The Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA ) has made three changes to its leadership team.
Hannah Davies has been appointed as its deputy chief executive officer, Ruth Boston has been promoted to head of communications, and Alexis Darby becomes head of public affairs. Ms Davies has taken on the role alongside her duties as executive director of Health Equity North. She joined the NHSA in 2016 leading its communications and public affairs work. Since 2018 she has supported the development of the alliance’s health inequalities programme, with outputs including seminal work such as the Health for Wealth, Child of the North and Covid-19 reports.
In her new role Ms Davies will work with NHSA chief executive Dr Séamus O’Neill to support governance, strategy and operational delivery on behalf of the NHSA member organisations. She said: “The Northern Health Science Alliance is a fantastic organisation which makes a significant impact to the 16 million people living across the North of England and I am honoured to have been appointed to this role. Our region is home to amazing life science and research organisations and through building collaborations and developing the opportunities presented by these we can work on building a strong, productive northern economy.”
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Meanwhile Ms Boston has worked for the NHSA for five years, following a career in journalism and public relations, and Ms Darby joined the organisation in 2022 after working for MPs and political parties.
Silverstone Building Consultancy has appointed two new surveyors. The chartered building surveyor and project manager, with offices in Newcastle, Leeds and London, has welcomed Nathan Courtier as graduate building surveyor and Brad Tedstill as a trainee building surveyor.
Mr Courtier, who was previously a trainee building surveyor at Day Cummins and a site manager at Courtier Construction, is nearing completion of a master’s degree in building surveying and is a 2016 Northumbria University undergraduate. Mr Tedstill, who is in the third year of a building surveying degree at Northumbria University and will be employed at Silverstone for 12 months, is supporting the whole team on dilapidations, contract administration and measured surveys.
Lead director at Silverstone Building Consultancy, Richard Farrey said: “We take our responsibility to pass on our skills and experience to the next generation of surveyors really seriously and I’m pleased to see that Nathan and Brad have integrated into the team with ease and are already making a positive impact on our workload.”
Redgate Lodge Motor Group has expanded its senior team with the appointment of Paul Keighley to a new position of operations director. The family-owned used car dealer group, which has its main dealership at Shiremoor in North Tyneside has brought in the well-known regional motor industry professional as part of its plans to expand. He brings over four decades’ industry experience to Redgate, and has held senior roles with leading dealer groups and brands including Audi Colebrook & Burgess, Porsche & Bentley JCT 600 and the former Newcastle-based Benfield Motor Group.
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Mr Keighley said: “The minute I met Scott and the management team at Redgate, it was clear there was an exciting opportunity for me to join a family-run business with a good track record in the motor industry that also has ambitious growth plans for the future.
“There is a huge amount of opportunity for me to apply my industry-wide experience and knowledge and to help grow the team and build on their success to date. I’m really looking forward to my new challenge and working with the multi award-winning Redgate team.”
Scott Sibley, founder and managing director added: “We are a family business with family values and exciting plans for the future. Paul’s industry-wide experience and success working in senior roles across the motor trade will be invaluable to everyone working in the Redgate team and we are all delighted he is joining our business.”
Newcastle based LightOx Ltd has appointed Rebecca Crow as head of projects. The firm is developing therapeutic treatments, including light activated chemotherapy for early-stage oral cancer, and Ms Crow’s arrival takes the life sciences business to a team of 11 as they move into larger offices at their city centre base in Newcastle.
Ms Crow joins after a wave of new investment, project launches and grant funding, and will be responsible for helping the business deliver on targets as it prepares for the launch of clinical trials.
Dr Sam Whitehouse, chief executive officer at LightOx, said: “I am delighted to welcome Rebecca to the team. She brings with her a real wealth of experience with former roles in the Newcastle Gateshead investment team and at the Newcastle NHS Trust where she was responsible for managing a number of trials. Her knowledge will be invaluable in helping us navigate our own way towards clinic and we have every confidence that Rebecca will play a huge part in helping us achieve just that.”
Mr Crow said: “I am delighted to join the LightOx team and to have the opportunity to play a role in bringing this revolutionary mouth cancer drug to market. I’ve always admired the work of the team and their goal to develop the first minimally invasive mouth cancer treatment. They have made great progress with increasing interest from investors and stakeholders, and I look forward to supporting them on their journey.”
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Commercial law firm Square One Law has recruited a team of four employment law specialists to bolster its Tees Valley office. Employment partner Liz Casey will co-ordinate the further development of the firm’s Tees Valley presence while continuing to support existing business and client relationships alongside senior associates Lauren Mills and Joanne McHale-Young and paralegal, Debbie Howes.
The four had all previously worked together at law firm Knights, which was formerly Archers Law LLP. Ms Casey said: “We’re delighted to have joined the employment team at Square One Law. The firm has a great reputation across the region and their progressive approach will allow us to continue to deliver exceptional work for our clients, while remaining together as a team. As soon as we met the firm’s partners, we knew it was the perfect fit.
“They share our values of integrity and always putting our clients first, and they are incredibly passionate about investing in the Tees Valley, which all four of us are proud to call home. Square One Law is an ambitious firm and has great things planned for the future - I think I speak for all of us when I say how excited we are to be here.”
Jean-Pierre Van Zyl, employment partner and head of the employment team, said: “We are really pleased to welcome Debbie, Joanne, Lauren and Liz to the employment team. Each of them brings a great set of unique experiences, local knowledge and networks and together will play a key role as we continue to work with and support local businesses whilst accelerating the growth of Square One Law across the Tees Valley.”
Tech consultancy Opencast has appointed Ros Grindrod as its new head of security services. Ms Grindrod has joined the company from global cyber security service provider LRQA Nettitude, where she was virtual chief information security officer (VCISO). She will help Opencast and its clients comply with regulation, develop best practice in data security – and build in further protection from potential future online attacks.
Originally from Gloucestershire, Ms Grindrod has always had an interest in technology – she built her own HTML website using an old iMac aged 10. But she couldn’t see a career pathway into the tech sector, so after completing a chemistry degree at the University of Bristol, she joined global professional services company Deloitte, initially as an auditor.
She moved into Deloitte’s cyber security team, working on then leading multi-million pound projects, with work on ethical hacking, threat modelling and testing organisations’ online security systems. After more than three years at Deloitte, Ros joined managed services consultancy ZDL, then moved on to LRQA Nettitude
She said: “I’m delighted to have joined Opencast. I’d been talking to the company about a job around digital transformation, but they created this new role for me. The role is evidence of how seriously the company takes the issue – both internally and on behalf of our clients.”
Since joining Opencast, Ros has co-ordinated Opencast’s involvement in delivering a workshop in online security to teenagers at an EmPower Cyber event, which was organised by the government’s National Cyber Security Centre. She also spoke at a recent cyber conference on AI in security in Bristol.