This week’s Yorkshire appointments

Five senior promotions have been made by Yorkshire and North East law firm, Newtons Solicitors.

Claire Armer, who joined Newtons Solicitors two years ago, becomes the firm’s operations director, while senior solicitors, Carole Gibbs and Rachel Baul, are appointed team leaders of the private client and family law teams.

In addition, senior solicitors, Rachel Robinson and Matt Butcher, take joint team leadership responsibility for the firm’s largest department, residential property.

They join existing team leaders, director and head of company commercial, James Towler; senior solicitor, Dave Birks who heads the dispute resolution team and director, Gareth Jones, who leads the commercial property team.

All the teams operate across the firm’s office network in Darlington, Harrogate, Knaresborough, Leyburn, Northallerton, Ripon, Richmond, Stokesley, Thirsk and York.

Chris Newton, managing director, said: “These appointments are part of our strategy to share management responsibility to give us increased strength, depth and resilience as we continue to grow as well as creating excellent career development opportunities within our teams.

“I’m very happy with Newtons in terms of location, resources and profitability and we will all now spend a period working on the business and developing our systems to further improve our core values of ensuring a happy team and happy clients.”

Newtons Solicitors, which has its head office in Knaresborough, now employs more than 100 people in 10 offices across Yorkshire and the North East.

Jamie Wheldon, Stuart Rivers Associates

Harrogate-based Stuart Rivers Associates has promoted Jamie Wheldon MRICS to partner.

Jamie joined the firm in 2015 bringing over twenty years’ experience in property and finance.

Jamie said: “Stuart Rivers Associates is a niche Yorkshire firm which can hold its own with any competitor.

“I have really enjoyed introducing capital allowances tax savings to a range of clients and have received tremendous feedback on the quality of our advice, the quality of our service and the tax savings they bring.”

Stuart Rivers Associates is a premium firm of capital allowances consultants based in Harrogate covering the whole of the UK and Europe. The firm works with accountants, tax advisers, solicitors, investors, developers and others to maximise capital allowance tax savings.

Stuart Rivers added: “Jamie has made a positive impact and has introduced a large number of private clients in particular to the firm.”

Sam Olley and Jacob Hutchinson, Investec Wealth & Investment

Investec Wealth & Investment, based in Sheffield, has appointed two new trainee investment advisers to its wealth management team.

Sam Olley and Jacob Hutchinson are both working towards their Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI) Diplomas, which will see them eventually qualifying as Investment Managers.

As part of his Chartered Wealth Management studies, Sam has recently completed his Investment Advice Diploma, with it taking approximately two years to become fully qualified.

Prior to joining Investec Wealth & Investment, Sam worked for five years for insurance company Aviva in Sheffield.

Jacob graduated from Newcastle University in 2015 with a degree in History.

Matthew Beddall, divisional director at Investec Wealth & Investment, said: “We believe in investing in our future talent, training high calibre graduates like Sam and Jacob and giving them the opportunity to progress within the business. We wish them both well with their studies and in their future career with us.”

Wendy Greenwood, hlw Keeble Hawson

hlw Keeble Hawson has announced the appointment of associate solicitor, Wendy Greenwood - a specialist in construction and engineering.

Ms Greenwood will further boost the capabilities of the commercial property department with her expertise in development work, pure construction and other complex transactional work within the construction, engineering and infrastructure industries.

Having previous experience in contentious and non-contentious law across wide-ranging sectors in former roles with national and international law firms, the associate solicitor will also support the firm’s commercial departments on technical construction-specific projects.

Richard Smith, partner and head of commercial property, said: “Whether producing and negotiating bespoke construction contracts or delivering tailored solutions for technical construction-based disputes, Wendy’s role is key to our increased commissions in this sector

“Her appointment reflects our commitment to continue to deliver the highest levels of advice and implementation in every aspect of building, property development and engineering law.”

Ms Greenwood added: “hlw Keeble Hawson’s strong track record - re-enforced by Legal 500 highlighting its cross-departmental strengths in the manufacturing and engineering sectors - speaks volumes.

“I’m enjoying applying my skills across the corporate and dispute resolution departments and playing an instrumental role in development commissions with the real estate team.”

hlw Keeble Hawson has offices in Sheffield, Leeds and Doncaster.

Laura Drew, 360 Chartered Accountants

Hull-based 360 Chartered Accountants has appointed a new audit specialist.

Laura Drew, who trained and qualified as a Chartered accountant at a global accountancy firm, has become 360’s audit manager.

She will be working closely with the founder of 360 and audit director Andy Steele, as well as helping to train the apprentices on the popular 360 Apprenticeship Programme.

