This week’s Yorkshire appointments

Victoria Craven, Chloe Ellis and Fiona Miller, Baker Tilly

This week Baker Tilly, a leading provider of tax, accounting and business services, appointed three new partners in its Leeds office.

Victoria Craven, Chloe Ellis and Fiona Miller have all passed the firm’s internal selection process and began their new roles on April1st.

Victoria, who grew up in Leeds, joined Baker Tilly as a trainee in 1998 after graduating from the University of Dundee. She became a fully qualified ACA in 2001 and has worked as an auditor for a variety of clients including owner managed businesses, AIM-listed plcs and pension schemes.

Victoria has recently been specialising in auditing not-for-profit bodies including charities, schools and academies.

Chloe Ellis, who has worked in Leeds for more than 10 years, joined Baker Tilly as a fully qualified chartered tax adviser in 2011. She has vast experience across all sectors and specialises in transactions tax issues, often involving large, international corporates.

Chloe currently works closely with the firm’s Corporate Finance team, and has recently advised on a number of successful transactions in the local market.

Fiona Miller, who has lived in Yorkshire for the past 25 years ago, joined Baker Tilly in 2004, having trained at a Big Four firm. Fiona fronts the firm’s Restructuring and Recovery technical team and has extensive knowledge of restructuring processes, from both a practical and regulatory respective. She is responsible for all aspects of regulatory and risk management in relation to the restructuring and recovery faculty, as well as delivering technical advice and promoting a strong compliance culture across the firm.

Kevin O’Connor, Baker Tilly Regional Managing Partner for Yorkshire and the North East said: “Victoria, Chloe and Fiona have all shown that they have the talent to successfully come through the gruelling selection process, and I’m delighted that we have been able to offer them partnership at a relatively early stage in their careers. I’m particularly pleased that we were able to nurture their talent in-house and offer them the career opportunities to match their ambitions. I have no doubt that they will all play important roles within the firm, and continue to provide an excellent service to their respective clients both in Yorkshire and across the country.”

Gary Lumby MBE, Whitecap Consulting

Whitecap Consulting, the Leeds-based strategy consultancy, has appointed Gary Lumby MBE as its first non-executive director.

Mr Lumby, a former director of Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks, has a strong non-executive director portfolio across Yorkshire and the North East, with a focus around business growth and funding.

Launched in 2012, Whitecap works with northern-based companies with turnover of £10m - £300m to support growth and provides commercial due diligence services to private equity firms and deal advisers. Clients include Costcutter Supermarkets Group, National Accident Helpline, First Direct Arena, Aldermore Bank, Nostrum Group, Rebuildingsociety.com and Capita.

Richard Coates, managing director of Whitecap, said: “Gary Lumby’s expertise has been focused on business growth and funding for the last 20 years. He will help guide us in our own growth; providing an additional perspective as we develop and deliver our strategic services for clients; and help us to network across the North.

“For many businesses, funding will be a key part of achieving their growth – and advisers could see a role for us in developing the investment business case, identifying external trends and showing how risks will be managed, as well as shaping and implementing strategies post investment. This complements our work in commercial due diligence.”

Rob Cooke, Lupton Fawcett Denison

The Sheffield, Leeds and York-based commercial law firm, Lupton Fawcett Denison Till, the has appointed Rob Cooke as a Director in its Dispute Management Team.

Rob, a Sheffield City-based Property Litigator, joins from Taylor & Emmet where he was a Partner. He has specific expertise representing property and real estate developers, retail and restaurants, financial institutions and regeneration bodies.

Richard Marshall, managing director, said: “This is an important investment to support the increasing needs of our South Yorkshire client base and to increase our market share by utilising our deep understanding of our client’s businesses and the wide-ranging expertise carried across our three offices.

“Appointing Rob has been a tremendous boost to our Sheffield team. Rob has already shown that he is capable of dealing with this sort of work authoritatively, and has an excellent reputation in the market place.”

