Pro-Sheffield Young Professionals Group
Visit www.pro-sheffield-yp.co.uk for information and networking opportunities within the young professionals group.
Our Young Professionals Group is designed for the next generation of the region's professionals. Joining the group will help with their professional development by developing networking skills with colleagues throughout the Region. A variety of networking events are held throughout the year and are proving very popular. Becoming a member of Pro Sheffield ensures your 'Young Professionals' are kept fully updated on events and news from this group and will have priority booking at these very popular events.
How to Join the Young Professionals Group
If you personally would like to become involved in the Young Professionals Group or have staff who you think would benefit from being members then e-mail jillb@pro-sheffield.co.uk to ensure you / they receive information on all events and news.
Meet the Committee
The Young Professionals Group is run by a very active committee:
Paul Fauset (Chair) (Associate Director, Hawsons Corporate Finance) - Paul trained in investment banking / corporate finance with Barclays Capital and KPMG before joining Hawsons Corporate Finance in early 2005. He has an MBA with distinction from the University of Nottingham and is a Fellow of the Securities and Investment Institute. Paul established the Pro-Sheffield Young Professionals Group in early 2007 and currently chairs the committee. Paul is also a Director of Pro-Sheffield - pf@hawsons.co.uk
Ann Allen (Investment Manager, Creative Sheffield) - Ann joined Creative Sheffield in July 2006 as Investment Manager. Her role involves working to promote Sheffield as a location for Business and Financial Services companies, handling inward investment enquiries in these sectors, and assisting existing businesses with their expansion plans. Ann is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers and worked for HSBC in Sheffield in various roles - ann.allen2@sheffield.gov.uk
Alex Birch (Associate, Nabarro) - Alex qualified as a solicitor in 2006 and joined Nabarro from Andrew M Jackson in Hull earlier this year to strengthen the rapidly expanding Corporate Finance team in the Sheffield office. She works closely with other members of the Corporate Finance Team in Sheffield advising on mergers and acquisitions, private equity based transactions, group structurings and joint ventures. In addition Alex also provides support to the Nabarro's Projects Group on Public Private Parternships. Alex undertook her legal studies in York having previously graduated from Liverpool University with a degree in Pharmacology - a.birch@nabarro.com
Emma Bridgland (Associate, Nabarro) - Emma is a newly qualified solicitor at Nabarro in the commercial construction department. She has been with the firm for just over 2 years and carried out her training there. Emma is Sheffield born and bred but went university in Leeds where she completed a Management degree. She then returned to Sheffield to work in a solicitor's firm and has stayed in Sheffield ever since. Emma took a post graduate diploma in law part time over two years at Nottingham Trent University and then went to Sheffield University to do the LPC - e.bridgland@nabarro.com
Kevin Davies (Corporate Finance Manager, BHP Corporate Finance) - After graduating from Sheffield University in 2001 Kevin joined the audit department at Barber Harrison & Platt and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Kevin moved into BHP's corporate finance team in October 2006 following their merger with Ingram Forrest Corporate Finance - kevin.davies@bhp.co.uk
Chris Fry (Partner, Wake Smith & Tofields) - Chris joined Wake Smith in 2003 to build and develop a specialist team of Occupational Illness claims, and in the last 4 years the team has grown to being 12 strong. In 2006 he won the Yorkshire Lawyer of the Year Award in the ‘Rising Star Category’, and the Rensburg Sheppards ‘Employee of the Year’ at the Sheffield Business Awards. The majority of his work relates to individual and multi-party actions across numerous disciplines which has led to his Fellowship accreditation with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), and Fellowship of the Royal Society of Medicine - chris.fry@wake-smith.com
Bob Horgan (Corporate Finance) - bobhorganuk@yahoo.com
Jon Gillgrass (Commercial Manager, HSBC) - Jon, graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2000 and joined HSBC in 2003. He currently works as a Commercial Manager in Sheffield, working closely with small to medium sized local businesses in South Yorkshire. He has recently become as Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB) having completed a BSc in Financial Services - jongillgrass@hsbc.com
Kate Maybury (Solicitor, Wake Smith & Tofields) - Kate qualified as a solicitor in 2005 and specialises in Wills, Inheritance Tax planning, Mental Capacity Issues, and Administration of Estates. She went to Sheffield University and has worked in Sheffield ever since. She is the Chairperson of Sheffield Law Society Probate Committee and a committee member of a local cancer research charity - kate.maybury@wake-smith.com
Tom Rumboll (Business Development Director, LloydsTSB Corporate Markets) - Sheffielder Tom joined Lloyds TSB straight from University in Newcastle in 1999, where he studied a Business Management Degree. He then spent three years working in Leeds before returning to Sheffield in 2005. Tom currently specialises in large corporate banking in South Yorkshire and the M1 Corridor - Tom.Rumboll@lloydstsb.co.uk
Ben Sequerra (Director, Sewell Moorhouse) - Ben has over 10 years executive Financial Recruitment experience in London, Leeds and for the last 7 years in his hometown of Sheffield. Currently specialises in recruiting Finance Director level positions and managing a team of consultants - Bens@sewellm.co.uk
James Sharman (Business Specialist, HSBC) - James is a Business Specialist at HSBC Bank based in Sheffield - jamessharman@hsbc.com
Paul Simpson (Solicitor, HLW Commercial Lawyers) - Paul completed his training contract with City law firm Norton Rose, part of which was spent in their office in Al-Manama, Bahrain. Paul moved back to Sheffield in April 2003 and joined the corporate department of hlw where he works on mergers and acquisitions and group re-organisations - pauls@hlwlaw.co.uk
Duncan Watt (Regional Manager, Michael Page Finance) - Duncan is an ex-accountant with four years experience working for Barclays Bank. He now manager the Sheffield office for Michael Page and specialise in the recruitment of qualified accountants in the South Yorkshire region - duncanwatt@michaelpage.com
Peter Wilmer (Executive, GTUK) - Peter, an alumni of Sheffield University, trained and qualified as a chartered accountant with Hawsons where he was voted Young Accountant of the Year in 2006. Peter has spent the past 18 months working on both buy and sell side corporate finance transactions and will be joining Bank of Scotland Corporate at the start of 2008 - PeteWilmer@bankofscotland.co.uk
Young Professionals initiative gains momentum
It gives me great pleasure to report on developments for the Young Professionals Group (YPG). We now have an established and highly enthusiastic committee representing the diversity of the region’s professional services community, encompassing the fields of law, banking, corporate finance, recruitment and economic development. With such multi-talented resources, we have split into sub-groups, each focussed on delivering programmes to meet our Group objectives.
