This week's London appointments

Mike Keaton, TravelTime

TravelTime has appointed Mike Keaton as head of sales as it looks to commercialise its market-ready API product and growing data analytics arm.

Mike has 20 years’ experience as part of the leadership team at start-ups and companies at the ‘fast growth’ stage.

TravelTime CEO, Charlie Davies, commented: “Over the past three years, our platform has grown internationally and now covers all of Europe, North America, Australia and more.

“Mike’s valuable experience will be integral in taking this forward towards building a world class, scalable sales operation from the ground up.

“We’re thrilled to have Mike onboard – his hire shows we are attracting the type of top talent who recognise the same opportunity as we do, which is massive.”

Mike said: “When I’m assessing a company I consider four key elements: the product, business and its potential, as well as the people and culture.

“Having expanded across 38 countries alone in 2019, the business has experienced exponential growth, so it is an exciting time to join.

“With the team clearly determined to work together to drive the business forward, TravelTime was the perfect fit for me and what I could bring to the organisation.”

Katherine Rose, Navana Property Group

Property and place services business Navana Property Group has appointed Katherine Rose as director of BTR & PRS as it expands its presence in the build to rent sector.

In her new role, Rose will be responsible for supporting Navana’s clients across the lifecycle of BTR projects – from design consultancy and mobilisation, through to analysis of operational data and full-service building management.

Prior to PRSim, she spent over four years as a surveyor in Knight Frank’s central London commercial offices team.

Harry Fenner, CEO of Navana Property Group, commented: “Navana’s fresh approach is already gaining traction with clients across the wider residential and mixed-use sector, and we see strong growth opportunities in BTR.

“With her broad skillset and extensive experience, Katherine is the perfect addition to our team and ideally placed to expand our BTR practice.

“Her deep knowledge of the sector coupled with our tech-led and experience focused approach makes us a compelling partner for BTR clients.

“Understanding what modern consumers want is essential to the long-term success of a development, as is ensuring that buildings can operated at maximum efficiency.

“That’s where Navana’s expertise in building design, creativity and investment in data and technology give us the edge.”

Katherine added: “The BTR sector is now maturing and clients are looking for partners who can help them to unlock the next wave of innovation.

“Harnessing the power of technology is crucial to this and Navana has already set itself apart through its investment in its own proprietary platforms.

“Using technology to better track the real-time performance of assets will not only help our clients to operate BTR schemes more intelligently, but also create opportunities to improve the resident experience, by allowing asset owners to understand how buildings are used and enabling more transparent and immediate customer communication.”

Susan Steele, Ocean Technologies Group

Learning and operational technology innovator, Ocean Technologies Group, has appointed Susan Steele as chief human resources officer.

Susan, with over 25 years’ experience in HR, is known for her pioneering use of artificial intelligence and automation to develop employees and improve operational efficiency.

Prior to joining Ocean Technologies Group, Steele held HR leadership roles at Cision, IBM, WPP and Deloitte.

Manish Singh, Ocean Technologies Group CEO, commented: “The digital transformation taking place in the shipping industry as well as the industry’s increasingly complex regulatory framework create an urgency for us and for our clients.

“Susan’s expertise will be invaluable as we attract, develop and retain colleagues around the globe.”

Susan added: “Throughout my career, I have been drawn to Learning and Technology innovators.

“Ocean Technologies Group is poised to disrupt the global shipping market by harnessing the collective Learning expertise of Seagull, Videotel and MTS and the Technology innovation of TeroMarine and COEX.

“I am excited by the opportunity to create the employee-centric environment, experiences and culture critical to accelerating competitive advantage for our clients.”

Deidre Smith and Dominic Dos Remedios, Gardner Leader

Gardner Leader has welcomed two new solicitors to its commercial property team.

Deirdre Smith and Dominic Dos Remedios have joined the firm, based at its offices in Maidenhead and Newbury, respectively.

Deirdre has extensive experience across the entire real estate sector, including developers (residential and commercial), investors, end user and landlord and tenant (she is able to act for either with ease) in almost all subsectors of the market.

She was a partner at a large City of London law firm known for its real estate. She has also practised for a FTSE100 company as well as for local authorities.

She is also a visiting lecturer in Real Estate for the University of Law.

Dominic equally brings a wealth of experience with close to 15 years in commercial property.

Prior to joining Gardner Leader, he worked for two regional practices, an in-house legal property team managing a large estate in Berkshire and Oxfordshire, and as part of a university in-house legal team.

His experience spans across a range of areas including agricultural property, advising on landlord and tenant matters in commercial and farming sectors, and estate management from acquisitions and disposals, easements and encroachments.

In private practice, Dominic worked in a highly regarded real estate team advising clients on property transactions from commercial leases, acquisitions and disposals to residential conveyancing and auction sales.

Greg Humphreys, partner and head of the commercial property team at Gardner Leader said: “We’re delighted to welcome Deirdre and Dominic to our growing team.

“Their broad experience, excellent skill sets, and high level market knowledge will add yet further expertise to the team, bringing clients peace of mind that help is at hand no matter their commercial property need.”

