People: Walker Singleton; Par Equity; Armstrong Watson; and more

Yorkshire-based property consultancy, Walker Singleton, has bolstered its residential team with three new appointments.

The firm’s residential brands are estate agency WS Residential and Charnock Bates, a specialist in selling fine, country and period homes.

Emma Hill and Molly Powell have been appointed as sales negotiators for Charnock Bates. Lynn Conway has joined WS Residential as an accompanied viewer/assistant negotiator. She will work with the wider team to continue to help people find their perfect home.

WS Residential has around 750 properties under management and 100 homes for sale, with properties mainly located within the Kirklees, Calderdale and Bradford areas.

Walker Singleton director, Ben Waites, said: “Welcoming Emma, Molly and Lynn to our team is another demonstration of us acting on our growth plans.

“I look forward working with them as they continue to forge their own great careers by helping us deliver for our clients.”

Walker Singleton currently employs over 50 people across its offices, including bases in Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds and Bradford.

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Venture capital firm, Par Equity, has appointed Sunny Nagi as senior investment manager, and Elizabeth Young as investment manager in its Yorkshire team.

Nagi and Young bring a blend of corporate experience from Morgan Stanley, PwC, academia and life sciences.

They become the second and third members of the team based in Yorkshire, joining regional development manager Giles Moore who has been working with the region’s early-stage technology companies since Par Equity’s expansion into Yorkshire last year.

Nagi began his career as a proprietary trader in the equity, fixed income and energy markets at institutions including BlackRock, Morgan Stanley and PwC.

Most recently, he was a venture capital investment manager at Committed Capital.

He studied at Bayes Business School, followed by an Executive Education course at Harvard Business School, with a focus on Private Equity and Venture Capital.

Young joins Par Equity having most recently worked as a senior investment analyst at ACF Investors.

Here, she played a pivotal role in managing the Angel Cofund and the Delta Fund, overseeing £100m in assets across a portfolio of over 100 companies.

Prior to this, she worked as an investment analyst for Creator Fund, a student-led VC that invests in university startups.

She has an extensive background in medical engineering, having completed her BSc Hons in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Glasgow.

Giles Moore, regional development manager at Par Equity, said: “It’s a really exciting time for technological innovation in the North.

“With emerging physical infrastructure such as The Arc in Leeds, Olympic Legacy Park in Sheffield and the Corridor in Manchester, it’s becoming all the more clear that the local tech ecosystem is bursting with emerging talent and innovation.

“We’re happy to welcome Sunny and Elizabeth to the team here – their expertise and insight will be invaluable as we continue to support and invest in promising startups. Together, we are incredibly optimistic about the future of our operations in the region.”

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Armstrong Watson is continuing to develop its services for healthcare professionals with the recent appointment of a specialist healthcare financial planning consultant.

Benjamin Walsh has joined the firm after four years with Cavendish Medical and has extensive knowledge of the NHS Pension Scheme and its associated intricacies.

As an independent financial planning consultant, he will work with medical clients, supporting them through the ever-changing pensions, tax, and economic landscape.

Walsh said: “Headline changes, from the removal of the lifetime allowance to the McCloud Remedy, have made it very difficult for healthcare professionals to navigate their personal financial positions and that is one of the reasons it is so important that we can offer specialist advice in these areas.”

Armstrong Watson’s healthcare team looks after a portfolio of clients across primary and secondary care as well as within private settings.

Led by accounting partner Morag Miller, it provides guidance and advice on a range of business and financial services including annual accounts, tax returns, tax planning and compliance, corporate finance, business funding and accounting technology solutions as well as financial planning.

Miller, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Ben Walsh, to the Armstrong Watson Healthcare Services Team.

“Ben’s expertise will allow us to provide a comprehensive suite of compliance and advisory services to our clients, assisting them with all their accounting, tax, pension, and wealth management requirements.”

James Marlow, regional financial planning manager, added: “Ben will be integral and key to developing our financial planning proposition in the healthcare sector.

“With his expertise and knowledge, we’re well-placed as a business to help many individuals in this space.

“With it being a specialist area of advice, Ben will add value with the intricacies around this, in addition to providing holistic advice on a broader level.”

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Professor Adeeba Malik, of Bradford-based national ethnic minority-led charity QED Foundation, has been declared High Sheriff for West Yorkshire.

The year-long Royal appointment is non-political and unpaid. The Office of High Sheriff is the oldest secular Office in the UK after the Crown and is carried out on a wholly voluntary basis.

Malik has been with QED for over 32 years. She began working as a teacher in Bradford and Hull before dedicating her career to creating social and economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities across the country.

She said: “It is an enormous honour to take on this important role. I look forward to serving my home county and meeting the many different people who do so much good for West Yorkshire.

“It will be a privilege to support those who work so hard in crime prevention, as well as those from the public, private, community, charity, and voluntary sectors, who create such positive impact for the region.

“West Yorkshire, like the rest of the UK, has faced many challenges over decades.

“However, through my years of work in the county, I know there is so much good work taking place by so many different people, and I want to acknowledge that in my year as High Sheriff, and champion those people who do great work across our communities.”

Malik has a 27-year track record working across Whitehall, holding numerous ministerial and non-ministerial roles on various boards in Bradford, Yorkshire, and nationally.

Some of these include Yorkshire Forward, The Waterways Trust, Ethnic Minority Business Forum, Sheffield Hallam University, British Waterways, The Cabinet Office Race Disparity Advisory Board, and the Women and Work Commission.

Currently she is a board member of the Home Office Strategic Race Advisory Board, director of the Bradford Culture Company, member of a State Honours Committee, and member of Nurture Academies Trust.

She is a Visiting Professor at York St John University and a Deputy Lieutenant for West Yorkshire.

In 2004, she received an MBE, and in 2015, a CBE for her contribution to mainstream public bodies.

Dr Mohammed Ali, CEO of the QED Foundation, said: “When I set up QED 34 years ago, I stated a vision, which was to see ethnic minorities play full roles in Britain’s mainstream social and economic life.

“I see this vision becoming reality in all walks of life, which gives me great pleasure that we are on the right track.

“Adeeba’s appointment as the first ethnic minority woman High Sheriff for Yorkshire is a great example of that.

“I’m immensely proud of Adeeba and all her achievements and contribution to QED over the years. She’s already a much-loved and respected force for good in our region and beyond.”