This week's London appointments

This week’s round up of London appointments includes Weightmans, Leathwaite, Craven Street Wealth Ltd, Mazars. Read on to find out more.

Abhay Srivastava, Weightmans

National law firm Weightmans has appointed a dedicated ESG Manager and General Counsel, as it seeks to become a Top 30 law firm.

Abhay Srivastava, who has over 13 years’ experience, has joined Weightmans from Shell where he spent the last five years to help the firm better integrate environmental, social and governance factors into its operations.

During this time he worked both as an assurance manager within Shell’s real estate function, before taking a role with the Shell Foundation.

His most recent role involved incubating new businesses, providing business and ESG impact strategy support to portfolio start-ups and driving policy improvement and advocacy projects. Prior to this, Abhay also held roles with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages in India and IBM.

Abhay is a qualified engineer with a postgraduate degree in sustainability. His experience includes Health, Safety & Environment management systems, sustainability reporting, ESG risk management and assurance/governance processes.

Abhay also serves on the board of directors for two early-stage social businesses in sustainable fashion segment and healthcare respectively.

Abhay said: “The importance of ESG across all businesses and functions continues to grow, so in my new position with Weightmans I will be focusing on integrating these fundamentals into the company’s operating model and business strategy to lay the foundations for Weightmans to be an environmentally and socially conscious law firm.

“I will be working closely with internal stakeholders to ensure that we are providing the best resources and capabilities for our people, and most importantly our clients.”

Chris Smith, Leathwaite

Leathwaite is proud to welcome Chris Smith. Based in London, Chris will co-lead Leathwaite’s global HR practice, while also steering and accelerating the firm’s strategy of ongoing diversification outside its core markets of financial & professional services.

Chris brings global search and advisory experience across HR, Human Capital, and the Corporate Officers landscape, with a proven track record garnered in both leading global top-tier and boutique executive search and consulting firms.

With human capital at the forefront of corporate strategy, never more so than in response to the global pandemic, Chris will continue to be a key partner to business leaders and CHROs seeking to ensure they have the very best talent at the top of their organisations.

Further, Chris will take a leadership role in steering Leathwaite’s growth in a number of key industries. Leathwaite was founded in 1999 and has since established itself as the leading search firm for corporate functions, especially within financial and professional services.

Leathwaite sees significant ongoing opportunity and demand to support clients across commerce & industry, which Chris will drive as a sector.

Tom Pemberton, co-head of UK & Ireland for Leathwaite commented: “We are delighted to welcome Chris to Leathwaite. The CHRO and HR leadership community have been critical partners to Leathwaite since our inception, and we look forward to Chris expanding & enhancing those bonds.”

Andrew Wallace, Leathwaite’s managing partner, added: “Chris will be a wonderful addition to the Leathwaite team. We have experienced rapid growth in recent years across several commerce and industry markets and look forward to Chris driving that expansion in its next phase”.

Tom Barnett, Craven Street Wealth Ltd

Both Craven Street Wealth Ltd and Kreston Reeves Financial Planning Ltd are pleased to announce the promotion of Tom Barnett to MD of both businesses.

Tom joined Kreston Reeves Financial Planning in 2007, qualifying as a chartered financial planner shortly afterwards and was appointed as director in 2013.

Craven Street Wealth was launched in March 2021 following the acquisitions of Kreston Reeves Financial Planning and Christchurch Investment Management. Today the combined business manages circa £1bn of client assets and employs 40 members of staff including 9 financial planners.

Retiring MD, David Hurst, said: “I would like to congratulate and provide my full support of Tom’s appointment knowing that he will place the same emphasis on quality client service.”

Tom Barnett says “I would like to thank David for his support and mentoring over the years. I would also like to assure our clients that they will continue to receive the same high standard of advice and support whilst we continue to develop and expand our investment propositions, range of services, platform technology and systems.

“We have a brilliant team at Craven Street Wealth and I have every confidence in our future.”

In addition to Tom’s appointment, in November 2021 Craven Street Wealth further strengthened its executive committee with the appointment of Dr Patricia Ivan, who has impressed with her experience and personable attitude since joining from Sanlam.

Craven Street Capital CEO, Soondra Appavoo commented: “Craven Street Wealth has had an excellent first year. We are delighted with the appointments of Tom and Patricia and look forward to working with them to continue developing a modern, professional, client focussed wealth business.”

Sanjay Ranchoojee, Mazars

Mazars, the international audit, tax and advisory firm, has appointed Sanjay Ranchhoojee to the role of audit and assurance partner in its London office.

Sanjay joins from Mazars in South Africa where he was head of audit. As audit and assurance partner, and with 20 years of experience of listed audits, Sanjay will help strengthen Mazars’ position within the FTSE 350 audit market at a time when major sector reform is on the horizon.

Sanjay will help to grow the firm’s presence in the Public Interest Entity (PIE) market and increase Mazars’ expertise in auditing US-related entities including those under the PCAOB standards.

His sector experience includes working with large and listed entities in Information and Communications Technology, Construction and Manufacturing. He will play a role in reinforcing Mazars’ commitment to team development and building for the future of the firm.

David Herbinet, head of audit, said: “It is with great pleasure that we welcome Sanjay to the Partnership. Sanjay adds strength and expertise to our team, responding to the demand for choice in the market and positioning us well for the expected audit market reform.

“His appointment underscores the value of Mazars’ internationally integrated partnership and the team’s ability to collaborate across geographies to deliver a comprehensive service offering for our clients.”

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