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This week's North East appointments

A roundup of the latest job moves from across the region.

Jonny Lees, Deloitte

Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has promoted Newcastle-based Jonny Lees to director within its Financial Advisory team, which specialises in restructuring services.

Jonny, who focuses on assisting corporates with advice and support to help transform their businesses and add value, has been with Deloitte for nearly 12 years, previously working in Leeds and Manchester. He joined the company as a graduate from Edinburgh University in 2005.

As a key player in Deloitte’s North East Financial Advisory leadership team, Jonny provides guidance to the North East team, ensuring a locally-based, full service offering to clients in the region.

“The North East is a highly active market that constantly creates opportunities that strengthen the local economy,” he said.

“As part of my new senior role at Deloitte, I’m looking forward to being a proactive contributor to the region’s businesses and assisting them with the challenges they face, to ensure they meet their goals.”

Stephen Hall, office senior partner for Deloitte in the North East, added: “Jonny’s promotion is well deserved.

“He has a deep and insightful understanding of the opportunities available to local businesses, as well as how to navigate any hurdles that may be encountered on the way to success. His promotion underlines our position as a market-leading restructuring practice in the region.

“Jonny will strengthen our full service offering through his significant and wide-ranging expertise, which is available on the doorstep of our local clients.”

Mandata

Mandata (Management & Data Services) Ltd, the Cramlington-based transport management firm, is gearing up for further expansion with a number of key appointments.

Dawn Matthews joins as implementation consultant with responsibility to manage the installation of systems at new and existing customer sites while providing training support and advice.

Also joining are two new technical specialists. John Liddell comes in as an EDI developer to implement and monitor electronic data interchange programmes while Toni-Jane Ternent will provide specialist IT support.

Stacey Thompson is a new business development executive and at Mandata’s tracking and telematics centre in Leeds, Liam McGuire has landed a role as an apprentice engineer.

Other significant developments see Chris Wall promoted to client services director, Kevin Marshall steps-up to development director, and Teresa Davidson becomes an account manager.

Mandata, which currently employs 60 people and is forecasting a 13% increase in revenue this year as turnover heads towards the £7 million mark, is seeing strong growth on the back of an ambitious strategy developing new added value technologies, apps and web-based services.

Mark Norcliffe CEO at Mandata said investment in a skilled workforce is set to enhance the firm’s capacity and resources, helping to secure additional new work.

He said: “We will benefit from the new starters’ expertise to meet the demand from customers who are investing in our technologies to power their own growth.”

“Armed with a robust expansion plan, strong customer base, and on-going investment in people, services, infrastructure and support facilities will ensure 2017 is another successful year.”

Muckle

Muckle LLP has strengthened its Real Estate team with two new key appointments.

Senior Associate Deborah Lazenby and Associate Jennifer Pearson have joined Muckle following an increase in the regional and national clients the firm is now attracting.

Deborah has joined from Watson Burton and brings over 13 years’ experience across a wide range of commercial property matters. She will act for clients across the retail, office and education sectors and also has significant experience in secured lending and large property portfolio management.

Deborah said: “Muckle has an exceptional reputation for its strong focus on client service and I was keen to join its award-winning Real Estate team.

“With its diverse range of clients and extensive multidisciplinary expertise, Muckle is where I want to develop and progress my career.

Jennifer has 10 years’ experience in all manner of property, landlord and tenant and housing disputes, with particular expertise in commercial property disputes. She previously worked at Bond Dickinson LLP and Swinburne Maddison LLP.

Jennifer said: “Muckle is certainly living up to its reputation as a great place to work and I am surrounded by people who really know their stuff and are passionate about what they do.

“I want to develop my career meeting clients, getting to know their business and working out how I can help them succeed. Muckle encourages all its lawyers to do just that, think freely and be proactive, not to simply sit behind a desk waiting for instructions.

“Muckle recently won Property Law Firm of the Year at the Insider North East Property Awards, which in part was due to the development of its social housing and real estate litigation teams. Contributing to that development and growth is really exciting.”

W North

Newcastle-based PR agency W North has made two key appointments to support parent agency W Communications’ vision for a true UK-wide operation.

Based in Ouseburn’s Toffee Factory, W North, which opened its doors less than three months ago, is the Newcastle arm of London’s W Communications, a PR firm recently recognised by The Holmes Report as one of the world’s top 10 fastest-growing agencies.

Becky Beaumont has joined as Account Manager and has been quickly followed by Bridget McClean as Junior Executive. Becky joins W North with a wealth of experience across business and consumer communications.

In her previous role at NewcastleGateshead Initiative (NGI), she delivered the communications strategies for the business tourism and inward investment departments, while working with a range of clients through the agency arm of NGI.

A Northumbria University graduate, Becky, aged 26, has also held roles in Vauxhall Motors’ consumer communications team and Sage’s global PR team. She is an active member of the CIPR North East committee.