Andy Steele said: “We are delighted that Laura has joined the 360 team. She has great experience in this area and has already hit the ground running.

“We’ve seen rapid growth as a firm over the last few years and, as our audit department has been getting busier and busier, we decided that now was the right time to bring in another audit specialist who will be able to look after both current and future clients.”

Ernst Kallus, Emerald Group Publishing

Bingley-based Emerald Group Publishing has appointed Ernst Kallus as its technology and programme director.

Ernst was the former digital media director at Oxford University Press and, most recently, director of platform strategy at Pearson.

This is a key appointment for Emerald and the wider Emerald Group - consisting of Emerald Publishing, Research Media and GoodPractice.

Ernst brings considerable industry experience, having held technology leadership positions at both OUP and Pearson; and, earlier in his career, having spent time with technology service providers specifically working in the Academic Publishing sector and also worked with technology startups.

Richard Bevan, CEO at Emerald, added: “Ernst is a very experienced publishing professional, working at board level and with a track record of delivering international programmes.

“He has deep knowledge of current publishing technology and proven skills in digital publishing strategy, change management and complex programme delivery.

“As a Board, we are confident that Ernst will play a key strategic role in shaping Emerald Publishing and the wider Group as a global knowledge business that brings research to life.”

Lawrence Rippingale and Raphael Pavel, Brawl

Brawl, the Leeds-headquartered content agency, has announced the appointment of creative team members Lawrence Rippingale and Raphael Pavel.

The pair will work across the agency’s international roster of clients that includes 888.com and Superdrug.

Lawrence Rippingale joins with a background in integrated agencies and freelance creative animation. Raphael Pavel brings a track record of motion graphics, cinematography and digital design.

Brodie Harkess, director of content at Brawl, said: “Agencies are built on attracting the best talent and both Lawrence and Raphael have a passion for their work.

“We look forward to seeing them create great campaigns for our clients in the UK and overseas.”

Brawl operates internationally from its offices in Leeds and London.

Antony Barton, Robertson Baxter

Robertson Baxter, the Huddersfield-based IFA firm, has appointed former HSBC adviser, Antony Barton, to its team.

Antony joins as one of the firm’s senior independent financial advisers, bringing the total number of staff to 13 and advisers to four.

He will be responsible for providing expert financial advice and superior client-servicing to a range of clients across Robertson Baxter’s portfolio.

Having achieved the requisite DipFA qualification, Antony has worked in the banking and financial industry for 12 years. He also has nine years’ experience owning and running a retail business.

In addition, Anthony previously worked with all three of Robertson Baxter’s IFAs, joint managing directors Stephen Baxter and Greg Robertson, and associate director Simon Shorthouse.

Greg said: “We are thrilled to welcome Antony to the team. He has terrific experience in advising and dealing with clients and he will be a great asset to our team.

“He will enable us to continually improve our service the clients we have and add new ones to our growing business.”

Mujahed Akhtar, John Gavin and Joshua Baterip, Opal Wave

Business software specialist Opal Wave has made three key appointments to its Bradford team.

The new recruits, based at Opal Wave’s offices in Bradford’s Peckover Street, bring its staffing there plus its other sites in London and Beirut to 35.

The newcomers are account manager John Gavin, new business sales executive Joshua Baterip and inside sales executive Mujahed Akhtar.

Mr Gavin has joined from the Renewable Energy Supermarket, a community project in North-East Lincolnshire, where he was sales director for 20 months. At Opal Wave, he will nurture relationships with existing customers, encouraging them to expand their use of the company’s consulting, hardware, software, hosting, support and maintenance services.

Finding and winning new clients for Opal Wave across this portfolio of offerings will be Mr Baterip’s main task. He will work closely with the company’s in-house marketing and telemarketing experts, its outside telemarketing agency and SAP UK.

He was previously an account executive in Leeds with New York-based Schoology, providing intuitive learning management systems to schools and colleges across the UK.

Mr Akhtar will perform telemarketing activities across Opal Wave’s database of UK companies, which he will also help to develop and build. In addition, he will liaise with the firm’s telemarketing agency to identify prospective customers and support Mr Baterip in his efforts to win new clients.

Mr Akhtar was previously a sales executive with Leeds-based broker SME Insurance Services for about two years.

Simon Bell, Opal Wave sales and marketing director, said: “We’re delighted to welcome the new recruits to our Bradford offices.

“They’ve joined a great team, which did some terrific deals and implemented important changes to our service and solution portfolio in the last financial year, when seven other newcomers joined the company.

“We wish our three recent recruits well and are sure they’ll play important parts, as we continue to grow rapidly, capitalising on the continuing huge demand for our services and expertise in the marketplace.”

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