This week’s London appointments: Featuring GoCardless, Shakespeare Martineau and Talon

This week’s round-up of London appointments includes GoCardless, Shakespeare Martineau and Talon. Read on to find out more…

Alan Cairns and Kamila McWilliam, GoCardless

GoCardless, a specialist in direct bank payments, has appointed Alan Cairns as its new chief people officer and Kamila McWilliam as head of corporate development. Alan joins GoCardless from iTech Media, where he helped to scale the organisation from 60 to several hundreds of people during his tenure as chief operating officer.

With more than 30 years of experience in operations, people and talent, and having led brands like MoneySuperMarket, MOO and GE through transition and growth, Alan will focus on building a diverse, inclusive and high-performance culture at GoCardless.

Kamila comes to GoCardless from digital payments infrastructure provider PPRO, where she was VP, head of corporate development. Prior to that, she held a variety of leadership roles at Barclays, most recently as director in the group corporate Development team.

At GoCardless, Kamila will be responsible for driving and accelerating the fintech’s inorganic growth by defining and executing its global M&A strategy.

Alan commented: “I’m excited to join GoCardless, an organisation that combines purpose with a strong culture. Our incredibly ambitious and talented people will help us become a market leader in the years to come. I’m grateful for the opportunity to make a difference and build on our ‘People promise’ as we move into our second decade of growth.”

Kamila added: “The account-to-account payment space has become increasingly active in terms of M&A. I love the strategic direction of the business, the clear mandate to use M&A as a lever for growth, and the scale of our ambition to become the world’s bank payment network.”

Huw Witty, Shakespeare Martineau

Full-service law firm Shakespeare Martineau has welcomed new partner Huw Witty to its London corporate team, specialising in tax.

With almost 40 years’ post-qualified experience, Huw advises on all areas of taxation, with key focuses on property, international and corporate finance tax, as well as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals. He also has experience in tax litigation.

In his new role, Huw, who has joined the firm following eight years at Ince Gordon Dadds, where he was a partner and head of tax, will be helping to grow and develop Shakespeare Martineau’s tax team, while also providing tax support to existing and new clients.

Huw, who will primarily be based at the firm’s London hub but working with clients nationally, said: “Shakespeare Martineau has a thriving transactional practice both inside and outside of London, as well as an impressive and highly-regarded corporate team across the UK. I am thrilled to be a part of this and I’m looking forward to building a successful tax practice.”

Recently, Huw has advised on the tax aspects of the formation and location of the holding company of an international hospitality group and a subsequent re-financing, a tax-efficient sale and leaseback of two property portfolios valued in excess of £130m, and a pre-sale re-organisation and sale of care home sector group of companies worth approximately £80m.

Duncan James, corporate partner at Shakespeare Martineau, added: “We are delighted to welcome Huw to the firm. Over the years, he has built a strong reputation in corporate tax, and his technical knowledge and broad experience will be a real asset to our team and clients as we look to enhance our transactional offering and cement our reputation in tax matters.”

Stewart Easterbrook, Talon

Talon, the independent global Out of Home (OOH) media agency, has appointed Stewart Easterbrook as its new chairman. Easterbrook brings extensive experience in media strategy and will lead Talon’s board in driving international growth and technological development.

Stewart is a seasoned advisor to multiple omnichannel companies in media, data analytics and technology. Since 2014 he has worked with MiQ, the leading global analytics technology and programmatic media specialist.

Serving as chairman for seven years before transitioning to an advisory role in 2022, he played a key role for MiQ, successfully attracting significant private equity investments. In addition to his role at Talon, Easterbrook serves as Chairman of Medialab Group, an award-winning agency specialising in data, digital and media planning.

Prior to this Easterbrook spent 17 years at Publicis Groupe in various senior management roles, including a five-year term as CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group UK. He later assumed the role of executive director of digital development, overseeing growth and innovation across SMG’s key European markets.

Barry Cupples, Group CEO at Talon, commented: “We are very proud to have Stewart join the team at Talon at such a pivotal time, following the recent acquisitions and Talon’s commitment to both building upon this success and advancing our technological capabilities for the future. Stewart will play a vital role as we continue Talon’s ambitious growth plans.”

Stewart added: “Talon is an incredible business that is reshaping the OOH industry - in a short span of 10 years it has achieved great heights in terms of funding, global expansion as well as technological advancement, which is evident in its collaborations with iconic brands and media businesses.”

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