Member Article

This week's North East appointments

Your final North East appointments roundup of 2017. £

Jason Legget, Scaleup North East

RTC North has appointed Jason Legget as the Programme Director of Scaleup North East, a new high growth business initiative, which launches in January 2018.

Delivered in partnership with the North East LEP, Scaleup North East will form an integral part of the North East Growth Hub. The programme will support businesses with the ambition and drive to achieve a real step change in business growth.

Businesses involved in the programme will be matched with an experienced Scaleup Partner to work with them throughout their journey to support and inspire them to achieve their growth goals.

Jason is currently Project Director for the £4.2m Creative Fuse Northeast programme, working with 5 North East Universities, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the National Centre for Universities and Business and Arts Council England.

Jason will join Scaleup North East in February 2018, bringing with him substantial experience of developing and leading major economic, business development and innovation programmes.

Having also worked in large corporations such as Trinity Mirror PLC, academic institutions such as Sunderland University and directed high profile public/private programmes such as the £30m MediaCityUK initiative.

Jason Legget said: “I am really excited to be leading this programme and look forward not only to working with the region’s existing scale up businesses, helping them to overcome any barriers to continued growth, but also to identifying and nurturing the next generation of scale up businesses”.

Chris Hird, Haines Watts

National accountancy firm, Haines Watts has appointed a new associate partner to bolster its team in Darlington.

Chris Hird offers the business a wealth of experience across corporate finance and general practice with over 10 years of industry experience.

Since qualifying as a chartered accountant in 2007, Chris has worked with a broad spectrum of businesses and had responsibility for all aspects of accounting and taxation work.

His vast experience enables him to fulfil the needs of Haines Watts’ varied client base and the businesses and further enhance its presence in the North East, from the firms Darlington and Newcastle offices.

Speaking about his new position, Chris said: “I’m delighted to be joining the team at Haines Watts. As a national firm, the business has an excellent reputation for helping its clients grow and prosper.

“I see the Associate Partner role as the next logical step in my career and look forward to using the experience I’ve built up across both corporate finance and general practice to help our clients continue to succeed.”

Chris has a passion for helping owner-managed businesses and SMEs to expand and has, in a previous role, helped one of his clients build a chain of successful pharmacies in the region. He’s keen to drive growth across a range of sectors including pharmaceutical, legal and agricultural.

He continued: “It is important that we help businesses in the North East to thrive. After all, if the local economy is thriving, it’s better for everyone. I have helped many organisations – from start-ups to long established firms – secure the funding they need to develop in our region.”

Sam Manson, LPSC

Sam Manson, who heads up the public sector team at Newcastle-based digital agency, Orange Bus, has joined techUK’s Local Public Services Committee (LPSC) to help encourage collaboration between the tech industry and local government.

techUK represents the companies and technologies that are defining today the world we will live in tomorrow. The LPSC’s aim is to improve the engagement between the industry and local government, to provide leadership on critical policy issues related to local public services transformation and promote the transformative role tech can play in it.

As director of public sector activity at Orange Bus, Sam holds a strategic partnership role and has successfully worked with clients including Teachers’ Pensions for the Department for Education, HMRC, Ministry of Justice, the Skills Funding Agency and the NHS.

“I’m delighted to be a part of this committee,” said Sam. “Orange Bus is a key driver behind Newcastle’s dramatic growth as a digital economy and I’m keen to share my experience of overseeing genuine digital transformation in the public sector.”

“From our work with many local authorities, we understand that designing services can be complicated, integrating a diverse melting pot of stakeholders, public/private dynamics, charities and the third sector,” she said.

“As a company, we’ve discovered some very meaningful ways to make this work and are actively looking at place-based/community driven delivery of public service strategy, with our focus being on how the citizen interacts with the public service provider.”

“Being part of this committee allows me to be an advocate for what can be achieved with new technologies, collaborative development approaches and progressive design techniques.”

Gerard Murray, Fairstone

Fairstone, one of the UK’s fastest growing Chartered Financial Planning firms, announces the appointment of Gerard Murray as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Ged will take up the role in January 2018 and will also join the Fairstone Group board of directors.

This appointment will also enable Fairstone’s current CFO, Scott Hopkinson, to move into his new role as Chief Commercial Officer with responsibility for driving the company’s entire acquisition programme.

