This week's Yorkshire appointments

Lisa Russell, Jones Myers

Niche family law firm Jones Myers has further expanded its Harrogate team with the appointment of solicitor Lisa Russell, a specialist in children law.

Based at the firm’s Windsor House office, Lisa’s expertise spans over 13 years and covers all aspects of children law, representing clients in the High Court, County Court and Family Proceedings Court.

A Law Society Children Panel member since 2011, Lisa acts for parents, children, grandparents and Local Authorities and is valued by clients for her empathetic manner and sensible approach.

Jones Myers partner, Kate Banerjee - an acknowledged leader in children law and member of the International Child Abduction and Custody Unit - heads the department.

She said: “Lisa’s wealth of experience is a perfect fit with our team’s reputation and expertise as we attract complex and varied casework and continue to receive increasing commissions from clients in Yorkshire, the UK and overseas.”

Gemma Wright, Reward Finance Group

Reward Finance Group has promoted Gemma Wright to regional managing director for Yorkshire and the North East.

Gemma joined the alternative finance provider as commercial director two years ago with the responsibility of building and running the operations team across the Leeds and Manchester offices.

With 20 years’ experience working in the financial sector, Gemma has played a key role in overseeing the continued growth of the business and, in this time, doubling the headcount to a current team of 27 people across the two offices.

As regional managing director, Gemma will take on responsibility for both the operations and sales team within the Yorkshire and North East region whilst Nick Smith will continue to lead the Manchester and North West team.

Tom Flannery, co-founder and joint group managing director of Reward Finance Group, said: “Since joining us, Gemma has played a leading role in Reward’s expansion plan overseeing 50 per cent increase in personnel as well as wholesale IT infrastructure changes.

“This has resulted in us establishing ourselves as a key player in the Manchester market, as well as continuing to build on the success of our long-established Leeds office.

“This is an exciting appointment as the new structure will also provide us with a platform to scale up for future expansion into other regions.”

Carl Jones, MD Law

Insolvency specialist Carl Jones has been promoted to partner at Sheffield legal practice MD Law.

Carl graduated in Law from the University of Cambridge in 2010 and trained at the Sheffield office of international law firm, DLA Piper. He qualified as a solicitor in 2013 and joined MD Law founder Matthew Dixon when he launched the niche practice in May 2015.

Carl specialises in acting for insolvency practitioners and other corporate and individual clients in litigation matters and is qualified to represent clients in civil matters in all Courts as a solicitor-advocate.

He also handles a wide range of litigation and insolvency work in the property sector including sales of residential and commercial properties by Insolvency Practitioners and forced sales by court order.

Christine Miller, Future Life Wealth Management

Sheffield-based Future Life Wealth Management has appointed a new financial paraplanner as part of the company’s growth plans.

Christine Miller joins Future Life having gained several years’ experience working within the financial services industry at AFH Wealth Management. She achieved a Diploma in R regulated financial planning in 2018 and has a Certificate in mortgage planning.

Future Life’s managing director Jillian Thomas said: “Christine is a fantastic addition to the team and will help us continue to give a great service to our clients.

“Christine’s appointment is all part of our growth plan, which has seen us promote a member of the team to become a financial adviser, and this role is to fill her previous position.”

In her new role, Christine will start a training programme in order to achieve Chartered status over the coming years.

Lizzy Tyler, TL Dallas

TL Dallas has appointed its new head of people, Lizzy Tyler.

In her role as head of people, Lizzy will lead TL Dallas’s human resources function across the firm’s network of ten offices in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as leading and implementing wellbeing and recruitment strategies.

Additionally, Lizzy will ensure that TL Dallas’s processes are in line with the organisation’s people-focused culture, match its growth ambitions and nurture future talent through initiatives like its apprenticeship scheme.

Lizzy is an experienced human resources professional, having worked in the sector for more than 20 years. Prior to joining TL Dallas, Lizzy spent time working in a variety of senior HR roles, including housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, Arriva and Marks and Spencer. Additionally, she is a voluntary board Trustee at a local charity Ripon Museums Trust.

Bailey Waterhouse, The Engine Room

Yorkshire-headquartered strategic brand consultancy The Engine Room has bolstered its team ahead of projected 2020 growth.

Bailey Waterhouse is the Mirfield-based firm’s newly-appointed junior designer.

A former Greenhead College student and a recent graphic design graduate of Northumbria University, he completed a two-week placement with The Engine Room earlier this year and was later offered a permanent position as the business gears up for expansion over the next 12 months.

His three-year study programme saw him specialise in brand, while he also approached a number of agencies to boost his work experience alongside.

This included the completion of internships in London where his talent saw him quickly become involved in campaigns for major consumer blue-chips.

Managing director, Lesley Gulliver, said: “We had planned to look at growing the team in Q1-2 of 2020, as our pipeline includes a rich balance of brand evolution retainer work for long-standing clients, plus a healthy stream of new projects coming into the studio.

“But we were so impressed with Bailey’s skill set and approach, that we accelerated our recruitment to secure his appointment before Christmas.

“While on placement he didn’t just thoughtfully address the briefs we gave him to work on – he also demonstrated a real aptitude for the business of design which is quite a rare talent, particularly for someone starting out in their career.”