This week's North East appointments

Manila Mclean, Newcastle Strategic Solutions

Savings management platform Newcastle Strategic Solutions has appointed Manila Mclean as digital director.

Manila, who has over 20 years’ experience in financial services, joined Newcastle Building Society’s Tyneside-based technology subsidiary last month after a decade at Tesco Bank as head of digital.

With an honours degree in computer science and management science from the University of Strathclyde, Manila also holds an MBA and is a chartered management accountant.

In addition, Manila is a certified scrum product owner and has completed the Google Squared Guru programme at the Google Academy in London.

Commenting on her appointment, Manila said: “I’m delighted to join Newcastle Strategic Solutions and be part of a great team during such an exciting time of development and growth.

“Digital innovations in all aspects of customers’ lives drives their expectations when engaging with their financial services provider.

“We have an opportunity to build upon the strong foundations and excellent customer service standards to deliver a digital experience that customers enjoy engaging with, and make their lives that little bit easier.”

Phil Grand, managing director of Newcastle Strategic Solutions, added: “With proven thought leadership and two decades of experience in financial services, we’re delighted to welcome Manila as a vital senior addition to our growing Solutions team.

“We’re looking forward to working with her to help propel Solutions forward in a competitive industry.”

Roger Kilburn, Arcinova

Multi-service contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Arcinova has appointed Roger Kilburn as CEO.

With 25 years’ of international experience in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, Roger has worked in a variety of roles within general management, marketing, sales, manufacturing, projects and engineering. Prior to his most recent position as CEO of IBioIC, Roger worked for Johnson Matthey and ICI in business leader positions, and holds a first class honours degree in chemical engineering from the University of Glamorgan.

Ian Shott, Arcinova’s executive chairman, commented, “I am delighted that Roger is taking over this crucial role.

“[I am] certain that his experience leading both Macfarlan Smith in Edinburgh and JM Pharma Services in Boston, Massachusetts gives him an excellent foundation to steer Arcinova through its critical scale up phase, creating a strong and sustainable medium sized enterprise.”

Commenting on his appointment, Roger added: “It is an immense privilege to lead Arcinova during this next growth stage.

“I look forward to working with our exceptionally skilled team to enable more clients to benefit from an accelerated path to drug development.”

Jane Atkinson, Kristie Cole, Christopher McWiggan, Harry Harper, Stephanie Antrobus, Henry Parkinson, Joe Pratt and Georgia Elliott, Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD)

Law firm Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) has welcomed eight trainee solicitors to its Newcastle office.

Jane Atkinson, Kristie Cole, Christopher McWiggan, Harry Harper, Stephanie Antrobus, Henry Parkinson, Joe Pratt and Georgia Elliott have all joined the firm on two-year training contracts.

Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD), welcomes eight trainee solicitors into its Newcastle office this month. In total, twenty-five trainee solicitors are joining WBD across the firm’s UK offices.

As well as providing six months of experience in the real estate, corporate and commercial, dispute resolution and private wealth areas of the business, the programme will also introduce the trainees to the firm’s eleven key sectors of knowledge as well as client secondments as part of their seat rotation.

Kevin Robertson, partner and head of WBD’s Newcastle office, commented: “We are pleased to welcome our new trainee solicitors who will join us here in Newcastle. They are a crucial part of the future growth and success of the firm.

“We have invested in a fantastic training programme that provides the perfect environment for new talent to develop and for our trainees to gain the essential skills, expertise and commercial acumen to pursue a successful career in law.”

“We hope that many of our trainees will choose to continue their careers with the firm upon qualification after experiencing the broad range of client work and exciting opportunities we can offer.”

Leah Pattison and Rosie Roof, Watson Burton

Commercial law firm Watson Burton has appointed Leah Pattison and Rosie Roof as solicitors.

Rosie and Leah have been offered permanent positions upon the completion of the firm’s two-year graduate training programme.

Leah graduated from Northumbria University where she completed a four-year degree in law prior to joining Watson Burton as a trainee solicitor in 2017.

