This week’s National appointments: Featuring Inizio, Heriot-Watt University and Major Family Law

This week’s round up of national appointments includes Inizio, Heriot-Watt University and Major Family Law. Read on to find out more.

Stefanie Christmas, Inizio

Inizio, a global strategic partner for health and life sciences with a full suite of advisory, medical, marketing, communications, and patient and stakeholder engagement services, has strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointment of Stefanie Christmas as its new global head of diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I).

In her new role, Stefanie will be responsible for developing an organisation-wide DE&I strategy, and working with individual Business Unit leaders to deliver operational alignment and accountability, as part of Inizio’s commitment to DE&I.

She joins the Inizio executive team from Vynamic, where she made her mark by founding Vynamic’s DE&I efforts in 2016, developing an organisational vision and mission to align with its values and culture. In addition to this achievement, Stefanie co-developed Vynamic’s DE&I Consulting Service to help their clients define and develop their DE&I strategy.

Stefanie commented: “Having previously worked for Vynamic for seven and a half years, I am looking forward to taking up a new challenge working as part of Inizio’s extended executive team.

“During my time with the company, I’ve worked with some phenomenal companies across the biotech, biopharma, and pharmaceutical sectors. Having worked transformational initiatives to embed DE&I in organisations, I can’t wait to get started and make my mark in my new role.”

Inizio’s chief executive officer Paul Taaffe added: “Throughout her career, Stefanie has been highly successful in helping organisations take their DE&I offering to the next level, which will be a big asset at Inizio. It’s also great to appoint Stefanie from within the Inizio family, showcasing the opportunities across the group when it comes to our team’s career development.”

Grant Wheeler, Heriot-Watt University

Heriot-Watt University has announced the appointment of Grant Wheeler as Head of Commercialisation, a key strategic role which aims to transform innovative academic research into business and entrepreneurship opportunities.

Grant will be responsible for delivering Heriot-Watt University’s enterprise ambitions and will work with academics, students and industry partners to translate research into new services, products and spin-out companies which aim to solve societal and industry challenges and add value to Scotland’s economy.

He brings more than two decades of experience in enterprise creation and technology commercialisation spanning a range of roles within the UK innovation ecosystem and has a proven track record in early-stage and scale-up company engagement, high-profile strategic projects and the development of impact-driven commercialisation opportunities.

Grant Wheeler commented: “Heriot-Watt University has a clear track record of translating cutting-edge research into successful spin-outs and scale-ups. Its industry-leading partnerships and commitment to supporting academic talent to pursue the commercial potential of their creative ideas sets it apart as a truly world-class institution.

“The breadth and quality of applied research coming out of the University coupled with its global outlook is something which I find hugely exciting.

“That’s why we’re continuing to actively grow and invest in our commercialisation team, allowing us to create even more opportunities for our academic talent and deliver future prosperity for Scotland’s industries and economy.”

Stephanie Layton, Major Family Law

Major Family Law has promoted experienced solicitor Stephanie Layton to associate, in recognition of her outstanding work since joining the firm in March 2020.

Stephanie specialises in financial matters and has an “impressive” track record advising both married and unmarried couples going through separation. She has also worked with many parents in disputes about care of and access to their children. Stephanie’s promotion will take effect on April 1.

She commented: “It has been a pleasure to learn and grow with the team at major Family Law. I have really appreciated the guidance, training and support I have received from Joanne and all the team since I joined the firm at the start of the pandemic. I look forward to many more years ahead with the firm. It’s an exciting, innovative firm to be part of.”

The promotion follows four new appointments in just six months. In September 2022, Paralegal Lottie Weston joined the firm. She is currently completing the Legal Practice Course and plans to begin training as a solicitor later this year.

In November, Lottie was joined by Legal Assistant Louise Thain, who is legally qualified and has ambitions to become a qualified family solicitor. December saw the appointment of solicitor Jenny Green, who was inspired to enter law after volunteering for the charity Support Through Court, who work to help unrepresented litigants.

The fourth recent appointment quickly followed in February, when Newcastle native Nida Ali joined the Major Family Law team. Since graduating with a Masters in Law from Northumbria University, Nida has specialised wholly in family law. Major Family Law has already appointed a further solicitor, who will be joining the firm in May.

Would you like to see your businesses new hires or promotions featured in the Bdaily appointments news?

Send your submissions to: editor@bdaily.co.uk with ‘APPOINTMENT:’ In the subject.

Submissions should:

• include the name and job title of the appointee and the business name
• be no longer than six paragraphs/250 words
• include a landscape photograph of the appointee
• include a quote
• detail the respective businesses social media handles.

Appointments are published entirely at the discretion of the Bdaily team. Submission does not guarantee publication.

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

• Add me on LinkedIn and Twitter to keep up to date
• And follow Bdaily on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
• Submit press releases to editor@bdaily.co.uk for consideration.

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →