Appointments: Addleshaw Goddard; BAE; Stage One; UK General

ADDLESHAW Goddard has announced the arrival of commercial litigation expert Bill Gilliam from Eversheds.

The hire is part of the firm’s strategy to strengthen its core offering in Leeds as well as investing in its capability to handle large complex disputes in the healthcare sector in particular, and also in the IT, public and public procurement sectors.

Leeds-based Bill Gilliam was head of Eversheds’ Health and Life Sciences practice, and is also one of the country’s top procurement litigation practitioners

Simon Kamstra, Addleshaw Goddard’s head of Litigation, said: “Bill is a highly skilled technical lawyer with a proven track record of litigating large scale disputes for a client base similar to our own – indeed for several major clients we already represent.”

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A NEW wave of apprentices will be arriving at BAE Systems’ site at Brough in 2014.

The company said it is likely to take on up to 17 apprentices in September 2014, including craft apprentices, machinists and fitters at its East Yorkshire site.

BAE confirmed it will make its highest intake of apprentices since BAE Systems was formed 14 years ago, offering 568 apprenticeship places in 2014.

This is an increase of 181 places it offered in 2013 and will see new recruits work at 16 of BAE Systems’ aerospace, security and defence sites in the UK and join the company from September 2014.

The recruit at Brough is part of recruitment by the company’s Military Air and Information (MAI) business, which includes the company’s sites at Warton and Samlesbury where it is recruiting 94 apprentices in 2014.

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STAGE One has appointed Adam Wildi to its senior management team.

Wildi joins the creative construction and manufacturing company as senior project director and will take specific responsibility for demountable structures and architecture.

Already a familiar face at Stage One – the company who realised Thomas Heatherwick’s spectacular cauldron for the London 2012 Olympics – Wildi’s relationship with the company goes back as far as the late 1980s and included the Hong Kong Handover Ceremony. He has collaborated with the North Yorkshire firm on a host of projects including the 2004 Athens Olympic ceremonies, the Chanel Mobile Art Pavilion and 2012’s Beach Volleyball Stadium on Horse Guards Parade.

Mark Johnson, chief executive officer of Stage One, said: “We know Adam well and are looking forward to working with him on some exciting new projects. His extensive experience will be a really valuable addition to our creative team and will underpin the delivery of key aspects of our future strategy.”

Stage One was established in 1996 and creates everything in-house at its extensive base in Tockwith, North Yorkshire. The company employs a team of over 90 craftsmen, designers, engineers, technologists and artists.

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THE accelerating growth in Leeds-based UK General’s schemes business has prompted a number of new appointments to support its on-going expansion in 2014.

The specialist insurer has hired a number of experts including Stella Jones as the new director of travel, Steve Boreham as schemes underwriter in financial and specialist risks and Christian Burton as business development manager for the South East.

Jones, former head of sales for travel at Collinson Insurance Group, has been hired to develop and expand its travel schemes insurance business. UK General’s travel business is among its fastest growing business lines and the company has strong ambitions to grow it further and to ensure it makes a greater contribution to the company’s overall schemes division growth plans.

Boreham has joined UK General from niche insurer, Templeton Insurance in the Isle of Man and Burton – formerly of Towergate – has worked for an insurer, broker and MGA during 11 years in the industry and joins UK General after developing a successful broker panel in East Anglia. He is currently developing niche schemes for a number of key partners across the South of England.