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This week’s North East appointments

Claire Andrews, Paulina Hobson, Sarah Naylor & Sabira Ali; Barker & Stonehouse

Barker and Stonehouse, which is headquartered on Teesside Park in Stockton and has nine stores across the UK, has made several key appointments.

Claire Andrews, Website Development Manager will oversee all content, design, merchandising and online marketing for Barker and Stonehouse’s website.

She is responsible for the customer experience and journey online, looking for opportunities to improve site conversion and customer satisfaction. Claire previously worked at the head office of John Lewis in Victoria, London.

Paulina Hobson, Online Content Co-ordinator is tasked with creating engaging, inspiring and informative copy for Barker and Stonehouse’s full online product assortment. Paulina is responsible for the launching and locating of products on the website, producing web features and providing support in increasing the brand’s social media presence.

Paulina joined Barker and Stonehouse from an e-commerce agency based in Stockton, where she was heavily involved with creating social strategies.

Sarah Naylor, E-commerce Production Assistant is responsible for the editing and publishing of all product imagery and the production of the detailed product specifications that can be found online and in store. Sarah also helps with planning and developing content for a number of Barker and Stonehouse’s social channels.

Sarah graduated in graphic design from Teesside University and has previously worked for a designer fashion store as part of their e-commerce team.

Sabira Ali, Web Developer works closely with the Web Manager, taking shared responsibility for both the front end and back-end development of all new Barker and Stonehouse website and mobile projects.

Before joining Barker and Stonehouse, Sabira worked for a web development company based in Stockton, and she has worked with many UK based charities, helping them establish and maintain an online presence.

Barker and Stonehouse Managing Director James Barker said: “Over the last year, we’ve made huge investments in our offering to customers – for instance, developing our £4.5m flagship store and HQ in Stockton.

“Customer service is always one of our top priorities, and we recognise the important role that our website and social media make to that.

“I’m delighted to welcome our new members of staff to the Barker and Stonehouse team – their specialist skills will make a valuable addition to our already-successful online presence.”

Paul Boam, Ogilvie Communications

Paul Boam, an expert in information security, has joined Ogilvie Communications as Technical Director.

In the newly created role, Paul will oversee all technical aspects for solutions provided to clients in the UK and abroad by the Gateshead-based company.

This includes the company’s specialist Net-Defence division, which provides online security services for a select international client base, working closely with corporations and governments, as well as high profile celebrities, to protect them from the threats of the digital age.

With over 20 years’ experience in information security, Paul is a certified Technical Assessor for the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).

He has audited GCHQ (CESG), British Standards and Lloyds Register, among others, against multiple schemes including information security, supply chain security and business continuity and quality.

Paul was the lead information security consultant for the UK Parliament and developed its first every security policy. He was previously the National Accreditor for the National Police Improvement Agency, accrediting national UK police systems.

Alan Greig, Managing Director, Ogilvie Communications said: “We are delighted that Paul has joined the team. He brings an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience in information security that will be invaluable to our clients in helping them secure their assets.

“Information and data is the most precious commodity in modern business and the consequences of a breach can be catastrophic. Ensuring that your business has the appropriate security processes in place is fundamental to managing risk and developing robust resilience which encompass both technical and human factors.”

Mark Dobson, Chris Cheeseman, Carl Atkinson & Glenn Roach, Chemson

Chemson, the Wallsend-based manufacturer of PVC stabilizers, is strengthening its UK manufacturing and business development capabilities to support ambitious growth plans with four new appointments.

Mark Dobson joins as sales director for the UK and Scandinavia, Chris Cheeseman has been appointed technical service manager and Carl Atkinson and Glenn Roach join the engineering team to improve manufacturing processes.

Polymer science graduate, Mark Dobson has a wealth of industry experience having served his entire 30-year career in polymers and plastics. He joins Chemson from PVC additive supplier, Galata Chemicals where he successfully grew the business in a number of markets. Prior to that Mark worked for BICC cables and before that Smith and Nephew where he was involved in research and development roles to aid process optimisation. At Chemson, Mark will be responsible for promoting the company’s wide range of PVC stabilizer solutions to the UK and Scandinavian markets.

Chris Cheeseman is also well-known and respected in the compounds and stabilizers industry, boasting 23 years’ experience in both manufacturing and customer relationship roles.

Technical engineering recruits, Carl Atkinson and Glenn Roach have worked in both heavy and light manufacturing environments for 57-years combined.

Chemson’s CSO Alexander Hofer and European regional sales director, Geert Heijman said: “We are delighted to welcome these high-calibre new team members to the Chemson family. Each of them boasts an extremely strong track record and brings a core understanding of both manufacturing and the polymers and plastics business.

Managing director of Chemson’s UK manufacturing facility, Paul Knowles said: “As well as the skills that these new appointments bring, we are able to tap into extensive additional technical capabilities through our European network of resources. Going forward we believe this unrivalled expertise will position us as the market leaders in our field.”

Nolan Grey, Port of Tyne

Nolan Gray has joined the Port of Tyne as Business Development Director.

Nolan began his career in logistics and distribution with the Arcadia Group before moving into financial roles with Reg Vardy plc and HMV Group plc.

A Chartered Management Accountant with 18 years of corporate experience, most recently Nolan was Finance Director at DeepOcean UK, where he managed the finance and supply chain interests of the business in both the UK and global markets.

Nolan said: “My career with various national and global plcs has always been about driving value for the business and its customers so I am delighted to be joining the team at the Port of Tyne and look forward to the opportunities this new role brings to help deliver the Port’s ambitious plans for growth and development.”

Andrew Moffat, Port of Tyne Chief Executive Officer, said: “This is a key new role at the Port of Tyne, at a vital stage in our development and we’re very pleased to welcome Nolan to the team. His extensive industry experience and expertise will help us drive forward our strategy for growth.”

Sam Dawson, durhamlane

Newcastle-based sales performance company, durhamlane has announced the appointment of an Office Manager – Sam Dawson.

Sam who has joined the growing durhamlane family, arrives from a well-respected Newcastle based web development firm.

Based at the company’s Newcastle-upon-Tyne head office and with a blend of strong IT, copywriting, and customer facing experience, Sam will be focused on helping the durhamlane director’s and sales team to maintain their high standards of customer communication.

Sam will also take ownership for the planning of events and training and looking after THIRTEEN, durhamlane’s high growth business hub.

Co-Director Lee Durham said “We are creating a team of organised, talented individuals at durhamlane, and we know Sam brings a lot to the table with her IT, writing and planning skills. We are laying the foundations to take our business to the next level over the next year or two and Sam will play a big part to help us achieve our ambitious targets.

“This role adds real value to the business, helping us to communicate effectively with our sales teams around the UK, as well as with our existing clients”.

Julian Nichols & Helen Curran, Berghaus

North East outdoor brand Berghaus has announced two senior marketing and product appointments. Julian Nichols has joined the company as vice president of product and marketing and Helen Curran is the firm’s new UK marketing manager.

Julian Nichols has been working in marketing and product development for 22 years in a range of FMCG categories.

Nichols has joined Berghaus from Unilever, where he was globally responsible for Hellmann’s.

Helen Curran has moved to Berghaus from the Mayborn Group where she worked on marketing the tommee tippee brand worldwide for over 10 years. Most recently, Curran was responsible for the launch of the brand into France.

Charlotte McMurchie (centre) with Jonathan Combe (left) and the Real Estate Dispute Resolution team

Charlotte McMurchie, Muckle LLP

North East-based Muckle LLP has strengthened its real estate offering with a new partner for its real estate dispute resolution team.

Charlotte McMurchie, who is originally from Guildford, Surrey, brings with her a wealth of knowledge and expertise across commercial property, residential housing and land in general.

She has 20 years of experience advising a broad range of both local and national social housing providers, including Isos Housing, The Bernicia Group, Places for People Group, Four Housing, and Thirteen Housing.

After graduating from the University of Wales, Charlotte, started her career as a trainee at Robert Muckle Solicitors (now Muckle LLP) in 1993, before moving to a law firm in Leeds for two years where she began to specialise in commercial litigation.

