This week’s national appointments

This week’s round up of national appointments includes Ball & Berry, Prime Accountants Group and Stagecoach. Read on to find out more.

Karen Pritchard, Ball & Berry

Leading approved inspector Ball & Berry has appointed a new associate director for the North West. Karen Pritchard will oversee Ball & Berry’s various sector portfolios and will be tasked with driving forward the business’ growth in the region, using her connections to establish new strategic partnerships to continue building the company’s reputation.

Karen’s first experience of building control came in 1999 via her father, who worked in the field for Cheshire West and Chester Council. The team required an assistant to support surveyors with internal admin, and Karen fulfilled the role. She undertook training on building surveying and control and became an assistant building surveyor for the council in 2002.

In 2015, she moved into the private sector, working on numerous Ministry of Defence projects, including several military barracks, before becoming a Project Manager in 2018. She was later promoted to Principal Managing Surveyor and Regional Manager for the North West, before joining Ball & Berry as an Associate Director.

Karen is currently studying an NVQ in Spectator Safety, having spent several years as a safety steward for Wrexham AFC. She is a former Chair of Wales’ regional group for CABE, and was a board member for CABE until May 2017.

Karen said: “I’ve joined Ball & Berry for the friendly approach that’s apparent the minute you walk in the door; from my very first interaction I’ve been made to feel at ease, and the team quite obviously have a high level of care for what they do.

“I’m excited to get stuck in and particularly keen to spend my time training the younger generation, supporting the development of junior staff so they can get involved in all parts of building control just as I was able to.”

(L - R): Priyesh Mistry, Kaleem Ghani and Rahail Asghar, Prime Accountants Group

Prime Accountants Group, which has offices in Solihull, Birmingham and Coventry, has hired Priyesh Mistry, Rahail Asghar and Kaleem Ghani to support ongoing rapid growth across the business.

Priyesh joins as a tax advisory manager who is expected to support the firm’s growing service in that area. Rahail Asghar and Kaleem Ghani join Prime’s accounts and audits department, which has seen a significant increase in work since the start of the year.

With extensive experience in VAT, Priyesh joins the business from Croner Taxwise, where he worked from 2017 to 2022. He was previously a compliance officer at HMRC from 2013 to 2017.

Claire Lea, director and head of tax at Prime, said: “It’s been a pleasure to welcome Priyesh into our team and we are really looking forward to working with him. His expertise in VAT will no doubt be a driving force behind our aspirations to grow Prime’s tax advisory service.”

Rahail joins Prime with eight years’ experience and a level four AAT qualification, while Kaleem brings with him more than four years’ experience in the field supported with a level three AAT qualification.

Morgan Davies, director at Prime Accountants Group and head of the accounts and audits department commented: “Rahail and Kaleem join us with a wealth of experience in the field and are already performing really well. We have no doubt they will continue to add value and are very excited about working with them.”

David Heptinstall, Stagecoach

Greater Manchester’s largest bus operator, Stagecoach, has announced its latest appointment within the leadership team. David Heptinstall has been promoted to the role of Engineering Director at Stagecoach Manchester having previously served at Stagecoach Yorkshire.

Having first joined Stagecoach in 2012 as Engineering Director at Stagecoach Midlands, David moved to the Engineering Director position at Stagecoach Yorkshire in 2016.

Commenting on his new role for the Greater Manchester region, David said: ’I am looking forward to leading our talented and dedicated engineering teams across Greater Manchester and building on the exceptionally high standards of engineering in this region.

“My focus is to make sure we continue to have a safe working and travel environment for our staff and customers and to support the delivery of a reliable bus service to keep our customers connected.’

David will be responsible for Stagecoach Manchester’s 280-strong engineering team, who keep over 700 buses moving across Greater Manchester which helps people access work, education, health, shopping and leisure.

He will also support the apprentice training programme and play an active role in shaping the training and development of the next generation of engineers.

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