Time for another round-up of new appointments and changing places, including SearchFlow who are embarked upon a major UK expansion + Yerra Solutions who have appointed a CEO and COO to their new UK subsidiary + CPA Global who have appointed a new CTO.
• Less than a year after its acquisition by dmg information, SearchFlow is continuing to build with appointments of key senior personnel across the business. In addition to the recent arrival of new Managing Director, John Pickford, SearchFlow is expanding its IT, customer service and marketing departments and delivering additional expertise through the account management team.
The recruitment of senior staff will ensure the business keeps delivering on its promise to make lawyers’ lives easier. Pickford, appointed Managing Director in August, is embarking on a two year programme of development aligned to strong market growth which will see SearchFlow redefine its service proposition and develop a bespoke suite of solutions for conveyancers. Recruited earlier this year from Auto Trader, Adam Bullion, Head of Marketing, will also support this activity by driving forward the SearchFlow brand.
To support SearchFlow’s ongoing expansion, the technology development has been brought in-house, creating 38 new roles. This in-house capability will deliver a wider set of solutions, making the search process for conveyancers faster and more flexible. SearchFlow has also created further roles across multiple functions including finance, service and sales all of which are designed to deliver best-in-class customer service.
“Our staff play a pivotal role in the way SearchFlow operates and we are committed to hiring the best people to support our clients,” says SearchFlow’s new HR Manager Helen Marsh. “We are fast becoming an employer of choice ensuring we continue to attract and retain the most talented staff for our business.”
• Next up is Yerra Solutions AG, a company offering legal and IP consultancy, managed services and technology products to Fortune 500 clients, which recently announced it had hired two executives for its newly established offices in London and Sunderland. With more than 35 years of combined experience, Stacey Coote and Caroline O’Grady contribute valuable insight to critical legal operations areas such as law firm panel management and legal spend management.
“The establishment of Yerra Solutions Ltd UK and the addition of experienced executives such as Stacey and Caroline fuel our global reach and growth as well as the company’s focus on the alignment of strategy, operations and technology for legal organisations,” said Rajitha Boer, founder and director of Yerra Solutions AG. “Sunderland in particular will evolve into a Centre of Excellence for the company, featuring new client offerings for Yerra Solutions that will be announced within the next month.”
Stacey Coote joins Yerra Solutions Ltd UK as chief executive officer. He has nearly two decades of experience managing vendor relationships in large organisations including Accenture, AIG, AstraZeneca, RBS and PwC as well as a large UK law firm. Since 2001, he has specialised in managing relationships with law firms as well as the operations of law departments. He has handled complex implementations of eBilling and matter management solutions throughout APAC and EMEA and completed numerous legal spend management projects worldwide.
Caroline O’Grady comes on as chief operating officer and general counsel of Yerra Solutions Ltd UK. She is a UK-qualified lawyer who served as a commercial litigation lawyer at Kennedys before transitioning to global insurer AIG. While at AIG, she led a team responsible for high-value commercial insurance disputes. As panel director within AIG’s Legal Operations Centre, she handled all aspects of AIG’s law firm relationships, compliance and reporting as well as legal spend initiatives across EMEA and APAC. She has also supported an eBilling technology tool implementation in the UK for the company.
The London office will serve as headquarters for Yerra Solutions Ltd UK and can be reached by dialling 0203-755-5290. The Sunderland Centre of Excellence can be reached by dialling 0191-501-8600.
• CPA Global has appointed Toni Nijm (pictured) as Chief Technology Officer, responsible for the Company’s industry-leading portfolio of IP software solutions and integrated services.
Nijm is a qualified patent attorney and has been involved in developing IP software businesses for many years. He was previously Chief Executive Officer of Ipendo, the Sweden-based IP management software and services provider, which he co-founded in 2004 and which was acquired by CPA Global in 2011. Since the acquisition, Nijm has worked in a number of senior technology roles at CPA Global, most recently leading the hosted IP software solutions (SaaS) business as well as heading services R&D and strategic development.
Commenting on Nijm’s appointment, CPA Global Chief Executive Officer Tim Griffiths said: “We are delighted to appoint Toni Nijm to lead the development of our software and integrated services business, which is at the centre of our strategic focus for the Company. Toni has a strong track record of building IP software businesses and a detailed understanding of client needs. As CTO, he will play a key role in our ongoing commitment to provide our clients with industry-leading technology and integrated services platforms that help them manage IP assets more effectively and perform their roles more efficiently and productively.”
Added Nijm: “I’m excited to take on the role of CTO at CPA Global. Clients in the IP space are increasingly looking for integrated software and services; and, with our unrivalled portfolio of IP management solutions and global client base, we are ideally placed to drive the integration agenda. I look forward to working closely with our product teams and clients to continue developing our world-class solutions to meet our clients’ fast changing IP management needs.”
• Finally, Daniel Von Weihe has just taken up the role of Executive Vice-President of Business Development at Chambers Travel Group. Chambers is an independent corporate travel management company with wholly owned offices across Europe. It supports clients across multiple markets, helping them consolidate travel spend, maximise travel policy compliance and minimise costs. Headquartered in London, the company is also part of the GlobalStar international network of TMCs. The company’s awards include Best Travel Team with Herbert Smith Freehills.
Prior to joining Chambers, Daniel was the VP of UX and Product Design at Workshare for two years and before that the co-founder andVP of UX and Product Design at SkyDox for two years prior to its merger with Workshare. From 1998, Daniel held various senior posts with Interface Software (the developers of the InterAction CRM system) and then was with LexisNexis Interaction (latterly as VP & General Manager International) from 2006 to 2010 after Lexis acquired the Interface business.