This week's London appointments

Richard Chadwick and Roumena Goscomb, Simply

SME funder Simply has announced it has appointed two new board members.

Richard Chadwick joins Simply as chief risk officer, while Roumena Goscomb is promoted to the board as general counsel.

Richard worked for seven years at Close Brothers, most recently as commercial head of underwriting. Prior to that, Richard spent eight years at PwC where he qualified as a chartered accountant.

In his new role, Richard will now run the credit, collections and risk functions at the firm.

Having been at Simply for 16 months, Roumena previously worked as legal counsel at a number of institutions, after starting out and spending the first ten years of her career at Slaughter and May.

Commenting on the new appointments, Mike Randall, CEO of Simply, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Richard and Roumena to the Simply board. The experience they bring comes at a key period in our history.

“Their expertise and guidance will be invaluable as we expand organically and work hard to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses across the UK get the funding they need to reach their potential and prosper in the future.”

**Sarah Raeburn, HARNESS Property Intelligence **

Data firm HARNESS Property Intelligence has appointed Sarah Raeburn as its head of marketing.

Formerly senior commercial marketing manager at property firm Zoopla for three years, Sarah brings over a decade of experience to the firm.

In her new role, Sarah will oversee the group’s overall marketing strategy as well as the delivery of business growth in key sectors.

Ben Mein, CEO of HARNESS Property Intelligence commented: “The appointment of Sarah is a real coup for us and we’re delighted to welcome her on board.

“We have a number of exciting projects on the horizon in which Sarah will play a key role in their delivery.”

Mark Aspinall and Paul Sinnott, Hill Dickinson

Law firm Hill Dickinson has appointed Mark Aspinall and Paul Sinnott to its commodity team London office.

Mark has experience in the processing and trading oil sector and associated tanker market, focused on dispute resolution and transactional matters covering trade finance, physical sales and storage, contracts of carriage by sea, processing and throughput agreements, related joint ventures, SPAs and SHAs.

Paul specialises in the physical and derivatives markets, with a focus on transactional and regulatory matters, as well as all forms and stages of dispute resolution for energy and metals industry clients which trade, finance, hedge or transport commodities – including banks, dealers, traders, producers, shipowners and P&I clubs.

Team leader Jeff Isaacs commented: ’We are excited to have brought in two very significant lateral hires in Mark and Paul.

“Their individual and combined experience in transactional, derivative-based work and dispute resolution is closely aligned with our strategy to broaden the capability and expertise of our existing group.

“Mark and Paul have built up strong followings in the energy sector, which will reinforce the growth of our offering in this important area and complement our existing client base.”

Richard Dawtrey, Sam Hill and Claudia Harley, Vail Williams

Property consultancy Vail Williams has announced two promotions and a new appointment.

The firm has promoted Richard Dawtrey to equity partner and Sam Hill to partner, as well as welcoming Claudia Harley as surveyor (Level 2).

With over 19 years of experience, business development manager Richard specialises in the acquisition and disposal of commercial property investments.

During his time at the firm he has acted for private investors, property companies and institutional investors on deals ranging from £3m to over £120m, for clients including the London Borough of Sutton, Slough Borough Council, Ultima Business Solutions and National Express.

Speaking of his promotion, he commented: “Joining the equity partnership has been an ambition of mine for a number of years, so being selected is truly humbling. I am excited to be part of the leadership team here going forward and relish the prospect of working with my outstanding colleagues who serve as my inspiration.”

Business rates specialist, Sam Hill, moved over to Vail Williams from Bisset Moffat Hill when it was acquired by the firm in 2017.

Speaking of his promotion, he said: “I’m delighted to have been promoted to partner in recognition of the work that I have done to help clients generate business rate savings.”

Claudia joins the firm’s acquisitions and disposal team as Surveyor from Lewis & Co in south west London, where she worked for two years as a graduate surveyor.

Her new role based at Vail Williams’ office in Woking, will see her advise occupiers, landlords, developers and investors on the acquisition and disposal of commercial property.

Claudia commented: “Vail Williams is a firm which is very much on the growth trail. It has a high calibre client base, strong ambitions and a clear direction of travel.

“This together with their culture and values, made it a very attractive opportunity and I’m delighted to join the team.”

Steve Gale, CTI Digital

Digital agency CTI Digital has appointed Steve Gale as managing director of its London office.

Steve will relocate to London from the Manchester office for the new role, which will see him oversee the strategic operation of the expanded office and work directly with clients based in the South of England and Europe.

Steve Gale has long been a director at CTI Digital and joined the CTI Digital board earlier this year.

Commenting on his appointment, Steve said: “Drawing on 15 years of accomplishments as an independent agency in Manchester, I’m looking forward to driving growth full-time in London.

“I believe CTI Digitals’ strong technology-agnostic approach and digital transformation thinking will appeal well to an expanded London-focused client base.”

Nick Rhind, CEO at CTI Digital added: “With a fantastic team already in place, we’re looking forward to bringing on board a new generation of CTI Digital talent in London.”

Tom Moore, Downing LLP

Investment management firm Downing LLP has appointed Tom Moore to lead its asset management capability.

Before joining the firm, Tom was previously director for infrastructure and private equity firm Foresight Group.

Tom brings with him experience of overseeing renewable energy investment portfolios, having built a 30-strong team covering the renewable energy sector in his previous role.

In his new role of head of asset management, Tom will be leading the firm’s

Commenting on the appointment, Kostas Manolis, head of unquoted investment at Downing LLP, said: “Tom’s experience will allow Downing to develop self-reliant asset management.

“[This] in turn enables us to carry out even closer analysis of the companies we invest in and ultimately increase performance of these assets on behalf of our investors.”

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