This week’s Yorkshire appointments

Claire Thompson, Mercury Taxis

The marketing team at Sheffield’s Mercury Taxis has filled a key position with the promotion of Claire Thompson to marketing manager, her former role as marketing manager has now been filled by Dawn Goodwin.

Claire, who previously worked for Northern Rock for ten years, began her career as a customer service advisor in the mortgage department and then became a qualified Mortgage advisor. After receiving several customer care awards, she became the firm’s customer contact manager in charge of resolving complaints.

Dermot Griffiths, general manager of Mercury Taxis , said: “Not only will Claire and Dawn be promoting businesses through our offers card, they will also be taking a lead role in coordinating three big fundraisers for our charity of the year, St Luke’s Hospice, a cause close to our heart who help people right across the region.

“Last year, as a company last year we raised over £10,000 and with this team’s help, we hope to break last year’s record at our ever-popular annual Golf Day in August.”

Corinne Travis, Knight Frank

The Leeds office of global property consultancy Knight Frank has boosted its valuation team with the recent appointment of Corinne Travis

Corinne, who has a Masters in Property Management and Development from Nottingham Trent University, previously worked for Sanderson Weatherall in Leeds, where she spent six years in their Valuation Services and Corporate Recovery divisions. She also spent a year on a part-time secondment to NatWest in Rotherham.

Paul Hallam, head of the Valuations team in Leeds, said: “Corinne is a valuable addition to our team. She will be undertaking valuations of commercial property across all sectors and her expertise and experience will help with the continued expansion of the department.”

Commenting on her new role, Corinne stated: “The chance to join Knight Frank’s reputable and award-winning team in Leeds was too good to miss. These are exciting times for the property market in Yorkshire.

“Knight Frank is the perfect place to progress my career and capitalise on the many opportunities out there”.

Colin Booth OBE, Leeds City College

Colin Booth OBE has been appointed chief executive of Leeds City College, which is one of the country’s largest college groups.

The appointment was made following the current chief executive and Principal Peter Roberts’s decision to retire after six years in the position.

Following a stint as Vice Principal at Newcastle College, Colin was hired as Principal and CEO of Barnsley College and drove the College to an Ofsted rating of outstanding, doubling turnover and delivering a financial performance - among the best in the college sector.

Colin has been appointed chief executive due to his efforts making strong contributions at local, regional, and national level to the furtherance of education including holding the positions: Chair of the One Barnsley Local Strategic Partnership, Director of the Wellspring Multi Academy Schools Trust, Chair of the Sheffield City Region Principals’ Group, Representative on the regional European Structural & Investment Funds (ESIF) Committee, Board member for the Association of Colleges (AoC) and Chair of its Finance & General Purposes Committee.

Dr Shaid Mahmood, Chair of the Leeds City College Board of Governors, said: “We have developed a vibrant and ambitious College Group with great potential for the future.

“Following high levels of interest in the post we sought an exceptional leader from a strong cross sector field of candidates that will harness the talents of our staff and meet the Board’s aspirations for the learners, the communities, and the employers we serve.

“The Board looks forward to working with Colin as he leads the Leeds City College Group through its next exciting phase of development.

“The Board also wishes to place on record its sincere thanks to Peter Roberts for his inspirational leadership of Leeds City College, from its inception in 2009 to its current position as one of the country’s largest and most forward thinking College Groups.”

Steve Blacker, KPMG

KPMG have boosted its Innovation Reliefs and Incentives Group across the North, Scotland and Midlands with the appointment of new Associate Partner, Steve Blacker.

With 15 years of advising businesses on their tax matters, the last nine of which he has specialised in government sponsored R&D related reliefs within Deloitte, Steve will now be advising KPMG clients to ensure they leverage the most value from their innovative activities.

Joining a national Innovation Reliefs and Incentives group of 60, including a team based in Leeds headed by director Graham Steele. This growing practice works with Yorkshire businesses across all industry sectors, with a particular focus on manufacturing, food production, energy and digital technology, generating millions of pounds of savings each year.

Commenting on his new role, KPMG Associate Partner Steve Blacker said: “The team here supports clients throughout their development lifecycle, from the genesis of a concept and securing funding for its development into a prototype unit, process or system, through to the scale up to full production levels and the resolving of associated technical challenges and finally the patenting of technologies. It’s undoubtedly an exciting area of commerce in which to support enterprising businesses.

“Our investment in specialists with significant experience means KPMG has a lot of success in not only working with clients at the start of planning for their innovative activities but also in reviewing R&D claims prepared in-house or by other advisors and identifying areas of R&D activity and costs that have been overlooked, often leading to significant claim enhancements and greater cashback.”

Andrew Cragg, Langleys Solicitors

Senior associate solicitor in the medical law team at Langleys Solicitors, York, Andrew Cragg, has become an accredited member of the Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) Specialist Clinical Negligence Panel.

AvMA is the UK charity for patient safety and justice and provides advice and support to people affected by medical accidents. Some of the charities operations include referring people to its own panel of specialist clinical negligence solicitors.

The charity also wants to ensure that anyone with a concern about medical treatment should seek advice from a firm, such as Langleys, with proven experience and knowledge in this field.

Andrew became a member after undergoing an intense application process in which he had to provide written evidence of his expertise and attend an interview.

He is already a member of the Law Society’s clinical negligence panel.

Sally-Ann Robinson, the head of the medical law team at Langleys and also a member of the AvMA and Law Society clinical negligence panels, said: “Andrew’s achievement further demonstrates the strength and depth of our medical law team which not only includes specialist solicitors but an in-house nurse as well.”

Commenting on the appointment, Andrew added: “I’m delighted to have met the criteria for AvMA panel membership – it’s further recognition of the very specialist field in which I work and I look forward to supporting clients through the AvMA referral process.”

Aberfield Communications, QHotels

QHotels, the AA Hotel Group of the Year, has appointed the Leeds-based Aberfield Communications to handle PR for the brand as well as a number of its 27 four and five-star hotels across the UK.

The appointment for Aberfield follows a six-way pitch process and the PR agency has been requested to drive brand awareness in the conference and events sector, as well as providing support to the individual hotels.

QHotels was named Hotel Group of the Year 2014-15 in the prestigious AA Hospitality Awards, and it has also been named Number One Large Group by VenueVerdict.

Claire Rowland, director of marketing at QHotels, said: “We’re really looking forward to working with Aberfield. They demonstrated an impressive combination of strategic thinking and creativity that will help to differentiate QHotels across the conferencing, leisure and business markets.”

Tim Downs, director at Aberfield Communications, added: “It only takes a quick glance at some of the iconic hotel names that sit under the QHotels brand to understand why we’re so excited to be working with the group.

“We will be focusing on driving awareness of the brand within the highly competitive conferencing and events markets, but we’ll also be providing PR advice and support to individual hotels.”