This week's National appointments

This week’s round up of National appointments includes Equity Release Supermarkets, AFL, Cyacomb and Places for People. Read on to find out more.

Richard Brook, Equity Release Supermarket

The UK’s No.1 independent equity release advisory service, Equity Release Supermarket (ERS), have announced the appointment of a new CMO to help propel the business’s pioneering technology and digital offering.

Richard Brook joins the company as Chief Marketing Officer at a particularly exciting time for ERS. Just last year the firm launched a UK Industry-first digital solution for consumers, known as smartER.

Mark Gregory, founder and CEO of Equity Release Supermarket commented: “Richard now joins us to accelerate this digital ambition. He will be working across the B2B and B2C framework, reaching and building relationships with aggregators, partners, and affiliates to drive the unique technology we have created in order to empower our customers.

Richard Brook, CMO at Equity Release Supermarket commented: “It truly is a privilege to join the Equity Release Supermarket team. I have watched the firm’s growth journey over the past few years, as they’ve built on their strong reputation, strengthened their proposition, and expanded their advisory network.

“My focus now is to showcase the fantastic products and services we have created to a far wider audience. The choice, transparency, trust and interaction customers can experience with Equity Release Supermarket is second to none, and unlike any other company in the equity release sector. “

Melanie Fox, AFL

Leading independent architectural practice, AFL Architects has appointed Melanie Fox as Business Development Manager who will be based in its Manchester office.

Melanie joins from construction and property management consultants RLB UK where she has spent the last 15 years and was responsible for business development in the industrial and logistics, healthcare and sports sectors nationally as well as within the NW Region.

“Melanie brings extensive experience and we look forward to her working with our senior management teams to drive growth and nurture existing client relationships. The time is right for us to introduce this new role to support our additional expansion into new sectors,” says firm partner, John Roberts.

Melanie says: “I am delighted to be joining AFL who are an impressive practise with a strong client portfolio. I look forward to working with the AFL team and I am excited to have the opportunity to play an active part in their next phase of growth.”

Chris Noble, Cyacomb

Cyacomb is further strengthening its team with the addition of Chris Noble, an experienced product leader, in the new role of VP Product and Design. Chris joins Cyacomb from Facebook (META) where he led product initiatives across Facebook, Messenger and Meta VR.

This experience and skillset is ideally suited to leading the next stage of Cyacomb’s product growth in the Digital Forensics and now also Online Safety markets.

Chris Noble: “I’m passionate about the integrity of people’s experiences online, and when using technical products. I’m looking forward to driving greater communication and research with our customers, working with law enforcement to catch perpetrators of illegal imagery, and social media and messaging apps to block and prevent harmful content.”

Ian Stevenson, CEO Cyacomb, said: “We’re delighted to appoint Chris to lead the evolution of Cyacomb’s global product strategy. Chris brings direct experience of working in the markets we seek to serve. I’m looking forward to Chris’ input in developing our strategic thinking and building our product team to support our vision of a world where no harmful digital content can be hidden or shared.”

Cyacomb recently also appointed Mike Burridge as VP Sales North America, to build on over 30 customer wins in the region in the last 6 months. He is the first employee of the newly incorporated Cyacomb Inc, the North American arm of Cyacomb Limited, and a key part of our international expansion strategy (further information is attached).

Steve Ashton, Places for People

Places for People has today announced that it has appointed Steve Ashton as its first ever Group Partnerships Director. Steve will lead Places for People’s strategy for everything related to mergers, acquisitions, contract negotiations and Group-level partnerships.

Steve has over 20 years’ experience of partner management in regulated sectors and will also lead the development of best practice in partnership management, contract negotiation and contract management across the group companies.

As Head of Partnership at MBNA/Bank of America, Steve managed relationships with some of the world’s biggest brands and then at HomeServe UK, where he became Chief Partnerships Officer, Steve was responsible for developing and leading strategic partnerships with organisations such as Aviva, Eon and Severn Trent Water. Steve also led acquisitions for HomeServe UK.

Commenting on Steve’s appointment, Greg Reed, Group CEO of Places for People, said: “Steve is a great hire for us. He will be the go-to person for partnerships in the organisation.”


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