Rosie studied Law at Newcastle University before completing a one-year legal practice course at Northumbria University.

Duncan Reid, partner and head of Corporate at Watson Burton, explained: “Leah and Rosie have made a great impression on us during the course of their Graduate Training Programme and we are delighted to retain them as qualified solicitors.

“We were impressed with Leah and Rosie’s work ethic and enthusiasm and the depth that this adds to the team.”

Speaking about her career with Watson Burton, Leah commented: “It’s fantastic to have been offered the position with the Corporate team.

“I spent 12 months of my two-year training contract working within the Corporate team, where I was able to gain skills in corporate law, gain more commercial awareness, liaise with clients and be involved with deals all the way through to completion.”

Rosie added: “I have really enjoyed my time with Watson Burton – I have been given some fantastic opportunities as a trainee and it’s very exciting to have been appointed to the Corporate team as a fully-fledged solicitor.

“The experienced members of the team have been very helpful, providing a good level of supervision, which is very useful while going through the transition from trainee to qualified solicitor.

“I’m now looking forward to progressing my career further with Watson Burton and working closely with our clients.”

Justin Souter, North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has appointed Justin Souter as growth hub connector.

Justin, who is managing director of business improvement consultancy Souter Consulting, will drive the rate of scaling startups across the region through connecting entrepreneurs with support programmes such as high potential startups.

Colin Bell, business growth director at the North East LEP, commented: “Justin has a lot of experience working with early stage founders and corporate innovators to help them scale their businesses and develop the skills they need to continue that growth.

“Fast growing businesses are really important for our economy because they generate one third of new economic and better job growth, and they also tend to operate in international markets and drive innovation in their sectors.”

Justin added: “There has been a huge amount of interest in the high potential startups programme from very ambitious and talented entrepreneurs in our region. It’s shown there are some fantastic business ideas out there.

“As someone that has started and scaled their own business, I know how difficult it can be to take that initial leap. High potential startups is all about providing the help and support people need to test their ideas, understand their customers and take their business to market.”

David Davies, Sadler Brown

The Sadler Brown group of companies has appointed David Davies to a new position of architectural director and to its board of directors.

David, who has worked at the firm’s head office in Newcastle for the last five years, has been promoted from associate to director.

A keen collaborator and advocate of the benefits of BIM (Building Information Modelling), David has hosted an ArchiGRAD studio unit, and since 2015 has been teaching in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University.

Managing director of the design group, Tony Harmieson, commented: “David has earned his place on our Board of Directors, and we are delighted to recognise his architectural expertise, incredible commitment, and growing influence on the success of our business.

“His architectural design and management expertise will be vital to our future development and the strategic direction as our group looks to expand our national and international reputation further over the coming years.” David commented: “I am delighted to be joining the Board of Directors, at a time when we are working on some really fantastic projects for a diverse set of clients.

“We have a superb team of talented staff, and I’m very much looking forward to developing the practice and our team further; using my experience to ensure our business continues to win stand-out projects, both locally, throughout the UK and on a wider international platform.”

Steve Carpenter, Animmersion

Animation studio Animmersion has appointed Steve Carpenter as business development director.

With more than two decades in senior sales management, field sales and product marketing, Steve has delivered blue chip companies and education establishments with solutions to business challenges through advanced 3D visualisation, VR, and graphics-based real-time technologies.

Commenting on his appointment, Steve said: “Animmersion is at the heart of the growing North East tech cluster and this is an exciting opportunity to join an established and agile company with huge growth potential.

“The company has built a very talented team that are utilising leading edge technologies for a cross section of industries in UK and international markets, which is consistently opening up new opportunities to further scale the business.”

Dominic Lusardi, managing director of Animmersion, added: “Animmersion has established a presence in a number of key sectors, at home and abroad, and Steve will be instrumental in developing our market share.

“Bringing Steve to Animmersion demonstrates the positive reputation the North East’s tech cluster is gaining across the UK and proves that we have the businesses and capabilities in the region to attract the best talent the industry has to offer.”

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