Ged brings with him over 30 years of experience in some of the north’s leading private and public businesses having held senior roles at Reg Vardy plc, Northgate plc, Benfield Motor Group and most recently at Quantum Pharma Plc.

Earlier in his career Ged spent almost 15 years at Reg Vardy plc, an automotive retail group which grew from a single franchised dealership in 1981 to become one of the UK’s leading quoted motor retailers. The business was acquired by Pendragon Plc in February 2006 for an equity value of over £500m when its turnover had grown to £1.7bn.

Ged has been involved in a number of major transactions including the Reg Vardy initial public offering (IPO), the acquisition by Northgate plc of Arriva Vehicle Rental in 2006 for an enterprise value of £127m and most recently the sale of Benfield Motor Group to Lookers plc in 2015 for £87.5m and the acquisition of Quantum Pharma Plc by Clinigen Group Plc for £150m in October 2017.

Fairstone Chief Executive, Lee Hartley said: “We are delighted to welcome Ged to Fairstone’s senior management team. His corporate finance experience and history of working with some of the UK’s foremost PLCs will be of great benefit for the future growth of the company and further reinforces our commitment to becoming a lead player in the wealth management sector.”

Ged Murray added: “I am delighted to be joining the team at this exciting time in its ongoing development. Fairstone is in a very strong position and has built some incredible momentum over the last few years thanks to its differentiated model. I’m looking forward to being a key part of the firm’s continued success.”

Rosemary Anderson, Clive Owen LLP

Advice on tax by a specialist with more than 26 years’ experience will be music to the ears of business owners and private clients of Clive Owen LLP.

Experienced chartered accountant Rosemary Anderson has joined Clive Owen LLP as a partner advising on corporate tax matters and personal tax for high net worth individuals.

Rosemary came to the north to study music at Leeds University but always harboured a desire to be an accountant, initially training in audit with KPMG and then working in practice before going into industry.

Rosemary returned to practice to become a qualified tax adviser, using her expertise to reach partner level.

Rosemary will advise companies how to arrange their tax affairs to minimise their tax liabilities and will help clients make tax savings through maximising research and development tax credits, claiming capital allowances on capital expenditure together with personal financial and business planning.

Rosemary, who lives in North Yorkshire, will be based at the firm’s York office but will work with clients across the region. She joins a well-established team of 13 highly qualified tax personnel, including two further tax partners, based at the independent firm’s offices in Darlington and Durham.

Rosemary said: “I have been familiar with Clive Owen LLP’s reputation as a successful, active and progressive firm for many years. The firm has a strong mix of clients operating in various sectors which gives me something to get my teeth into in what promises to be a diverse and challenging role.

“The client base offers great scope and potential and I am looking forward to bringing my breadth of experience and knowledge to work with colleagues to develop and support our tax services both locally in York and regionally.”

Ben Carpenter Merritt, EEF

The North East region of EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, has announced the appointment of Ben Carpenter Merritt as Regional Affairs Manager.

Twenty eight year old Ben will lead on EEF’s external affairs across the North East, raising the profile of both EEF and its members in the region and ensuring that the organisation remains the voice of manufacturing.

Ben hails from a political communications background, having worked with communications agency FleishmanHillard in Brussels as a political consultant before returning to the region and working at North East PR Agency, Harvey & Hugo.

Having grown up in North Yorkshire, and attended Newcastle University, Ben has lived in the North for the majority of his life, and is looking forward to his new role.

He said: “It is an extremely exciting time to be working in UK manufacturing, especially in the North East, which has seen confidence, orders, output, employment and investment all up.

“I’m looking forward to championing manufacturing in the region, growing our EEF community, and sharing all the positive stories that are coming out of the sector”.

The appointment is part of a larger restructuring within EEF which has seen the North East amalgamated with the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber to become one super-region, headed by Membership Engagement Director – North, Richard Halstead.

Of the appointment, Richard said: “It’s great to be able to have Ben join us and head our external affairs in the North East.

“His background in politics and communications is the perfect addition to the existing membership team, and will help us grow EEF and continue to champion manufacturing in the region.”

Bdaily’s North East appointments will return in 2018.