This week’s London appointments

Robert Beat - Quantuma

Business advisory firm Quantuma has appointed Robert Beat as managing director to its growing London team.

Robert joins the firm with over 30 years’ experience in the insolvency industry, having previously worked at Baker Tilly Creditor Services, part of the RSM UK Group, for the past two decades. He also led and set up insolvency departments at Cape & Dalgleish and Morison Stoneham, spearheading a wide range of projects and initiatives.

During his long-standing career in restructuring and insolvency, Robert has been instrumental in the development of unique systems including business and portfolio risk management tools and a solution to manage all types of insolvency claims.

In his new role at Quantuma, Robert will be based in the firm’s London office, with a UK-wide remit. He will take on a hybrid role, building relationships with accountants, lawyers, and asset-based lenders, as well as working directly with businesses in sectors such as utilities, and telecommunications, in addition to providing support to Quantuma’s creditor services team.

In the last year, Quantuma has experienced staff growth of 45 per cent, boasting a 273-strong team, up from 188 in 2020. Recent senior hires in the UK have included managing director appointments for its growing forensic accounting team, David Bell and Kate Hart as well as Ben Hammerton to lead its eDiscovery offering.

Robert Beat, managing director at Quantuma, said: “I am delighted to be joining such a rapidly growing team and look forward to working with Quantuma to expand its business relationships and growing its creditor services offering. The firm is at an exciting moment in its journey as it expands into key locations across the globe.”

Carl Jackson, CEO at Quantuma, added: “We are extremely pleased to bring Robert aboard. His long career in the industry will undoubtedly bring significant value to the team, especially boosting our relationships with existing and future clients, particularly asset-based lenders, finance houses, accountants, and lawyers and will be invaluable to Quantuma’s continued growth journey.”

Bala Sinha - Engine B

Engine B, a next-generation AI-driven audit technology company, today announced the appointment of Bala Sinha as product lead.

Sinha brings over two decades of experience in the technology services sector working in strategic product management, proposition management, account management, client services, go-to-market, and real-time data operations.

Sinha joins Engine B from global corporate data provider Dun and Bradstreet where he was principal product manager in the third-party risk and compliance team.

Before that, he held roles in product and proposition management at ICE Data Services and Refinitiv. At Engine B, Sinha will be responsible for the direction of the company roadmap and will work closely with Engine B’s engineering and business teams to execute critical deliverables.

The Engine B consortium is comprised of 13 professional services firms, four academic institutions and one technology house. It extracts key intellectual property, which goes into the Engine B platform to accelerate current and next-generation services, and to support firms and companies in advancing their own digital growth.

Bala Sinha, product lead, Engine B said: “I’m delighted to join Engine B at an exciting time in the company’s journey. The Engine B team includes deeply experienced professionals who are building new products and platforms that will have a big impact on the long-term success of professional services.”

Shamus Rae, founder and CEO, Engine B said: “We are hugely excited that Bala has joined Engine B. His skills and experience will be invaluable as we forge ahead and co-create solutions that will positively disrupt and transform financial services.”

Kristi Hoyle - Kaizen

Kaizen has appointed Kristi Hoyle, who joined the team in November. The move comes from the London-based marketing agency’s continuous momentum and entering a new stage of stable growth and maturity.

Kristi joins from QueryClick, where she was the Client Service Director and leading member of their management team. She supported the implementation of strategic initiatives that influenced change and growth.

Kristi said: “I am thrilled to be joining the management team at Kaizen at such an exciting time for the agency. Their industry-leading specialism in digital PR and SEO has set up an excellent foundation to build upon.

This, combined with their ambitious growth plans, people-focused company culture and huge potential, meant this was a role I couldn’t turn down. I look forward to collaborating with our excellent specialists across the business to find new ways to delight our client base and accelerate their digital growth.“.

Jeremy McDonald, Manager Director of Kaizen, adds, “It is really exciting to have Kristi joining our team, especially at this stage. Kaizen has finally entered what feels like its adult years of being an agency.

We are in a position where we’ve genuinely honed our craft in terms of our services, and now it’s time to focus our efforts on fostering deeper relationships with our clients.

We have partnered with some incredible household names, and we hope to always be at the forefront of our client’s minds when they think of expanding their digital reach. I look forward to seeing what Kristi’s expertise will bring to both the agency and our clients.“.

Mark Porter - SO Resi Partnerships

SO Resi Partnerships has appointed an experienced new head of partnerships, who has taken over responsibility for the innovative shared ownership sales agency. Mark Porter will lead the service’s national expansion, helping to provide greater opportunities for external agencies to market their shared ownership properties to prospective customers.

Mark Porter joins SO Resi Partnerships from heylo, where he spent four years managing the housing association’s Your Home product, a shared ownership offering for the second-hand market. Prior to his work at heylo, Mark had a successful 17-year career as a mortgage broker with The Mortgage People.

Mark comments: “What attracted me to the role was the opportunity to get back into relationship management in its full glory, and be a part of an innovative agency that is genuinely making a positive difference across the affordable housing sector.

“I have seen first-hand the impact that shared ownership has in enabling people to get onto the property ladder, and I am looking forward to getting stuck into expanding SO Resi Partnerships and opening up the doors to homeownership at a national level.”

Alongside sales support, SO Resi Partnerships has also acted as a consultant for its clients, created compliance and governance procedures, assisted with resales and pricing for new schemes, and provided full analytical market research for a variety of clients.

Mark adds: “Fundamentally, to ensure the delivery of more homes to those who need it most, we need to collaborate with other like-minded third parties within the affordable housing sector.

“At the core of SO Resi Partnerships is the idea of collaboration – we have already seen the mutual benefits of working with our partners including ReSI, Tonic Housing and Brick By Brick.”

Ishmail Omar, James Sackey - Born Social

Social media agency Born Social announced Ishmail Omar will be taking on the role of head of client services and James Sackey as head of paid media.

Ishmail joins Born Social following two years working with London ad agency, Lightning Sharks and Swiss non-profit, Bitcoin Association, building out their internal teams to deliver social strategy.

He started his career at Facebook marketing partner, StitcherAds, before moving onto iProspect and OMD EMEA. Global brands in Ishmail’s repertoire include: P&G, Adidas, British Airways, Bacardi and Intel.

Abbey Mills, executive client services director and partner, says: “We’re delighted to bring Ish on board. His variety of brand experience, understanding of the social space and outlook on strong agency x client partnerships made him a brilliant candidate to join the team.”

Ishmail adds: “I’m excited to join Born Social. Their social-first, lead agency goal really captured my imagination and the work they do is often ahead of the curve. They have a myriad of clients that I’ve always wanted to work on. I can’t wait to get started.”

James joined Born Social in 2018 from WPP media agency, MEC/Wavemaker, to help build its paid media service, a key growth area for Born Social. He will work closely with the strategy and creative departments to bring social-first media strategy and thinking to clients during a new stage of growth for the team.

Callum McCahon, executive strategy director and partner said: “James has played a crucial role in building our paid media offering over the last few years. He now plays an integral part of our social-first offering.”

James adds: “It’s been an amazing three years. I’ve learnt loads, and had the opportunity to work with some amazing people and businesses. I’m super excited to lead on the next step in the growth of the Paid Media team at Born, working with our clients to navigate the ever changing social landscape, and helping them deliver effective social-first work.”