This week's Yorkshire appointments: Featuring Open Velocity, Colenso Property & Knight Frank

This week’s round up of Yorkshire appointments includes Open Velocity, Colenso Property & Knight Frank. Read on to find out more.

Lisa Wood, Open Velocity

Marketing strategy consultancy Open Velocity has announced the hire of its new Senior Partner, Lisa Wood. Wood brings a wealth of experience to the role, having worked more than a decade at CMO and Director level in her 30-year marketing career spanning the Banking, Fintech, Travel, and Legal sectors – most notably as CMO at Atom Bank.

Wood will develop Open Velocity’s marketing advisory services, providing SMEs with access to the expertise and guidance of a fully qualified CMO or marketing director, without having to carry the cost of a specialist in-house. She’ll also be providing Fractional CMO support, helping empower businesses to scale flexibly – fuelling growth in economically challenging times.

Wood said: “Joining Open Velocity was a no-brainer for me. My satisfaction will come from helping these businesses appreciate the value marketing brings and watching them grow as a result. It’s a great new challenge for me, alongside contributing to our own growth plans here at Open Velocity.”

Bethan Vincent, founder of Open Velocity, said: “Since its inception, Open Velocity’s core objective has been to build a team of highly skilled and experienced marketing leaders. Lisa’s appointment brings an unparalleled level of scale-up expertise and added momentum to our already A-class team.

“We have ambitious plans to continue to grow our team over the next year and are well-positioned to continue our rapid growth and success, with an underlying commitment to delivering exceptional results and unparalleled value to our clients.”

Lucy Glasby, Colenso Property

Colenso Property, the York-based commercial property and asset management specialist, has welcomed Lucy Glasby as a shareholder and partner in the business following a period of significant growth for the company.

Lucy first joined Colenso in 2018, and is now the business’s Head of Facilities Management, overseeing its health and safety compliance, and the management of a range of hard and soft services, including mechanical and electrical maintenance, fire safety systems, cleaning, and security, throughout its extensive portfolio.

In recent years, Colenso has also invested heavily into its sustainability offering, having project managed the installation of a number of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points, along with solar panel installations for a range of private landlords, ahead of the upcoming changes to Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) up to 2030.

Commenting on her appointment, Lucy Glasby, head of facilities management at Colenso Property, said: “Having been part of the Colenso team for a number of years, the decision to invest within the business was an easy one, particularly given the exciting period of growth we are experiencing and expecting.”

Charles Harrison, head of estates at Colenso Property, said: “Having taken the time to invest within the business during the pandemic, we have now been rewarded with a significant boost to our profitability.”

Alexia Swift-Cookson, head of asset management at The Helmsley Group, whose portfolio of over 90 properties is managed by Colenso, added: “Having worked closely with Colenso for many years, we want to congratulate them on this latest appointment to the board. As a business, Colenso shares our enthusiasm for York and its property sector, and has always provided a fantastic service across our £200m portfolio.”

Ben Hill, Knight Frank

Knight Frank, the global property consultancy, has appointed Ben Hill as a Partner in its commercial property asset management team in Leeds. Hill, who has twenty years’ experience in the commercial property sector working with Europe’s largest and most complex retail assets, joins Knight Frank from British Land where he was a Director and member of the retail property management senior leadership team.

At British Land, Hill was responsible for the management of approximately £1bn worth of assets in Sheffield including Meadowhall Shopping Centre and surrounding sites. Earlier in his career Hill spent twelve years working as a Director of Property Management at Smith Young Partnership in Sheffield.

Based between Knight Frank’s Leeds and Sheffield offices, Hill’s newly created role will have national coverage and his appointment as Partner will strengthen Knight Frank’s shopping centre management capabilities and bolster the shopping centre portfolio.

Michael Lewis, head of property & asset management, Knight Frank said: “Hill has a proven record as one of the leading property management experts across UK retail space and will have a key role to play in our expansion of our shopping centre team in Leeds. Shopping centres are an integral part of our retail capability.

“Servicing a range of REITs, institutions, property companies and local authorities, our experience in the core market of strong regional centres is unrivalled. Hill brings with him an in-depth knowledge of one of the UK’s most complex and well-known retail assets and we are delighted to have him on board.”

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