Member Article

This week’s Yorkshire appointments

Mazars, Rob Burton and Craig Manson

Accountancy firm Mazars has strengthened its Leeds office with the appointment of two new partners, Rob Burton and Craig Manson.

Rob Burton has been promoted to corporate finance partner and Craig Manson joins the firm as audit and advisory partner from Garbutt and Elliott.

Oliver Hoffman, Leeds managing partner and national head of corporate finance, said: “We are delighted to announce that Rob Burton has been promoted to Partner.

“He has established himself as a strong force in the Corporate Finance community and has played a large part in the growth of our Leeds Corporate Finance business which has doubled its people numbers in recent years.

“We are also very pleased to welcome Craig Manson who joins as Audit and Advisory Partner from Garbutt and Elliott.

“He is a well known figure in the Yorkshire advisory community and brings with him a wealth of experience working with privately owned and family businesses.

“These appointments highlight our continued investment in the firm and our commitment to deliver expertise and support to Yorkshire’s privately owned businesses.”

GVA (Leeds), Chris Jones and Jared Thompson

Property consultancy GVA has recruited and promoted to its Yorkshire valuation and planning, development and regeneration teams following a period of sustained growth.

Chris Jones, who joined GVA in 2013 will now work alongside director Dale Robinson in driving forward the planning, development and regeneration functions across the Yorkshire and Humber region. Chris Jones will now take a lead role in growing the team’s planning function.

GVA’s Leeds based valuation team is expanding with the promotion of Jared Thompson to director to head up the team and the recruitment of Jamie Gellert as senior surveyor.

Paul Manning, regional senior director at GVA in Leeds, said: “Both Chris and Jared are well known and trusted by their many clients in Leeds; they are both leading their teams at an exciting point in the market cycle and have plans to further expand the teams in the short term future and explore new areas of work.”

Opus North, Robb Smillie

Opus North, the leading Yorkshire-based property development and investment company, has strengthened its team with the appointment of Robb Smillie as a retail and leisure specialist.

Smillie, a graduate of Leeds University, joins Opus North from Leeds property consultancy WSB.

Andrew Duncan, the managing director of Ilkley-based Opus North, said: “We are delighted to welcome Robb to Opus North. He joins at an important time for the company as we continue to expand and embark on new developments.

“As a retail and leisure specialist, with valuable asset management experience, Robb will be working across our whole portfolio, including prestigious new projects at Morecambe, Llandudno, Aberystwyth and Darlington, together with existing assets such as The Bourse office complex in Leeds.”

Beaumont Legal

Yorkshire-based Beaumont Legal, has rewarded four existing employees with a coveted training contract, as the firm looks to establish itself as the sector’s leading graduate and solicitor training centre in the region.

Law graduates Hannah Brown, Rebecca Clark, Tom Grice and Ben Webster have begun a two-year programme where they will work across areas such as residential and commercial property as well as litigation, wills and probate.

Each will develop and expand their skills set, learning technical aspects and processes from day one, on their way to becoming a fully-qualified solicitor.

The four new trainee solicitors all joined Beaumont Legal as university graduates; Becky and Ben both received a Law degree and Masters in Law in Practice from Huddersfield University, while Hannah graduated in Law at Sheffield University. Tom, who has been with the firm since completing his Law degree at Bradford University in 2012, started on the separate representation team before applying for a training contract last year.

Irwin Mitchell, Emily Sinclair

The Sheffield office of Irwin Mitchell has boosted its Construction team with the appointment of Solicitor Emily Sinclair.

Commenting on her move to Irwin Mitchell, Emily said: “Irwin Mitchell in Yorkshire has a very strong reputation for construction work and I am very excited to be working for a firm which has an entrepreneurial outlook and where I can continue to develop my specialism in both contentious and non-contentious construction work.”

Julie Morrissy, partner and head of Construction at Irwin Mitchell, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Emily to our growing team.

“She has a broad range of expertise and the right skill set to ensure we continue to provide clients with the first class legal service that they deserve.”

The Floow, Claire Sargeant

Sheffield telematics organisation The Floow have appointed experienced account director Claire Sargeant to manage the firm’s Direct Line Group telematics contract.

Formerly the UK Business Development Manager at Octo Telematics, Claire will deliver a dedicated day to day point of contact for Direct Line, which announced that it had appointed The Floow to deliver its smartphone applications and telematics data for their DrivePlus systems earlier this year.

Aldo Monteforte, CEO of The Floow, said: “We are delighted to welcome Claire as a new member of the team. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience in the creation and management of telematics programmes, as well as a profound understanding of business management.

“Claire will now continue the delivery and development of our work with Direct Line.”

Feature Media, Julia Barr

Feature Media, the full-service video production company based in Leeds has expanded its team with the appointment of Julia Barr who will take on the role of marketing.

Julia, a graduate from The University of Leeds, will be responsible for supporting Director Julie Tumilty with marketing and communication activities.

Julia comments: “I’m really excited to be a part of the Feature Media team. I’m a massive film fan and love the creativity involved in the production process so when I saw there was an opening for a new team member I knew I had to put myself forward, it was the perfect fit for me.

“I know I still have a lot to learn but I’m not afraid to sink my teeth in, I’m looking forward to gaining more insight into the business.”

Saracen Interiors, Gemma Lennon

Saracen Interiors has appointed Gemma Lennon as its senior project consultant for the North.

Gemma joins the dedicated workplace consultant’s Yorkshire office, which opened in Wetherby earlier this year, and will be responsible for managing relationships with all Saracen’s clients based in the North of the UK.

Joint managing director of Saracen Interiors, Michael Page explains: “We initially opened the Northern office in order to meet the needs of one of our long-term blue chip clients who was repeatedly giving us projects in the North of England.

“As established partners, with a record of seamless handovers, working to budget, the client was keen to maintain the relationship along with the quality of service to which it had become accustomed and it has given us the opportunity to test the waters in the North and establish Yorkshire as a suitable base.

“We have built an extremely reliable, talented and hard-working team in a matter of months, which speaks volumes regarding the calibre of the Yorkshire workforce, and Gemma is a welcome addition.”

Elevation Recruitment,

Yorkshire based Elevation has appointed one of the region’s leading recruitment specialist Managing Directors to head up its expanding Leeds office.

Newly appointed Leeds managing director Abigail Simpson, from York, brings fifteen years of business development experience, alongside a demonstrable track record of growing recruitment teams and businesses, to the firm’s Leeds operation.

Group managing director Greg Parkinson explaining: “I am absolutely delighted to welcome Abigail as our Managing Director of our Leeds operation and as a new member to our experienced Elevation Recruitment Senior Management Team.

“Abigail’s primary focus is to lead and manage Elevation’s high quality service delivery across the West Yorkshire region and support, mentor and lead the Elevation team across our six specialist brands.

“Yorkshire as a whole has seen some very promising growth recently with staffing levels across all sectors increasing. Our continued expansion in Leeds is prompted by the demand we are seeing from businesses for ambitious, quality candidates.

“Abigail has an excellent technical understanding of the Finance industry and forms solid business networks with clients and candidates across the industry, which has resulted in her being a trusted recruitment partner across the Yorkshire market, adding real value to the Elevation Recruitment team.”

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