Commenting on his appointment, Rob added: “Lupton Fawcett Denison Till is the only firm within the South Yorkshire region that is capable of building sector-leading teams, and which has a diverse range of services that clients will benefit from. I am also very excited to be part of a firm that has a clear strategy to become the region’s law firm of choice and demonstrable progress with that strategy. I look forward to strengthening the reputation of Lupton Fawcett Denison Till’s Dispute Management Team within the South Yorkshire market.”

James Mohammed, Dacres Commercial

The Land and Development sector of Dacres Commercial has appointed James Mohammed as a Senior Surveyor.

James is a fully qualified Chartered Surveyor with over 11 years of experience in the property industry. He previously held positions at Town Centre Securities and Colliers International, and also set up a land and development business and a property maintenance company.

James, who lives in Harrogate, will be based at Dacres Leeds office and will be working with the firm’s managing director Jonathan Isles, who fronts the Land and Development Division.

Jonathan said: “Our division has won a wide range of multi-million pound sales instructions on behalf of NHS Trusts, Government bodies and UK plcs including Tesco recently, and James will be managing a number of our key clients.

“James has an in-depth knowledge of the property market and relevant consultancy experience advising on of a variety of residential and mixed use development sites and he will be a valuable asset to our team.”

Commenting on the appointment, James added: “Dacres has an unrivalled reputation in the industry and they advise a wide variety of clients from public sector bodies, to public and private companies and land owners on the development potential of their land holdings. I will be working on a range of prime development sites on behalf of a number of important clients which promises to be very interesting and rewarding.”

Claire Davis and Donna Steel, Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton just provided a boost to its Sheffield branch with the appointments of Claire Davis as director in its corporate finance advisory practice and Donna Steel as director in the Yorkshire assurance practice.

Claire, who has worked for Grant Thornton for almost nine years, has vast experience in corporate finance and M&A as she worked on a number of high profile deals. She has also been recognised in various awards for corporate finance professionals.

Claire will continue to be based in the firm’s Sheffield office and will focus on the Yorkshire and North East deals market as well as supporting Grant Thornton’s wider audit, tax and advisory services across the North of England.

Donna, who has been with Grant Thornton since 1999, initially trained and qualified as an ICAEW chartered accountant with the firm. She has worked in the audit department for the last 16 years, mainly focussing on larger and more complex assignments including international and listed groups as well as working on owner managed businesses and pension schemes. Donna is also responsible for audit quality in the Yorkshire assurance practice.

Paul Houghton, partner at Grant Thornton in Sheffield, said: “Both Claire and Donna have played a vital part in the success of the Sheffield practice and these promotions are a well-deserved recognition of this as well as a demonstration of our commitment to further developing our specialist teams here in Sheffield. As a firm, we believe in nurturing and rewarding up-and-coming talent.”

Victoria Gribben, Nicholas Associates Limited

Nicholas Associates Limited, the holding company that owns the Stafforce and Nicholas Associates brands, has appointed Victoria Gribben in a newly-created senior position of Corporate Development Director.

Victoria will now serve in a key management role with responsibility for value creation and driving growth through mergers and acquisitions.

She will also be assisting in the development of a dedicated CSR strategy as part of the organic growth strategy for the Group which will reflect the Group’s continued dedication and support to local and global charitable initiatives.

Victoria joins the board of Nicholas Associates Limited bringing a wealth of corporate finance experience to the team and will support management and the founder, Nick Cragg, in achieving its goals and preparing longer term for succession. As Corporate Development Director, she will be identifying and executing merger and acquisition opportunities on behalf of Stafforce, the £66 million turnover recruitment business, with a view to achieving £200 million turnover within five years.

Victoria Gribben said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Nicholas Associates Limited at such an exciting time and to be working alongside Nick Cragg and the Group’s Directors to support the company in achieving its growth aspirations. The role is the perfect opportunity for me to be actively involved in acquiring, integrating and shaping businesses into the group and put into practice the experience and knowledge I have gained in my advisory capacity to help shape the business for continued future success.”

Nick Cragg said: “We are delighted Victoria has decided to join Nicholas Associates Limited, not only does she have a proven track record in mergers and acquisitions, but more importantly she shares the values on which our company is founded.”

