This week’s Yorkshire appointments

Blacks Solicitors LLP, the Leeds-based law firm, has announced the promotion of eight assistant solicitors to associate solicitors across the business, alongside two partner promotions.

Nick Rhodes of the Wills & Probate team and Richard Buono of the Corporate & Commercial team have both been promoted to partners within the firm, bringing the total number of partners to 19.

The eight new associate solicitors are; Andrew Challener of the Property Law team, Stephanie Douthwaite of the Family Law team, Aimee Hutchinson of the Commercial Dispute Resolution team, Aimee Jackson of the Property Law team, Lucy Rigden of the Wills & Probate team, Saby Sambhi of the Corporate & Commercial team, Kitty Toor of the Blacks Connect & Blacks Direct team and David Ward of the Employment Law team.

Chris Allen, managing partner, said: “These promotions are thoroughly deserved and we are delighted to see these individuals progressing within the firm.

“Each one of them has proven themselves through their hard work, commitment and dedication to provide the best possible service to our clients.

“It is no surprise that we have the #BestStaffinLeeds.”

James McKelvie, Sanderson Weatherall

Sanderson Weatherall, the Leeds-headquartered chartered surveyor and property consultancy, has recruited of a healthcare sector expert.

James McKelvie has been appointed as consultant within the valuation team and brings with him 25 years’ experience in surveying and specialist healthcare advice.

The appointment sees James, who previously worked as a valuation surveyor for Sanderson Weatherall in the 1990s, bring a combination of regional and national market knowledge of the healthcare property sector to his role.

James’s areas of expertise are loan security, company purposes and partnership agreements for specialist providers and operators of care homes, nurseries and primary medical care.

Ian Naylor, partner at Sanderson Weatherall Leeds, said: “James has worked for many of the major national and regional operators and has a wealth of market knowledge.

“This experience, along with his reputation for personal and approachable advice, will bolster our valuation team and contribute to its continued growth in the healthcare sector.”

Sanderson Weatherall employs around 200 people, has a turnover of £15m and operates nationwide from offices in Newcastle, Teesside, York, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, London, Bristol and Exeter.

The firm provides a complete range of property, machinery and business asset services across retail, residential, offices, industrial, leisure, roadside, healthcare, public sector and third sector.

Joanne Powell, Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton has further strengthened its tax practice with the promotion of Joanne Powell to director in its Yorkshire and North East office.

Joanne, who joined the firm in 2011, specialises in corporate tax and enjoys working with both owner-managed private businesses and listed companies.

She plays a key role in the firm’s business development, promoting its specialist tax offering to companies within the Yorkshire and North East region.

Joanne also leads the firm’s ‘Women in Business’ initiative and is committed to developing networks for senior women across the region.

Neil Sengupta, tax partner at Grant Thornton Leeds, said: “We’re delighted to congratulate Joanne on her promotion to Director as we continue to invest in our tax team.

“Her wealth of experience and dedication to her role will play a vital part as we further develop the technical expertise of our senior team and strengthen our market position within the region.”

Laura Howes, Key Capital Partners

Laura Howes has been appointed as a research manager by Leeds-based private equity house Key Capital Partners (KCP).

A chartered accountant, Laura joins from RSM UK where she worked as a transaction services manager for almost four years. Prior to that she was a corporate finance executive with Garbutt & Elliott and also worked for Armstrong Watson.

After eight years in corporate finance, Laura has extensive experience of working with owner managed businesses and SMEs across a wide variety of sectors.

Owen Trotter, managing partner of KCP, said: “We’re one of the few PE houses specialising in the smaller buyout market and Laura’s understanding of SMEs is a great fit for us.

“Her appointment will really boost the team’s research capability – rather than waiting for business opportunities to come to market, Laura will be working with us to actively identify firms with real potential and also with our portfolio companies to identify bolt-on acquisitions to accelerate growth”

KCP has offices in Leeds and London and invests sums of between £3m and £15m, typically in companies valued at between £5m and £50m.

Karen Vincent, Reward Finance Group

Reward Finance Group, the Leeds-based alternative business lender, has restructured has appointed Karen Vincent as head of portfolio management.

Karen joins Reward from Santander Invoice Finance and brings with her a wealth of experience having spent 25 years in financial services, including client manager roles at Aldermore Invoice Finance, Haydock Finance and over 15 years at South Africa’s BoE Bank.

Tom Flannery, joint managing director at Reward Finance Group, said: “We are delighted to welcome Karen to Reward.

“As our Invoice Finance product also allows clients to leverage off all business assets it was essential that we recruited someone with Karen’s wide ranging experience”.

Karen Vincent commented: “It’s an exciting time to join Reward Finance Group and I am delighted to lead the Invoice Team in the newly created Head of Portfolio Management role.

“Reward has a diverse and interesting range of clients and I look forward to managing our relationship with existing customers and developing a rapport with new clients”.

Richard Anderson, Gateley Plc

National law firm, Gateley Plc, has appointed Richard Anderson as the new construction partner at its Leeds office.

He joins the firm from Pinsent Masons where he had been a partner since 2012, following the merger of Pinsent and McGrigors LLP.

Richard, who has almost 20 years’ experience as a lawyer, specialises in contentious construction matters, dispute avoidance and real-time project management for clients working, primarily, in the power and process sector.

