The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 34: Dec/Jan 2017/18 | Page 8

APPOINTED

New adviser at Cool Ventures

Business growth consultancy Cool Ventures has appointed experienced former Wiltshire bank manager Barry Vincent .
Barry joins Cool Ventures as an adviser and he will offer expert advice to businesses enrolled on the Swindon and Wiltshire SME Growth Programme .
Cool Ventures is one of the local delivery partners for the programme which provides free intensive support to small and medium-sized businesses across Swindon and Wiltshire . Businesses benefit from one-to-one coaching from specialist advisers and access to workshops on key topics including business planning , finance , marketing and management . ( Read page 4 for more information ).
Barry is a former commercial relationship manager at Lloyds Bank in North Wiltshire where he specialised in helping struggling businesses to sort out their finances . He was previously a trainer with Learndirect where he advised a range of private and public sector organisations , coaching their employees on BTEC Apprenticeship programmes in customer service , team leading and management . Barry also ran his own Chippenhambased consultancy , Business Advice North Wiltshire , for a number of years , advising clients on their business plans and acting as their financial manager .
Roger Wilkins , director at Cool Ventures , said :“ We are delighted that Barry will be helping us to deliver the SME Growth Programme locally . His extensive experience advising organisations and background in banking will be invaluable to the many growing businesses that we support .”
Barry Vincent

MHA MONAHANS APPOINTS SINEAD O ’ CONNOR

The recently rebranded MHA Monahans has employed Sinead O ’ Connor as business development manager in a new role to bolster the Chartered Accountancy firm ’ s marketing team . With an expansion of approximately 40 % over the past two years , MHA Monahans has seen its reach grow further into the South West with acquisitions across Bath , Wiltshire and Somerset .
Sinead joins MHA Monahans from Watts , a property and construction consultancy , where she was marketing manager responsible for supporting the growth of the business through developing and implementing their nationwide marketing strategy and overseeing a brand refresh .
In her new role , she will be focusing on business development and strategically adding direction and focus for each of MHA Monahans ’ eight offices ’ internal business development teams .
Sinead said :“ This is an exciting new direction , new challenge and new industry for me , although I have
Jonathan Webb , Hannah Sagan , Robert Staines and Andrew Rowe have all started work at the firm ’ s new offices in Hermes House on Fire Fly Avenue .
They are among 288 new graduates and school leavers being taken on by the firm this year , bringing RSM ’ s total headcount to over 3,600 people across the UK .
The new starters will begin their careers within the firm ’ s tax and financial reporting teams .
After completing an intensive internal training course , the new recruits will commence study towards their professional ACA , ATT , or CTA qualifications .
Sharon Omer-Kaye , RSM ’ s office managing partner in Swindon , said : “ I am delighted to welcome all of our new recruits to RSM in Swindon .
“ Our future growth ambitions in the region rely on attracting and developing new talent across all areas of worked within professional services for a number of years .
“ I was impressed by the ambitious nature of MHA Monahans , yet they retained a true family feel and ethos . As a business , they have clear direction and strong vision , and are investing to secure this future , while not losing sight of where they came from and the clients they support . There are already a lot of good things happening and excellent people here that I ’ m very pleased to join .”
Simon Tombs managing partner added : “ Through our partnership with the MHA we have excellent national and international reach and specialisms , which have proved to be very beneficial to our clients here in the South West . Sinead ’ s experience will be invaluable to continuing to drive our business development teams forward and securing MHA Monahans ’ position as a leading regional firm .”

Recruitment drive for RSM Swindon

Leading audit , tax and consulting firm RSM has announced the appointment of four new trainees in its Swindon office and currently has further trainee vacancies in corporate tax and private client tax .
our business . That these graduates and school leavers have chosen to begin their careers with us is , I hope , a reflection of the training support and the career opportunities that we can offer as a firm .”
RSM offers trainees a range of career opportunities from technical development and overseas secondments to participation in key corporate and social responsibility activity , including taking on the Duke of Edinburgh Gold award . For more information about careers at RSM visit : www . rsmuk . com / careers / vacancies
8 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017