It has been a busy time for FWB Park Brown at home and abroad and we are pleased to have advised on the following appointments:
Appointments
As ICAS (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland) continues to drive an exciting change, innovation and growth agenda it has appointed Fran Horsburgh as ICAS Secretary and Sarah Speirs as Director of Member Engagement. Fran was previously Company Secretary for Standard Life Assurance and Sarah joins from her role as Director of Professional Engagement and Director of Communications and External Affairs, UK for RICS.
Lothian Pension Fund, one of the largest Pension Funds in the UK has appointed Doug Heron as CEO. Doug was previously COO at Nucleus Financial Group Plc, having built his earlier career at RBS.
Post-merger and the resulting creation of the largest active fund manager in the UK and the second largest in Europe, Aberdeen Standard Investments has appointed Hilary Staples as Company Secretary and Head of Governance. She has previously held Head of Secretariat positions with Prudential UK, Royal London and Aviva Investors.
Cruden, one of Scotland’s largest development and construction groups, has appointed Euan Haggerty as Group Finance Director. He is formerly of James Gibb, Miller Group, RBS and Arthur Andersen.
PE-backed Dobbies Garden Centres, the UK market leader in its sector, has made a number of appointments as it continues its rapid growth. Debbie Harding joins as Legal Director from Spark Energy, Katie Crook as HRD from Green Investment Bank and Keith Keenan, who was previously Global Head of IT at Hunter Boot, as IT Director. Lynne Gilder also joins as Interim FD. She was formerly VP, Finance of Egden Murray.
PE-backed Asset Alliance Group, the award winning financial, contract hire, leasing rental and sales company to the commercial vehicle, bus and coach sector, has appointed Donald Wilson from RBS as Group Risk Director.
Sir Pete Downes has been appointed as the new Chair of top Scottish visitor attraction Dynamic Earth. He was Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee before stepping down in December 2018 and was awarded a Knighthood in 2015 for services to life sciences and higher education.
Crosswind Developments, the sister company of Edinburgh Airport, has appointed Alistair Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, as its Chair. Prof Lesley Sawyers OBE, Deputy Chair of SEPA and the Equality and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland and Andrew Sutherland, Joint MD of Miller Developments, have also been appointed as Non-Executive Directors.
Stewart Milne Group, one of the UK’s leading independent homebuilding, construction and development companies, has appointed Clive Fenton, formerly CEO of McCarthy & Stone PLC, to its Board as a Non-Executive Director.
Iomart plc, the UK’s only complete cloud solutions company and one of Scotland’s most successful quoted businesses, has appointed Karyn Lamont, formerly a Partner at PWC, as a Non-Executive Director.
John Watson, CEO of Crosswind Developments, has joined Scottish Event Campus (SEC) as a Non-Executive Director and to Chair its Audit Committee.
Catherine Muirden, People Director of Co-op Food and Barbara Allison, Director of Communications, Ministerial Support and Facilities at Scottish Government, have been appointed to the Board of Scottish Ballet, Scotland’s national dance company. Laura Maciver has also been appointed as Finance Officer and joins from Clyde Valley Housing Association.
In a number of HR appointments, John Jarvie is now Head of HR at Highland Spring having previously been Regional HRD at Rolls Royce and Mhairi Jenkins has joined the jeweller Chisholm Hunter as Head of HR from Peter Vardy. Weir Group PLC has appointed Michael Grant, formerly Head of HR at CBRE, as Lead Transformation Consultant and Gill McNeil joins CYBG plc as Head of HR Service Delivery from BAE Systems. Bev Mealyer and Amanda Hopwood have also been appointed as Organisational Development and Talent Consultants for the Robertson Group, joining from Registers of Scotland and the University of Aberdeen respectively.
Bryan Robertson joins National Galleries of Scotland as Chief Operating Officer. Bryan was Chief Operating Officer at Lomond Capital and Investment Management and subsequently ran his own consultancy business, Dakota Transformation, delivering major change management projects for clients. He built his earlier career with RBS, Damovo and Motorola.
Susan Davies joins Scottish Seabird Centre, the 5 star conservation and education charity in North Berwick, as CEO. She was previously Director of Conservation at The Scottish Wildlife Trust.
Dave Stewart, formerly Chief Operating Officer of redT energy plc, has joined Walker Precision Engineering in the role of Commercial Director. This family business, headquartered in Glasgow, manufactures high precision components for the aerospace, defence and industrial sectors and received BGF funding in late 2017.
John Lonsdale joins Edinburgh Innovations, the Innovation Management Service for the University of Edinburgh, as Head of Enterprise. He was previously with the University of Central Lancashire as Director of Innovation & Enterprise.
We are also pleased to have advised Maven Capital Partners on two recent key appointments within its investment portfolio. Firstly to appoint Tony Murphy as CEO of Qikserve, an innovative and market leading digital self-service solution for the hospitality industry. Tony previously led the successful sale of Realise. Ian McDonald has also been appointed as Portfolio Finance Director of BioAscent, a fast growing and innovative pharma business with world-class expertise in drug discovery disciplines within the biosciences and medicinal chemistry industries.
V-Ships, the leading independent technical ship management company, has appointed Derek Rose as Group Head of IT Operations & Infrastructure. He joins from Arnold Clark Group where he was Chief Technology Officer.
Ian Munro has been appointed as the 14th Rector of Dollar Academy following the retirement of David Knapman. Ian is currently the Rector at Kevinside Academy in Glasgow, having previously taught at George Heriot’s, Gordonstoun and Shiplake College in Oxfordshire, where he was Deputy Headmaster.
