This week's National appointments: ThinCats, Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce & Evelyn Partners

This week’s round up of National appointments includes ThinCats, Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce & Evelyn Partners. Read on to find out more.

Simon Dixon, ThinCats

ThinCats, the leading alternative finance provider to mid-sized SMEs, has announced today the appointment of Simon Dixon as senior director, business development for the North West. Simon will lead ThinCats’ origination team in the region and will also head up the private equity team for ThinCats in the North and Scotland.

Simon is due to join ThinCats in October and will be based in its central Manchester office.

Simon recently served as HSBC’s Head of Mid-Market Financial Sponsors in the North West. Having held the role for nearly a decade, Simon is well-known in the North West business lending market. Prior to HSBC Simon worked for Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank and Lloyds Bank. ThinCats recently announced record new business for the first half of 2023, delivering funding of £191m – 45 per cent ahead of H1 2022.

Simon Dixon, senior director Business Development, ThinCats: “I am delighted to be joining ThinCats as it continues to invest in the North West in its mission to support many more mid-sized businesses in the region. I particularly enjoy helping business owners navigate primary buyout transactions as they scale up with the support of private equity investment and external funding.”

Mike Hackett, head of business development, ThinCats: “I’m thrilled to have Simon coming on board in October. His knowledge and expertise will be vital as we continue to expand our presence in Manchester in support of businesses across the North West.”

Sian Timmins, Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce

Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce has made a key appointment to boost its international offering to members. Sian Timmins joins the GBCC as international partnerships manager, with overall responsibility for managing the Greater Birmingham Global and Transatlantic Chambers of Commerce.

Sian said: “I am thrilled to be joining the Chambers, bringing with me many years of working in organisations across the city such as the West Midlands Growth Company and the NEC Group.

“I am thrilled to be back in the city and bringing my love of working with stakeholders and everything international to the fantastic team at the Chambers, so that the international divisions can go from strength to strength. Nothing fills me with greater pride than working with an ambassador for the benefit of the city and the region.”

Mandy Haque, international director at the GBCC, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Sian Timmins to the team as international partnerships manager. She will be responsible for the Global and Transatlantic divisions and, with her extensive previous experience, she will be a great asset to drive the divisions forward.”

Laurence Kiddle, Evelyn Partners

Evelyn Partners, the leading integrated wealth management and professional services group, is pleased to announce that it has appointed Laurence Kiddle as Head of Technology and Transformation.

Laurence, who joins Evelyn Partners’ professional services business, will provide support to businesses to help them manage the complex world of tax and regulatory compliance. He has extensive experience helping businesses simplify their operations through process improvement and redesign, and custom and off-the-shelf tech deployments.

Laurence has spent over 20 years in tax technology. He trained as a tax adviser at Arthur Andersen and since then has had leadership roles in the Big 4, as a partner in Deloitte’s Tax Management Consulting team, and in the tax software industry as Managing Director of the EMEA Business for Thomson Reuters and more recently as CEO at Arkk.

Justin Arnesen, partner at Evelyn Partners commented: “I’m delighted to welcome Laurence to Evelyn Partners. His considerable experience gained at leading consultancies and software providers, as well as time spent as an in-house adviser, will be invaluable to our clients.”

Laurence added: “It is this innovative approach that attracted me to Evelyn Partners – and this same approach will help our clients transform the way they think about process and technology. I am looking forward to sharing my experience with clients to help establish Evelyn Partners as the go-to adviser in this space.”

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By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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