At the heart of the Young Professionals initiative is the aim of strengthening the links between member firms, principally through fun and accessible networking events. Subsequent to our wine tasting and BBQ, the next event is our pool tournament on 8 November, to be held at The Common Room on Division Street. I have to mention here that novices (myself included) will be taught how to play, whilst experts will learn a few trick shots, before the competition begins in earnest. Emma Bridgland and Alex Birch, both of Nabarro, are leading our networking programme and, in addition to Christmas drinks, are following up with a Dress for Success evening in the New Year.
Meanwhile, the Group’s second objective is more holistic – to promote the Sheffield City Region as a place to be a young professional and enhance the experience of being a young professional here. In conjunction with Sheffield Halllam University, James Sharman of HSBC is engaging YPG in a Meet the Professionals evening, where students can find out what it’s really like to be a young professional in the city. Meanwhile, Duncan Watt of Michael Page and Ann Glews of Creative Sheffield are looking to utilise technology to create a virtual forum for young professionals, as a place to meet and interact with likeminded members of our Group.
Our third objective is to promote skills and knowledge. Ben Sequerra (Sewell Moorhouse), Bob Horgan (GVT), Tom Rumboll (LloydsTSB), and Kevin Davies (BHP) have been working hard in considering how best to meet this, seeking to get the right mix of soft and technical skills, coupled with themes of a local interest. Their first event is scheduled for around February.
And finally, Kate Mabury (Wake Smith), Pete Wilmer (GT) and Jon Gillgrass (HSBC) are looking into organising the YPG’s annual social event - The Big One, so to speak. Watch this space for further details.
For further details of the YPG, and contact details of committee members, please see the YPG pages on the Pro-Sheffield website. www.pro-sheffield.co.uk. Feedback and ideas are very much encouraged. To join the mailing list for future events, please email Jill Boyington at jillb@pro-sy.com.
Paul Fauset is an Associate Director of Hawsons Corporate Finance and Chair of Pro-Sheffield YPG. He can be contacted on pf@hawsons.co.uk.
THE GREAT BIG ALL SHEFFIELD QUIZ
written by Emma Bridgland and Kevin Davies
On Monday 24 September four members of the Pro-Sheffield team took part in the Professional Services heat of the Great Big All Sheffield Quiz at Ponds Forge. The Quiz was launched to create networking opportunities for the Sheffield business community and to generate funds for the first ExtraCare village in Sheffield (http://extracare.hcldev.co.uk).
Our team consisted of Trevor Kelly, Chief Executive of Pro-Sheffield, Paul Fauset, Chair of the Pro-Sheffield Young Professionals and Kevin Davies and Emma Bridgland, members of the Pro-Sheffield Young Professionals Committee. We thought we had a winning team with three out of the four of us born and bred Sheffielders but with questions ranging from “which part of Sheffield are the Arctic Monkeys from” (High Green) to identifying the location of various doors found around Sheffield (one was the Cutler’s Hall but our success ended there), our final position was eleventh – I’ll leave you to guess how many teams took part!
It was a very successful evening celebrating our great City with plenty of opportunities for networking over pie, peas and a pint. Over the course of nine heats there were representatives from Barber Harrison Platt, Lloyds TSB, Marks and Spencer and the winners of our heat, Sheffield Newspapers; but then they do spend all their time reading and writing about Sheffield!
The grand final is on 6 November at the City Hall Ballrooms but at the time of writing this article the winners have yet to be crowned. Log on to www.thegreatbigallsheffieldquiz.com to check out the victorious team.
The recently held Pro-Sheffield Young Professionals pool tournament was a great success summed up by Michael Thomson of Keeble Hawson:
"It was a great event last night. I really enjoyed it. That was the best I have been to. Good food, good people, good venue and it provided a great opportunity to get to know people. I will most definately make a point of coming to another Pro-Sheffield YP event and encourage others to do the same".
Photos can be viewed on the news section of the website.
