This week's London appointments

Ian Corfield, FRP

Business advisory firm FRP has appointed Ian Corfield as partner to its London restructuring advisory team.

With 30 years’ industry experience, Ian held senior roles at KPMG and Grant Thornton before being appointed head of corporate finance at CBRE Hotels EMEA.

More recently, Ian was a managing director at White Oak Global Advisors, a US-headquartered fund manager responsible for UK and European lending opportunities.

Commenting on the appointment, Geoff Rowley, chief executive at FRP, said: “These are unprecedented times for the UK economy.

“As a firm, we’re committed to providing exceptional support and quality advice to help businesses of all sizes navigate the complex challenges they face.

“It’s important we invest in the team with the addition of leading experts in their field.

“Ian is an industry stalwart with specialisms in debt funding and restructuring, and I have no doubt he will add real value to the team and the service we can provide to our clients – it’s great to welcome him to the firm.”

Ian added: “We live in uncharted economic and social times, and I welcome the opportunity to work with a senior team of respected advisers in a fast-growing and ambitious firm.

“FRP is a powerful and exciting platform to return to my professional advisor roots, armed with even broader business experience to assist corporates and their stakeholders as we face challenging times together.

“I look forward to helping the team build its network and continue to deliver outstanding services to clients.”

Simon Torrance, Rainmaking

Rainmaking, a corporate innovation and venture development firm, has announced that Simon Torrance will be joining its UK and European leadership team as a senior advisor.

Simon has had 25 years’ experience working across multiple sectors and geographies, helping define and execute breakthrough new growth opportunities for ambitious organisations.

He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s ‘Digital Platforms & Ecosystems’ executive working group, co-founder and chair of the Platform Economy Summit, and author of ‘Fightback’- a newly released book that outlines how to win in the digital economy with platforms, ventures and entrepreneurs.

Chris Locke, CEO UK and Europe, corporate innovation, Rainmaking, commented: “To achieve our goal of becoming the innovation partner of choice, it’s crucial that we have industry champions on the team that can help us scale.

“Simon is renowned for his skills in executing business transformation, especially in the field of platforms and ecosystems. I am delighted to welcome him to Rainmaking.”

Simon commented: “Incumbent businesses are under unprecedented pressure from a number of angles – digitisation, changing customer needs and new competitors to name a few.

“I look forward to working together to make real difference to corporate futures.”

Izzy Walsh, Emma Dewhurst and Sarah Hewitt, Hall Brown Family Law

Hall Brown Family Law has announced the appointment of three new recruits.

The appointments see Izzy Walsh, who is currently head of Hall Brown’s expanding London office become a partner, while Emma Dewhurst and Sarah Hewitt are both made associate solicitors.

Managing partner James Brown said that all three had played important roles in the firm’s progress, something which had been uninterrupted by the coronavirus lockdown.

“These promotions are testament to the efforts of Izzy, Emma and Sarah in helping Hall Brown cement its place as one of Britain’s leading boutique family law firms.

“Both Emma and Sarah have done tremendous work in driving the success of our Manchester head office, while Izzy has overseen a remarkable expansion of our office in London.

“Together with their colleagues, the quality of work which they do on a day-to-day basis is a large part of why we have become first choice family lawyers for so mamy clients.

“Most of our caseload is generated by word of mouth with existing clients happy to suggest us to friends, family or colleagues needing help with similar sensitive topics.

“I’m happy to say that has continued despite the extraordinary circumstances which the country currently finds itself in.

“Having invested heavily in developing our cloud-based IT system almost since our launch, the prospect of working from home has not been quite as daunting as it could have been.

“We have been able to maintain essential support to help clients through what is a testing time for everyone.”

Alex Rahin, Cervest

Cervest, the Earth Science AI company, has announced the appointment of Alex Rahin as chief product and technology officer.

Alex, who joins from global data and technology company Beamly, will lead Cervests’ science, product, and engineering teams.

He said: “Cervest is building a platform with such advanced data that it has the ability to genuinely help how we all make decisions for the long-term future of our planet - I’m thrilled to be joining this ambitious team, at such a pivotal time for the company, and the industry.

“Climate uncertainty is being felt by everyone. At Cervest I’ll be leading a growing team working to help a range of organisations manage the impact of climate volatility in the most informed way possible.

“It’s a unique opportunity to be able to really make an impact with technology - this is why I have chosen to join the Cervest team and their mission to pioneer Earth Science AI for clearer decision making for all.”

Iggy Bassi, founder & CEO at Cervest, added: “Through our Earth Science AI, Cervest is building the new category of climate security, allowing us to assess and respond to asset-level risk.

“We are on a rapid trajectory this year and Alex joins us at the perfect time.

“His experience, shared vision, and data scaling experience will lead our powerful team of engineers, scientists and developers as we empower everyone to make informed decisions using our platform, before it’s too late.

“Alex will play an integral role as we build out the team specialising in harnessing the power of AI to mitigate the impact of climate volatility, and roll-out our real-time climate platform.”

Amy French, Level39

Canary Wharf Group has announced that Amy French is taking on a new role as the head of Level39, the fintech and cyber ecosystem community.

Amy, formerly head of ecosystem at Level39, will accelerate the ecosystem activities, partner engagement and growth opportunities for the community.

Amy will also be focusing on relationships with leading organisations in London’s tech sector and connecting members and their immediate neighbours on the Canary Wharf estate which include several of the world’s largest professional service and financial companies.

Shobi Khan, CEO of Canary Wharf Group, commented: “We are delighted that Amy will be leading Level39.

“Amy is already closely involved with the Level39 community and has a clear vision for its future growth so that Level39 continues to serve its members in moving from start-up to scale-up.”

Amy added: “I am thrilled to have been appointed as the new head of Level39 and with the opportunity to lead our brilliant team in supporting members on their growth journey.

“Our mission has always been to create the very best environment for businesses to scale and realise their potential and I’m excited to be taking up that mantle.

“I will continue to work very closely with the community, supporting our entrepreneurs with attracting investment, talent and customers.

“Through our partnerships, ecosystem activities and connections at Level39, we will continue to cultivate a community of scale.”

Mike McGill, Sigma Capital Group

Sigma, the private rented sector, residential development and urban regeneration specialist, has announced the appointment of Mike McGill as group chief financial officer.

As well as taking executive responsibility for the overall financial management of the group and its subsidiaries, Mike will be specifically responsible for financial matters relating to The PRS REIT.

Mike has more than 20 years of experience in senior financial roles at listed and private companies.

He has worked across a range of sectors, including residential property, and has specific expertise in supporting and implementing growth strategies.

He was previously group CFO at Baxters Food Group Limited, the international food processing company, CFO at Lomond Capital, the residential asset management company specialising in the UK private rental sector, and group finance director at Murray International Holdings Limited.

Graham Barnet, CEO of Sigma, commented: “I am very pleased to welcome Mike to the board as group CFO.

“He brings significant additional experience to Sigma that will be invaluable as the Company continues to develop.

“Mike will have financial oversight of all of our activities, with a particular focus on our delivery for the PRS REIT.

“Mike has been working with us previously and is therefore well known to the team.”

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