This week's North East appointments

Paul Skeates, Chandan Ray and Sam Richardson, Orange Bus

Orange Bus, the interaction design agency, has announced three new hires at its Newcastle office.

Sam Richardson joined the company as a customer experience consultant. She has 20 years’ experience in customer experience and previously worked at Ember Customer Management Consultants.

QA engineer Chandan Ray, a software test analyst with more than seven years’ experience in manual and automation testing, joined Orange Bus from Accenture.

The company also hired Paul Skeates, a developer with seven years’ experience. Prior to his appointment, Paul worked as a senior mobile developer at Komodo Digital.

Kris Kennedy, COO of Orange Bus, said: “This has been an outstanding year for us with exciting client projects going on throughout the business.

“To support these projects we’re adding the best talent to the team and the new hires are already proving to be great additions.”

Carl Bell and Carmen Luxton, Achilles Physio

Hexham-based Achilles Physio has taken on former Newcastle United player Carl Bell as practice manager.

Carl (pictured) qualified as a physiotherapist in 2012 and has previously worked with some of the military’s top athletes and elite soldiers.

Commenting on his appointment, he said: “I’m a local lad and having a family of my own has brought me home to the North East.

“After leaving school I signed for Newcastle United and, after being hampered by injury, I was incredibly inspired by the club’s physio at the time.”

Carl continued: “I started developing a keen interest in exercise science and rehab and I went on to do a degree in applied health and exercise science, then another in physiotherapy. I started off in the NHS, then moved into the military which was a great learning curve.”

Speaking further, he said coming on board with Achilles is “a really exciting new challenge”.

Kristi Bester, Achilles Physio’s head of physiotherapy, said Carl will be “a fantastic addition to the practice”, adding: “[He] is a specialist in rehabilitation and has keen interest in strength and conditioning.”

Achilles has also appointed Carmen Luxton to its physiotherapy team.

Carmen has relocated to the North East only recently from Reading, having graduated from Vasile Alecsandri University in 2016 with a Masters in physiotherapy.

Carmen said: “Working with Achilles Physio will give me the chance to put all of my skills into practice and I am looking forward to working with the North East community.”

Wayne Russell, Communicate Technology PLC

Tees Valley firm Communicate Technology PLC has appointed a new client manager.

Wayne Russell (pictured right) has more than 20 years’ sales experience in telecoms and IT infrastructure.

Prior to joining Communicate, he worked for a large data centre business and managed a team responsible for around 1,500 UK customers.

Wayne said: “Communicate appealed to me due to their business model and portfolio and the chance to build collaborative long-term relationships with customers. The fact they are listed in Europe’s 1,000 fastest growing companies by the Financial Times was a huge attraction.

“From what I have experienced so far, there is a great deal of growth and opportunity amongst their base of existing and potential clients and I’m excited to get started to discover more.”

Tony Snaith (left), chief exec of Communicate, commented: “Throughout the last 12 months Communicate has grown significantly, and as the business is expanding offering additional support alongside our technical support team is essential.

“Being responsive to our clients’ needs is what makes us stand out from our competitors, having Wayne on board ensures we can keep listening and evolving.”

Andrew Jamieson, George F. White

Land, business and property group George F. White has appointed a partner in its farm consultancy team.

Andrew Jamieson will be predominately based at the firm’s Duns office, where he will cover the Northumberland, Borders and Cumbria regions as he supports landowners and farmers on a range of operational, financial and business planning matters.

He is re-joining the company, having previously worked in the farm team at George F. White.

Simon Britton, partner at George F. White, said: “It’s wonderful to have Andrew back on board, joining us as a partner in the business, who enhances our farm consultancy team through the capabilities, connections and credibility he brings.

“Andrew has a special kind of calibre that is hard to find, and something that will distinguish our team from other farm consultancy services out there.”

He continued: “His first-hand experience with farmers and landowners and his relationships with local architects, planners and developers will strengthen our farm team’s ability in helping clients to realise the potential of their land and business.”

Andrew commented: “It’s great to be back and be part of such a vibrant and skilled team that’s gone from strength to strength over the last five years.

