People: York BID appoints chairman; Carter Jonas expands Harrogate team; and more

The York Business Improvement District (BID) has appointed Michael Hjort to serve as chairman.

Hjort owns Walmgate Ale House and has been actively involved with many city-wide projects including the long-running York Food and Drink Festival. He also contributed to the efforts behind the BID’s successful 2015 campaign.

Andrew Lowson, York BID executive director, says: “Michael brings a breadth of experience and knowledge to this role. As a long-time local independent business owner, he understands York’s evolving business environment and how to positively grow with it. His leadership will inform our work as we continue to develop programmes that are in line with our business-led initiatives.”

The BID began operating April 2016 and has since launched and supported several programmes aimed to benefit businesses in the BID area and York city centre.  

These programmes include enhanced street cleansing, BID street rangers, the Indie York pilot project, winter lights and support for city-wide events such as the Ice Trail, Residents Festival and Fashion City York.  Heading into 2017, the BID will work with the council to address business concerns about city car parking, review the centre’s signage/way-finding, and secure money-saving utility packages for businesses.  

:::

Carter Jonas has appointed James Spencer as head of town sales in its Harrogate office.

Spencer brings more than 11 years experience to Carter Jonas, having worked across the London and Yorkshire markets throughout his career. In his new role at Carter Jonas, he will focus on sales in Harrogate town.

Tony Wright, head of residential agency at Carter Jonas Harrogate, said: “We welcome James as an important member of the sales team, with a dedicated remit to look after sales in central Harrogate. James’s appointment comes at a time when the market is very active which underpins our decision to invest in a dedicated agent to develop our presence and involvement in the sale of town properties.”

:::

Leeds-based automatic weighing machine manufacturer Yamato Dataweigh has boosted its commercial operations team with the appointment of a new commercial operations coordinator.

Leanne Mann has joined Yamato Dataweigh in a technical support role to assist the commercial operations team with customer quotes and delivery.

Following a recent move to new premises on Millennium Way, Yamato is enhancing its internal processes, management and support teams to improve proactivity around operations.

Yamato commercial operations manager Andrea Spencer said: “We are very pleased to welcome Leanne to the Yamato team. She brings a wealth of experience in technical support and administration with her.#

“She will be assisting Peter Hartley and Mark James with developing quotations for metal detectors and checkweighers, either in combined production line solutions or as individual machines.

“Leanne will be supporting the Yamato technical support, customer care and sales teams to show that Yamato is proactive in dealing with quotes accurately and quickly and can deliver orders on time to tight production deadlines.”