​

Electricity North West, the company that owns and maintains the regional power network, has announced former Ofgem CEO, Alistair Buchanan CBE, as its new chairman.

Buchanan will take up the role as part of a planned Board succession following the completion of Electricity North West’s strategic review in December 2019, which was successfully overseen by current chairman Dr John Roberts CBE.

Roberts, who had previously been Chief Executive of Manweb and United Utilities, leaves Electricity North West following a strong performance during his six-year tenure as chairman.

Buchanan has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the energy industry, including 10 years as chief executive of Ofgem, the gas and electricity markets regulator. In 2013 he joined KPMG as Partner and UK chairman of power & utilities, returning to the firm where he trained as a chartered accountant.

During his career Buchanan became an award-winning energy sector analyst and head of research for banks in New York and London. He joined Electricity North West as an independent non-executive director in 2018 and will take up his position as chair in October.

Electricity North West chief executive, Peter Emery, said: “I’m delighted to announce that Alistair is to be our new chairman and I thank John Roberts for his commitment to the role over the past six years. During John’s chairmanship, we have seen significantly improved levels of both reliability and customer service, and the launch of the organisation’s flagship ‘Leading the North West to zero carbon’ strategy.”

“We invest around a million pounds a day in the North West and are at a critical time as we work to deliver a reliable, sustainable, yet affordable network for people and businesses across the region. We’re committed to reaching net zero by 2038, as well as playing a leading role to help secure the low carbon transition.

“As part of this journey, we expect peak demand to double in the next 18 years through the use of electric cars, which will require a further acceleration in our investment programme. Alistair’s experience is second to none and will be invaluable as we chart our course to meet this challenging outlook.”

Alistair Buchanan, said: “The pandemic has proven just how much we all depend on electricity for our schools, hospitals and to allow millions to work from home. Electricity North West plays a key role in society, in reaching net zero and in the green recovery through its investment and I want to see them go from strength to strength.”

Electricity North West connects 2.4 million properties and more than 5 million people in the region to the National Grid from Macclesfield in the south to Carlisle in the north.

It is currently carrying out its biggest ever engagement programme ahead of submitting its business plan for 2023-2028 to regulator Ofgem next year.

Alistair Buchanan will take up his post on 3 October.

Healthy Investment, the Bury-headquartered financial institution, has taken on two new staff members during the coronavirus lockdown. Mark Dodman has joined the business as a Business Development Executive while Ella Bailey has been appointed as a Business Administration Apprentice.

Healthy Investment, which was founded in 1835, is a friendly society that provides savings and investment products to more than 110,000 members, who are also its owners. It employs 13 people at its headquarters in the Old Court House on the edge of Bury town centre.

Before starting his new role Mr Dodman worked as a client care manager for a firm of independent financial advisers (IFAs) based in Salford. As a Business Development Executive he now deals with and supports the financial advisers who recommend Healthy Investment’s products to their clients.

These products include ISAs, junior ISAs and investment bonds, all of which are invested according to ethical principles. Mr Dodman said that, having previously worked for a firm of IFAs, and also for another mutually owned insurance company, he was attracted by the ethical basis of Healthy Investment’s products and by the prospect of working with IFAs.

The coronavirus lockdown meant Mr Dodman had to start his new role working from home, and received his induction into the business remotely via Zoom. He said, “I can’t deny that it has been a challenge, particularly in terms of the ongoing interaction with colleagues that you would usually have when starting a new job.

“However, I have been impressed by the daily Zoom meetings that I have had with my colleagues. These have been great in terms of support and being able to raise any issues and questions that I have.”

Ms Bailey has actually been able to attend the office, where staff numbers have been limited by strict social distancing measures that the business has implemented. However, she too admitted to having initially been worried about starting a new job in a situation where physical distancing might make training difficult.

She said, “Before I started I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to learn my job if colleagues couldn’t come near me to show me how to do different tasks. But it has actually worked out really well because I have training notes to help me and my colleagues have been guiding me through tasks verbally rather than coming over and pointing at my screen.”

Ms Bailey, who previously worked in retail, said she decided to take on an apprenticeship because she wanted to gain experience in an office while learning on the job. She said she was attracted to Healthy Investment in particular because of its reputation.

Healthy Investment has a well-developed apprenticeship programme and a number of its former apprentices have built successful careers within the business. These include Jerrol Ainsworth, who joined Healthy Investment a decade ago and now leads the Member Services team in which Ms Bailey works.

Peter Green, Chief Executive of Healthy Investment, said, “I am really proud of Ella and Mark, and the way the whole team have pulled together to support each other and provide continuity of service to our members and business partners in circumstances that none of us would have chosen. Nothing can replace face-to-face interaction with colleagues but we are fortunate that we have great staff and strong, well-documented processes so colleagues can work together effectively while maintaining social distance.”

Leonard Curtis has made a senior hire to its Manchester team with the appointment of Hilary Pascoe as Director.

Hilary joins the Business Rescue and Recovery division and is based at Riverside House, in the city – one of the company’s 19-strong office network that spans the UK and Channel Islands.

Her arrival at the leading professional services group coincides with the promotion of Katy McAndrew and Mike Dillon to appointment-takers. Both are ICAEW-registered and qualified Insolvency Practitioners, working alongside Hilary advising North West-based SMEs.