Richard has also advised clients on projects including nuclear, power, oil & gas, hotels, student accommodation, stadia and infrastructure throughout the world.

Richard has previously worked on some high-profile cases, including acting for the city of Edinburgh in relation to a series of disputes on the high-profile £545m Edinburgh Trams public infrastructure project.

Gateley Plc, which last year became the first law firm in the UK to go public, revealed its first full-year results in July 2016. Turnover at the national law firm increased more than 10% to £67.1 million.

The law firm works through a network of seven English offices based in Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Reading.

In April, the firm acquired tax incentives advisory business Capitus, now Gateley Capitus – the first acquisition since Gateley Plc floated on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Lorna Robertson, 4Life Wealth Management

Financial consultant, Lorna Robertson has joined the team at 4Life Wealth Management in Harrogate.

She will provide advice to clients across Leeds and Wharfe Valley.

The company, which is a senior partner practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, approached Lorna to join the business as it seeks to expand its team of advisors across the Yorkshire region.

Lorna brings over 25 years’ professional experience having previously advised for a number of high street bank and building society clients about their investments, pensions and inheritance tax planning.

At 4Life Wealth Management, Lorna will provide holistic financial advice to both corporate and private clients. Her appointment helps to fulfil a current void in accessible advisors on the high street.

Mark Andrews, senior partner at 4Life Wealth Management, said: “We are delighted to bring Lorna into the team, allowing us to expand our service offering to clients. Her expertise and proven client loyalty are exceptional, bringing great value to our reputation.”

Whilst based at the Harrogate office, Lorna will cover the Leeds and Wharfe Valley areas.

Luke Axe, Keyland Developments

Keyland Developments, the property trading arm of Kelda Group and sister company to Yorkshire Water, has appointed Luke Axe as planning manager to work in the company’s Leeds City Centre office at The Embankment.

Luke is an experienced town planner and he joins Keyland from Turley where he held the position of senior planner.

At Turley, Luke was able to draw on his development management experience which included management of a local planning authority’s planning functions. He has acted as expert witness at public inquiries and has participated in proceedings at the Crown and High Courts.

At Keyland, Luke will be taking a diverse range of strategic sites through the planning process, overcoming obstacles to development to enable the regeneration of a number of strategic sites across the north of the country.

Peter Garrett, managing director of Keyland Developments, said; “Luke is a highly motivated and driven Town Planner with an impressive 100% success rate.

“There are a lot of synergies with Luke’s experience and the nature of our portfolio and as we work with a range of parties on bringing about PPA deals, his expertise will play an integral part of bringing these opportunities to fruition.

“We have a great team here in Leeds and we are delighted to welcome Luke on board.”

Rob Powell, BT

Rob Powell has been appointed BT regional partnership director in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Rob, whose BT career spans 35 years, will now have special responsibility for working with local organisations and communities on major initiatives, such as the multi million pound roll-out of high-speed fibre broadband.

The job also involves a leading role on BT’s Yorkshire and Humber board – a team of 13 BT senior executives – all of whom live or work in the region.

Rob joined BT in 1981 as a clerical officer and has since held many positions ranging from roles managing technical sales and system engineering teams, business development and major contract management in BT Global Services to leading the fibre broadband roll-out across Lancashire.

Rob replaces Dr Trevor Higgins, who has held the BT regional partnership director role for more than 13 years. Dr Higgins is leaving BT to concentrate on roles on the Digital Health Enterprise Zone (DHEZ) board, the board of Bradford Hospital and as chief executive of Bradford Breakthrough.

Rob said: “Yorkshire and the Humber is a wonderful region offering tremendous opportunities for the people who live here. I am determined to do all I can with BT to unlock that huge potential in order to help local communities benefit fully from the technology revolution.

“I’ve worked at BT for a long time and in that time I have seen technology change and develop at a pace very few imagined. I see the great benefits that technology can bring on a daily basis and I will do everything I can to ensure that Yorkshire and the Humber can make the most of our considerable knowledge and resources.

“Already, BT has brought fibre broadband within the reach of millions of homes and businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber, via its own commercial roll-out and the five partnerships with local authorities across the region, whilst Bradford has been chosen as one of the trial sites for the next generation of ultrafast broadband services for businesses.

“And we want to go much further rolling out the latest mobile and fibre broadband technologies in the region.”

Paula Ellerington, Hendersons Insurance Brokers Limited

Paula Ellerington has been appointed to the Hessle Hull office of Hendersons Insurance Brokers Limited (HIBL).

Her appointment to the account executive team comes as the branch passes the £10m a year milestone for premiums placed.

With HIBL seeking further business in the construction sector and other commercial fields, including farming, haulage and property, her focus is on building the client base, in particular working with the region’s SMEs.

Mrs Ellerington first joined the claims department at NFU Mutual in York where she gained gained her Chartered Institute of Insurance qualifications. She has also achieved gained an Advanced Diploma in Insurance from with the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Mrs Ellerington latterly worked for Beverley brokers Marchant McKechnie, now part of the Bluefin Group.

Andrew Wakefield, branch director, said: “Paula knows how to look after clients, she has expert knowledge and can contribute a lot to our growing business.

HIBL, which operates from 153 offices across the UK, is the only broker in the Hull and East Yorkshire region with direct access to the Lloyds of London specialist insurance market.