“I’ve witnessed substantial growth in my previous agency and I’m grateful for that experience.

“Now – I’m very much looking forward to bringing my expertise over to Rise. 2024 is going to be a great year, and I can’t wait to see where we can take the brand.”

Loudon said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Harry to the team. 2024 is going to be a huge year for the agency.

“We’re now taking Rise at Seven from start-up mode into scale-up mode and our recent new additions to the business have given me a brilliant finance and operations team to support the commercial team.”

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Ossett-based high-precision plastics components provider, Carclo, says Jonathan (Jon) Templeman will be appointed as a non-executive director of its Board with effect from 1 February 2024.

He will be a member of the Audit and Risk, Remuneration, and Nomination Committees and senior independent director.

He has a wealth of turnaround and business growth experience, gained leading a number of international, industrial businesses.

Templeman is currently non-executive chair of Whittan Group Ltd, a manufacturer and seller of steel storage equipment.

Prior to this, he was chief executive officer of Whittan Group from 2017 to June 2023, chief executive officer of Bridon Group from 2009 to 2016 and, before that, had various roles at EASB Global including chief executive officer from 2003 to 2009.

Before joining EASB Global, he held a number of roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Joe Oatley the non-executive chair of Carclo, said: “I’m happy to welcome Jon to the Board. His wealth of experience in leading business growth and turnarounds will be of great value as we continue on the Carclo journey.”