This week's London appointments

Vicky Banks, Clarion

Commercial property lawyer Vicky Banks is the latest legal director to join Clarion’s 42-strong real estate practice as demand for its services continues to grow.

With almost 20 years’ experience in real estate law, Vicky has spent most of her career working in the property practice of an international legal business, based at its London office.

Vicky’s specialties includes advising on investment, management, refinancing and development matters for investor landlords, pension funds, small commercial landlords, developers and occupiers.

Partner Martin Grange who leads Clarion’s real estate practice, comments: “Vicky has an in-depth understanding of property law, having worked for a leading firm in London for nearly 20 years before returning to Yorkshire.

“Vicky brings further senior knowledge and support to the practice with her wide, deep experience in dealing with acquisition, development and lettings of redevelopment sites. We look forward to her adding her expertise to more complex matters as well as helping to develop less experienced lawyers.”

Vicky said: “Clarion has a fantastic reputation as a strong Yorkshire firm and I particularly like the fact it has a single office, with all specialisms together under one roof.

“The real estate practice has an amazing spread of work across a variety of clients. Having more than doubled its team over the last two years and with six partners, I am looking forward to being part of such a skilled and varied team.”

Jonathan Jackson, Gordons

A solicitor specialising in corporate restructuring and insolvency has joined Yorkshire law firm Gordons as its head of restructuring.

Jonathan Jackson, who was previously at law firm Addleshaw Goddard, has experience representing corporates, financial institutions, private equity firms and other stakeholders on all aspects of corporate restructuring and insolvency process.

At Gordons, Jonathan will support clients with corporate restructuring, distressed property transactions and corporate insolvency issues, including administrations, receiverships and liquidations.

Commenting on his appointment, Jonathan said: “Gordons has a strong reputation in the marketplace as a progressive and agile law firm. Importantly for me, Gordons is also renowned for its long-term relationships and excellent client service as much as it is for the commercially-focused results it delivers.

“Many businesses have faced significant challenges over the last 18 months, and Gordons has expertly been helping clients navigate this turbulent period.

“I am now working closely with colleagues across the firm to provide additional corporate restructuring and insolvency support and advice, if needed.”

Executive board member and partner, Victoria Davey, added: “Jonathan combines his expertise with an approachable and personable manner, which makes him an ideal fit for both our culture and our clients. He brings further knowledge and additional capability to our highly regarded and extremely active corporate specialism.”

Matthew-Blaine Young, Secure Trust Bank Real Estate Finance

Secure Trust Bank Real Estate Finance (STB REF) has appointed Matthew-Blaine Young as head of origination for London and the South East.

Matthew-Blaine will lead newly formed deal origination teams to drive growth across all areas of the bank’s Real Estate Finance business.

Matthew-Blaine Young joined STB REF’s London office in 2017 and in June was promoted to senior relationship director, with a particular focus on the affordable and student housing sectors.

Geoff Ray, managing director of STB REF, said: “Despite the challenges faced over the past 18 months, the Real Estate Finance team recorded a strong financial performance, seeing revenues increase by 10.4 per cent to £54m and, for the first time in its history, its balance sheet exceeded £1 billion, with year-on-year growth of 9.3 per cent.

“Our focus in 2022 will be to build on this further and the appointment of Matthew…to lead our deal origination teams in London and the South East…will help achieve this.”

Secure Trust Bank’s Real Estate Finance team provides lending facilities of £1m-£45m to residential and commercial property developers and investors, from SME housebuilders to UK-based funds.

Phil Sorrell, KALGERA

Kalgera, is announcing today that it is expanding its senior team with the appointment of Phil Sorrell as Commercial Director.

The appointment comes after the RegTech platform announced its multi-disciplinary board of advisors earlier this year, as it ramps up its mission to protect customers.

Sorrell’s experience spans both blue-chip companies and start-ups, where he specialised in tech solutions, identification verification product development and AI solutions.

He spent the first half of his career working in big tech in IBM and Unisys before co-founding a company that launched the world’s first secure mobile banking app. More recently, Phil worked with SaaS cybersecurity start-up, CyberSmart and FinTech-Labs.

Phil Sorrell commented: “I am delighted to be joining as Director of Commercial to support Kalgera in its efforts to help safeguard more vulnerable customers against financial abuse.

“The impact of Covid has been devastating for many people, making it more important than ever to better identify characteristics of vulnerability and work together as an industry to better protect vulnerable customers.”

Dr Dexter Penn, Founder of Kalgera, commented: “The need to protect vulnerable customers from financial harm has never been greater. The addition of high calibre talent like Phil to the team is a testament to that need and our ambition at Kalgera to change financial services for the better.

“His extensive experience will be invaluable in shaping the future of our platform and connecting us with new opportunities to design innovative solutions to meet the needs of the financial sector.”

Natalie Trice, Fox Agency

The integrated B2B technology marketing agency, Fox Agency, has appointed Natalie Trice as Senior PR Director.

Trice has 25 years’ global PR experience working for clients including Epson, HP, CNN, and Nortel.

Natalie said: “Having started my career in the world of technology 24 years ago, Fox Agency’s focus on global B2B tech feels like I have come full circle and am back doing what I love – putting tech in the spotlight.

“As well as working with some great brands, it is exciting to be part of a team of incredibly talented women who are forging careers in tech PR, and I’m confident that the Fox Agency training program we have created will set an industry blueprint.

“As the agency continues to grow and the world of technology advances further, I’m looking forward to seeing where this journey takes the team and the clients we represent.”

David Clare, head of PR at Fox Agency added, “Natalie’s vast PR experience, combined with coaching and mentoring skills, will allow her to further build our fast-growing team which now includes Hannah Syers, Senior PR Manager, and Eloise McCormack, our newest PR Executive.

“While there is no doubt we have been operating in challenging times, the growth in our team reflects significant wins over the past 12-months.”