This week's London appointments

Here is your latest round of appointments for the London area. And from everyone at Bdaily, we hope you are having a wonderful Christmas!

David Izett, Social Communications

The ex-CEO of Colliers International UK, David Izett, has joined Social Communications’ London team as its non-executive chairman.

The public affairs, communications and creative agency began five years ago, and is now a thriving full service agency with over 30 full-time staff.

The team of ex-journalists and communications experts specialises in property and infrastructure - spanning across housing, transport, healthcare, planning and construction.

David Izett brings over 15 years of executive management experience in leading domestic and international property consultancies including Colliers International, Cushman and Wakefield and Lee Baron.

Commenting on his appointment, David Izett said: “I’m very pleased to be joining the growing team at Social Communications.

“It’s attractive to me because it’s a lean and nimble operation of ex-journalists and people from government comms and an attractive offering to our clients in the property and construction sectors. I have no doubt whatsoever that 2018 will be a successful year for us.”

Social Communications also has offices in Manchester and Leeds.

Gabrielle Berring, Metro Bank

Metro Bank has appointed Gabrielle Berring as director of commercial real estate. She will be joining the team on January 2, 2018.

Reporting directly to Mark Stokes - managing director of commercial banking - Gabrielle will be responsible for origination and business delivery, risk management and the strategic direction of the commercial real estate team.

With over 30 years of experience across financial services, most recently as head of major private groups at Lloyds Banking Group, Gabrielle’s previous roles have included head of housing finance at HBOS.

Craig Donaldson, CEO at Metro Bank, said: “Gabrielle’s reputation for putting customers first, coupled with her extensive commercial experience, will help drive forward our already fast-growing presence in the sector. I very much look forward to Gabrielle joining in the new year.”

David Hayes, WaveOptics

WaveOptics has appointed industry veteran David Hayes as CEO, who will play a key role in launching new programmes and products, thus enabling partners to accelerate their commercialisation of AR wearable devices.

David has led teams across research, product development and manufacturing of innovative new hardware and technology for more than 20 years.

As a serial entrepreneur, David has founded several technology companies, including Velocity Mobile and A Living Picture. He commented: “AR is one of the most exciting growth markets today, with the technology set to potentially bring in $83bn by 2021.

“However, commercialisation of the market has been very slow to date. WaveOptics’ patented technology is the core ingredient required to unlock mass market adoption of AR. Its diffractive waveguides ensure high-performance, high field of view see-through displays, providing for the first time, scalability for real world applications across all market segments.”

“I couldn’t be more excited to join the bold and talented team at WaveOptics and be a part of this disruptive advancement of optics, which will change the face of AR as we know it.”

David’s appointment signals the beginning of WaveOptics’ next growth phase and strengthens the existing management team of AR experts, which has over five decades of accumulated experience.

The company successfully closed a £12m Series B funding round earlier in 2017, the year’s biggest UK funding round in AR hardware.

Daniel Lampard and Angela Haygarth, Reading UK

Reading UK has appointed two new members to its board of directors. Angela Haygarth, associate director of Grant Thornton UK LLP, and Daniel Lampard, senior director of Lichfields, will be bringing their experience to the team.

Reading UK exists to boost business in Reading and enhance visitor experiences. Its board of directors represents key stakeholders, including the University of Reading, Reading Borough Council and the private sector, with representation from the retail, planning, property, transport, media and finance sectors.

Angela Haygarth has more than 19 years of experience in the industry, and has previously worked with BDO and Nortons Group. Daniel Lampard is an experienced planning consultant who leads Lichfields’ Thames Valley office.

Adam Jacobs, chair of Reading UK, said: “Reading UK is delighted to welcome two new directors with such strong records in their fields.

“Their experience and skill sets will be invaluable to helping Reading UK boost business, enhance visitor perceptions and improve the quality of life for residents, workers and visitors.”