This week's London appointments

Katherine Rose, Elysian Residences

Residential retirement developer and operator Elysian Residences has appointed Katherine Rose as director of marketing and sales.

Katherine joins the firm from retirement village provider Audley Group, where she has been group marketing director for the last eight years.

Before her role at Audley Group, Katherine became involved with marketing to older people whilst acting as a BBC marketing planning director working on brands such as Gardeners’ World and Radio Times and as publishing director at Reader’s Digest.

Katherine commented: “As director of marketing and sales at Elysian Residences I look forward to creating a bespoke customer journey and sales process for our homeowners and ensuring our sites provide a world leading customer experience.

“We are looking to expand Elysian Residences using the Landsby as our landmark scheme. I look forward to using my past experience to work with the well-established team at Elysian in order to cater to our customers and increase our offering.”

Gavin Stein, CEO of Elysian Residences, added: “Katherine joins the Elysian Residences team as director of marketing and sales with a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

“Her understanding of the retirement living sector will allow for our overall customer experience and our sales and marketing process to cater towards the individual needs and wishes of our consumers.”

Chris Townsend, ABM UK

Facility solutions provider ABM UK has appointed Chris Townsend as senior director of HR for the UK, Europe, and the Middle East.

For the past 10 months Chris has worked in a contractor role to support the UK HR team. In his new role, he’ll refine the company’s HR strategy for business units in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East

Chris brings experience from a range of sectors including media technology, manufacturing, outsourced services, and facilities management.

Most recently serving as HR director at international facilities management and service solutions company Renaissance Services SAOG, Chris also spent 22 years as HR director of Mitie’s FM division.

Speaking about his promotion, Chris commented: “Having spent time immersing myself in the ABM business this last year, I’m ready to develop and drive forward plans which place the business at the very cutting edge of the industry in terms of talent, development and world class processes.”

Adrian Walker, Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work

West London business campus Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work has appointed Adrian Walker as operations director.

Adrian joined Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work as guest relations manager ten years ago, before going on to take several operational roles within the company. In 2014, he became operations manager.

Prior to Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work, Adrian worked for the BBC’s facilities management company, Johnson Controls, as estate and events coordinator.

Adrian commended: “Having been at Chiswick Park for 10 years, I am looking forward to the new role and working with the team to continue to provide the best working environment and the highest standards of service delivery to our guest companies.”

Matt Coulson, CEO at Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work, added: “I would like to congratulate Adrian on his new role.

“It is great that we can promote from within and I have no doubt that with his experience and passion for our campus he will continue to be an asset to the business.”

Brad van Leeuwen, Cledara

Purchase and analytics platform Cledara has appointed Brad van Leeuwen as chief revenue officer.

With experience of building and scaling fintech companies, Brad was most recently at Railsbank, where he led marketing and business development.

Brad’s previous positions include non-executive board member at Spanish peer to peer lender NoviCap, chief partnerships officer at emerging market neobank dopay and principal at EBRD.

Cristina Vila, founder and CEO of Cledara, commented: “Following a super exciting 2019, Brad joining is the first of many big wins to come for Cledara in 2020.

“Brad is a seasoned operator that has led some of London’s fastest-growing fintech startups. He brings Cledara a playbook for scaling and passion to solve a problem that he’s experienced first-hand.”

Brad added: “Cledara is at the intersection of two megatrends - the migration of enterprise software to SaaS and the changing nature of the workplace.

“It’s a privilege to join a team that is at the forefront of solving such an important problem and one that has made so much progress in such a short space of time.”

Guy Parkes and Andy Baillie, Vail Williams

Property consultancy firm Vail Williams has appointed Guy Parkes as partner and Andy Baillie as senior surveyor.

Guy has 30 years’ commercial property experience across the Thames Valley and wider south east region.

Guy joins Vail Williams as a partner from RARE, prior to which he was European director and head of the western corridor business at JLL.

Commenting on his new role, Guy said: “What impresses me the most about this firm is that every person I’ve met in the business is deeply passionate about their marketplace, whilst having the peripheral vision to spot wider opportunities across the South East.

“What this means for clients is that they benefit from the firm’s seven interconnecting offices across the South East, with a team of some 25 plus agents, each of whom is monitoring every opportunity that comes to market.

“I’m excited to join the team and to start harvesting those opportunities for their benefit.”

Andrew, also from RARE, has worked in the Thames Valley agency market for the last three years covering all aspects of office agency and property acquisition.

David Thomas, Vail Williams’ regional managing partner for the Thames Valley, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Guy and Andy to join our growing full property service team here in Reading.

“This is very much part of the next stage of our growth plan as we look ahead to 2020 and beyond.”

Anne Blixen-Finecke, Loaf

Furniture retailer Loaf has appointed Anne Blixen-Finecke as chief financial officer.

Anne joins multi-channel global department store Debenhams Retail Ltd, where she spent three years as commercial financial director.

Prior to joining Debenhams in 2016, Anne held various senior finance management roles at Marks & Spencer and Tesco.

Charlie Marshall, founder and CEO at Loaf, commented: ‘We’re very excited to have Anne join us at Loaf. She’s a terrific talent with a superb track record and a wealth of experience.

“Anne was a crucial hire as we look to take Loaf to the next level, and I have no doubt she’ll achieve great things here.”