“I hope my experience and knowledge can help to broaden the group’s offering to its existing farm and land clients, but also attract a wider client base through a cross-delivery of support.”

Mark Rolls, Absolute Commercial Interiors

Harrogate-based office design company Absolute Commercial Interiors has appointed Mark Rolls as sales manager.

Mark will head up the company’s new branch in Newcastle, where he will use his 20 years’ experience in design and fit out to drive growth in the region.

Phil Brown, managing director of Absolute, said: “We are proud to bring Mark on board to bring our brand to life in the North East.”

The appointment comes alongside news of the firm’s turnover increasing by a third to £8.9m in the last 12 months, and headcount rising by nearly 25% since February.

Phil continued: “We’ve delivered such a solid performance for this financial year and it’s testament to the hard work of the entire team.

“This really sets up our recent additions to the workforce for another strong year going forwards.”

Jonathan McCutcheon, BW Medical Accountants

Medical accountancy firm BW Medical Accountants has appointed primary healthcare professional Jonathan McCutcheon (pictured left) in the role of practice management consultant.

Jonathan embarked on his career in primary care 20 years ago. He has spent the last 10 in practice management roles, including at Seaton Park Medical Group, Benfield Park Medical Group and Brunton Park Health Centre.

Keith Taylor (right), director of medical services at BW Medical, said: “I am convinced that not only will our existing GP practice and healthcare clients benefit from Jonathan’s informed consultancy work, but our highly trained specialist staff will also benefit from his understanding of primary care; hard won insight of how GP practices operate in the modern ever-changing healthcare economy.

“It’s an exciting time for our business and Jonathan’s role will provide a key area of growth supporting our existing clients and generating new ones.”

Keith added: “Because of our medical focus and specialist services we anticipate increasing national demand for our expertise.”

Jonathan commented: “I am thrilled to be working with BW Medical Accountants to offer bespoke services to GP practices wanting to secure a successful future in the modern NHS landscape.

“Here at BW Medical we can offer help and support to practices on a wide range of business issues from financial management to strategic business planning.”

Nicola Leyden, Muckle LLP

Muckle LLP, the North East law firm for businesses, has appointed Nicola Leyden as HR director.

Joining the company from global digital partner marketing business Performance Horizon, Nicola will work to develop Muckle’s workplace culture and drive employee engagement.

She said: “I’ve known Muckle over the years so when the position came up, I was really interested from the outset. From the moment I walked through the door for my first interview, I was made so welcome and I knew I wanted to work here.

“Muckle is renowned for being a great place to work, with down to earth lawyers, strong client relationships, and a real desire to support the local community through its active corporate responsibility programme.”

Nicola continued: “There are lots of amazing things already going on here and I’ve got lots of ideas about how we can embed our values, build on our culture and continue to support our employees through changing times.”

Muckle’s managing partner, Jason Wainwright, commented: “I’m particularly delighted that Nicola has joined us at such an exciting time for our business.

“She brings with her a wealth of fresh ideas, an impressive track record and a considerable level of expertise that I’m sure will help us take our culture to the next level.”

Alex Nicholson, Armstrong Watson

Accountants and business advisory firm Armstrong Watson has invested in its tax practice with the appointment of VAT director Alex Nicholson.

Alex has 10 years’ experience across two of the ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms – six and a half years with Deloitte and, more recently, three and a half at PwC.

He has worked across a number of sectors, including retail, tourism, hospitality, education and manufacturing. Alex has also worked with not-for-profit organisations and in private healthcare.

At Armstrong Watson, he will be primarily based in the North East but will assist clients across the whole of the company’s English and Scottish network.

Alex said: “My aim is to use my experience to provide pragmatic and commercial advice for the benefit of our clients and other businesses throughout the region, in order to add genuine value at a time of much change and uncertainty from a Tax perspective.”

Armstrong Watson’s CEO and managing partner, Paul Dickson, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Alex to our team.

“His knowledge and experience will further benefit the clients we support and the advice we provide for companies and individuals throughout their business life cycle.”

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