Tim Thomas, Berkeley Rowe

Berkeley Rowe, the commercial and corporate law firm, announced today that Tim Thomas has been appointed as a partner.

Based in the firm’s Mayfair office he will be head of regulatory, white-collar crime and investigations.

Tim has a wealth of experience in white collar financial crime and regulatory matters gained over more than fifteen years.

Tom Keya, CEO of Berkeley Rowe, said: “I am delighted to welcome Tim on board. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge from both sides of the spectrum.

“As a firm we have already acted on a number of high profile regulatory matters for our clients. Tim’s addition will solidify an already growing practice.”

Tim added: “I am very excited to be joining such a dynamic team of experienced lawyers and building a practice that compliments Berkeley Rowe’s core strengths in commercial litigation, real estate and corporate.”

Tamara Schenk, Russell Wurth and Wim Borremans, Showpad

Global sales enablement company Showpad has announced the appointment of three new executive leaders.

Together, Tamara Schenk (strategic advisor), Russell Wurth (vice president, sales enablement), and Wim Borremans (vice president, global partnerships and alliances) fill the new roles.

Pieterjan Bouten, co-founder and CEO at Showpad, commented: “Since joining the team, Tamara, Russell and Wim have already made tremendous contributions to the organisation.

“Their collective knowledge and experience offers immense value to our customers and will support our next phase of growth.”

Tamara will serve as strategic advisor, splitting her time between contributing to Showpad’s thought leadership and consulting with customers to improve their sales enablement functions.

She brings more than 25 years of international experience in sales and consulting across multiple industries.

Most recently she served as research director of CSO Insights, where she led their sales enablement research and provided sales leaders with the insights and expertise to implement sustainable strategies to drive sales results.

She commented: “I deeply believe in Showpad’s mission to empower others to be at their best.

“As sales enablement becomes increasingly important as the engine of sales transformation, I’m excited to leverage my expertise to ultimately help our customers take their sales enablement initiatives to the next level.

As vice president of sales enablement, Russell will be responsible for driving Showpad’s revenue enablement efforts.

Russell has more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software and brings a deep understanding of sales enablement.

He comes to Showpad after holding leadership roles at Optiv, Cylance and Netskope.

Russell said: “I purchased and deployed Showpad at three of my previous companies. Needless to say, I believe in the value this technology provides.

“I am eager to share my Showpad experience with customers and show that with the right sales enablement platform, they can rapidly drive new initiatives with measurable results in their sales enablement program.”

Wim will serve as vice president of global partnerships and alliances, focusing on growing Showpad relationships within the global community.

He has more than 15 years of experience at information technology companies such as Riaktr, entrust-it, and Accenture, where he built and led diverse international teams that delivered innovative solutions for complex, real-world problems.

He said: “I’m passionate about bringing people together around a common vision and demonstrating true business value.

“At Showpad, I’m looking forward to increasing the competitive advantage we can offer our customers and extending the power of our flexible platform through integrations with the leading sales and marketing technologies and a select group of solution providers.”

Nick Burgess, Pillsbury

Nick Burgess has joined Pillsbury’s corporate and securities practice in London as senior counsel.

Nick, who operates a cross-border M&A practice focused on Europe and emerging markets, was previously a partner with Jones Day.

He also has significant experience in emerging markets, managing complicated multi-jurisdictional joint ventures and other transactions and resolving high-stakes shareholder disputes.

James Campbell, leader of Pillsbury’s London office, commented: “Nick is an exceptional lawyer with over 20 years advising a range of leading businesses with a global footprint to deliver on their international strategies.

“His arrival expands the corporate practices’ ever-growing capabilities in particular in relation to complex cross-border transactions and we are excited to have him on board.”

Nigel Underwood, Xodus Group

Global energy consultancy Xodus Group has appointed a new manager to head up the company’s London subsea and pipelines division.

Nigel Underwood will oversee Xodus’ international subsea and pipelines work, from concept through to detailed design and delivery.

Nigel joins Xodus from Petrofac, where he was consultancy manager. He has worked across roles in senior management, engineering and materials development over 25 years in the onshore and offshore engineering industry.

He commented: “It’s great to be back with this fantastic integrated team.

“From my previous time at Xodus, I know how many great people are here and the company has gone from strength to strength in the time I’ve been away developing into a true energy consultancy.

“I’m obviously joining at a time where many businesses in the energy sector are facing tough decisions, however I know we have some of the greatest minds in the industry who have the ability to deliver the best advice, always putting our clients’ needs first.”

Rebecca Hewlett, Xodus’ operations director for London & the Middle East, added: “Nigel has extensive experience across subsea and pipelines projects ranging from concept to decommissioning.

“He has also supported many energy producers, finance houses and legal firms for expert witness, due diligence and assurance scopes throughout his career.

“There’s been a trend of several former employees re-join us recently which reinforces the positive culture Xodus promotes and we’re happy to have Nigel back leading our subsea and pipelines team in London.”

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →