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This week’s North East appointments

Start your working week with a roundup of the latest appointments from around the region.

Elizabeth Gibbison, Stephanie Layton, Hay & Kilner

Newcastle-based law firm Hay & Kilner has appointed two lawyers, Elizabeth Gibbison and Stephanie Layton, to its private capital and family law teams respectively.

Elizabeth advises clients on a wide range of legal matters including Wills, trusts, probate, powers of attorney, inheritance tax and estate planning.

Stephanie works alongside family law specialist Nicola Matthews and assists clients with divorce, non-married partners separating, financial and children issues and cases involving the Court of Protection.

Kirstin Cook, partner and head of private capital at Hay & Kilner, said: “We are delighted to announce these appointments at Hay & Kilner.

“Elizabeth & Stephanie will help increase our capacity, as well as our significant reputation. We wish them every success in their careers at Hay & Kilner.”

Professor Dianne Ford, Northumbria University

Northumbria University has appointed a new Executive Dean to lead its Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.

Professor Dianne Ford joins Northumbria from Newcastle University, where she was a Professor of Molecular Nutrition and Director of PhD Studies in the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

She will lead Northumbria’s largest academic faculty, which has almost 12,000 students and 595 staff.

Prof. Ford is a Fellow of the Society of Biology and has published extensive research into understanding how our diet interacts with cellular function. She examines the ways in which they subsequently choose to use or store energy and has worked collaboratively with numerous international universities including Melbourne’s Deakin University and Aachen University in Germany.

Speaking about her appointment, Prof. Ford said: “I have been so inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of everyone in the University, and particularly in the senior team, to drive and develop research at Northumbria. I am very much looking forward to helping the faculty further develop its already strong research activity and areas of specialism.”

Stephanie Knox, Godfrey Syrett

North East furniture manufacturer Godfrey Syrett has announced that Stephanie Knox has been appointed as marketing executive.

The appointment follows the firm’s recent announcement that it is delivering a strategic growth plan, which will see the business almost double its turnover to £40m in the next five years.

Stephanie previously worked for laminate manufacturing company Formica Group, and brings with her a wealth of experience in marketing planning and communications.

Stephanie will work alongside the firm’s recently appointed group sales director, David Hall, who has been brought on board to increase brand awareness throughout the UK, and drive sales in new sectors.

David Hall said: “We are delighted that Stephanie has joined our expanding team, coming from a manufacturing background she has a wealth of relevant marketing experience which will further strengthen the department.”

Stephanie Knox added: “I am delighted to have joined Godfrey Syrett at such an exciting time for the company. Their strong heritage combined with their continued investments puts them in a strong position in the market; and I’m looking forward to helping to drive further growth in our target sectors.”

Russell Smith, Newcastle Racecourse

Arena Racing Company (“ARC”) and Newcastle Racecourse have revealed the appointment of Russell Smith to the newly created role of General Manager.

Russell, originally from Edinburgh, has over fifteen years’ experience working in the sports industry, having previously been Chief Marketing Officer of the Homeless World Cup, Business Development Manager at Scottish Rugby Union and Head of Commercial and Marketing for Hibernian FC.

Working with Newcastle Racecourse Executive Director, David Williamson, Russell will be responsible for coordinating and managing all of the commercial activities across the Gosforth Park Estate and developing both the racing and conference and events aspects of the business.

Newcastle Racecourse has recently undergone a significant redevelopment, which has seen the installation of a new, state of the art, Tapeta all-weather racing surface. The first meeting on the new surface will take place on 17 May 2016.

Russell Smith said: “I am delighted to be joining the team at Newcastle Racecourse, at what is a very exciting time for the business.

“The variety of opportunities that exist within racing and specifically within the Gosforth Park Estate gives us plenty of opportunities to continue to develop our business and create new campaigns to attract both the corporate market and the general public alike.”

Leigh Ferguson, BHP Law

Lawyer Leigh Ferguson has joined North East firm BHP Law’s Darlington office.

Leigh spent the last 14 years with a city firm in Newcastle and her appointment represents a significant further strengthening of BHP’s services to commercial enterprises.

With a background in personal injury, Leigh was previously a team leader dealing with contested occupational disease claims before transferring to commercial litigation and fraud as a commercial dispute resolution specialist and debt recovery manager.

Her experience covers a wide range of commercial disputes including claimant and defendant work involving breach of contract claims, negligence, misrepresentation, partnership disputes, fraud and complex debt recovery.

Leigh, who is a member of Saltwell Harriers and is training for a half marathon in June, said: “I’ve joined a growing, professional team at BHP and hope to build on the firm’s reputation for working closely and developing strong relationships with clients.

“We’re aiming to raise awareness about the level of expertise in the firm and increase the profile of our team and the experience available to businesses facing disputes, and negotiating on their behalf to achieve best outcomes.”

Djamel Hassaine and Simon Martin, Scott Logic

Bespoke software development consultancy Scott Logic has appointed two senior developers to its growing team.

Djamel Hassaine and Simon Martin both have experience in data analytics and building financial trading systems, areas in which Scott Logic specialises. The pair will be based at the firm’s Newcastle office at St James’ Gate.

Simon, a father-of-one originally from Edinburgh, has a PhD in Computer Science from Newcastle University. He has spent the past eight years working for start up companies in the city, most recently at the same company as Djamel before the pair joined Scott Logic.

A theoretical physics graduate, Simon has worked on a multitude of systems throughout his professional life, including writing a web-crawler from scratch in C++, and using data from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to gain insight into consumer opinion.

He said: “I decided to apply for the position at Scott Logic after hearing good things from Djamel, who had already been interviewed. I’m enjoying finding my feet in the company - everyone I’ve talked to has been very welcoming and enthusiastic, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the ease of transition into a new environment so far.”

Experienced in Java, C/C++ and Linux tools, Djamel has a PhD in Computer Science from Durham University, and hails from Dubai. In particular, he enjoys working with Angular 2 and TypeScript.

He said: “I’ve been made very welcome at Scott Logic so far, even being kindly treated to a burrito by my new manager on my first day. I’m already enjoying working on an HTML5 JavaScript training project.”

Join us next monday for more North East appointment news.