APPOINTMENTS
TEES Business appointments
John Barnes, South Tees Development Corporation
Claire Needham, Azets Azets, the UK top 10 accountancy and advisory firm, has appointed Claire Needham as its new regional managing director for the North-East and Yorkshire.
Claire is promoted into the role from her position as Azets’ York office managing partner and head of the UK technical accounting team.
She will succeed Russell Turner, who is retiring from the business at the end of July after a successful 25 years working for Azets and predecessor companies.
York-based Claire will lead more than 500 employees in six offices in the region.
Claire is a highly experienced professional with a 23-year career, starting out with 19 years at a Big Four firm where she became a director, before joining Garbutt + Elliott as a partner and then Azets in January 2021.
Azets’ offices in the North-East are in Wynyard, Durham and Newcastle, while in Yorkshire they have sites in Bradford, Leeds and York.
Michelle Harcourt, Logic-i Group Logic-i Group, the project management consultancy specialising in complex construction and infrastructure projects, has appointed seasoned commercial and contract specialist Michelle Harcourt as a senior consultant, further enhancing its growing team of experts.
Teessider Michelle brings more than 25 years of experience in the construction and engineering sectors.
Her appointment is a strategic addition to meet increasing client demand, and she has already secured a major new client for the Yarm-headquartered group.
She began her career as a quantity surveyor at Faithful + Gould and has since held several senior leadership positions, including commercial account manager at Sembcorp at Wilton International, commercial director at Hertel Technical Services and most recently, commercial director at Mech-Tool Engineering( MTE) in Darlington.
John Barnes, South Tees Development Corporation John Barnes has taken on the role of chief executive of the South Tees Development Corporation( STDC).
Already the development corporation’ s chief operating officer, John was appointed chief executive with the unanimous approval of the board.
He takes on the role as part of moves to separate leadership arrangements for Tees Valley Combined Authority and the STDC in response to the Tees Valley Review.
It complements ongoing efforts by TVCA to address the non-statutory Best Value Notice issued by the government in April this year, the plans of which will be
presented to the TVCA cabinet.
South Tees Development Corporation is responsible for the regeneration of the former Redcar Steelworks – now known as Teesworks.
The 4,500-acre site is being transformed into a centre for green industry, securing billions of pounds of investment and creating thousands of highly skilled jobs.
Mark Bennett, Middleton Hall Retirement Village A chef who has cooked for royalty and former US presidents has been appointed as the new head chef at Middleton Hall Retirement Village in Middleton St George, near Darlington.
Mark Bennett joins the award-winning retirement community having spent his career working at some of the UK’ s most prestigious events and venues.
Mark spent 13 years catering at northern racecourses, where his food was enjoyed by royalty, including Queen Elizabeth II and the then Prince Charles, as well as by Princess Anne at the Yorkshire Show. He will use his wealth of experience to oversee all food at the retirement village.
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