Andrew Cross, Stuart Roberts and Peter Reed, WYG

Leeds-based WYG, a programme management and international development consultancy, has appointed three senior directors to its Governance team.

Andrew Cross, Stuart Roberts and Peter Reed bring all have specific set of skills, experience, and networks which reinforces WYG’s established relationships with HM Government along with bilateral and multilateral donor organisations. This will ease the expansion of the company’s International Development operations.

Andrew Cross, a former senior civil servant in the Ministry of Justice, joins WYG as director, head of justice development. Previously working at a senior level within the UK Justice system, Andrew’s appointment will exploit his capability and knowledge in rule of law consultancy and international capacity building. Andrew is currently working as justice advisor for DfID’s Security, Justice & Defence Programme in Libya.

Stuart Roberts, an ex-army officer, retired from his position as a Colonel 6 months ago. He has worked with NATO, the UN, and AU, and has extensive overseas experience in the Middle East, Africa (including Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Libya) and Europe (including the Balkans). He is currently appointed as the MoD institutional embedded advisor as part of the UK’s Security, Justice & Defence Programme in Libya, and now as a Director within the Governance team.

Peter Reed, who joins as head of security sector development, has an army background and brings 30 years’ international development experience in 42 countries, including 12 in Africa. He formerly undertook strategic development work with ministers, mostly in post-conflict zones. With extensive experience of working with the UN, NATO and a range of international donors, WYG will benefit from Peter’s experience and relationships in security sector development.

Clive Anderson, head of major projects, commented: “In Peter, Stuart and Andrew, we have gained over 60 years of international experience and expert contacts, as well as an unrivalled subject matter expertise from their previous roles. These three senior directors were recruited into the Governance team to further enhance our credibility in security sector development and deliver increasingly complex international programmes.”

Andrew Jordan, 360 Chartered Accountants

Hull and East Yorkshire-based 360 Chartered Accountants, has promoted Andrew Jordan to the role of Corporate Manager.

Andrew, who recently passed his final ACCA qualifications after three years of study, is the first of the 360 team to qualify as a fully fledged accountant under the tutelage of director, Andy Steele.

Mr Steele said: “We are extremely proud that Andrew has qualified whilst working with us at 360 and he has earned his promotion to become our Corporate Manager, which is his area of expertise. He will be now be focusing on our more technically challenging clients, including auditing, as well as looking after our larger corporate clients.

“Andrew also looks after all our growing portfolio of legal sector clients who have unique accounting requirements to their own professional bodies. He will be helping us grow this sector even more during 2015.”

Nick Page, Michael Bland, Waqar Hussain and Damon Fletcher, Brewster Bye

A Leeds-based award winning architecture practice has appointed four new team members to support the current growth of the business.

Nick Page, Michael Bland, Waqar Hussain and Damon Fletcher have all joined Brewster Bye, which was established 22 years ago and is based in Headingley.

Architect Nick Page, who is from Ilkley, previously worked in Sydney on several high end residential projects in and around the New South Wales coast line. He has also worked on several residential schemes in Austria and Barbados for an international developer as well as delivering projects for the education and retail sectors across the UK.

Michael Bland and Waqar Hussain have been appointed as Part 1 Architectural Assistants.

Michael, who is from Middlesbrough, recently graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University and will work on a number of affordable housing schemes at Brewster Bye. Waqar, who is from Bradford, won several awards for his end of year project at Huddersfield University, where he graduated with a first-class honours degree before joining an architectural firm in London where he worked on several residential and commercial projects.

Damon Fletcher has been appointed as a Junior Architectural Technologist. Damon, who is from Birstall, graduated from Huddersfield University last year and already has experience in the residential sector.

Managing Director Keith Brewster said: “We are delighted to be creating four new positions at the firm, taking our total team number to 23. We feel it’s very important to invest in talented young people in order to nurture the architectural stars of the future and this summer we will be taking this to the next stage when we launch a brand new apprenticeship scheme in conjunction with Leeds College of Building.”