Charlotte then returned to the North East before joining the property litigation team as a solicitor at Dickinson Dees in 2000. Within five years, Charlotte had risen through the ranks to become partner having transferred her skills from commercial litigation to specialising in real estate litigation.

She said: “Property litigation is a very specialised area of law. By the time I became partner my focus was purely on residential property, advising registered providers and large private landlords.”

Jonathan Combe, Partner and Head of the Real Estate Team, said: “We are delighted to welcome Charlotte back to Muckle as partner. She is a highly experienced member of our team who we know will go on to create a heavyweight property litigation team for the North East.”

Tony Strong, Parseq

Parseq has appointed Tony Strong to lead its management team.

Tony joins from the multi-channel business services company where he doubled turnover over the last five years in his role as group operations managing director responsible for 2,000 staff and 14 locations across the UK.

Parseq chairman David Carman said: “Tony is used to working in multi-disciplined, highly regulated environments, he understands our clients’ businesses and has a great affinity with the people on the shop floor because that is where he started his career.

“We are delighted to welcome Tony to the Board of Parseq and look forward to working with him as he supports our divisional managing directors to build our client relationships. His total focus will be to put us in a different and differentiated league to our competitors.”

Before Communisis Tony held a number of senior executive positions including UK regional manager at Cargill, a global grain and oil seed producer and general manager for the UK operation at Lubrizol, a US-based chemical manufacturer with a turnover of $350m across three sites in the UK.

Chief Executive Officer Tony Strong said: “I plan to focus on three key areas to achieve our ambitions: attracting and retaining the best talent, profitable growth and operational excellence.

“Parseq has already invested a significant sum in the last six months improving the support we provide to our people through development opportunities, including Lean and Six Sigma qualifications. We have unveiled a new brand which categorises and measures all of our employees performance by linking their job roles to the service they provide for our clients which are to:

“Acquire new customers for our clients, Retain existing customers for our clients or Improve internal client processes.”

Parseq’s client portfolio includes the top ten UK banks, utility providers, insurance organisations and charities which it services from its seven UK locations in Sunderland, Rotherham, London, Glasgow, York, Leeds and Brighton.

(L-R) New chef Chris Coleman, restaurant supervisor Kevin Sansom, bar supervisor Taylor Dockerty, chef Chris Walls and restaurant/bar manager Phil Perkins have all taken up their new roles with ROF 59.

Chris Coleman, ROF 59

A former RAF chef is among five new members of staff who’ve taken on new roles at of one of the region’s former World War II bullet-making factories.

Five members of staff have started their new jobs at Newton Aycliffe leisure facility ROF 59, the former Presswork Metals factory which closed six years ago, which is due to re-open as a £1.1m mixed leisure facility later this month (July).

Chris Coleman, who’s trained in classical French cuisine, spent several years in Her Majesty’s Royal Air Force.

During his time with the RAF, Chris cooked for then Prime Minister John Major in the 1990s as well as American President Bill Clinton.

He then spent 10 years in Cher, a central region of France, after buying and renovating a boutique hotel and making the most of his classical French cuisine qualifications.

Now the 51-year-old, originally from Cambridgeshire, has swapped the Continent for County Durham with ROF 59 - one of the former munitions factories on Aycliffe Business Park.

Chris has taken on the role of head chef at ROF 59 after spotting the job opportunity on a recruitment website.

“I’ve always loved a challenge,” he says. “After my RAF days I bought a 10-bedroom boutique hotel and restaurant in Graçay - a little village in the Cher region of France - which hadn’t been touched for 100 years or more.

“I had to restore it. There was only one en-suite bathroom and by the time I sold it there was 10. Three miles of copper piping had to go into it and I made all the tables myself.

“I call it my big adventure, and it certainly was.”

Joanne Bland, Dicksons

Dicksons pork butchers are expanding their product offering to the retail and wholesale market with the arrival of Joanne Bland as product development consultant.

Joanne, from Durham is working with Dicksons in an NPD capacity and has been tasked with identifying enhancements to the existing range of products sold across 24 regional Dicksons stores.

