This week's North East appointments

Ellen Thinnesen, North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has appointed Ellen Thinnesen as chair of its Skills Advisory Panel.

Ellen is CEO of Education Partnership North East (EPNE), a partnership between Sunderland College, Hartlepool Sixth Form and Northumberland College.

Ellen first began her career as a qualified nurse and has previously held high-profile positions within the education sector in Manchester and the Yorkshire and Humber regions.

In Ellen’s previous role as principal and chief executive of Sunderland College, her vision led the college through two mergers. She has also held numerous board positions in the education and not-for-profit sectors within the North East and beyond.

Michelle Rainbow, skills director at the North East LEP, commented: “Improving skills in the North East workforce is fundamental to our economic future, especially now as we adapt to the significant challenges presented by COVID-19.

“Ellen is an inspiring leader who is truly passionate about making a difference and raising aspirations in the North East. We are delighted to welcome her as Chair of the Skills Advisory Panel.”

Commenting on her appointment, Ellen added: “I am honoured to be appointed as Chair of the Skills Advisory Panel.

“I look forward to working with the other panel members to continue to support the LEP to ensure we have a thriving skills system which meets the current and future needs of employers and drives the goal of creating more and better jobs for our region.”

Jan Rzedzian and Richard Marshall, Hay & Kilner

Law firm Hay & Kilner has appointed Jan Rzedzian and Richard Marshall as partners.

Both Richard and Jan have spent their legal careers with the Newcastle-headquartered firm, joining ten and eleven years ago respectively.

Having studied ancient history at Newcastle University, Richard changed tack to start a legal career, He now forms part of Hay & Kilner’s private client team, working with private individuals, business owners and trustees on a range of issues including wills, estate administration, inheritance tax, trusts and lasting powers of attorney.

Richard is also the North East committee secretary for the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and a guest lecturer at Durham and Northumbria Universities.

Richard commented: “When I joined Hay & Kilner as a trainee, I was always struck by its reputation for offering a breath of legal expertise to an impressive client list, whilst still providing a personal service.

“It is exciting to now be joining the Partnership and to have the opportunity to continue to grow and enhance these core values of the firm.

“Our private client team is recognised as one of the leaders in its field and being made a partner is testament to the quality and impact of the work that we do.”

Jan originally joined Hay & Kilner as a paralegal before securing a training contract and now heads up the firm’s specialist construction and engineering team, working on a range of projects in the built environment for clients across the UK, as well as in mainland Europe and North America.

Jan is also involved with recruitment for the practice as a whole and acts as a mentor to its two legal apprentices who are currently working towards becoming professionally qualified through a six-year training programme.

Jan explained: “Becoming a partner underpins my role in leading the construction team and is a demonstration to our clients of the resources that the firm has available to them.

“We remained busy over the last six months, with many of our developer clients working to move projects forward, and we’re expecting to see activity levels staying pretty constant through the rest of the year and beyond.”

Jonathan Waters, managing partner at Hay & Kilner Law Firm, added: “Both Jan and Richard are extremely impressive practitioners and fully deserve their promotions.

“Many of our partners have followed the same career route up through the ranks as their two new compatriots and we’re confident Jan and Richard will continue to make a significant contribution to the firm’s success.”

Steve Loomes and Stuart Morgan, Robertson Residential Group (RRG)

Robertson Residential Group (RRG) has appointed Steve Loomes as strategic land director for Residential Group and Stuart Morgan as land director for Robertson Homes North East England.

John Low, chief executive officer of Robertson Residential Group, commented: “I am delighted to welcome Steve and Stuart to our senior team. Both appointments will assist us in delivering against our targets for 2025.

“We have a healthy landbank in excellent locations and are seeking to add to this over the next five years. Many of our current holdings will benefit from the appointment of Steve who will have direct responsibility for realising their potential across our entire group.

“Both Steve and Stuart join Robertson Residential Group at an exciting time in our evolution as we look forward to further strengthening our position in the market and creating dynamic and exciting communities for our customers across all of our businesses.”