Hilary brings with her over 20 years’ experience gained at some of the UK’s most prominent accountancy firms, advisors and rescue and recovery specialists – as well as a secondment within the recoveries team at a leading corporate bank.

Having worked on a number of high-profile cases, Hilary’s many areas of restructuring and insolvency expertise covers trading and non-trading administrations, including pre-pack and wind downs, CVAs and solvent and insolvent liquidations. As well as leading AMA assignments as part of insolvency planning, she has also advised clients on acquiring distressed businesses from administrators and has overseen an assignment comprising a consultation process on behalf of the owners of the business prior to sale.

The length and breadth of her career means that Hilary has great experience of many industries. She is a specialist in the care home sector, private practice, including architect and law firms, manufacturing, hotel and leisure, construction, waste and recycling markets.

Talking of her appointment, Hilary said: “I’m absolutely delighted to join Leonard Curtis and to be amongst a growing team of IPs. I’m looking forward to supporting underperforming and distressed businesses of all sizes, at a time when demand for our business advisory services is going to be high.

“Leonard Curtis places real focus on turnaround and recovery – particularly in relation to insolvency avoidance measures – which in the current economic climate is crucial. SME business owners are obviously addressing their debt levels and forecasts – both now and in the months of recovery to come – and I hope to support many of them in doing this.”

Group Director Daniel Booth said: “We’re delighted to welcome Hilary to the team and Mike and Katy to our growing cohort of licensed appointment-takers. All three bring significant and enviable experience to the Group.

“Hilary’s appointment – along with Katy and Mike’s recent qualifications and promotion – will strengthen and build on our existing client capabilities at a time when more SMEs and mid-market companies than ever will require specialist, multi-disciplinary professional services support.”

Creative and digital transformation agency Access has made three new senior level appointments as the business continues to grow and expand its digital services.

Lewis Counsell joins as Head of Quality Assurance, Richard Sheppard as Senior Developer and Dave Riches as Senior Front End Developer. The new recruits will work alongside Access’ already 30+ team to deliver high quality platform solutions and campaigns for clients including WaterAid, Edrington and Wave Utilities.

Combined the trio bring more than 50 years of digital experience to the agency.

A person sitting at a table using a computer

Description automatically generated A person wearing glasses

Description automatically generated A picture containing person, man, indoor, standing

Description automatically generated

From L-R: Lewis Counsell, Richard Sheppard and Dave Riches.

Lewis joins the Manchester-headquartered agency having worked as a testing consultant across a range of sectors, and prior to that holding the position of Senior Member of Technical Staff (QA) at VMware in London where he worked for 10 years. Within his career Lewis has specialised in quality assurance and testing for more than 14 years, bringing a wealth of experience in both understanding customer and user expectations and of system behaviours to Access.

Lewis says: “The team culture and high calibre of staff at Access was a major influence in my decision to join the agency, along with the opportunity to further my career working on some fantastic clients. Access’ whole team has a commitment to constantly strive to advance the way they work and continually improve the services and systems they deliver, an ethos I share in order to deliver the highest quality product using the latest technologies.

“It’s an exciting time to be joining the agency, which is attracting new clients and growing its team. Testing and quality management is integral to the agency’s strong reputation for delivering best in class digital products, which I’m looking forward to carrying forward in my new role. We’re also going to be growing the team, with the appointment of a Test Analyst in the coming weeks.”

Richard Sheppard’s career history is equally impressive having worked within the technology sector for more than 30 years. Richard’s first job was in the US Air Force where he was a Load Crew Academics Instructor. Most recently Richard worked at Zürich headquartered UBS as a Drupal Developer, Capgemini where he worked on the Royal Mail and Parcelforce websites, and at Worcestershire based online publisher Aroq. He is a well-known member of the Drupal community with many years of experience in Drupal development.

Richard says: “I have been aware of Access for many years in the open source Drupal community and have always admired the way they communicate with the outside world. I’m looking forward to learning new things and providing value to the team with my long-standing Drupal experience.”

Completing the trio is Dave Riches, an Acquia Drupal Front End specialist. Joining Access from Mirum Agency in London, he has worked with some big brand names and is an experience he is looking forward to continuing at Access as a Senior Front End Developer. He began his career as a front end developer at TUI Travel PLC before moving to NDP. Dave enjoys working closely with creative teams, brainstorming ideas, finding simple solutions to design challenges and bringing them to life. As well as strengthening the team’s core Drupal capabilities, Dave is also a Contentful Certified Professional and brings a broader range of headless technology experience, including React and Gatsby.

Dave commented: “Access is offering me flexible remote working, which is a huge benefit to me, with a young family and living in London. I will be applying my six years of Drupal experience to Access’ ongoing partnership with premium spirits company Edrington, plus there are some exciting new business opportunities that I am really looking forward to getting started on.”

Digital Director and co-owner of Access, Mark Hope adds: “I’m extremely proud to be attracting such exceptional talent into the agency, which we’ve been able to do by providing a supportive culture, rewarding client work, and flexible remote working across the UK and beyond. Dave, Lewis and Richard have all built up impressive reputations and expertise in their respective fields and they will be a fantastic asset to our expanding teams and service offering.

“Despite the overall challenging economic environment, we’re seeing continued demand for our services, particularly across research, UX and development as clients prioritise or accelerate digital transformation. With some exciting new clients joining our roster we’re continuing with our plans for growth and are actively recruiting across strategy and data, project management and development.”