Kenny Roger, formerly Middle East Secretary for the Church of Scotland working predominantly in Israel, has been appointed as the new Business Director for St George’s School for Girls in Edinburgh. Kenny trained as a CA with Grant Thornton in London and his appointment represents a strategic shift for St George’s, bringing Finance leadership in-house for the first time.
We are pleased to have advised on Peter Sandstrom’s appointment as CEO of Harviestoun Brewery, famous for its “Schiehallion” and “Bitter & Twisted” brands. Peter was previously General Manager and E-Commerce and Commercial Director for Edrington Beam Suntory UK.
Fairfield Real Estate Finance, backed by Oaktree Capital, a leading global alternative investment management firm, has appointed Fergus Dick as CFO. He joins Fairfield having recently helped lead two recent successful private equity backed sale processes involving Business Growth Fund, LDC and Apiary Capital.
Edinburgh Beer Factory, the independently-owned and family-run brewery launched in 2015 to showcase the art of brewing, and most famously known for its award-winning Paolozzi Lager, has appointed Gregor Craig as Financial Controller.
Murray Tinning has joined Enva Group as Head of Finance. Murray joins Exponent-backed Enva from Royal Bank of Scotland where he was EA to the Deputy Group CFO and CFO of a Fintech start up business unit. He trained at PwC in Glasgow. Yeliz Gok has also joined as Head of Financial Planning & Analysis. Yeliz relocated from Manchester where she formerly worked in FP&A for Jarden Consumer Solutions Europe and for PwC.
Andrew Telfer joins GAP Group, the UK’s leading independent equipment hire company, as Head of Finance. Andrew will be based in the family firms’ Glasgow Head Office and was previously Financial Controller with Barclay & Mathieson, having trained as a CA with Alexander Sloan.
Katy Hughes has been appointed as International Tax Manager for Dialog Semiconductor, based in Reading. Dialog are the German listed designer of power management integrated circuits for Apple and other consumer electronics manufacturers. Katy joins from Rio Tinto in London, where she was a Senior Manager in its Tax Risk Management team.
Di Maggio’s Restaurant Group (DRG), owners of brands such as Amarone, Café Andaluz, Di Maggio’s, The Anchor Line and others, has appointed Nadine Carmichael to be its new Head of Sales and Marketing. She was formerly Head of Marketing for the Crieff Hydro Family of Hotels.
The Faculty of Advocates, based in Parliament House in Edinburgh, has appointed Lynne Forsiky into the new role of Head of Members’ Services. Lynne brings with her years of experience in Customer Service and Operations from Sky UK in Dunfermline.
Following recent investment from LDC, the opticians, Duncan & Todd has appointed three Retail Development Managers to support its operations across Scotland. Lynsay Brown, previously with Clear Pharmacy, joins as the North Region RDM. Gillian Nimmo, formerly of TM Lewin, joins as the Central Region RDM and Nighat Dad Saleemi is the new South Region RDM, having previously been with Superdrug.
Nicola MacPherson is the new Head of Manufacturing at Highland Spring. She was previously General Manager at Elis, the international textile, hygiene and safety solutions rental business.
Western Ferries, the car and passenger Ferry Operator, has appointed Samantha Proctor as Head of Finance. She had worked for Jord, a major Australian manufacturing company in New South Wales, for almost 10 years before returning to Scotland in 2018.
LifeArc is a medical research charity which helps academic researchers and life science organisations turn their research into patient centred treatments & diagnostics. Sara Brightwell-Muir has been appointed as Clinical Development Lead and joins from ReproCELL where she was Study Director.
Andrew Campbell has joined Glasgow Caledonian University’s School for Work Based Education as Strategic Business Development Specialist. He was previously with Forth Valley College and will work with the University to develop education and training partnerships with businesses globally.
The L. S. Starrett Company manufacture precision tools, gauges, measuring instruments and saw blades for industrial, professional and consumer markets globally. Robert McKechnie has been appointed as Commercial Director Industrial Products – Europe and will be based at its UK production facility in Jedburgh. He was previously Managing Director of TenTel and SoConnect.
Suzanne Rankin, Executive PA at FWB Park Brown has completed her CIPD and has joined Menzies Aviation as HR and Recruitment Co-ordinator. We are all delighted for her!
Our Energy practice also continues to be busy with new appointments around the globe as follows:
The Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) welcomes Kay Marshall as Marketing & Communications Manager. Kay joins from Expro Group where she previously held the position of Group Marketing & Communications Manager.
Proserv, the global leader in subsea maintenance, abandonment and decommissioning has appointed Chris Rae as its Vice President of Sales (Field Technology Services). Chris joins from Ocean Installer in Dubai and will continue to be based in the UAE.
Andy Imrie has joined EY as Business Development Director, based in Aberdeen. Andy has an excellent track record in driving growth across a number of oil & gas businesses including Proserv, Ampelmann and more recently, M2 Subsea.
KCA Deutag, the international oil & gas services company, has appointed John Gillies as Head of HR Systems and Change. He joins from Abellio Scotrail where he was HRD.
Our Houston office has also reported that Travis Purvis has joined S&P 500 drilling contractor Nabors as VP Eastern Hemisphere and that Matt O’Hanlon is the new GM for Superglass, part of the Russian-owned TechnoNICOL. Seema Subramanian has joined international service company Interwell as Financial Controller – MENA and Jim Kingole is the new US Sales Director at the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
