Chris Smith has joined Norse Commercial Services as business development manager for three of the group’s joint venture partnerships.

::Chris will be managing the commercial direction of three partnerships, Norse South East, Suffolk Coastal Norse and Waveney Norse.

Prior to joining Norse, Chris was with Vertas Group as business development manager. He has also worked for a research and marketing agency within the Education sector, and in the Health and Leisure industry managing sales and operations teams across the East and South East.

Mark Emms, managing director of the three Norse subsidiaries, said: “Chris brings a wealth of commercial experience which will be invaluable in developing the awareness and profitability of our three joint ventures. Working alongside our established operational teams, Chris will play a key role in Norse’s growth plans in these regions.”

Alastair Willis has been appointed commercial director for transport at Norse Commercial Services for

the company’s transport division.

He previously worked with Abellio Bus, which runs 800 buses in London and Surrey, and replaces Paul Bonham, who has retired after 17 years with Norse.

::Ipswich-based Trebuchet Creative has strengthened its PR team with the appointment of Elma Glasgow.

Elma, who is professionally qualified in journalism and copywriting, joins as PR manager and brings with her a wealth of experience working for high profile brands including Sony Music, 20th Century Fox, Comic Relief, the British Red Cross and Land Rover. She has also delivered PR for local small and medium-sized firms.

Her skills in media relations, copywriting and project management will bolster the agency’s ability to deliver a full range of strategic communications services to clients, in print and online.

PR and marketing director Sue Wilcock said they were “thrilled” to have Elma on board.

“Elma will be a great asset to the team and her experience will undoubtedly enhance our ability to meet the wide-ranging needs of our clients,” she said.

::Dedham-based Milsom Hotels & Restaurants has appointed Mike Gooding as its financial director.

Mike joined the family-run company in October 2014 with the unenviable challenge of replacing Brian Davies who was with the company for over 30 years.

Managing director Paul Milsom said: “From the day he arrived, Mike has worked tirelessly, not just to maintain our existing accounting processes but also to modernise and improve them. Appointment to our board of directors is a rare and special achievement and the promotion is well deserved.”

::Patrick Lawrence has joined Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket-based property consultants Lacy Scott & Knight to head up the lettings side of the business.

Patrick, who lives in Thurston with his wife and newborn son, brings with him a decade of experience in the local residential property market, and was previously with another Bury St Edmunds based property business.

“I am delighted to be joining a firm with the history and reputation of Lacy Scott & Knight and look forward to working with existing and new property investors,” he said.

Partner Chris Philpot said he would be “a great addition to our team”.

::Lorna Townsend has joined the employment law team at regional law firm Birketts as an investigations and employee relations consultant.

Lorna has extensive experience of dealing with complex and sensitive grievance and disciplinary investigations, often involving allegations of discrimination, as well as disciplinary hearings and appeals. Additionally, she has conducted re-structuring and TUPE exercises, as well as defending and bringing claims in the Employment Tribunal.

She said: “Birketts has a team of 30 employment lawyers and is regularly listed in the top bandings in the legal directories for employment law services. I’m thrilled to be joining the employment team at Birketts to lead this new and exciting offering to our clients.”

Jeanette Wheeler, partner and head of employment law at Birketts, said: “Lorna’s background and understanding of the law means that she is uniquely placed to investigate workplace matters on clients’ behalf.

“She is used to working to tight deadlines, analysing complex and conflicting evidence and providing clear, impartial and robust investigation reports. Lorna can also provide legally privileged reports to business and HR managers dealing with difficult issues involving employee conflict or workplace change, as well as providing support and guidance on these issues.

“We have worked with a wealth of cases from every imaginable industry, including education and healthcare. Because Lorna is a qualified lawyer, she can provide a legally privileged side report alongside the main investigation. This offers private advice on what is going wrong and how to stop it happening again in the future.”

Lorna is based at the Birketts’ Norwich office but also supports colleagues across the firms’ three other offices, in Ipswich, Chelmsford and Cambridge.

::Education and commercial interiors specialist Innova Design Solutions has appointed Jeremy Chuchla assales manager for East Anglia.

Jeremy, who previously spent more than 10 years at British Thornton, will cover an area including Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

His appointment is part of Innova’s ambitious growth plans, which follow a series of high-profile project completions in 2015.

Melanie Laing, director at Innova, said: “Appointing Jeremy is a real coup and a reflection of the exciting times which lie ahead for the business. With a growing order book we identified the need for a strategic focus that eyes nationwide opportunities and our operations in East Anglia are an important part of this.

“Jeremy brings extensive regional knowledge to the role and will help us to further establish our presence in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, key regions for our business plans going forwards.

“With tremendous experience in the field we’re delighted to welcome Jeremy to the team and look forward to supporting him in the crucial role he will play to raise awareness of the Innova brand in the area.”

Jeremy said: “It’s a fantastically exciting time to be joining Innova Design Solutions and I can’t wait to start working to promote the innovative interior solutions we offer.

“Innova’s growth aspirations align with my focus of developing the business through both personal and team sales goals. I am looking forward to growing the sales team and, subsequently, the business.”