Sally Hart has moved into the role of managing director at independent property consultancy George F White, leading the company through a major merger deal as one of her first projects.
Her promotion makes her the first female MD in the company’s 43-year history, breaking the mould in the sector. She is passionate about driving forward change in the wider industry, playing her part in encouraging more women at all levels to start a career in property.
A second senior promotion sees partner Caroline Horn appointed to equity partner. Ms Horn becomes the firm’s second female equity partner alongside Ms Hart, helping to lead strategic direction for the business.
Ms Hart said: "We’re a business that backs our people and gives them opportunities. Since joining George F White my career has taken me in different directions and now into a new role that I am extremely proud to be doing. This is a value I’ll bring forward with me as we have a great bunch of people who we want to grow with us."
A head of financial planning has been appointed at North East financial advisory firm, Lowes Financial Management, as the company continues to build a strong senior team to enable its ambitious growth strategy.
Gershom Chan, 37, originally from Edinburgh, has been appointed to the newly created role at a time of wider restructure and ongoing expansion of the practice and service proposition.
He said: “I am delighted to be taking on this role at Lowes during such an exciting period of growth and progress. Lowes has built its reputation on providing personal service to clients, and I fully intend to be involved in continuing to strengthen that approach across the business.
“I appreciate that Lowes is a family business - we are families looking after families. What we offer is highly personalised, enabling Lowes to offer a genuinely flexible service with minimal bureaucracy.”
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National tech accelerator Ignite has strengthened its North East team with two new appointments.
Joining its team are Libby Waddell as operations manager and Lisa van Heereveld as community and communications manager, who will both be dedicated to helping more tech founders in the North East of England build successful businesses.
Ms Waddell will be responsible for handling all operations which includes connecting tech founders with specialised mentors who previously started tech businesses. Prior to her role at Ignite, she worked at Sunderland Software City as business administrator for three years.
And Ms van Heereveld will be responsible for supporting the Ignite alumni network of over 500+ founders, whilst championing the stories of those currently on the cohort. She also previously worked at Sunderland Software City, where she raised the profile of a range of digital programmes through her role as marketing and PR manager.
Engineering firm RWO has promoted Reece Kesson to the board as executive director, overseeing the expansion of its regional and national structural engineering operations.
He will be working alongside the senior management team at the Seaton Burn-based firm on new business development and continue to oversee all structural work RWO’s North East office undertakes.
Mr Kesson brings 30 years of experience and expertise to the role as the firm continues to see strong growth. This includes more than £500,000 worth of additional revenue secured for its structural engineering operations, propelling overall turnover to £2.75m in 2022 across its Tyneside and Yorkshire offices.
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Engineering consultancy Cundall has announced the appointment of Carole O’Neil as its managing partner.
Ms O'Neil steps up to lead the business 15 years after she first joined. She takes over from Tomás Neeson, who has served as managing partner for eight years and will now act as chair of Cundall’s Partners.
Ms O'Neil joined Cundall as human resources director in 2007 and has helped it grow from 450 people to a global practice of more than 1,000 people in 21 offices during that time. She has been a part of Cundall’s management board for over a decade.
She said: "I am immensely proud to have been part of Cundall’s story over the past 15 years and am looking forward to continuing the good work of Tomás Neeson and the rest of Cundall as we look to the future of our practice.
“Successive generations of Cundall Partners have built an amazing business, founded on the principle that we will act as custodians of that business for the next generation. Our ethos has always been strongly rooted in sustainability, and our drive toward zero carbon design on all our projects will continue as we commit to it as one of the cornerstones of our business."