This week's North East appointments

This week’s North East appointments see developments at 3t Transform, Construction Alliance North East, Clive Owen LLP, and more.

Dr Grant Crow - 3t Transform

Leading virtual reality and software specialist, 3t Transform, has appointed a new managing director to help realise its ambitious global growth plans.

Dr Grant Crow joins 3t Transform at an exciting time as the company gears up for further growth, having already doubled turnover in the last 12 months alone.

The firm, which is part of the 3t Energy Group, develops “market-leading, cutting-edge training technology” such as virtual reality, augmented reality, digital twins, mobile apps, and software to manage competency and training. It has seen interest in its products rocket during the Covid-19 crisis as businesses speed up digital transformation programmes.

Grant has a strong pedigree in the software and learning sectors having spent his career in senior roles establishing and growing several software as a service (SaaS) companies.

Grant, who originally hails from South Africa, began his early career in private education helping to develop formal leadership programmes, most notably one to upskill the South African Police Service leadership following the arrival of democracy in the country.

After relocating to the UK in 2000, Grant began working in the software sector helping to establish and grow early-stage technology start-up firms in a wide variety of sectors from talent management to strategy execution, artificial intelligence and biometrics.

Grant said: “It’s enormously exciting to be joining such a transformational business as 3t Transform. The company is already a fantastic success story, having worked with some of the world’s largest companies to digitalise training such as McDonalds, Total E&P UK, Serica Energy and BP.

“I am looking forward to building on this amazing track record and helping the company cement its leading reputation in the global training technology market.

Peter Fowle and Matthew McCarrick - Construction Alliance North East

Regional lobbying organisation Construction Alliance North East (CAN) has appointed two new board members for 2022 as the alliance’s first chairman Jeff Alexander and long-time board member Jack Redfern step down from their positions.

Peter Fowle, managing director of Able Construction (Northern) Limited and regional President of the NFB, and Matthew McCarrick, managing director of McCarrick Construction and NCBF board member, join the CAN board, bringing more than 60 years of industry experience to their roles.

Having started out as a quantity surveyor and estimator, Peter, who also chairs the Northern Counties Safety Group, launched his own business in 1988. He said: “I believe I have extensive knowledge of the regional industry, first-hand experience of the lost opportunities with Local Authorities and have hands-on experience of running an SME in the North East.

“There will be a lot of companies who have not heard of CAN or what we do. It is important therefore that we make the local industry aware that we are here and are working on their behalf.”

Matthew’s route into construction took a different route to Fowle. After completing a commercial management degree in Manchester, he was soon propelled into high profile commercial projects, including the Trafford Centre and various buildings and studios that make up the BBC’s MediaCityUK development in Salford.

He ran a number of multi-million pound military accommodation projects with Lendlease in North Yorkshire before returning to the North East in 2014 to join McCarrick Construction, which was set up by his grandfather in 1953 and subsequently run by his father Michael McCarrick.

Matthew said: “CAN provides a cohesive platform to raise our profile and show the country that in the North East our construction industry is organised and professional.

“Our aim to enable SMEs to access opportunities is the most important element – at the moment it takes a lot of time and monetary investment for an SME to access the various procurement processes which we have found can be complex, time-consuming and inconsistent.”

Sophie Palleschi - Clive Owen LLP

Clive Owen LLP, chartered accountants and business advisers, has appointed Sophie Palleschi as senior marketing executive.

Sophie joins the firm, which has offices in Darlington, Durham, York, and Middlesbrough, from Archers Law.

An experienced marketing and event management professional, Sophie is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has recently graduated with a Level 6 Diploma in Professional Marketing. She is currently studying for the Level 7 qualification.

Teesside-born and passionate about the area, Sophie is a qualified coach and player at Billingham Mavericks Netball Club. She is also a committee member of business leader networking organisation Teesside Young Guns.

Chris Beaumont, partner at Clive Owen LLP said: “We are delighted to welcome Sophie to our marketing team. Her skills and experience will be a real asset to any already strong department.

“It is vital that the firm communicates its services and values to clients, prospective clients and colleagues and Sophie will support this activity.” Sophie added: “I’m delighted to be part of the Clive Owen LLP marketing team and a rapidly growing firm. It’s an exciting time to join the firm with the opening of the Middlesbrough office and the opportunity to develop business in the Tees Valley area.

“Clive Owen is a business that I have always been aware of due to its positive reputation, so I am delighted to be part of its continued journey. I am looking forward to working with the teams across all four offices and using the marketing skills and professional network I have developed, in this role.”

Gareth Peterson, Tom Jervis, Jack Johnson, and Laurren Cooper - Indigo Software

Following a period of sustained growth, international Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) specialist, Indigo Software, has recruited four new team members, with roles spanning development, consultancy, customer and sales support.

Gareth Peterson was appointed as a support manager for Indigo Software’s Global Support Team. His remit is to ensure that the company’s UK and Asia Pacific Support Teams provide first class customer support to the customer base.

Gareth is responsible for delivering against service level agreements and ensuring high customer satisfaction is achieved across multiple contracts.

Tom Jervis joined as a Supply Chain Consultant. Tom is an experienced Supply Chain professional with over 13 years’ experience in the telecommunications, e-commerce, FMCG, reverse logistics and device refurbishment industries.

In his previous role, Tom was an Operations Manager for BT at their Northern Distribution Centre. His responsibilities included managing end e-commerce warehouse operations for BT Shop & BT Business direct. He was also responsible for the reverse logistics of test and refurbishment operations dealing with BT Routers being returned to the business.

Jack Johnson joined as a Cloud Architect responsible for designing, planning and visualising Indigo Software’s range of cloud products. Working closely with Indigo Software’s sales, product and development teams his remit is to design and plan innovative and pragmatic solutions, utilising the latest technology practices and cloud services.

Prior to joining Indigo Software, Jack gained over 10 years of technical IT experience across a multitude of sectors with various roles at Hewlett-Packard, Insure The Box, OnTrac Limited, Fenwick, and Tred, starting as a application support analyst before transitioning into DevOps and becoming a solutions architect.

Laurren Cooper joined as a sales and marketing executive to support Indigo Software’s expanding new business function. As the first point of contact for potential new clients who are interested in implementing Indigo WMS within their business, Laurren plays a critical part in successful sales cycles and also provides campaign support to the Marketing Manager.

Laurren has many years of sales, business development, customer service, account management and marketing experience gained within different industry sectors. She has a proven track record in helping businesses grow and maintaining high retention levels through excellent customer service.

Darren Baxter, Group CEO at Indigo Software says, “We are seeing strong demand for our WMS solutions and are delighted to have expanded the team with these talented new members. 2022 looks set to be a very busy year and we are exceptionally optimistic about the coming months.”