North East law firm Hay & Kilner has strengthened its senior team by appointing Jan Rzedzian and Richard Marshall as partners.
The two new partners have spent their whole legal careers with the Newcastle-headquartered firm, joining 10 and 11 years ago respectively, and have worked their way up the ranks to earn their new roles.
Mr Marshall changed tack to start a legal career and now forms part of Hay & Kilner’s highly-regarded private client team. Mr Rzedzian originally joined Hay & Kilner as a paralegal before securing a training contract and now heads up the firm’s specialist construction and engineering team.
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Mr Rzedzian said: “Becoming a partner underpins my role in leading the construction team and is a demonstration to our clients of the resources that the firm has available to them.
Jonathan Waters, managing partner, said: “Both Jan and Richard are extremely impressive practitioners and fully deserve their promotions. Many of our partners have followed the same career route up through the ranks as their two new compatriots and we’re confident Jan and Richard will continue to make a significant contribution to the firm’s success.”
Accountancy and advisory firm MHA Tait Walker has strengthened its board by promoting Paul Shields to partner.
Mr Shields is a chartered accountant with more than 22 years of experience acting for owner-managed businesses. His work sees him advising clients across a broad spectrum of industry sectors, but with a particular specialism in manufacturing and engineering and property and construction.
He initially joined MHA Tait Walker in 2007 as a senior in the business services audit team and now heads up the firm’s Durham office. He is also one of the founding members and a director of the Open North Foundation, a growing cohort of North East businesses which aims to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to support companies looking to recover from Covid-19.
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He said: “I am delighted to join the partnership board and am looking forward to working with the rest of the partner group and wider team to help grow the business, particularly across Durham and Wearside, where we have continued to expand our client base year on year.”
The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has appointed a new chair to its skills advisory panel.
Ellen Thinnesen - who is CEO of Education Partnership North East, a partnership between Sunderland College, Hartlepool Sixth Form and Northumberland College - will lead the panel as it supports the drive to improve skills in the North East workforce.
Ms Thinnesen has held numerous board positions in the education and not-for-profit sectors within the North East and beyond.
Ms Thinnesen said: “I look forward to working with the other panel members to continue to support the LEP to ensure we have a thriving skills system which meets the current and future needs of employers and drives the goal of creating more and better jobs for our region.”
North Tyneside based Kitwave Wholesale Group has made two appointments to strengthen its finance team.
The wholesaler has appointed Mark Earl as group financial controller and Laura Wilson-Bell as finance director at the group’s chilled and frozen operator Eden Farm.
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Mr Earl has until recently been in the position of finance director at Eden Farm and has now moved across to support the group finance function. Ms Wilson-Bell has joined the business to take up the finance director role at of Eden Farm, moving from Pentland Brands.
Group chief finance officer David Brind said: “Mark and Laura’s appointments come at a time when we can look forward to 2021 with a positive outlook despite the ongoing uncertainty around the pandemic.”
The Entrepreneurs’ Forum has appointed two experienced business leaders to its board.
Brian Palmer, chief executive of Tharsus, and Aman Chahal, who co-founded TaperedPlus, are aiming to give something back to the membership organisation that supported them during their own entrepreneurial journeys.
They join current board members James Robson the chairman, Gill Courtney, Pamela Petty, Yvonne Bell, Dean Benson, Brendon Hayward and John Waterworth.
Mr Palmer said: “The Entrepreneurs’ Forum helped me on my entrepreneurial journey, providing inspiration, insight and camaraderie, so I feel that it is only right to accept the invitation to join the Forum’s Board.”
Aman Chahal said: “I accepted the invitation to join the board of the Forum as I reckon its payback time for all the support and encouragement its members have given me over the past few years. It’s good to know we are not alone.”
James Robson MBE said: “It’s gratifying to learn that both Brian and Aman accepted our invitation to join the board because they are motivated to support a new generation of entrepreneurs across the North East.
“They have both gained an incredible amount of experience and knowledge in successfully scaling up their own businesses and their input is hugely valued.
“I also wish to express my gratitude to Graham Robb and Fiona Raglan for their contributions and hard work while members of the board. Both have contributed to the success of the Forum in innumerable ways.”
Accountancy firm Azets, which was previously known in the North East as Baldwins, has appointed three graduates and three apprentices.
The new recruits will be based in the Durham and Wynyard offices but will undertake training across all Azets offices in the North East.
Nicole Humphrey, Georgia Smithson, Jasmine Sharpe have joined as part of the annual graduate recruitment programme, whilst Caitlin Hunt, Joseph Wheatley and Chole Heslop have joined as apprentices.
Joanne Regan, managing partner of the Wynyard office of Azets, said: “Investing in new talent is a priority for the business and we are delighted to be welcoming our new trainees. We are facing unprecedented challenges, but it is essential that we take the long view and continue to attract young people into the profession.”
Paul Topham, Managing Partner of the Durham office added: “We have ambitious plans to expand the business and now as part of the Azets Group will be able to provide clients with access to an extensive range of digitally-led services, expertise and resources, including the Group’s proprietary digital workplace technology “CoZone”.
“There has probably never been a more exciting time to start a career in accountancy and our new recruits will be joining a mobile, progressive accountancy business that will give them access to outstanding career opportunities.”
Across the 海角视频 Azets has recruited 143 graduates and apprentices.