This week's Yorkshire appointments

Grant Thornton has welcomed senior audit manager, Monika Liskiewicz to its Leeds office.

Previously internal audit manager at supermarket chain Morrisons, Monika brings ten years’ experience to the role with the business and financial advisory firm, including eight years spent at PwC.

Mark Overfield, partner and head of Yorkshire Assurance, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Monika to the Grant Thornton team.

“Her wealth of experience working with businesses in the third and private sectors, and within one of the region’s largest companies, has already had a positive impact on our fast growing Yorkshire practice.

“We know that Monika will support us in delivering exceptional service to our clients as we work with them to shape a Vibrant Economy. I wish her a very successful future with us.”

Monika added: “I’m excited to join Grant Thornton’s Leeds-based audit team as a senior manager.

“It has a fantastic reputation and I’m proud to work for a firm which is operating under strong female leadership nationally, and for a regional team that is really making a difference when it comes to vibrant economic growth.”

Jenny Dearman, Parseq

Parseq, the South Yorkshire-headquartered business process outsourcer, has strengthened its finance and administration arm with the appointment of Jenny Dearman as head of operations.

Reporting directly into Parseq’s managing director of finance and administration, Craig Naylor-Smith, Jenny will have overall operational responsibility for the division.

She will lead a team of 171 delivering document management and payment processing services to the company’s domestic and international client base.

Jenny, who brings 27 years of experience to the role, replaces Judith Forbes, who is retiring after working for the BPO in South Yorkshire for the last 30 years.

Craig Naylor-Smith said: “Jenny joined us in 2014 and quickly established herself as an integral component of the Finance and Administration team’s success. She is the perfect candidate for the role and I’m confident the division’s upward trajectory will continue under her management.

“She steps into a position held by one of our longest serving colleagues, Judith. Judith has left an indelible mark on the business and will be sorely missed.

“This year 23 people in our Finance and Administration division celebrated service milestones, racking up a combined 315 years with the business in total. It’s an achievement that should be celebrated and makes me very proud of the environment and opportunities we provide our people.”

Parseq employs 2,000 across five sites in the UK, with international partnerships extending across six continents.

Liam Widdop, Jeanette Lee, Sue Wise and Sandra Munro, Aspire Development

Aspire Development, the people management training consultancy, has announced four new appointments at its head office in Halifax.

The consultancy operates nationally servicing its clients through its core team of staff and selected business associates.

Now, four new team members have joined the consultancy’s base in Holmfield Mills, to help service existing clients while supporting the roll out of new training and development schemes.

Trevor Wheatly, managing director of Aspire Development, explained: “As well as enjoying long-lasting relationships with a number of our customers, we have recently become listed on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers, seeing us win new contracts with Wincanton, the Press Association and NM Group, to provide their Management and Leadership Apprenticeships across the respective businesses.

“Having enjoyed a very successful 2017 and what’s looking to be an extremely positive 2018, I am delighted to welcome our newest members to the Aspire Development family, to help us deliver the outstanding quality service our clients know and love us for, while helping to support and grow our business long into the future.”

Lisa Riches and Sandra Munro join Aspire Development in the training team as development consultants and will be responsible for designing and delivering people management programmes that help members of staff to develop their management and leadership skills.

Jeanette Lee joins the team as quality assurance and compliance manager, working to ensure that all activity delivered by Aspire Development is fit for purpose, meeting the strict requirements of Ofsted and the Education and skills Funding Agency for the Apprenticeship Training Programmes.

Lastly, Sue Wise will assume the role of senior business administrator, supporting Aspire Development in its day-to-day running of the business and provision of people management training programmes.

Trevor continued: “As a people management consultancy, all of the services we provide to our clients is rooted in helping businesses to improve their performance through their people. We know first-hand that the people within a business are key building blocks of successes.

“I’m delighted Lisa, Sandra, Jeanette and Sue have chosen to join us. I am certain their individual skills and talents will be a huge asset to Aspire Development – we’re building and enhancing our team with top quality people to take us forward into the New Year.”

