This week’s North East appointments

This week’s round up of North East appointments includes Mediaworks, Ryecroft Glenton and Mandata. Read on to find out more.

Helen Whitfield, Mediaworks

One of the UK and Ireland’s largest independent digital marketing agencies, Mediaworks, has appointed Helen Whitfield as its group’s chief delivery officer.  

She joins the award-winning agency with 30 years’ experience in leading transformational processes for successful global operators. Most recently, she was COO at NBS, who grew to become a pioneer and disruptor in the construction industry with its transformational SAAS platform.   

Helen, who has built a reputation for developing positive, customer-centric enhancements throughout her career, has led growth and opportunity during some of the most challenging market conditions. She said: “I take immense pride in being part of any successful growth journey. 

“I’m a firm believer in continuous improvement and innovation achieved through investment in colleagues, commitment to company values and ultimately to the customer. For me, Mediaworks ticks all those boxes, and the ability to work on digital transformation projects for some of the globe’s biggest brands was a hugely enticing draw.”  

Helen has supported various business initiatives around talent and raising aspirations, not least with women and youth professional progression through various schemes specific to the North East region. She is also currently a board member at The Common Room of the Great North and a former CBI regional council member.  

Brett Jacobson, CEO and founder of Mediaworks, added: “Helen is the type of person we want leading our growing commitment to client satisfaction. We’re recruiting the very best talent across the UK&I to support our ever-growing list of globally renowned clients.”

Amanda Cooper, Gordon Wilkinson, Tony Anderson, Will Spafford, Tom Cosby, Karley Ritchie, Katie Mason, Roslyn Bell and Rachael Best - Ryecroft Glenton

Ryecroft Glenton, one of the North East’s leading business advisory firms, has demonstrated its commitment to employee personal development with nine internal promotions. Seven of the staff started their careers as trainees with the firm, which specialises in corporate finance, tax, accounts, audit and wealth management.

Amanda Cooper has been promoted from manager to senior manager in the accounts division. Specialising in agriculture and landed estates, Amanda has been with RG for more than ten years. She started as a university placement student before joining the business full-time as a chartered accountancy trainee.

Gordon Wilkinson, who has been promoted from manager to senior manager in the personal tax service line, joined RG in 2015. He has been working in this field for nearly 20 years. Both Tony Anderson and Will Spafford have progressed from audit seniors to managers. They started at the firm as trainee chartered accountants nearly six years ago, qualifying at the end of 2019.

Tom Cosby has been promoted within RG Corporate Finance from executive to manager having been recruited as a trainee chartered accountant in 2018. Karley Ritchie, who joined RG eight years ago, has been elevated from payroll service senior to manager, while Katie Mason and Roslyn Bell, previously trainees, are now seniors within the payroll services team.

Finally, Rachael Best has been promoted from trainee to executive within RG’s OutsourcedFD service line.

Peter Glenton, partner at the firm, which has offices in Newcastle, Northumberland, and North Tyneside, said: “We have a solid track record in developing ‘home grown’ talent within RG. Supporting staff to ensure they are able to progress their careers within the firm and achieve their full potential is an important part of our culture.”

Allan Farrell, Sandra Pretorius Clive O’Sullivan and Jonathan Ball - Mandata

Transport management software provider Mandata has made four key appointments to its board and senior management team as part of a programme of significant investment in the business.

Allan Farrell (pictured left) joins the Mandata board as chief technology officer, Sandra Pretorius (pictured right) has joined as chief marketing officer and Clive O’Sullivan has taken the position as group strategic projects director. In addition, Jonathan Ball, former managing director of Stirling Solutions Ltd, has moved into a new role at Mandata as its strategic relationship director.

A former Global IT Director of Dell, and CTO of several European technology businesses, Allan brings a wealth of experience, expertise and energy to the newly created role and has already restructured teams, adopting agile ways of working and automation to increase the speed of developments to market.

Allan commented: “Mandata is an ambitious, modern SAAS tech business with great leadership, great people, and a great culture. It’s a challenging period for the sector: driver shortages and fuel prices are causing significant operational challenges, so it’s never been more important for us to keep developing solutions that drive real and tangible benefits for our customers.”

Sandra Pretorius has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer to establish and lead a new marketing organisation. She brings a wealth of experience, having led advertising and marketing teams for many years, including most recently, for a global SaaS business.

Sandra said: “Mandata is a key player and innovator in the transport technology market, and it’s an exciting time to join the company. My priorities are to help hauliers, regardless of their business size, experience how our range of integrated products helps to drive actual, measurable growth in their businesses, as well as helping our loyal customers to get the most from their software.”

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