Appointments: Lupton Fawcett Denison Till; Augean; Thompson Brand Partners

COMMERCIAL law firm Lupton Fawcett Denison Till has welcomed Will Portch to its corporate team in York.

Mr Portch joins from a Leeds-based law firm and specialises in acquisitions, disposals, re-organisations and commercial agreements across a wide range of industry sectors.

He also has particular experience of legal issues facing the travel and leisure sector, having worked closely with a number of travel company clients and spent invaluable time on secondment with a large airline/holiday company.

Lupton Fawcett Denison Till says it has seen an increase in demand for its corporate finance services across its three offices, which has also led to the firm appointing two solicitors, Josh Lodge and Sarah Webster, to its corporate team in 2016, both of whom were previously trainee solicitors with the firm.

York-based corporate finance director Martin Frost said: “Over the past eighteen months, the workload in our corporate department has steadily risen. We have been supporting many businesses through mergers and acquisitions, and have advised on a number of transactions across a variety of sectors, including the food and drink, manufacturing, printing and hotel and leisure sectors. Looking to the future, as businesses capitalise on a recovering economy and put in place their growth and expansion plans, we remain committed to supporting them. The appointments we have made recently and the skills and experience they bring to the team will help us achieve this.

“As always, we continue to seek lateral hires from those with a real understanding of the North Yorkshire market.”

The firm also has offices in Leeds and Sheffield.

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SPECIALIST waste management business Augean has announced that Rod Holdsworth will join the board as a non-executive director.

Meanwhile, Rory Macnamara, non-executive director and chairman of the audit committee, has notified the board of his intention to step down from his role at the next AGM.

Mr Holdsworth brings a significant breadth of financial expertise with more than 20 years’ of board level experience gained in the support services, construction, manufacturing and healthcare sectors.

Since 2008, he has group finance director of OCS Group, a privately-owned, international facilities management business with 94,000 staff across 50 countries and revenue of approximately £1bn. He previously served as finance director at Morrison, the construction and support services division owned by Anglian Water Group, and has also held senior financial positions at Acertec, Alfred McAlpine and Smiths Industries.

Jim Meredith, chairman, said: “We are delighted to welcome Rod to Augean as a non-executive director. He will take over the chairmanship of the audit committee from Rory Macnamara, when Rory steps down from the board at the AGM, after almost ten years of service to group, and brings a wealth of senior financial experience to the board, which will be invaluable as Augean continues to deliver its strategy for growth.”

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BRAND and content agency Thompson Brand Partners has hired four staff at its Leeds office.

Senior Designer Ollie Langridge joins from Elmwood. Recently returning to Leeds after five years in New York, Mr Langridge brings with him branding and packaging experience, having worked with such clients as SSE, Argos, Walmart and GSK.  

Designer Daisy Kennedy’s experience on brands including Monsoon/Accessorize, Timberland and Selfridges brings additional retail concept development and fast-moving retail experience to Thompson’s design team.   
Kirsty Stevenson brings PR, marketing, business development and content experience from sectors including IT, sports, public sector, legal services as well as the agency world to a newly created role driving content and business development.  

Davnet Reid joins the board as non-executive director, with specific responsibility for developing the content marketing offer. Reid is head of customer experience and insight at furniture retailer DFS, having previously been head of marketing at First Direct.  

Nick Ramshaw, managing director, said: “As brand and content converge we are seeing growth both in the market and in our business, so it is hugely important to build on our credentials with the right people to ensure we continue to offer our clients the best in brand strategy, design and content creation. These new team members each offer something new and exciting to our clients.”