Housebuilder Barratt Developments North East has appointed Alex Lawson as its new head of commercial.
Mr Lawson joined the North East division as commercial manager in November 2022 and he brings with him extensive industry experience having been involved in quantity surveying, housebuilding, land acquisitions, and site starts. He embarked on his career in housebuilding in 2016, spending three years at Story Homes before moving to Keepmoat Homes.
His new role will see him lead the team to achieve targets relating to accurate build cost assessments for land acquisition, budget control and managing key relationships.
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He said: “I’m thrilled to be taking on the role as Head of Commercial at Barratt Developments North East. The teams within the business are absolutely fantastic, and I’m looking forward to being part of and leading a team where personal development is encouraged alongside exceptional team support.”
Paul Reynolds has been appointed regional sales manager for the North East and Yorkshire at Paragon Bank’s SME lending division. As regional sales manager, he will lead the further development of Paragon’s specialist financial support for SMEs across the region. Mr Reynolds has over a decade of asset finance experience and joins Paragon from Close Brothers, where he was an area sales manager for the North East.
He said: “I am thrilled to join Paragon’s specialist lending team at this exciting time for North East and Yorkshire SMEs. With plans for investment, businesses are ready to acquire the assets that will take their operations forward – and I looking forward to working with SMEs from across the region to help them reach their full potential.”
Regional director Ashley Butterfield said: “I’m excited to welcome Paul to our team. With Paul’s significant asset finance experience, he will offer support to SMEs from across the region in finding the right, bespoke financing solutions for them.”
Paul Malcolm has been appointed as the new corporate development industry lead for healthcare at Opencast. Mr Malcolm joins the Newcastle firm after almost two decades of healthcare and digital health transformation experience, delivering enterprise software and services solutions to public and private sector healthcare organisations.
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His work will help Opencast build its health client portfolio, which includes public and private healthcare organisations and emerging digital healthcare start-up businesses.
He said: “Healthcare is a hugely important area of growth for Opencast. What Opencast has done in healthcare to date gives us a great foundation, but we can do more. We have a value proposition for all parts of the NHS and the experience gained from the work we have already done, together with the fantastic people we are hiring with NHS history, will be paramount in our success going forward.”
Global subsea technology company Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) has appointed Dr Lindsay Smith onboard as a business development manager of new technologies. Alongside her PhD in engineering, Dr Smith also brings over a decade of industry experience, with a strong background in the research and development of new technologies within other roles.
She said: “I am thrilled to be a part of the team here at SMD. Working for a future-focussed company with an unrivalled reputation for curating new technologies, the opportunities really are endless.”
SMD’s general manager of services, Liam Forbes said: “I am delighted to welcome Lindsay into our passionate team. With her exceptional knowledge and varied experience, she is undoubtedly an asset to the company.”
Society Matters CIC, the trading subsidiary of 2022 North East Charity of the Year Citizens Advice Gateshead, has appointed Stuart Fearn to help tackle societal issues, mobilise knowledge and build influence with regional employers.
Mr Fearn joins after 15 years at Newcastle Building Society, bringing with him a experience in customer experience delivery, strategic partnership, and product development within the financial services sector.
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He will be taking the lead in the engagement with businesses through the North of Tyne Combined Authority’s Child Poverty Prevention Programme, tackling child poverty – an issue that affects 38% of all children across the region and is a core priority for Society Matters.
He said: “I am delighted to be joining Society Matters at such a critical time in its development. Whilst the traditional Citizens Advice service work with individuals, it was recognised that more needed to be done with organisations to address the knowledge gaps and burning issues of things like child poverty, financial literacy and access to benefits and other support.”