This week’s Yorkshire appointments

Lee Allison and Ian Smith - Quickline Communications Limited

Ultrafast broadband provider Quickline Communications Limited is pleased to announce the appointment of two leading broadband specialists to its executive team.

Lee Allison will join Quickline in January 2022 as Chief Operating Officer. In his previous role as Head of Engineering Operations at KCOM, Mr Allison was responsible for building the award-winning fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network in and around Hull, which brought gigabit broadband capability to over 250,000 premises.

He has more recently been responsible for KCOM’s £100m FTTP network expansion investment.

Ian Smith will become Quickline’s Chief Technology Officer in February 2022 after spending the last four years as Programme Director for the Government’s 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme.

He has over 25 years of experience in designing, building and operating both fixed and mobile networks and previously held senior roles at Ericsson, EE and T-Mobile. Mr Smith also has extensive experience delivering large scale technology and transformational programmes for both the public and private sectors.

These key appointments further strengthen Quickline’s executive team and demonstrate the unique hybrid broadband network capability that Quickline is rapidly developing. The team is led by Chief Executive Officer Sean Royce, who has already started implementing an impressive growth strategy since he joined the company in May.

Quickline’s founder and interim Chief Technology Officer, Steve Jagger, will step down from his executive duties at the end of the year but remains a shareholder and as a non-executive director.

Sean Royce said: “We are delighted to attract such high calibre industry specialists to our executive team. Their arrival further underpins the company’s commitment to providing life changing broadband services to those underserved communities in rural areas, as well as to becoming one of Yorkshire’s fastest growing companies.

“These appointments also underline our focus and commitment to bringing full fibre and market leading 5G technology to 500,000 homes and businesses across the North of England and beyond.

“Lee and Ian will play key roles in the development and implementation of our growth strategy, leading the design and build of our gigabit-capable hybrid network as we fulfil our plans to scale-up and expand the business.”

Kate Develly - McCormicks Solicitors

Harrogate based criminal law firm, McCormicks Solicitors, has appointed a new member to its Crime and Fraud department.

Kate Develly joins the practice as a criminal law executive and will assist partner Peter Minnikin and associate solicitor Brian Nuttney in all aspects of criminal work and client care.

Kate graduated from the University of Lincoln with a joint honours degree in Criminology and English before embarking on a nine-year career with the police.

She then helped her husband to establish his own business before completing the Graduate Diploma of Law followed by the Legal Practice Course with Masters, in which she gained a distinction, at the University of Law in Leeds.

She said: “I think my previous experience gives me an in-depth insight into the criminal justice system from both sides of the fence and I look forward to using this perspective in my new role.”

Peter Minnikin added: “We are very pleased to welcome Kate to what is a busy department working with clients who are often at a very difficult time in their lives.”

Jonathan Grant and Sadie Cater-Wright - TL Dallas

Independent insurance broking and risk management company, TL Dallas, has announced the appointment of two additions to its Trade Credit team.

Bringing a total of 30 years’ experience to the company, Jonathan Grant and Sandie Cater-Wright join the team at TL Dallas’s Bradford headquarters. The appointments follow a period of growth for the company’s Trade Credit division, which is expected to continue into 2022.

Joining from Bibby as a trade credit account handler, Sandie brings experience working in banking and insurance roles and will support TL Dallas’s account executives locally. Jonathan has joined the team as an account executive, having previously worked on a number of large portfolio clients at Aon.

Jonathan Smith, strategic director of trade credit and surety at TL Dallas, said: “After witnessing significant income growth across the company, we’re delighted to welcome Sandie and Jonathan to the Trade Credit division.

“Their expertise and approach will be significant assets to the TL Dallas offering and will help us to further support clients ranging from SMEs to large corporates. In the current climate it is more important than ever for companies to protect their balance sheet and trade credit insurance assists with this through both insurance and good debtor management.”

Simon Hyde, director of trade credit and surety, added: “After celebrating our centenary in 2019, TL Dallas continues to go from strength to strength, cementing our position as a top ten specialist broker in the market, and one of the leading independents nationally.

“We expect this period of growth to continue well into next year and are currently on the look-out for further new team members who will help us to maintain our excellent reputation.”

Rosie Wilson, Laaraib Khan, Laura Pinder, Emily McGowan-Phoenix, and Jared Kerr - Social

The Yorkshire & East based division of integrated communications agency Social, has announced two promotions and three new starters at its base in Leeds.

With a background in PR and journalism, Rosie Wilson was welcomed to Social earlier in the year as an Account Manager.

University of Leeds graduate Laaraib Khan joined the team in September as an account executive, and Laura Pinder has recently been appointed as account director, working predominantly within stakeholder relations and community consultation. The agency now employs 10 people in its Leeds office.

Following “continued success within the established team”, Emily McGowan-Phoenix who joined as an account executive in 2019, has been promoted to account manager alongside Jared Kerr who joined the business in early 2020. The promotions further strengthen the team and will support a sustained influx of new business wins.

Pete Wrathmell, managing director of the Leeds office, said: “As we continue to increase our turnover and profitability, we want to ensure that we have the best people in our business to service our fantastic range of clients.

“Welcoming Laura, Rosie and Laaraib during the course of 2021 ensures that we can continue to provide a first-class service and develop new offers around strategy, marketing and campaigns.

“Meanwhile, Jared and Emily’s promotions recognise their huge contributions to our success during the last two years and they have my sincere thanks for all they have achieved during the most challenging of times.”

Richard Tempest-Mitchell - Principle Networks

Leeds based network specialist Principle Networks has appointed a head of service operations as it continues to focus on offering outstanding customer service in the networking industry.

The company has welcomed Richard Tempest-Mitchell to its expanding team. Formerly head of service operations at global technology provider Nasstar, Richard oversaw a team of engineers and support functions. He also held previous engineering and service desk roles at network service provider, IPI.

Richard will lead on a range of service focused projects, starting with guiding Principle Networks through various ISO accreditations, service upgrades and supplier management. This will enable the company to develop its service management capabilities and allow for future growth with larger contracts.

Richard said: “I like how Principle Networks keeps the service proposition simple. We know how critical it is to resolve incidents quickly. If that happens, our customers aren’t ‘triaged’ through a cumbersome service desk structure. They speak directly to third-line support engineers, to speed up the resolution process.

“Bolstering our proposition with ISO accreditations will strengthen the support and service foundations we already offer and demonstrate our commitment to best practice operations. If we keep that strategy in place as we grow, we’ll be in a brilliant position to support our customers in every possible way.”

Russell Crowley, co-founder of Principle Networks, added: “I’m delighted to welcome Richard on board. His knowledge and experience, combined with the dedication we’ve had since day one to exceptional customer service, will allow us to improve and evolve over the coming years.

“Although we feel confident we out-perform the competition with our unique co-managed service, there is always room to grow. We have an opportunity to develop our proposition and to provide first class service operations.

“Becoming ISO accredited in only our fourth year of operation will reinforce our dedication to proving that we’ve got the experience and knowledge to support a wide range of customers.”

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