This week's London appointments

Victoria Coghlan, Lily Shippen Secretarial Recruitment

A specialist secretarial recruitment firm has strengthened its presence in the capital, with the appointment of their head of London office.  

Lily Shippen Secretarial Recruitment, who specialise in placing EAs, Chiefs of Staff, and Executive Support Teams across the UK and overseas, has appointed Victoria Coghlan to lead the firm’s growing team in London.

Previously an associate director at Tay Associates, Victoria has 20 years of experience recruiting secretarial professionals into various industries.

Lily Shippen, managing director, commented: “I am delighted that Victoria has come on board to head up our London operation. 

“She is acknowledged by clients and candidates as being a very capable and well-respected recruiter with great skill in placing professionals into various industries. 

“Not only that, but she shares the same values as us on how to provide the best possible service to candidates. 

“Recruiting someone of Victoria’s calibre is a very natural response to the growth that we have witnessed in London.”

Victoria added: “Lily Shippen has a great reputation with an impressive client portfolio. I am delighted to be joining the team to head up the London office and shape further growth in the capital.”

Gautam Sahgal, Perkbox

Employee experience platform Perkbox has appointed Gautam Sahgal as its new CEO.

Gautam joined Perkbox as COO in January 2016 and was appointed managing director in October 2019.

He will be charged with driving the venture’s continued global expansion and scaling its products including card-linking service PerksGo, Perkbox Medical and Perkbox Insights.

Gautam commented: “There is no company on earth where I would rather be CEO than Perkbox.

“Assisting businesses and teams to live better at work and in life, not least in this new and unusual reality, is our sole calling and investing in employee experience and wellbeing is now more critical than ever.

“I could not be more grateful to Saurav and the board for the opportunity to lead the business forward with their continued and explicit backing.”

Saurav Chopra, founder, commented: “After almost 6 years at the helm growing Perkbox from just a concept into an award winning, market leading business, I am incredibly excited to be working alongside Gautam as Perkbox’s new CEO.

“Having been in the business for 5 years, his passion and dedication to the business mirrors my own. We continue to lead a team of fantastic people and look forward to spreading our mission internationally in the very near future.”

Matthew Spry, Lichfields

Matthew Spry has been named as Lichfield’s new London office head.   Matthew joined Lichfields in 1997 and became a senior director in 2008. He specialises in large-scale housing projects, airport developments and advises public sector organisations on planning policy and delivery.

He was also an advisor on the government’s Local Plans Expert Group in 2016.   James Fennell, Lichfields’ chief executive, commented: “Matthew will head up a formidable team in London. His dynamism and knowledge of the business will help see us through Covid-19 and seize the many opportunities that a reformed planning system will undoubtedly bring for our clients.”   Matthew said: “I am delighted to be appointed head of the London office. It’s a centre of excellence for a wide range of planning and development services applied on some of the country’s biggest and most complex projects.

“I relish the chance to work with colleagues to grow our business and deliver great places throughout London and the wider south east.”

James Munroe, Cloud International

Cloud International has announced the appointment of James Munroe as market director – cyber.

Formerly of Goodman Masson and Empiric, James brings a wealth of knowledge and over 15 years recruitment experience in Information and Cyber Security.

Adam Bush, managing director, commented: “With Cloud established as the Global Leaders in Identity and Access Management Staffing, we have been very keen to expand our offering into additional Cyber markets.

“We identified James as some with a fantastic track record and reputation across the Cyber Security industry.

“Beyond that, it was clear from our first meeting that he fits very well with the DNA of the business.

“We are delighted he has chosen our platform to build his next great team and are excited about the opportunities his experience and skills will offer our customers old and new.”

James added: “When I first met with Cloud International and Adam it was very clear that the growth plans for business were highly ambitious and aligned with my vision of building an EMEA security business.

“With a very strong footprint already within the market I am looking forward to growing the business further across Identity and Access Management along with the multiple pillars we will start to build.”

Adrian Jones, Hill Dickinson

Commercial law firm Hill Dickinson has announced the addition of new partner Adrian Jones to the firm’s commercial litigation team in London.

Adrian brings with him over 20 years of experience representing clients in international arbitrations, with a particular focus on companies in the oil and gas, mining, metals, pharmaceutical and financial services industries.

He joins the firm from US law firm, Faegre Baker Daniels, where he was a partner in the business litigation group.

Fiona Parry, head of commercial litigation at Hill Dickinson, commented: “We are absolutely delighted to have Adrian on board as we move forward with the growth of our London based commercial dispute resolution practice.

“As a firm, the fact that we have significant knowledge and expertise across the commercial field means we are ideally placed to assist our clients emerge from the current pandemic.

“Adrian’s outstanding expertise in international arbitration, in particular, adds further breadth to our team and will help ensure we continue to provide our clients with the highest level of service.”

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