Autumn 2022 jobs and people news in the East Midlands

Here is the latest appointments, promotions and people news from Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire this autumn:

Cooper Parry

After launching ambitious plans to grow fivefold in five years, Cooper Parry has announced another appointment to boost its leadership line-up.

Phil Erridge has joined the Castle Donington headquartered firm as chief operating officer after 16 years with HSBC where he led its global wholesale model management and delivery function.

Phil had a number of significant senior roles with HSBC, including managing the commercial bank’s financial crime risk function globally.

Phil is passionate about developing the operating elements of Cooper Parry following significant recent investment from Waterland Private Equity.

He will work alongside chief executive Ade Cheatham and Cooper Parry’s leadership team to lead the firm’s integration activities across several strategic acquisitions and drive operational efficiency.

Ade said: “I’m delighted to welcome Phil to the CP family. His role as COO will be invaluable as we target significant and ambitious growth over the next five years. And now with substantial PE investment behind us, having someone with Phil’s global breadth of experience and can-do attitude is both timely and terrific."

Phil said: “What attracted me to CP was both the culture of the business and its desire to continually improve and challenge the market.

“For me, this mindset is hugely exciting as it provides an environment to do great things. I’ve watched with interest the growth of Cooper Parry and I’m thrilled to be joining at a time of significant growth and massive change.”

Stepnell UK

Rugby headquartered construction contractor Stepnell has promoted long standing employee Tom Sewell as the company’s newest director.

It follows almost a decade of service at the company – joining as operations and commercial manager, before progressing to regional director for the East Midlands.

As a regional director, Tom supported the growth of Stepnell’s East Midlands office from 2014, leading the business unit over the years.

He has supported a number of regional successes for Stepnell, including this year’s completion of a sports centre for Martin High School in the village of Anstey – which adds to the 32 Leicester schemes for Stepnell achieved over the past eight years.

Most recently, Tom has been overseeing the fifth and sixth phases of improvement and expansion works to global HR, payroll and finance software company MHR’s Nottingham headquarters.

In his new role, Tom will be assuming wider business responsibilities while continuing to lead the business in the region. Tom will also oversee the relocation of the Stepnell East Midlands office to a bigger and enhanced office space in the coming weeks.

Infuse

Derby IT consultancy Infuse has welcomed Pete Marsden in the new role of senior projects engineer, as the firm celebrates a recent office move to Pride Park and continued expansion across the Midlands.

With more than 15 years’ experience in IT, mostly working within the Midlands, Pete has worked in a variety of sectors since graduating from the University of Plymouth with an IT degree.

His career began working with clients in the education sector, and progressed into technical support and installation roles at a number of well-established organisations.

As senior projects engineer he will support the firm in delivering a wide range of IT services, including managed IT support, cyber security, communications and cloud services.

He will lead projects for businesses of all sizes and have responsibility for on boarding new clients, as well as managing server installations and network migrations.

Managing director Paul Howard said: “We are pleased to be welcoming Pete to the team, as Infuse undergoes another exciting period of expansion and we aim to grow our reputation for providing hassle-free IT solutions in the Midlands and beyond.

“I’m confident that his experience of working with SMEs and his variety of expertise will make him a valuable addition to the company.”

University of Nottingham

Professor Derek McAuley has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in recognition of his work translating technology research into innovation, business value and real-world impact.

The Royal Academy of Engineering elected 72 leading figures in the field of engineering and technology to its fellowship.

The group consists of 60 fellows, seven international fellows and five honorary fellows, each of whom has made exceptional contributions to their own sector, pioneering new innovations, leading progress in business or academia, providing high level advice to government, or promoting wider understanding of engineering and technology.

Prof McAuley is professor of digital economy in the School of Computer Science and director of Horizon, an interdisciplinary research institute funded through the UKRI Digital Economy programme.

His research has contributed to many areas of computer systems engineering, including optical networking, internet technologies, virtualization, operating systems and distributed systems.

This research had also led to Prof McAuley being called upon for policy matters and he served on the Furman panel looking at digital competition that resulted in the UK HM Treasury report Unlocking Digital Competition which has added to a growing number of activities around regulating platforms.

Nottingham Venues

Nottingham Venues, the new name bringing meetings, events, hotel stays and venues across the University of Nottingham’s campuses under one brand, has appointed a new director of human resources.

Suzie Adams joins the organisation, which has close to 250 employees across its various sites, after a career spent with some of the world’s biggest cruise line companies, including the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection.

Nottingham Venues general manager Tom Waldron-Lynch said: “We are on a journey of growth and independence where we talk about being “One Destination with Endless Possibilities”.

“A major part of that journey requires the best possible talent to join us as we strive to lead the field in our offering to guests and employees.

“Attracting someone of the calibre of Suzie is a big part of that, as she has incredible experience in both moulding and creating outstanding career experiences in the hospitality industry.

“We know that we have a superb guest experience across our venues and we want to create that same experience for our staff. Suzie will be invaluable in doing just that.”

After a career on the ocean before returning to dry land to establish the HR department at the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, Suzie will now help Nottingham Venues to attract, retain, train and inspire its growing team.

Lubrizol

A chemistry student who spent a year working with Lubrizol in Derbyshire has completed the gruelling, South West Coast Path hike in less than two months to raise money for a mental health charity.

Cecily Bell, 22, returned this month after completing the 630 miles and climbing a total elevation gain equivalent to four times the height of Mount Everest.

She was supported by Lubrizol, based in Hazelwood, who made a donation to the charity Cecily was raising funds for – Black Minds Matter. She has now