This week's North East appointments

Gerard Hosford, Desco

Desco has announced that Gerard Hosford has joined to support the North East-headquartered engineering consultancy’s steady growth plans.

Prior to joining Desco, Gerard started his career as a graduate engineer at AECOM, specialising in mechanical engineering. Moving quickly into technical management and then director roles at a multidisciplinary engineering consultancy practice Patrick Parsons.

Gerard joined Desco at the beginning of April as a technical director. He will be responsible for managing a range of projects at Desco, which designs mechanical, electrical and environmental systems for buildings, across a variety of sectors including education, healthcare, leisure, residential and science and technology.

Paul Baker, one of Desco’s board directors, with whom Gerard will be working closely, said: “Gerard joining Desco is fantastic news for the business.”

Tom Gale and Louise Watson, Baldwins

A regional accountancy and business advisory firm has strengthened its leadership team with two promotions.

Baldwins, a CogitalGroup company, has promoted senior accountants, Tom Gale and Louise Watson, to associate directors of its Guisborough office to continue to enhance its services.

Tom, who has over 10 years’ experience within the industry, started his career at Baldwins in 2014 and is looking forward to beginning his new role.

He said: “I am really happy that all my hard work has paid off. I want to excel within this firm and thanks to the career progression opportunities Baldwins offers, I know this is possible, so I’m driven to achieve my goals within the company.”

Louise added: “I am looking forward to learning new skills and developing my personal qualities to enable me to be the best associate director I can be.”

Claire Burgess, The Inn Collection Group

The Inn Collection Group has named Claire Burgess as its chief finance officer.

A former lead advisor with KPMG’s corporate finance team in Leeds, Claire has held senior key growth roles in the Unites States.

She set up leading white marble producers, TBGS Holdings and JB Processing in Alabama and was part of the senior management team at cutting-edge construction design and manufacturing giant Blox PLC.

Claire said: “I am excited to be joining The Inn Collection Group and share their buy and build growth strategy vision.

“It’s the people who make a business and I was struck by the ethos and mentality of the group from the top down, with people just rolling up their sleeves and getting on with it, taking ownership and responsibility.

“I want us to be able to grow the business efficiently and effectively while preserving our ‘pubs with rooms’ identity which is what the group does so well.

“You feel you have a quality, value for money, personalised product that is so much nicer than a faceless chain. It’s about growing at a rate that makes a difference not growth for growth sake.”

Claire succeeds current CFO Ian Stein who will step down from the board in May.

Richard Croft and Mike Wise, Colewood Automotive

Colewood Automotive has appointed two auto-industry experts to its team.

The Stockton-based company has welcomed director Richard Croft and automotive veteran Mike Wise.

Experienced director, Richard Croft has worked for the likes of Bond International, as well as a number of other high-profile companies where he made his mark.

Croft was brought in to look after the day-to-day running and development of the business, helping to facilitate major sales growth. He enjoys his role in the automotive industry and Colewood Automotive in particular.

He said: “The industry is relevant to most people’s lives, so you are always working on something which people really need. The people at Colewood Automotive are the best thing about it. Great outlook, energy and lots of ideas.”