Member Article

This week’s Yorkshire appointments

Grant Thornton, Andy Wood

Grant Thornton has announced that the new practice leader for its Leeds and Newcastle offices will be Andy Wood who currently leads the audit team in the region.

Will Oxley, who has been promoted to a national level said: “I am delighted with our continued success in the Yorkshire and North East practice, which compared favourably with our double digit growth nationally during 2014.

“We have attracted and retained great talent in the business and worked with some of the leading corporates and financial institutions in the region.

“Under Andy’s leadership I’m confident the Leeds and North East practice will continue to play its part in delivering future local and national growth. “

Will and Andy will take on their new roles from the beginning of November 2014.

Gent Visick

Vastly experienced professional Guy Gilfillan has joined Gent Visick as a consultant as the property firm further expands its offer following a sustained period of growth.

Matthew Harriman has joined Leeds-based Gent Visick’s building surveying team while Richard Henley will work in its agency department, taking the team to 10 in total.

Rupert Visick added: “Gent Visick continues to grow very successfully organically and as market conditions continue to improve this provides further opportunities for us to look to sensibly broaden our client offering and we feel privileged that someone of Guy’s calibre is working with us.

“In fact, the recruitment of Matthew and Richard, two extremely talented graduates, is further proof that our model continues to blossom as well as showing that our belief that investing time in developing and training our own staff is absolutely the right thing to do for both our and their own futures.”

GB Building Solutions, Marie Buckingham

GB Building Solutions has announced a major restructure and the appointment of two construction industry big hitters as it benefits from growth in its specialist sectors.

GB Group’s business development director Marie Buckingham has been appointed managing director of the Yorkshire and North East division, and student accommodation sector specialist Dan Spencer is promoted to managing director of the North West division.

Executive chairman, Martin Smout said: “The outlook for our construction business is good, and we expect the recent headcount growth to continue.

“The time and market is right to migrate from the north south divisional model that has successfully steered us through the years of recession into a more regionalised approach, where our customers and people can align with regional delivery offices with senior managers leading focused teams whilst maintaining a consistent one business approach.”

Gordons, Dan Stowers

Yorkshire law firm Gordons has appointed a head of regulatory to service the growing demand the practice is experiencing for this specialist area of law.

Regulatory lawyer Dan Stowers joins the firm as partner from Irwin Mitchell where he worked for the past five years and held a similar position. Prior to joining Irwin Mitchell, Dan spent two years at both Cartwright King Solicitors and DLA Piper.

Gordons managing partner, Paul Ayre, said: “Dan is a highly regarded lawyer, well-known for his ability to provide commercially sound, practical advice.

“His skills ideally complement the firm’s wider corporate offer. Regulatory is an increasingly important area of the law and Dan’s appointment means we are ideally placed to provide our clients with enhanced expertise in this area.”

DS.Emotion, Claire Milnes

Leeds based creative and digital agency DS.Emotion has promoted Claire Milnes to client services director.

Claire, who has been with the firm for 16 years, will assume a more strategic role in overseeing account delivery teams and managing key relationships with clients.

Matt Button, director at DS.Emotion said, “Claire is an invaluable part of the team at DS.Emotion. Her solid understanding of our business, the industry at large and our clients requirements has proven critical to long term client retention and this new role will allow her to better channel this expertise as we grow the business through our studios in Leeds, Manchester and London.”

Irwin Mitchell (Sheffield) Michael Hall

The Sheffield office of law firm Irwin Mitchell has appointed dealmaker Michael Hall into its fast growing Corporate & Commercial team.

Commenting on his move to Irwin Mitchell, Michael said: “Irwin Mitchell reputation in Sheffield for high quality corporate work is well known and I was keen to be part of a successful team and to help contribute to that growth.

“I’m from the Sheffield area and am passionate about the region, and I know Irwin Mitchell share that and are committed to further expanding its commercial presence.”

Matt Ainsworth, corporate partner at Irwin Mitchell in Sheffield, said: “We are delighted to announce another high calibre recruit to the team. Despite a challenging market, our deal pipeline is very healthy and it is important for Irwin Mitchell to continue recruiting the very best lawyers so that we can continue to provide our corporate clients with first class advice”.

Sarah Gough, Charley Downey and Rory Dunlop

Boutique Media

Boutique, has made three new appointments in its Leeds office. The additions bring the company to a total of 13 employees – a threefold increase in eighteen months.

Sarah Gough joins the agency as Head of Earned Media to head up a new strand of the company offering, new to the paid search team is PPC Executive Rory Dunlop who will be working across new and existing clients, and Charley Downey has joined the company as account executive.

Simon Bollon, managing director of Boutique said ‘We’re really excited to be expanding our team in order to support growth in various areas of the business.

“We’re particularly pleased to be announcing the launch of a new PR component which is the latest enhancement to our business proposition. Sarah, Rory and Charlie have all brought fresh thinking and enthusiasm to the office, and are a perfect fit for us.”

Caddick Developments, Simon Gardner

Caddick Developments has announced the appointment of Simon Gardner as a development project manager, who will oversee development projects across the wider Caddick Group.

Simon joins Caddick Developments with over 20 years’ experience in residential, commercial and retail industries. In recent years, Simon has focussed heavily on development projects within both public and private healthcare sectors.

Johnny Caddick, director at Caddick Developments, comments on the new appointment: “We have a very experienced team at Caddick spanning over 30 years across a range of market sectors including commercial, education and residential. We’re pleased to welcome Simon to the Caddick team.

“Simon’s role at Caddick Developments will involve being a link to Caddick Construction for development projects in respect of design development, cost planning and project management, at the early stages.

“Part of his role will also involve project managing and cost planning refurbishment schemes for the Caddick Group property portfolio and dealing with any extensive property maintenance issues.”

UKTI Yorkshire & Humber, Susan Waterson

Susan Waterson will support the delivery of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) services across Yorkshire and the Humber in partnership with regional director Mark Robson and an expert network of International Trade Advisers.

She brings a broad range of experience to UKTI, aided by a Master’s degree in the study of entrepreneurial culture, and having previously worked for the Department for Work & Pensions, Department of Education, the Sector Skills Council and Local Authorities.

Susan has also worked for former regional development agencies Yorkshire Forward and the Welsh Development Agency.

Susan said: “I’m delighted to join a dynamic team that is already helping thousands of businesses in the region to make great strides in successfully competing in international markets.

“I look forward to continuing this great work, while implementing new programmes and strategies that will enable us to move forward into new areas.”

Redbrik, Jed Furniss

Independent estate agency, Redbrik has hired Jed Furniss will be working from both the Sheffield and Chesterfield offices, looking to help people sell and buy in the Peak District and South West Sheffield.

Redbrik director Mark Ross said: “This is a significant appointment for Redbrik. Jed is hugely experienced and brings a wealth of knowledge to our business that has customer service and great marketing at the core.”

He said: “This is a great opportunity to become involved with a forward thinking independent business that has created a real name for itself.”

Redbrik was launched in 2013 by directors Mark Ross and Julie Bulheller. Expansion has seen the appointment of a third director, Michael Parry, and a staff team which has grown to 15 at the offices in Glumangate, Chesterfield and Abbeydale Road, Millhouses, Sheffield.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .