Co-operative Bank has appointed Sarah Barker to its SME Banking operation as relationship management director.
In the newly-created role, she will lead the relationship management team looking SME customers.
Ms Barker joins from Lloyds Banking Group, where she held a number of leadership roles and in a range of different industry sectors.
The bank said growing its SME proposition is a "key priority" for 20202 and the relationship management team has more than doubled in size over the last year.
Donald Kerr, managing director of SME Banking at The Co-operative Bank, said: “Sarah joining us is a really great start to what will be a busy and exciting year for our SME business.
“We have a considerable plan for innovation and growth of products and services for 2020 and Sarah will help in the delivery of this.
“Most importantly Sarah will ensure despite a packed programme of activity, we maintain and improve on the relationship management and customer service we deliver to the SMEs, charities and community groups that choose to bank with us.”
PM+M
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PM+M, the chartered accountancy, business advisory and wealth management firm, has strengthened its corporate finance team with appointment of Peter Kelly as a director.
He joins PM+M from Benchmark International where he was a director in the transactions team. He has also previously worked at Yorkshire Bank where he was part of the commercial banking team.
In his new role, Mr Kelly will work alongside corporate finance partner Jim Akrill, primarily advising owner-managed companies on transactional and strategic matters, including debt and private equity fund raising, mergers, acquisitions, disposals and due diligence.
He will also be advising management teams on MBO’s and MBI’s and he will work closely with family businesses to resolve succession issues.
Jane Parry, PM+M’s managing partner, said: “Peter is a commercially-minded finance professional and we are delighted that he is now part of our team.
“He brings with him a wealth of experience from acquisitions and disposals, to raising finance and working in industry so his insight and varied experience will be of real value - both to the business and to our clients.
“He is joining our corporate finance team at an exciting time, with transactions totalling over £100m in the last 12 months, I look forward to seeing the team continue to flourish.”
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Sellick Partnership
Recruitment specialists Sellick Partnership has appointed two new associate directors within their legal recruitment team.
Laura Hayward and Mark Bailey will be heading up their public sector and private sector legal recruitment teams, supporting managing director Jo Sellick and legal group director Hannah Cottam with the strategic direction of their legal offering.
Ms Hayward joined Sellick Partnership in October 2011 as a resourcing consultant, while Mr Bailey joined Sellick Partnership as a manager in November 2015. Since then he has focused on the development of their private practice offering and now manages their legal team in Leeds city centre.
The appointments come less than a year after Sellick Partnership sold a majority stake to French soft services provider Samsic.
Legal Group Director Hannah Cottam said, “Both Laura and Mark are exemplary recruitment professionals.
Not only have they helped build our teams, and grow our legal offering, they have also shown that they are able to think strategically, which is a huge bonus during this time of growth for Sellick Partnership.
“My fellow Board members and I are excited to work with Laura and Mark. We know they have a great deal to offer, and their knowledge and understanding of the recruitment industry will be hugely valuable. We wish them every success in their new roles.”
GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound, a technology advisory and investment firm, has promoted Javed Huq to director and head of the Manchester office, as the business continues to build on its presence in the north and Scotland.
Mr Huq joined GP Bullhound in 2016 and has been involved in a number of high profile transactions,, including the sale of Edinburgh-based DeltaDNA to Unity Technologies, Cubic Motion (investment from Northedge), the sale of Baltic Classifieds Group to Apax Partners and the sale of Spektral to Apple.
In his new role, Mr Huq will be responsible for leading all advisory mandates in the north of England and Scotland, alongside spearheading the firm’s efforts in building the Northern Tech eco-system.
The announcement comes alongside a further nine partner and senior promotions..
Hugh Campbell, Managing Partner of GP Bullhound commented: “I am delighted to appoint Javed as Head of our Manchester office.
“With his deep investment banking expertise, cross boarder experience and passion for technology, Javed is a fantastic advisor to help entrepreneurs and founders in the region to grow their businesses, and give them access to global investors and buyers in the technology sector".
RSM
Audit, tax and consulting firm RSM has expanded its north west tax practice with a partner hire.
Graham Steele joins from KPMG where he headed up the north innovation tax reliefs team.
In his new role, he will work with the 110-strong north west tax team to grow the regional innovation relief offering and further enhance RSM’s technical and sector expertise within the team.
Colin Smyth, tax partner at RSM, said: “More and more businesses are taking advantage of innovation tax reliefs, like R&D tax relief, patent box and creative sector tax reliefs, and it’s great to further enhance our 10-strong North West team with Graham’s appointment.
“Graham is well known and respected throughout the North and we are delighted to welcome him to RSM."
Graham Steele added: “It’s great to be joining such an experienced, established team and we have ambitious plans to further grow our innovation tax reliefs practice.
“There is a huge amount of opportunity given the latest HMRC statistics show the number of claims for R&D tax credits continues to rise, with a record £4.4bn of government support claimed in the last year."
TeleData
Manchester cloud hosting and data centre operator TeleData has promoted two key members of staff.
Dean McGarry has been promoted from hosted infrastructure manager to head of technology, while Dan Smith has been promoted from support manager to head of service delivery.
Both joined the business as employees of 1st Easy, which TeleData acquired in 2016.
Commenting on the promotions, TeleData commercial director Matt Edgely said: “TeleData acquired 1 Easy as much for the quality of their staff as anything else, and Dan and Dean are both glowing examples of how right we were to do this.
“Dan and Dean are both key to TeleData’s success, and we’re delighted to announce their promotions and wish them the best of luck in their new roles.”
Knights
Knights, legal and professional services business, has announced the appointment of seven employment lawyers and an immigration lawyer to its two offices in the north west.
It takes the total number of employment lawyers across its ten offices to 50.
Sally Hulston, Martin Price, Malcolm Pike, Carly Mather, Josie Procter, Tessa Rodgerson, Ed Gregory and Carly Hayle will work across Knights’ Manchester and Wilmslow offices.
Ms Hulston and Mr Price join Knights as partners. Ms Hulston has 19 years’ experience delivering advice across the full spectrum of employment law for a number of household name businesses, while Mr Price brings over 20 years’ employment experience with a focus on the sports industry.
Mr Pike will join Knights in May as a partner in the employment team based in the Wilmslow office.
Ms Hulston said: “I have been keeping a close eye on the progress of Knights and its unique business model.
“I was particularly attracted to the strong team culture and the ethos that people come first, always.
“Knights operates very differently to the traditional law firm model which is refreshing and makes so much sense.
“The Knights approach has allowed the Group to continue to successfully execute against its growth targets whilst delivering an outstanding service to its clients.
“I am delighted to join at this exciting juncture and help accelerate the growth trajectory of the team in the North West.”