This week's North East appointments

This week’s round up of North East appointments includes Seaward Electronic, HR2day, North East England Chamber of Commerce, Howarth Litchfield, Onyx Health. Read on to find out more.

Sam Teta, Andrew Davis, Steven Winder, Seaward Electronic

North East electrical test and measurement company Seaward Electronic has announced several senior appointments as it develops its national and international operations.

Andrew Davis has been promoted to the position of UK business development and global key account manager - Rigel Medical, while Sam Teta becomes international development manager – Rigel Medical.

Steven Winder steps up to the role of service sales manager for the company’s precision instrumentation calibration services, Calibrationhouse. While assuming their new roles, both Sam Teta and Andrew Davis will retain their current responsibilities managing sales of Rigel into European markets and UK markets respectively.

The promotions come as the Peterlee-based company has continued to maintain a resilient performance during the pandemic and sees strong demand for its products across all its markets.

With an office also in Tampa, Florida, Seaward currently employs around 170 people and is a sector leading manufacturer of electronic test and measurement instruments used in a wide variety of electrical, medical, industrial and energy sector applications.

Chris Callan, CEO at Seaward, said: “Well done Andrew, Sam and Steven. Our investment in talented people is the linchpin of providing top quality products and services to customers right across the world. We look forward to both continuing to grow their careers at Seaward and contributing significantly to our future success.

“We have a strategy for growth - and developing our expertise and capability is a key part of this strategy. We offer exciting projects and technologies and it has been fantastic to welcome new members of the team to strengthen our ability to introduce new products into our global markets.”

Seaward is part of Metrawatt’s GMC Instrumentation Group, a collaboration of separate specialist test equipment manufacturing businesses based in Germany, Switzerland and the USA.

Maxine Barker, HR2day

HR2day in Darlington has welcomed a new HR administrator as part of an ongoing period of growth.

Maxine Barker started her career as a dental nurse, but swapped dentures for disciplinaries in 2019, when she took a job in the HR department with the charity Humankind. She joins the firm following a successful two years, which has seen its turnover double and its client number increase by 100 per cent.

HR2day provides bespoke HR solutions to SMEs across the UK and provided online support and advice to business leaders throughout the pandemic. Maxine is currently studying towards a CIPD level 5 qualification, which would enable her to become an HR advisor in the future.

Maxine said: “I’m delighted to be joining a growing firm at such an exciting time, when so many more organisations require support in terms of their HR. Everyone is incredibly supportive, particularly because I want to grow my career in the industry and develop my knowledge to help others.

“When I’m not at work, I love spending time with my family, going on holiday – when it’s allowed- and walking my dog, Lady.”

Nicky Jolley, managing director of HR2day, said: “We’ve had a fantastic couple of years as a business, doubling both our client list and turnover during an incredibly turbulent time.

“I’m delighted that this buoyancy has allowed us to create positions and attract new talent to the organisation. Welcome Maxine. You’re already proving to be great asset to the team.”

Rhiannon Bearne, North East England Chamber of Commerce

Rhiannon Bearne has been appointed North East England Chamber of Commerce’s new policy and representation director.

She will lead the Chamber’s policy, campaign and representation activity at a local and national level, ensuring North East businesses have a powerful voice on important issues, to improve business conditions.

A key part of her role will be to work with Chamber members to help to create a more inclusive economy - one in which more North East businesses, and people, can grow their companies and careers.

Rhiannon is currently an inclusive economy adviser for the North of Tyne Combined Authority where she is responsible for a range of projects helping to drive a fairer, more inclusive North of Tyne. She was previously head of policy at national social care charity Changing Lives.

She said: “It’s an honour to be joining the Chamber at this important moment for businesses and the economy of the North East. As we recover from the extraordinary experience of the last two years our voice on the issues that matter will be more important than ever.

“I’m really looking forward to working with members and businesses from across the region to bring insight, intelligence and authenticity to significant conversations nationally and regionally - working together for a stronger North East.”

A current member of St Cuthbert’s Society College Advisory Board at the University of Durham, she has extensive non-executive experience across a number of organisations, including as former chair of the Millfield House Foundation, a grant making charity devoted to policy and campaigns work across the North East.

Michael Robinson Howarth Litchfield

The Durham-based architect, Howarth Litchfield, has promoted a senior member of its team, Michael Robinson, to the role of associate director.

Michael, who lives in Durham, has shown steady career progression since joining Howarth Litchfield in 1991 as a trainee architectural technologist. He studied part time to acquire ONC and HNC qualifications, progressing to senior architectural technologist.

He then went back to university part time and acquired a first-class BSc in architectural technology. His promotion within the firm mirrors his academic achievement.

With experience gained across many sectors including healthcare, education, custodial and conservation projects, he is currently working on several projects for Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council including a new £7.1m teaching block and a £3.5m extension and alteration to a pupil referral unit.

His new role will see him take on an increasingly client-focused role, with greater responsibility for fee generation as well as operational and HR matters.

MD Jonathan Yates, said: “Progression to associate director is another positive step for Michael and recognition of the hard work and commitment he has invested in the practice since he began working here.

“We are delighted to reward his dedication with this promotion and look forward to further collaborating with him as we continue to expand the team and work in new areas.”

Michael added: “As part of the management team, I very much enjoy sharing my experience with colleagues as well as the process of developing staff and seeing them grow in confidence and ability – and of course, I will enjoy spending more time working directly with clients while extending my business network.”

Alison Davies, Sarah Walton, Daniel Watts, Lynsey Carr, Erica Wilhelmina, Vanessa Neo, Onyx Health

Healthcare marketing communication specialists Onyx Health have expanded their rapidly growing communications and creative teams, with six new additions across multiple levels of the agency.

The latest appointments come off the back of a year of record growth in 2021, which saw the Newcastle-based agency double their fee income and more than double their headcount to just under 30.

The new starters include two new senior appointments of Alison Davies as Associate Director, and Sarah Walton as Account Director. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alison has worked with some of the biggest names in the communications business as Associate Director of Scientific Communications for Weber Shandwick and BSMG Worldwide.

Sarah joins the team at Onyx Health from London based agency Dawson Walker Communications, where she worked for over 20 years, rising through the ranks to become PR and Events Director. She has previously helped deliver a global recruitment programme for Shell, as well as award-winning campaigns for Philip Morris International.

Onyx Health has also strengthened its design team with the appointment of Daniel Watts as a Senior Design Manager and Lynsey Carr as Senior Designer. Daniel has specialist expertise in motion graphics, video and animation production.

He joins the team from Sunderland creative agency IGNIFI where he was a Senior Digital Designer. Lynsey brings a wealth of graphic design experience to the agency, having previously worked for software giants Sage UK and as a Senior Designer for some of Scotland’s leading newspapers, including the Daily Record and The Herald.

The agency has also made two new junior appointments, Erica Wilhelmina as a Graduate Designer and Vanessa Neo as an Account Executive. Growing up in Indonesia, Erica studied at the BINUS Northumbria School of Design in Jakarta, before moving to the UK to study at Northumbria University for her final year.

She previously worked as a social media and graphic design intern for Guerilla Communications in the UK and Zalora in Indonesia. Vanessa is originally from Malaysia and moved to the UK to study Media, Culture, and Communication at Sunderland University.

Prior to joining Onyx Health, she worked for Cake Stories as a Marketing Content Creator and as an Account Executive intern for McCann Worldgroup.

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