Member Article

This month’s South East appointments

Lorraine Wilde, Parrott & Coales LLP

Aylesbury-based solicitors, Parrott & Coales LLP, has further expanded its commercial and residential property team with the appointment of solicitor Lorraine Wilde.

Lorraine joins the residential arm just two months after the appointment of Brinder Randhawa, associate solicitor. This latest appointment now takes the property team to seven solicitors.

Lorraine, who lives in Aylesbury, has nine years experience in property law. Her training and experience started when working for a major law firm in London where she stayed for five years before joining a solicitors in Maidenhead.

Lorraine specialises in all matters related to buying, selling and leasing all types of property but has a particular interest in residential property matters.

Lorraine said: “Working closely with people is what I love to do which is why I was attracted to property law. It’s a chance to help people by easing the stress involved in buying and selling, whether it’s a home or business premises,”

“Ultimately it comes down to good client service and this is why I was attracted to the role at Parrott & Coales. In the past I’ve worked opposite the firm and so I knew it had a good reputation for delivering an excellent customer experience. This is really important to me so I jumped at the offer to join the team.”

Sarah Plumridge, managing partner of Parrott & Coales commented, “Last year the UK property market saw considerably growth with property prices increasing by around 7% towards the end of 2014. Growth is predicted for this year, albeit slightly slower, however, with the Government’s recent stamp duty reforms and the Help to Buy scheme extended to 2020, the market looks likely to remain buoyant for some time.

“It’s therefore important that we continue to grow our property team so we maintain the high standard of care that our clients enjoy and which is why many of them stay with us. We’re delighted that someone of Lorraine’s experience and calibre is joining us as she will be a real asset to the firm.”

Phil Coutanche, Ultimate Finance Group

Ultimate Finance Group, which provides cashflow solutions to SME’s, is expanding in the South East with the appointment of Phil Coutanche as regional director.

Phil, who lives in Cooden, near Bexhill will operate out of Ultimate Finance’s Uckfield office and be responsible for growing the business across Sussex, Kent and London.

He joins the group from Bibby Financial Services where he spent 13 years providing invoice finance and other funding options to businesses.

Phil’s move coincides with impressive growth for Ultimate Finance over the last 12 months with loans and other receivables increasing by 60% and the client base expanding across all funding types by over 36%.

Martin Bennison who leads the team in the South of England, said: “Phil’s experience, knowledge and connections in the area, both with intermediaries and businesses, make him a great addition to the team,

“These are really exciting times for the group and by attracting people of Phil’s calibre we are looking forward to continuing to help businesses in the South East area to grow and become successful.”

Gary Perry, Shanly Homes

Shanly Homes’ has appointed Gary Perry appointed as regional managing director to its Southern arm of the business.

Perry brings considerable experience to the role after a decade’s service with Shanly Homes, most recently as building director.

Perry said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be appointed managing director. I feel it’s the right time for me to take on this challenge after 10 years within the company. I am proud to have been part of the team that has grown the business and moved it forward.”

Perry, who is based at Shanly’s Southern office in Leatherhead will oversee operations across South London, Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex and Kent.

He is keen to build on a fruitful year for the division, which brought to market numerous prestigious developments, including Warriner Place, a collection of nine luxury townhouses in Battersea and Lavington Park – 18 charming Arts & Crafts-inspired houses and cottages in the grounds of Seaford College near Petworth in Sussex.

Jonathan Bridges, Exponential-e

London-based cloud and connectivity provider, Exponential-e, has announced the appointment of Jonathan Bridges as head of Enterprise Cloud.

Jonathan develop propositions to support businesses transitioning from legacy IT infrastructures to private Cloud platforms.

Jonathan brings 17 years of IT experience to the role and has held a number of leadership roles within the enterprise software space, helping organisations to scale and execute cloud initiatives.

He was instrumental in developing Fujitsu’s first Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering and was accountable for driving the adoption of cloud services within COLT’s enterprise division across Europe.

He has created and managed many teams in the UK and Europe, providing multi-region delivery of sales, projects and on-going operations.

Jonathan’s most recent role was as global head of Business Development for Canopy’s Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) portfolio.

Lee Wade, CEO of Exponential-e, said: “Jonathan brings a deep understanding of the Cloud to Exponential-e and we are confident that he will be able to use this to help our customers extract greater value from their investments and accelerate the adoption of Cloud-based infrastructures.

“The Cloud has become an integral part of IT systems, with recent research from the Cloud Industry Forum revealing that 78 per cent of UK organisations have adopted at least one Cloud-based solution.

“However, businesses are still resistant to moving all IT operations into a hosted environment, often starting their journey in stages.

“Using his specific emphasis on value-based selling, I am confident that Jonathan will play a key role in enabling Exponential-e to continue advancing forward in a high growth, competitive market.”

James Robson, Lumin Wealth Management

Lumin Wealth Management has appointed James Robson as financial planner

Robson, who spent over two years at London-based Plutus, left in November 2014 to join the St Albans wealth management firm. He started at Lumin in January.

At Plutus, Robson specialised in working with Olympic and Paralympic athletes, and people in the entertainment industry, and has taken all 20 of those clients with him.

He said: “Managing clients’ money and making the decisions offers me a great opportunity to improve their lives first-hand,

“I sat down with my clients before the move and told them the situation and they were all happy to stay with me.

“That’s because I’ve built good relationships with them,”

Steve Taylor, Cordless Consultants

Independent workplace technology consultancy Cordless Consultants Ltd has appointed Steve Taylor as projects director.

Based at the Cordless London Headquarters, Steve will lead the delivery team to ensure that all projects are delivered to total satisfaction of the clients, whereby innovative technology solutions bring real value within workplace environments.

Steve will hold Board level responsibility for all Design and Delivery (fit-out) technical projects.

Steve is a highly experienced technical Project Director and Business Manager. During the past 10 years, he was owner and director of UK Consultancy firm Technology Moves.

Nigel Miller, managing director for Cordless Consultants said: “The appointment of Steve Taylor as Cordless Projects Director will further enhance the Cordless offering as a leading provider of technology workplace services.

“Under Steve’s leadership, our clients will continue to benefit from the inspiring project delivery that they have come to know and trust Cordless for.

“Steve’s Director-level pedigree coupled with his strong Project Management and technology consultancy skillset brings fresh thinking to Cordless and we are very excited to have him on board.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .