Former Bravissimo CEO Leanne Cahill has been named as the new CEO of homeware company The Bazaar Group, which is now trading as icon.
Ms Cahill began her career on the shop floor at M&S before moving on to Legal & General, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Travelex. She joined lingerie retailer Bravissimo in 2017 and was appointed CEO in 2020. She led the company through a successful sale to Wacoal Europe in 2024 and is also the serving Chancellor of the University of Sunderland, the first chancellor to be born and raised in the city and an alumni of the University.
Her appointment marks the full transition for founder and CEO Mark Dolder to non-executive director. icon Founder Jayne Dolder said: “The search for our new CEO was exacting, and we’re so thrilled to have found someone like Leanne, who can bring deep levels of retail experience to us at what is a crucial and exciting time in our evolution.
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Ms Cahill said: “I am delighted to join the team at icon as we embark on our next chapter. I’ve been so impressed with the talent, ambition and clear strengths of the business and can’t wait to work with everyone to leverage the growth opportunities ahead. It’s an exciting time for icon and for the North East too - it feels great to be here.”
Law firm Ward Hadaway has appointed corporate partner Nik Tunley as head of corporate following its merger with Teesside-based The Endeavour Partnership.
Mr Tunley specialises in mid-market mergers and acquisitions for owner-managed businesses and private equity investors. Having joined The Endeavour Partnership in 2008, he led its corporate team for over a decade before becoming its finance partner.
Steven Petrie, Ward Hadaway’s managing partner, said: “Nik has grown and led high-performing teams for many years. As a corporate lawyer, he combines calm deal leadership with commercial judgement that clients value on mid-market M&A. As a leader, he embodies the firm’s values of straightforward, respectful and ambitious.”
Mr Tunley said: “We are a highly capable corporate team with genuine strength in depth across our offices. The merger has added further scale and specialist expertise. My focus is to keep standards high, knit the teams even more closely together across locations and deepen our relationships with the adviser community.”
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North East law firm Muckle LLP has welcomed a new cohort of five trainee solicitors and one solicitor apprentice. The firm now has a total of 19 aspiring lawyers taking the next step in their careers. Over the course of their two-year training contracts, trainees Abi Chorlton Wilson, Hannah Hunt, Jason Sinclair, Rebecca Watson and Thalia Agoglossakis Foley will gain valuable experience across four teams.
Ella Chandler, the firm’s newest solicitor apprentice, will work with various teams over six years of training whilst studying part-time. Anthony Evans, managing partner at Muckle, said: “I’m delighted to welcome our newest trainees and apprentice to Muckle; they are a fantastic group.”
North Tyneside’s Greener Solutions Group has announced a new senior leadership team. It includes Matthew Hetherington, technical director; James Dorward, operations manager; Alan Ross, head of insulation; Graeme Errington, head of heating and electricals; and Lewis Tomaselli, administration manager.
Established in 2015 by co-founders Andrew Wilkinson and Keian Sanchez, Greener Solutions Group has evolved from a surveying and compliance company in the social housing sector to expanded its expertise to renewables, heating and electrical, cavity wall and loft insulation and solutions for retrofit projects.
Andrew Wilkinson, director, said: “We have very ambitious growth plans and the formation of a senior team is key to achieving our goals. We have established a clear, unified purpose for the team, selecting colleagues with complementary skills and experience, strong decision-making capabilities and proven management records.”
North East architecture and interior design practice the Architects-Group has announced a number of new appointments. Emily Leake has recently been appointed as a senior architect and revit design specialist after relocating from the South East, while Paul Biggins comes in as a senior architectural technologist and principal designer, bringing extensive design and project coordination experience, of working across a variety of residential, education and commercial projects, to the group.
Both are joined at the firm’s AirView Park, Woolsington head office by RIBA architecture apprentice Kate Graham, Part 2 architectural assistant Paopao Yang, and interior architecture assistant Joanna Madetko, who has joined as a student placement to support her postgraduate certificate application ahead of returning to Northumbria University to continue architecture studies.
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Managing Director Tony Harmieson said: “We’re delighted to welcome Emily, Paul, Kate, Paopao and Joanna to our existing team that’s deeply committed to quality and excellence, and we look forward to them furthering their career dreams and aspirations with us.”
Two young architects have secured roles at architectural, structural and civil engineering and project management firm, Building Design Northern (BDN), after graduating from university. Architectural assistants, Megan Gray and Nirali Chavan, are supporting the Sunderland company’s multi-disciplinary teams at its North East and North West offices, working on some of the BDN’s largest live projects across 海角视频.
Director of BDN, Ryan Doyle, said: “As a company we have and will continue to purposely engage with universities and other organisations to support the next generation of architects coming through as well as promote the industry as a highly attractive career path.
“Megan and Nirali are great examples of two young people who show huge talent and excellent career potential. We’re delighted they’ve joined us.”