In addition to the new appointments at Aspire Development, the training management consultancy has also announced an internal promotion of one of its longest-serving members of staff.

Liam Widdop first joined the team on a work experience placement while studying a Business Management degree at Leeds Metropolitan University. Since then, he had progressed up through the business and now works as the company’s associate commercial director.

Phil Millward, Parallax

Parallax, the Leeds-based digital marketing agency, has appointed Phil Millward as the new head of design.

Phil has been with the company nearly three years prior to the promotion as a web designer, brand expert and illustrator.

In that time, he’s worked on some of the agency’s most prestigious projects for clients such as cap hpi, Leeds Golf Centre and the award-winning interactive quiz game, Topple Trump.

Prior to joining Parallax, he has held design positions at a number of Leeds-based agencies starting at Cefar, before moving to twentysix and then Parallax. As well as his advancement to head of department, he was recently appointed as a judge on the CSS Design Awards panel, using his experience to adjudicate some of the best designs on the web.

Phil Millward, head of design, said: “I feel like I’ve really found a home at Parallax. I’d never worked with such a diverse bunch of creatives, developers and marketers before.

“There’s a brilliant mindset – everyone is on the same level. I think it’s a combination of youth, drive and passion that helped the company get where it is today, and I feel really fortunate to be in this position as we move onto the next stage of the journey.”

Andy Fitch, Parallax director, added: “Phil has already grown so naturally into his new role – we knew immediately we’d made a great decision asking him to lead the team.

“One of his best attributes is that he doesn’t repeat mistakes, and when you’ve been around as long as he has, that means almost flawless work every time, which is a dream.”

Leah Nanji, Dacre, Son & Hartley

Dacre, Son & Hartley has further expanded its residential lettings team with the appointment of a new lettings manager to cover Aireborough and North Leeds.

Leah Nanji joins for Linley and Simpson where she was a senior lettings consultant. She will now be covering the offices of Guiseley, Bramhope, North Leeds and Otley.

Leah will report into Emma Kerrywood, who heads up Dacre, Son & Hartley’s lettings division across the firm’s 20 offices.

Emma said: “Leah was the ideal candidate for the role, she has the relevant experience, great inter-personal skills and a real drive to succeed.

“Not only is she very target focussed, she is hugely committed to excellent customer service and is clearly a very organised and driven professional.”

Leah’s appointment takes the total number of people working within Dacre, Son & Hartley’s lettings division to 12.

Emma added: “Demand for rental property is far outstripping supply in the areas that Leah will be operating in.

“We have a selection of rental properties on the market ranging in price from £625 to £3,000, but with so many tenants registered with us wanting to move, we are keen to find more homes to bring to the market, and that is something Leah will focus on straight away.”

Dacre, Son & Hartley offers landlords a ‘let only’ service through to a ‘fully managed’ service which includes sourcing tenants, compiling contracts, collection of rent and property inspections.

Ben Cussons, Splitpixel Creative

Splitpixel Creative has recruited Ben Cussons as head of business development.

He joins the Huddersfield-based agency from Stada Video, where he spent two years as a client liaison before moving to a business development role.

The appointment comes at the end of a year of growth for Splitpixel, following a move to larger premises and completion of the agency’s biggest project to date for employee benefit providers Sodexo.

Discussing the move, Ben said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to be able to play such a key role in what is a really exciting time for a growing company.

“Splitpixel are a small and dedicated team, and it’s a pleasure to be able to go out and share work that’s been created with such passion.”

Charlie Herke, co-founder and studio director, said: “Our approach as an agency has always been very hands-on – the team deals with our clients directly right from the very beginning of our relationship.

“But as we’ve grown, it’s become more and more important to have someone to oversee this process, and cast our eye out to opportunities across the whole of the UK.

“Ben joining the team has been long overdue, and we’re very happy to have him on board, spreading the word about what we do.”