Sunderland based energy broker Troo has made three senior appointments following £500,000 in funding from the North East Venture Fund (NEVF) supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Mercia.
Peter McLeod, Peter Bradley and Zoe Watson bring a wealth of experience to the senior management team, joining founder and CEO Andrew Richardson, commercial director Rachel Richardson, operations director Steve Goldsmith and chairman Malcolm Smith.
Sales and marketing director Peter McLeod joins from Total Energies, a global supplier of gas and electricity to businesses and the public sector, where he worked for eight years, while Peter Bradley, who joins as head of customer experience, has nearly a decade of experience in customer relations at a number of national energy brokerages.
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Zoe Watson joins as head of marketing, having worked on the agency side at a leading London agency, as well as in house for a national construction company.
Mr Richardson said: “Each of our new team members brings with them considerable experience in their field. Most importantly, they are all aligned around our bold ambitions to continue to disrupt the energy market and do what is fair and right for our customers.”
Blyth robotics firm Tharsus has appointed Richard Laycock as its new chief financial officer.
Mr Laycock was formerly CFO of UK infrastructure, aviation and energy company Stobart Group and has spent nearly 30 years in management positions at top logistics and industrial firms.
During his time as CFO at Stobart Group he managed revenue of around £250m and a market cap of over £800m
He said: “I’m excited to be joining the Tharsus team after already hearing about its reputation as a values-led business pioneering technical and industrial innovation. I am passionate about working with companies to scale up business growth and transformation and am fortunate to have worked with several innovators in this regard. I believe Tharsus is well placed to unlock incredible opportunities in the years ahead I am looking forward to joining them on this journey.”
Brian Palmer, CEO of Tharsus Group, added: “Richard’s career shows his exemplary experience in scaling growth companies, which is a great fit to the team here at Tharsus. I am pleased to welcome him as our new Chief Financial Officer and I am looking forward to working closely with him to as we lead the company into its new phase of growth.”
Ward Hadaway has announced the promotion of four lawyers to the role of partner.
Kerry Adcock, Louise Cannell-Mirza, Melanie Gavin and Laura Gooddy are celebrating being made partners in the firm, as part of a total of 28 lawyers who have been promoted this year, most of them from the firm's Newcastle office.
Ms Adcock said: “Since I joined Ward Hadaway I have been fortunate to work with some world-class organisations and individuals in the public sector. The firm has fully supported my ongoing career, and together with the rest of the teams in Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle, we continue to build on the strong foundations first laid down over 30 years ago.”
Ms Cannell-Mirza said: “There is a culture here that supports and empowers individualism, and a motivation to see others thrive. Our people-first ethos allows us to focus on the best possible client experience, delivered with a friendly, no-nonsense approach, and that extends to how we treat each other within the firm. It’s a great place to work, and I’m excited to see what the future holds, both for the business and for myself.”
Professor Stewart Robinson has been appointed as Dean of Newcastle University Business School.
Prof Robinson will start his new role on July 1 and joins Newcastle from Loughborough University, where he was Dean of the School of Business and Economics. In that role, he led the development of the school’s undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, improved research performance and took forward its enterprise agenda.
He has worked with a wide range of organisations developing, using and supporting the use of simulation models to improve the performance of their operations.
He said: “I am delighted to be taking up the role of Dean of NUBS. As a leading international business school and following its recent success in the REF, this is an excellent time to be joining the School. I very much look forward to working with the staff to develop and implement the plans that will lead to an exciting future for the School.”
Recruitment provider Samuel Knight International has announced the appointment of Jorel Bautista as director.
He joins from Frank Recruitment Group and will head the newly-created Samuel Knight Climate-Tech division, which is dedicated to recruitment throughout the USA, Canada and Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) region.
It will partner with climate-tech companies whose mission is to have a positive impact on sustainability and climate change by using innovative technology.
Mr Bautista, director at Samuel Knight Climate-Tech, said: “I have known Steven and the team at Samuel Knight International for a number of years now. They had approached me previously to join the organisation but now felt like the right time.
"The company is going from strength-to-strength and I wanted to build a business unit and create a legacy. Climate change is happening and we all need to act quickly.”
Mike Matthews has been appointed as the chair of the new NEAA Digitalisation Working Group.
The group has been established to drive a collaborative approach to achieving the highest possible standards of digitisation and business sustainability in the North East automotive sector.
Formerly the managing director at Nifco UK, he has written a paper for Sunderland University on Advanced Manufacturing and subsequently engaged with Hitachi Vantara, one of the world’s leading digital solutions providers. Over the past three years he has supported and lead a series of major digitization and productivity improvement programmes to assist in the digitisation of manufacturing in the North East.
He said: “I was delighted to be asked to chair the NEAA Digitisation Working Group - something which I am very passionate about. They say you are never too old to learn and three years ago I became involved and lead a series of programmes focussed on a foundation to achieve Industry 4.0 capable status.”
