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This week’s North East appointments

Your weekly North East appointment fix.

Watson Burton

Five university graduates are launching their legal careers, thanks to Newcastle-headquartered commercial law firm Watson Burton.

The graduates have joined the firm’s graduate training programme, which provides high level training and a comprehensive introduction to law.

During the course of the two-year programme, the trainees will have the opportunity to work across Watson Burton’s key practice areas, including corporate and commercial, real estate, construction and engineering, professional indemnity insurance, employment and commercial litigation.

The programme will cover four six month rotations across Watson Burton’s national groups and each trainee will be supported by an experienced mentor.

Northumbria University graduates Olivia Coulson, from Durham and Francesca Hawker, from Scarborough, York University graduates Sarah Stubbs, from Lanchester and Jane Robertson, from Sunderland, and Leeds University graduate Katy Ames, from Whitley Bay, have all been awarded training contracts.

Duncan Reid, partner and training principal at Watson Burton, said: “We’re looking forward to helping Olivia, Francesca, Sarah, Jane and Katy build their careers in law and seeing them play their part in delivering legal services to a wide array of clients.

“The new trainees all have a true passion for commercial law and it’s exciting to have them on board at Watson Burton.

“Our graduate training programme provides a fantastic opportunity for aspiring legal professionals to develop their careers and expertise, and gain ‘hands on’ experience of real client work.

Phil Surtees and Steve McKenny, Call27

Newcastle-based communications technology provider Call27 has appointed Phil Surtees and Steve McKenny as Managing Director and Director of Planning and Strategy respectively.

Established in 2011 by founder Dean Johnston, the firm provides internet connections to businesses throughout the North East along with cloud services, VoIP telephone systems and hosting.

Both Phil and Steve bring with them a wealth of experience in implementing proven business management systems, business growth and quality systems.

Phil said: “Our aim is to ensure that small and medium sized businesses have the fastest, most reliable internet service possible. We offer a high quality tailored service to our customers, with a personal service.”

“One of the reasons we are experiencing the growth that we are is our intentional move away from faceless service, we aim to bring the human element back into business, we want to go and visit our clients and resolve their problems quicker and in person rather than solely from the other end of the phone.”

“Part of our culture here at Call27 is to create happy customers. It may sound a bit of a cliché to some but we believe that happy customers tell their friends and colleagues about the great service they receive.”

The company, based on Newcastle Business Park have an extensive network which they have built from the ground up with centres in Newcastle, London and Manchester.

Operations Director Darren Wright explains how the new appointments have already had a huge impact on the business.

“Both Dean and I have spent the last few years building the network which now offers our customers speeds of up to 10Gbps; Phil and Steve have joined us to take our systems and processes to the next level, provide a growth plan and help us realise our goal of being the largest ISP in the north of England.

“In an industry that is predominantly lead by price, we are aiming to put the focus back on a reliable and quality service.

“We also have ambitious plans to grow our team of network and customer service specialists in the coming months as we expand.”

“With companies now relying on internet connections not just for its outward activities but also for its internal technologies such as connected devices for energy efficiency and security, having a more than capable broadband connection is now no longer a nice to have, it’s a necessity.”

Hugh Wheatcroft, Ringtons

Newcastle-headquartered Ringtons has appointed Hugh Wheatcroft as business development manager, as the company prepares to open the doors of a significant expansion at its state-of-the-art coffee facility in north east England.

With responsibility for existing clients and securing new accounts across Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln and the surrounding areas, Hugh brings with him a wealth of experience in the food services industry.

His career spans over 30 years, and his CV includes stints at Thorntons Confectionery, the Milk Marketing Board and Pelican Rouge.

Hugh said: “Working for the sales division of the Milk Marketing Board and promoting an industry built on traditional doorstep deliveries, meant I became aware of Ringtons as a customer-focused family business early on in my career.

“The company’s great reputation mixed with my own experience in the food service and coffee industry made joining the Ringtons Beverages team a natural move for me.

“Over the years I have heard only positive feedback about Ringtons; from both its doorstep delivery customers and business and hospitality clients. Now that I am part of the Ringtons team I am delighted to find that everything I believed to be true about Ringtons is.”

Craig Horsfall, Haines Watts

Craig Horsfall has joined accountancy firm Haines Watts North East after working in the industry for 14 years. Craig will work with a wide-ranging client portfolio as well as supporting the Audit team.

Commenting on his new role at Haines Watts, Craig said: “I’m thrilled to be working for Haines Watts North East as an Associate Partner.

“As a nationally recognised firm, the team offer real quality for their clients but with an understanding and appreciation of the regional marketplace. The balance between the two areas is crucial for our client’s continued success.

“The direction and drive of the Haines Watts North East team at the moment is especially exciting. It’s refreshing to work with an organisation with a clear digital and online presence and I hope to be able to work to develop this further.

“The team here are all friendly, motivated and great at working together to achieve top results and I’m looking forward to being part of such a positive and enthusiastic organisation.”

Emma Harrington, Waltons Clark Whitehill

Tees Valley chartered accountants and business advisers Waltons Clark Whitehill, has appointed Emma Harrington as a lead auditor in its Business Services Team.

Emma, 26, who lives in the region, has 5 years’ experience, and recently became ACA qualified, with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. She graduated with a history degree in 2011 from Northumbria University.

Waltons Clark Whitehill’s team provides a range of support services for clients, including annual accounts, audits, bookkeeping, management accounts, VAT, tax services including planning, company secretarial, payroll and business and strategic planning.

Heather O’Driscoll, Managing Director of Waltons Clark Whitehill, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Emma to the team, her skills and past experience within the industry will add capacity to our team allowing us to provide an outstanding service to our growing client base, across the Tees Valley and the wider North East.”

Emma added: “I’m excited to take the next step in my career by joining Waltons Clark Whitehill, it is a great company and very active in the North East business sectors, I’m looking forward to building new relationships with clients.

Wullie Trimble, Scott Logic

A bespoke software development consultancy has welcomed a new Lead Test Engineer to its Newcastle headquarters.

Originally from Dumfriesshire in Scotland, Wullie Trimble, 40, has taken up the role, which marks an expansion to Scott Logic’s team of software testers, after taking redundancy from his previous post at Hewlett Packard in North Tyneside.

Wullie, who now lives near Chester le Street in County Durham, has broad experience in both software testing and consultancy, after graduating from Strathclyde University with a degree in Chemistry.

He explained: “After a brief career as an industrial chemist in the manufacturing industry, I was offered a relocation package to move to the North East and my first IT role was as a systems tester.

“It was a six-month contract that said no experience was required, so I thought I’d go for it, and here I am 16 years later.”

Wullie has found an enduring interest in the IT world and in recent years, software testing has become more of a focus for him. He’s now keen to develop further as a leader as Scott Logic continues to grow.

Scott Logic’s Head of Development in Newcastle Rob Newsome added: “It’s great to welcome another talented individual to our software consultancy team, and in particular to be expanding our test engineering community.

“I’m really looking forward to working with Wullie and seeing him contribute his expertise to our clients’ projects.”

Join us again next week for more appointment news.