Member Article

This week’s North East appointments

Begin your working week with a look at the latest job moves from across the region.

Jacksons

North East law firm Jacksons continues its expansion with the appointment of new team members in its Newcastle and Teesside office.

The Residential Conveyancing department welcomes Paralegals, Lisa Harding and Karen Prudhoe. Lisa joins head of department, Partner Terry Saffin who is based in Stockton and Karen joins the Newcastle team. Both Karen and Lisa will be assisting clients on the sale and purchase of properties.

Jacksons’ family team sees the appointment of Solicitor, Louisa Bestford who has six years’ experience dealing, almost exclusively, in family law. She studied at Teesside University before qualifying as a Solicitor four years ago, and spent the last six years working for a firm based in the North West. Louisa joins Solicitor Susanne Shah, who heads up the family department.

Solicitor, Katharine Ayris from Whitley Bay, joins the Wills, Trust and Probate team as an Associate in Jacksons’ Newcastle office. She gained a first class law degree at Hull University and has 13 years’ experience in Private Client work.

The department also sees Solicitor Helen Milburn being promoted to Associate. Helen joined Jacksons as a trainee Solicitor in April 2010 before qualifying as a Solicitor in 2012.

Emily Robertson has been appointed as Paralegal in the Litigation department in Teesside and will become a trainee at Jacksons in March 2017.

Geoff Skeoch, Senior Partner said, “I’m delighted to welcome our new staff to the firm and look forward to working with them over the next few months.

“It is really great to see Jacksons continuing its expansion in both offices at a time when we are celebrating our 140th anniversary.

“I often wonder what solicitor Gilbert Benjamin Jackson, who founded the firm in 1876, in Middlesbrough would think of the firm as it is now. I’d like to think he would be pleased!”

Martin Palmer, Icon Plastics

Icon Plastics has appointed Martin Palmer as its new operations manager, following a number of contract wins.

Martin joins the Eaglescliffe-based precision injection company from the now defunct TTAP Group, which he joined aged just 18, working his way up from operator to operations manager over a 15-year period.

Icon Plastics has invested more than £400,000 in new equipment over the last 12 months, and Martin joins with a mandate to continue to drive to the business forward and develop its team to meet the changing demands of the market.

Gareth Thomas, Icon Plastics Managing Director, said: “It’s great to have Martin on board. He joins Icon at an exciting time for us. We’ve had a number of big contract wins recently, and have invested heavily in new personnel and machines to allow us to meet and exceed our customers’ demands.

“I’m sure Martin’s wealth of experience and expertise in the industry will be of great benefit as we look to the future and develop our business.”

Martin said: “I’m really pleased to have joined Icon’s team. It has invested a great deal in ensuring it has the latest state-of-the-art equipment and machinery, and I’m really excited about the prospect of being at the vanguard of a quickly-evolving industry.”

Ben McConnachie, Shortlist Accountancy

Independent recruitment consultancy Shortlist Accountancy has appointed Ben McConnachie as Candidate Manager.

Joining up with the Newcastle-based firm, Ben has recently relocated to the North East from Hampshire.

He was previously was working in Financial Services Administration and Compliance. Before that Ben was at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst with the Britsh Army.

Ben will manage all “transactional accounting” candidates such as Payroll Administrators, Credit Controllers and Accounts Payable Managers. Essentially, he keeps in touch with candidates and pre-screens candidates for positions.

Jim Baldwin, Metnor Construction

An impressive year as both sales and profit increases for Metnor Construction leads to the appointment of Operations Director Jim Baldwin.

Managing Director, Chris Cant, has recognised the 13 years of hard work that Jim has demonstrated, working his way from Contracts Manager, Operations Manager to his newly appointed role as Director.

The construction arm of the Metnor Group was established in 2002 and employs just over 40 members of staff from its headquarters in Killingworth, Newcastle.

Projects stretch across the country, ranging from the high end £22M shell and core works, to host a state of the art, £60M data centre in London’s Canary Wharf, student accommodation projects in both London and Newcastle and several care homes throughout the country ranging in value from £6M - £15M.

The new Director appointment was affirmed by Managing Director Chris Cant as ‘thoroughly deserved, this appointment is fundamental in securing the future success of Metnor Construction Limited’.

Join us for more appointment news again next week.

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