This week's London appointments

Michael Lowndes, Lichfields

National planning and development consultants Lichfields has appointed planner Michael Lowndes as a senior director to its London-based major projects team.

Over the last 20-or-so years Michael has worked on mixed-use London developments in the private sector, whilst previously working for local planning authorities in Bromley, Hackney and Westminster.

He said: “With over 30 years’ experience of influencing development across London I am looking forward to contributing to the growth of the Lichfields brand in the capital.

“I am passionate about making our great city attractive, accessible and inclusive and like to work at the interface of planning, heritage, urban planning and townscape, where it is possible to optimise value for client, place and community.”

Michael will focus on winning and servicing London development work, alongside chief executive James Fennell and senior director Nick Thompson in Lichfields’ Major Projects Hub.

He will also assume overall responsibility for Lichfields’ Heritage, Townscape and Visual Impact Assessment functions across all its offices.

James Fennell said: “We are delighted to welcome Mike to the Lichfields team.

“He offers strategic planning and master planning advice along with acting as an expert witness on town planning and urban design matters and will complement the skills within the London senior director group very well.”

Donald Brydon, Tide

Tide, a business banking platform, has today announced the appointment of Sir Donald Brydon as its new independent non-executive chair.

Donald is Tide’s first independent chair, bringing significant board experience, including the chairmanships of listed companies such as the Sage Group, the London Stock Exchange and the Royal Mail Group.

Oliver Prill, Tide CEO, said: “After an extensive search for our first independent non-executive chair, I am delighted and honoured that Sir Donald Brydon has accepted the appointment.

“Tide has seen significant growth since launching in 2017, with a number of successful fundraising rounds.

“Sir Donald’s varied experience will be vital as we movetowards our Series C fundraising, extend our investor base and continue to build out our platform to empower UK SMEs at such a pivotal time. I look forward to working with Sir Donald not only as chair, but also to drawing on his advice.”

Donald commented: “Tide is an exciting business, providing an important and innovative service to UK SMEs.

“The business has experienced impressive growth to date and I believe I can play a key role in supporting Tide as the company looks to embark on another phase of growth. I am looking forward to working with OIiver and the team. “

Mark Frost, Sitecore

Sitecore, which specialises in digital experience management software, has named Steve Tzikakis its new CEO.

Steve is a 13-year veteran of global enterprise application software company SAP, and spent the last five years as president of SAP’s South Europe, Middle East, and Africa region.

He commented: “I am very excited to join Sitecore, the category leader in the end-to-end digital experience space, especially at a time of such monumental change.

“Our customers and partners can expect to see us accelerate our global expansion plans and innovation of more market-leading cloud and SaaS solutions, while further increasing our customer centric DNA.”

Claudia Stephenson, Invnt Group

Invnt Group has announced the appointment of Claudia Stephenson as its new managing director for EMEA in renowned and highly regarded industry leader.

Claudia joins from Freeman and brings 20 years’ experience to the position, over which she has led cross-functional teams in the implementation and launch of integrated marketing campaigns that transform businesses and accelerate growth.

Kristina McCoobery, COO and INVNT CEO, said : “Thanks to our teams’ ability to seamlessly shift their approach in response to COVID-19, we’ve experienced unprecedented growth with new and existing clients, and as such identified the need for an experienced leader to head up our EMEA business.

“A results-driven professional with extensive knowledge of our industry and clients across regions, Claudia is a valuable asset to the GROUP, and I have no doubt she will accelerate our offerings in EMEA and beyond as we continue to build out and grow the BrandStory Project.”

Claudia added: “I am thrilled to be joining [INVNT GROUP] during such an exciting growth phase. While COVID-19 is proving a challenge for the marketing – particularly experience marketing – sector, the need for brands to engage their audiences remains as important as ever.

“The success INVNT, and now [INVNT GROUP] has had over the last six months is evidence of this, and solidifies both its market leadership position and ongoing ability to challenge clients’ briefs to deliver the most innovative, results-driven solutions.

“I look forward to working with our local and global teams across the group to develop bespoke solutions for clients that push creative boundaries, connect them to their customers, and ultimately ladder up to the one meaningful, consistent, well-articulated BrandStory, especially whilst we navigate through – and out of – the pandemic.”

Andy Curran and Alan Ngai, Pubguard

Pubguard, the malvertising and ad quality platform has announced the appointment of Andy Curran as CEO and Alan Ngai as COO.

As CEO of Pubguard, Andy Curran will focus on positioning the company as the most agile platform to respond to the evolving threat landscape.

Andy joins Pubguard’s leadership team from Bidstack where he was head of growth, responsible for scaling up and aligning the development and commercial teams within the group.

He commented: “Pubguard is one of the most recognised companies in its space and has brought great value to Bidstack’s in-game offering since the acquisition last year.

The company has now been fully integrated into the group, ready for a relaunch, and this coupled with the recent shift in market dynamics means now is the perfect time to ramp up and scale to fulfil its massive potential for growth.“

In his role as COO of PubGuard, Alan Ngai will support Andy in solidifying the company’s position as the world’s leading independent malvertising platform. He’ll lead on Pubguard’s day to day operations and business growth is driven forward by continuing to expand its services across all media channels.

Alan added: “Having worked in ad tech for almost 10 years, the Pubguard role is a unique opportunity to help tackle an ongoing issue that has plagued the industry since I started working in the programmatic space.

“I’m excited to be a part of this company’s future successes.”

Jennifer Wilkinson, William Connolly and Alex Groot, M3 Consulting

London-based development and project manager M3 Consulting has announced the appointments of Jennifer Wilkinson, William Connolly and Alex Groot.

Jennifer has been promoted to senior development manager after more than four years in the business. She has a wide range of experience dealing with mixed-use, office and residential sectors as well as high-end residential and hotel schemes in London and South Africa.

William, who has been at M3 for eight years, has been promoted to associate director. He has experience across public and private sectors, at all stages of the development lifecycle. Past projects comprise of British Land’s 1 Triton Square, the biggest pre-let in the West End in over 20 years, and Mount Pleasant, involving the planning consent for and disposal of circa 1 million sq ft. of residential-led mixed use development while enabling efficient consolidation of Royal Mail’s operations.

Alex has been promoted to Project Director, after a decade at M3. With an engineering background, commercial sensibilities and contagious enthusiasm, Alex has amassed a track record that has optimised development potential at challenging sites. These have included the 50-storey The Leadenhall Building, the value enhancement of One Carter Lane across from St Paul’s, and the 1 million sq ft. 5 Broadgate.

Richard Hollingworth, director at M3 Consulting, commented: “We are delighted to celebrate the promotions for Jennifer, William and Alex, reflecting their hard work and dedication and their growth as project leaders.

“These promotions reflect our long-term commitment to investing in our people with a focus to continue to build the success of our company by supporting and encouraging the promising talent within project and development management.”