See below for some of the latest big appointments and promotions from firms across the East Midlands.
Barratt
Barratt Developments has announced the appointment of Caroline Silver as its chair designate as of June 1. She will then succeed John Allan as chair on September 6 when he retires from the Leicestershire housebuilder’s board, having completed nine years of service.
He said: “Caroline brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the board across a number of commercial, financial, investment banking, governance and board leadership roles.
“I am very pleased to be handing over to someone of Caroline's standing and experience.”
Ms Silver is currently chair of British manufacturer PZ Cussons PLC, which she will step down from on March 31.
She is a non-executive director of Tesco PLC, BUPA and Intercontinental Exchange, Inc, and a member of the V&A Foundation and the international advisory board of Adobe Inc.
She said: "I am excited to be joining Barratt, which leads the UK housebuilding industry, particularly in terms of quality and sustainability, putting its customers at the heart of everything it does.
“The company is in a strong financial and operational position and continues to perform well despite current market conditions."
Meanwhile, Barratt said Sharon White is stepping down from the board in June, after almost five years.
200 Degrees
200 Degrees Coffee has promoted its financial director Stephen Fern to managing director, replacing the company’s co-owner and chief executive Rob Darby.
Stephen will oversee the operations, growth, team and customer experience at the Nottingham-based roaster which has experienced a continued period of growth.
200 Degrees marked a number of significant milestones last year, celebrating its 10th year in business, reaching 200 team members and opening its 18th coffee shop.
He said: “I am incredibly honoured to be trusted with this position, at a company with such a fantastic culture and ethos for delivering great products and services to our customers, as well as its support of not-for-profit, grass root causes.
“I will continue to learn from co-owners Rob and his business partner Tom Vincent, while also building the culture and driving continuous improvements across the business.”
Rob and Tom founded 200 Degrees in 2012, after setting up its roastery in Meadow Lane, and have gone on to expanded its footprint across England and Wales.
Oakland International
Supply chain solutions provider Oakland International has announced the appointment of James Whittall as its new food park development manager.
The company said he has a strong managerial and project management track record holding several decision-making positions including store manager, project management, supervisory and engineering roles.
He said: “Oakland’s Food Park project has been developed conceptually over the last 10 years and is designed to bring food businesses of all sizes together to help them develop and grow and aims to benefit everyone involved with shared benefits including supply chain, labour, green credentials, energy security and waste.”
The family-run business is a specialist in contract food packing, storage, picking and distribution, as well as brand development. In 2020 it invested £4 million fitting out a 225,000 sq ft unit near Coalville in north west Leicestershire to store, pack and distribute chilled food for its clients.
Furnley House
Leicestershire independent financial adviser Furnley House have strengthened its protection offering with the recruitment of Darren Bradbury. He has more than 25 years of expertise in financial services.
Managing director Stefan Fura said: “Darren coming on board supports Furnley House’s planned growth as well as our goal of helping clients in every stage of their life.
“His values really tie into with ours and we’re delighted to have him as part of our team going forwards.”
PKF Smith Cooper
Following a period of sustained growth, PKF Smith Cooper has announced a series of promotions across its Midlands teams.
Angela Bradley (accounts) and Daniel Stewart-Lacey (private client) have been promoted to senior manager roles, Jessica Richardson (audit) becomes a manager, Freddie Cutts and Eve Jephson (accounts) move to assistant managers positions, and Josh Monk and Beth Lymberry (both audit) have been promoted to assistant managers.
As PKF Smith Cooper’s Audit department continues to expand, the team has been strengthened by three promotions, with Jessica Richardson promoted to audit manager, and Josh Monk and Beth Lymberry promoted to assistant audit manager.
In non-audit services, Daniel Stewart-Lacey has now been promoted to senior tax manager, after joining the firm at assistant level in 2012. Angela Bradley, who started at PKF Smith Cooper in 2017, has been promoted to senior accounts manager, while both Freddie Cutts and Eve Jephson have earned promotion to assistant accounts manager.
The accountancy and advisory firm has offices in key regions within the Midlands, including Nottingham, Birmingham and Derby.
BDO
Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP has strengthened its Midlands team with the appointment of Ian Bennington as a partner in the digital & risk advisory services team.
He brings more than 20 years’ experience to the firm, with expertise in delivering internal audit, risk and compliance services to large global organisations across industry sectors, and a particular focus on life sciences.
He takes on a national role, leading the firm’s governance, risk and compliance (GRC) service, helping to build BDO’s capabilities in the area of ethics and compliance and organisational culture. He joins from Deloitte.
DSA
Leicester’s Design Studio Architects (DSA) has welcomed three new faces to the team – architectural assistant Claire Stephens, architectural designer Noha Hossam and senior architecture technologist & BIM coordinator Andy Muncie.
With 17 years’ experience to date, Claire is at RIBA part 2 and is excited by the prospect of becoming part 3 qualified in 2023. She loves playing golf (handicap 21), spending time with family, and designing ornamental gifts and used to play football for Leicester City ladies.
With over 15 years’ experience, Noha grew up in Egypt and has a master’s from Politecnico Di Milano University, Italy and BREEAM Qualifications. She loves travel and meeting new people and in 2022 started her own small cake business, selling to friends, family and friends of friends on social media.
With over 9 years’ post-qualification experience, Andy is looking forward to progressing his career alongside the like-minded professionals in Design Studio Architects. An ex-drummer, his drum instructor was Romeo Challenger from Leicester’s Showaddywaddy.
Begbies Traynor
Begbies Traynor in Leicester has promoted Thomas Harris to director following a period of growth for the firm which has seen it expand significantly since it opened its base in the city three years ago.
With almost 15 years’ experience in insolvency and business recovery, Thomas joined the Begbies Traynor team in 2020, having previously worked with partners Martin Buttriss and Carolynn Best.
His promotion sees him take on the role of appointment-taking director, supporting Martin and Carolynn in taking formal appointments and providing advice to companies in the region that require assistance if they find themselves in financial difficulty.
The promotion comes following the publication of Begbies Traynor’s most recent Red Flag Alert data, which shows that more than 8,400 Leicestershire businesses found themselves in significant financial distress during Q3 2022, as companies face rising costs and fragile confidence.