Former journalist Bridget, 24, is graduating with a Master’s degree in PR from the University of Sunderland. She completed her undergraduate studies at University of Leeds and brings experience in both PR and journalism, having worked as an executive at Creo Communications and as a reporter at the Hexham Courant and Grimsby Telegraph.

Adding to W’s global offices in London, Amsterdam and Singapore, W North is delivering PR campaigns for clients including Kopparberg, Reeves, McGuigan Wines and most recently, Sage Gateshead.

Christian Cerisola, Head of W North, said: “It’s great to get a strong team in place; they’re the building blocks for W North. There is a wealth of hungry talent in the region and we plan to continue to recruit the best.

“With the current team in place we are already delivering and executing strong campaigns with exciting global brands from the heart of Newcastle.”

Alex McLeod, Miller Pattison

Sunderland-based insulation specialist Miller Pattison has appointed Alex McLeod as its new CEO with Mike Dyson retiring after two years as MD.

Alex has more than 10 years of experience in the insulation industry and he joins the firm from his previous role as a CEO of a manufacturing company supplying roofing and flooring products to the new build housing market. Before then, he was the CEO at the UK’s only independent manufacturer of glass mineral wool insulation.

Alex said: “I’m delighted to join Miller Pattison at such an exciting time for the business and will be working to sustain the momentum that the team has created.

“Miller Pattison is a highly regarded brand in the market with a loyal customer base and a rich history that dates back to 1965. The firm is one of the few truly national installers with branches located across the UK to maximise service to customers.

“It has 150 strong workforce and an experienced management team which form a business that boasts great industry expertise. With the strong support of our investors, Northedge Capital, Miller Pattison is well placed to capitalise on growing construction markets.”

Dave Sidlow, Sevcon

Dave Sidlow has joined the Gateshead-based low-carbon vehicle company Sevcon from fellow Team Valley business Palintest.

In his 10 years as Managing Director of the water testing and analysis company sales more than doubled from £7m to £15m, and profitably trebled.

Mr Sidlow’s appointment as Sevcon Managing Director will allow Mr Boyle to concentrate on driving forward his strategic vision for the world-leading motor control and battery charging business.

Mr Boyle said: “We employed leading head hunters and scoured the world. We interviewed people from France, Italy and Greece and then we found someone with all the attributes on our doorstep; just a few minutes away.

“Dave has a history of growing business, along with automotive industry experience and a grounding in electronics. He was head and shoulders above the other candidates.”

As Managing Director of Sevcon Mr Sidlow will be responsible for all of its operations which include Gateshead, the Thames Valley and new design centres in Canada and China.

Mr Sidlow said: “Electric vehicles will be the most exciting thing over the next few years. The size of the market opportunities for Sevcon at this time are immense.

“As we develop, our focus is shifting from the more traditional electric vehicle market to high-spec, high-performance on-road cars.

“This shift into the automotive supply chain is the single biggest challenge we face; it’s one that requires a different engineering philosophy and mindset.

“Each automotive project will be bespoke, with its own set of engineering, logistical and lead time challenges.

“The key to our success will be our ability to ramp up to meet these emerging project and product volumes.”

Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown Law Firm (GBLF) has promoted Louise Ottaway to associate within its residential conveyancing team, while Trevor Gay and Jennifer Beadle join the firm as solicitors in the family and commercial teams, respectively.

Louise Ottaway, 34, from Chester-le-Street, has stepped up as associate to the firm’s 35-strong residential conveyancing team from her previous position as team leader.

Louise’s new role will see her focus on operational management, budget forecasting and overseeing the four residential conveyancing team leaders. She will also continue to lead on training members of the team and supporting their development.

Louise said: “Having been at GBLF for over 10 years it’s fantastic to see how the firm is developing. When I first started in the residential conveyancing department there was only three of us in the team so to now have 35 people is a great achievement.

“The firm is very encouraging of internal development and I appreciate the trust shown in me by the partners. I’m looking forward to being more involved in GBLF’s growth plans and contributing to and implementing new systems of working.”

The announcement of GBLF’s two new recruits comes as the firm continues to broaden its skill base and enhance its service offering.

Joining GBLF’s commercial team is Jennifer Beadle, 27, from Burnopfield. She joins from Kingswalk Law where she spent four years, after studying Law at Hull University and completing her studies at Northumbria University.

Jennifer added: “Having qualified at a relatively small firm I felt the time was right to move to a bigger firm where I could draw on the experiences of those around me and where greater opportunities were available. I was really impressed by everyone at GBLF and it was exactly the role that I was looking for at this stage of my career.”

Trevor Gay, 38, from Cullercoats, joins the family team bringing with him over 15 years’ experience, including three years as a partner at a Bedfordshire law firm.

He said: “GBLF has a great reputation and the firm had certainly been on my radar for some time prior to my appointment. The culture and values of the team fit in with my own and I am eager to help the firm with its growth moving forward.”

Join us next monday for more North East appointment news.