This week's Yorkshire and the Humber appointments

Craig Wymer, Owen Cookman, Emilia Lingwood, Amber Collins, ilk

Leeds-based agency, ilk, has made four new additions across its digital, PR and paid media teams as the business continues to expand its integrated brand communications capabilities.

Craig Wymer joins ilk as a Senior Web Developer. Building on 10 years’ experience in web development, Craig previously worked as a front-end developer for eCommerce agency, Statement in Leeds. Craig will be leading on web development projects for brands including ABP, CityFibre and St. Leonard’s Hospice.

Owen Cookman also joins ilk’s digital team as a Junior Web Developer. Owen originally studied as a musician at Leeds College of Music and retrained as a full stack software developer during the first national lockdown. Owen will be supporting on a raft of web development projects across the agency’s client portfolio.

Joining ilk to enhance its expanding paid media offering is Emilia Lingwood. Emilia joins ilk from Blueclaw, a search marketing agency based in Leeds, where she worked within a paid media team specialising in Google Ads and digital advertising platforms.

Since joining ilk, Emilia has been working on a number of multi-channel paid media campaigns including one for the Sport England-funded Active Partnerships programme.

Amber Collins also joins ilk’s PR and social media team as a PR and Social Media Executive. Having recently completed a Master’s degree at Leeds Beckett University in Public Relations and Strategic Communication, Amber will offer media relations and social media support for clients including doddl and Flo Software.

The four new recruits follow a series of new client wins for ilk including software and funding specialists, Flo Software, Sheffield City Council and Active Partnerships.

Nev Ridley, managing director at ilk, added: “Bringing Craig, Owen, Emilia and Amber into the business will strengthen our offering across all of our services significantly and comes at a time when our clients’ demands for fully-integrated campaigns continue to grow.

“I’m certain all new appointments will have a really positive impact on the quality of work we deliver for clients across the board.”

Simon Macklen, Marrons Planning

Socio-economics and research specialist Simon Macklen has joined Sheffield’s Marrons Planning as director of economics – expanding the leading Yorkshire planning consultancy’s portfolio of services.

With more than 25 years’ experience in the industry, Simon will head up Marrons Planning’s new socio-economics service, which will support developers in evidencing the need for and impact of schemes on the local population, social infrastructure and the economy in planning proposals.

In his new role, Simon will be responsible for setting up the new service line – which will complement the consultancy’s existing planning services, including planning applications and appeals, environment statements and commercial assessments – and growing the team in the future.

Simon said: “Marrons Planning is a forward-thinking consultancy that clearly sees the role of socio-economic-related work as of significant benefit to its client base.

“I enjoy drawing out the need for development and its impact on the surrounding population and, in particular, identifying the benefits of a scheme to the local community that are quite often hidden or not so obvious. This insight can also help inform a client’s commercial decision-making process.”

Ellie Severn, Catherine Fryer, Michelle Wilson, Shaun Sutton, Richard Grafton Interiors

Richard Grafton Interiors, which has showrooms in Harrogate, Ilkley and Wetherby, is continuing to expand with another four recruits joining the 25-strong team.

Ellie Severn joins as ecommerce and marketing assistant having previously worked for local property developer MODA where she assisted with administrative and marketing work.

In her new role, she will be working alongside recently-promoted brand director Charlotte Grafton to further develop the business’ social media platforms and build its ecommerce platform to become a ‘fourth showroom’ for the business.

Catherine Fryer takes up the role of project coordinator, joining from Asda’s head office in Leeds where she was a home textiles buyer.

She will assist Richard Grafton Interiors’ 11-strong team of designers with the coordination and fulfilment of architectural and interiors projects, ensuring the company’s standard is consistent as well as improving communication across all of its showrooms as the business expands.

In addition, Michelle Wilson will boost the business’s accounts function. AAT qualified, she will work as an accounts assistant, helping the existing accounts team with day-to-day invoice management and purchasing for all interiors and architectural projects, having held similar roles in the hospitality sector.

Finally, Shaun Sutton joins the Harrogate team as warehouse assistant, having worked in warehousing across various sectors, most recently in interior design and retail. With further growth expected, he will support the business’ warehouse manager and be responsible for all showroom stock and ecommerce orders.

Stephanie Day, Mazars

Mazars, the international tax, audit and advisory firm, has appointed Stephanie Day as Tax Director in Leeds.

Stephanie joins a growing Leeds corporate tax team which specialises in advising Privately Owned Businesses across Yorkshire, as well as supporting the region’s PE network. She joins from KPMG, and has worked in the city for over 15 years.

Oliver Hoffman, Leeds office managing partner, said: “We are delighted to welcome Stephanie to Mazars.

“She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge as we continue to strengthen our position in the market. As well as sharing expertise and advice with our clients, Stephanie will play an important leadership role in mentoring and acting as a role model for our growing team.”