Additionally, Joanne will be responsible for developing new additions to the fresh meat, deli and baked products crafted by Dicksons at its South Shields production facility.

The 62-year old family pork butchers will be utilising Joanne’s countless years of experience in food research and product development for major firms including, Phileas Fogg and Greggs to create new and exciting food options for customers.

Joanne said: “I have over 20 years experience working for food manufacturers and artisan food producers to develop innovative ranges that have commercial value as well as customer appeal.

“Since starting my career working on snack food items at Phileas Fogg straight out of university, I’ve been fortunate enough to work on a range of great products from fresh fruit salads to cereals and even fruit juices.

“Although I’ve been involved in developing popular food products all of my working life, I must admit that pies and sausages would always make it into my top five favourite foods so working with Dicksons is a bit of a dream project for me. I hope the customers enjoy the new ideas we are set to roll out.”

Joanne was instrumental in bringing a new signature sandwich range to all Dicksons shops across the region recently to bolster the freshly made food-to-go offering in store. With one eye on the future, Joanne is currently tasked with creating a summer range of products due to launch in early July.

Michael Dicksons comments: “For quite some time we have been looking to work with an NPD professional who could help maximise our potential as a food manufacturer. With such a loyal customer base it could be easy to focus too heavily on our existing products but we are committed to bringing innovation to our range with more varied and interesting food choices to satisfy new and existing customers.

“Joanne is joining at an exciting time for Dicksons and we look forward to seeing - and tasting - some of the new products she will be launching across Dicksons stores this summer.”

Peter Furness, Mike Barker & Peter Willis

The agency responsible for promoting business in Darlington town centre has boosted its board with four new directors.

Business Improvement District (BID) company Distinct Darlington was set up to support businesses and encourage a vibrant shopping experience, as well as a cleaner and safer town centre.

Now, as Distinct Darlington enters its fourth year, its new directors are Peter Furness, of Clark Willis Law Firm, Bondgate; Mike Barker, The Health Warehouse, Post House Wynd and Peter Willis, of Eve Beauty, Duke Street.

They will be joined by Cllr Bill Dixon, a Darlington Borough Council co-opted member, who replaces Cllr Chris McEwan and all four will remain in their posts for 18 months.

In addition, Natalie Cooper, managing director of boutique hotel Houndgate Townhouse, was successfully voted onto the Board, for a second year, by the Company Members.

Distinct Darlington manager Alex Hirst said: “Our Board is without a doubt one of our key strengths, contributing to and influencing every decision we make,

“Board Members and Directors play an active role in representing varying sectors within Darlington town centre, including independent and national retail, offices and commercial premises, property owners and food and drink establishments, covering both day and night time economy.

“Our businesses are important to us and our Board Directors are expertly positioned to contribute to what promises to be an exciting year.”

Richard Lowry, Cussins

Family-run house builder Cussins is fuelled to grow its business almost six-fold to £40m in the next four years after business advisers UNW helped find a new face to add to its expanding senior management team.

Northumberland-based Cussins’ new finance director Richard Lowry, who was introduced by chartered accountants UNW’s unique Strategic Talent division, shares the company ambition to grow turnover from £7m currently to £40m in 2019.

Established in the 1920s, the Alnwick-based fourth generation house builder hopes its growing team of senior management will allow it to expand to building around 250 homes a year and growing its 30-strong workforce “significantly” over the next few years.

Rather than using a traditional recruitment consultant, Cussins, which has a long standing relationship with UNW as a tax and audit client, called on the Newcastle-based firm’s unique new Strategic Talent advisory team, and the firm’s deep understanding of its business, when it needed to further bolster its leadership.

Cussins chief executive Jabin Cussins said: “Cussins is embarking on a significant growth phase which will see the business increase turnover and expand both our on-site and office-based teams significantly over the next few years.

“As a rapidly expanding business it was crucial that we found the right finance director, a team player motivated by a shared desire to grow the business.

“UNW’s energy and enthusiasm proved key, not only in building a high quality short list of candidates but, crucially, in identifying those that they felt would work well with our team and thrive in a fast-growing business.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .