The East of England Co-op’s Doug Field has been appointed to the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) board.

Doug, who joins the LEP board this month, is executive officer – finance at the regional retail chain, which is based in Ipswich, and is a member of the society’s leadership team. He has more than 20 years’ finance and accounting experience gained across a wide range of sectors including retail, property and professional services.

“I’m honoured to have been appointed to the board and am really looking forward to working in partnership with others to ensure Norfolk and Suffolk are best placed to benefit from a growing economy,” he said.

“The East of England Co-op has been at the heart of communities in the region for almost 170 years and is truly part of the fabric of the region. It employs almost 5,000 local people, supports farmers and producers through its award-winning Sourced Locally initiative, and ploughs profits back into local communities. “I want to bring my experience with the Co-op to bear in this new role to help businesses work together to create a thriving and dynamic region that delivers all round benefits to the people and places of Suffolk and Norfolk.”

New Anglia LEP chairman Mark Pendlington said: “The East of England Co-op is rooted in its local communities and dedicated to the economic and social well-being of Norfolk and Suffolk. Its commitment to local suppliers is a great example to businesses everywhere. I am certain that Doug’s wealth of retail and finance experience will be invaluable to the LEP board.”

Doug, who has a BA (Hons) degree in accounting and finance from the University College of North Wales, spent four years at Christie Group plc as group financial controller and six years at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Bristol. He joined the Co-op as finance controller in 2008 and swiftly rose to the position of executive officer finance and technology, joining a five-strong leadership team of executive officers. He oversees the finances of the business and all aspects of technology from PCs to till points.

He replaces Erika Clegg, who stood down in September, on the LEP board. Dr Nikos Savvas, principal at West Suffolk College, joined the board in the same month.

Malt firm Muntons has appointed Sophie de Ronde as new product development brewing technologist, based at its Stowmarket Suffolk headquarters.

Sophie will be using the purpose-built pilot brewery housed in the firm’s Centre for Excellence to help customers with the development of exciting new beers. The pilot brewery is also used to create the base material for new malt extracts and to develop new homebrew recipes for Muntons’ ranges of beer making kits.

Having spent time as a real ale pub bar manager, Sophie moved to the Brentwood brewery as a trainee brewer before becoming their head brewer.

“Whilst at Brentwood I spent a day undertaking some brewing development using the Muntons pilot brewing facilities, to develop a special one-off beer,” she said. “Simply brewing beer for sale and consumption brings its challenges particularly with the commercial scale but offers nothing like the creative opportunity that this new post brings.”

Sophie says she plans to use her knowledge of commercial brewing to make the pilot brewery as efficient as possible to ensure that customers will get the most out of their time here.

Crisp maker Fairfields Farm Crisps, based at Wormingford, near Colchester, has taken on sales representative Barrie Marshall, who has helped the firm develop its sales strategy into new areas.

Barrie, who lives in Great Horkesley, approached Fairfields Farm Crisps just at the right time, when it was looking at expanding its potato deliveries together with its award winning crisps to local customers in East Anglia. Now Barrie is on the road everyday selling to pubs, bars, restaurants, shops, garden centres and cafes.

The idea has also been well received by customers who appreciate locally grown potatoes and the story of diversification behind the production of the crisps at Fairfields Farm, which has been growing potatoes for three generations.

“Since coming on board, Barrie has gained us a wealth of new customers across East Anglia and has helped us to grow the business into different areas, particularly within the pub and restaurant trade,” said firm founder Robert Strathern. “We are also particularly pleased to be employing someone within the local community and bringing new jobs to the area.”

Ventilation and indoor climate control firm TROX UK has appointed a new marketing co-ordinator.

Alice Arnott has joined the company’s Thetford office and brings with her a wealth of experience in marketing and events management.

Alice comes to TROX UK from Norfolk-based Group Lotus Plc. Having started in a client liaison role, Alice then transferred to Lotus’ engineering division as a marketing executive. Primarily responsible for UK and worldwide events, she represented the brand in front of corporate and consumer audiences, along with other marketing activities.

Alice also has experience in construction, having previously worked as a trainee quantity surveyor. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and completed a BA (Hons) in Humanities through the Open University.

“Joining TROX UK feels like a fantastic point in my career and I am excited by becoming an intrinsic part of a business which is constantly evolving,” she said.

“The board has very strong ideas around the direction its marketing should take and I am looking forward to helping to deliver that.”

Managing director Hugo Lambourn said: “We are really pleased to have appointed someone with the experience and enthusiasm which we see in Alice.

“This is a superb time for TROX UK because we are completing some stunning projects around the UK and our reputation continues to grow in the industry. It’s vital that at this key time we have exactly the right people on board to help us make the most of that growth and push our profile within the sector.”

Matthew Gowen has joined the corporate criminal defence team at Top 100 law firm Birketts, which is based in Ipswich, as a barrister.

Matthew said: “Birketts is recognised as one of the top UK law firms and is consistently rated in the top bandings in the leading legal directories. I am delighted to be joining a team and firm with a reputation for excellence that represents a large number of national and international businesses, organisations and individuals in a wide range of cases.”

Laura Thomas, head of the corporate criminal defence team at Birketts added: “Matthew is a great addition to the team. He was previously a consultant for the firm and brings a wealth of experience from over 20 years at the criminal Bar. He offers advice and representation in all areas of corporate and regulatory crime and is recommended in the latest edition of Chambers UK Bar. The addition of such a highly qualified member of the team will help ensure that the team continues to offer our clients a premier legal offering when advising on the legal aspects of health and safety, crime, regulatory, transport and environment.”

New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has taken on two new dedicated digital growth advisers after securing £55,000 from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills to help solve some of the region’s business broadband issues. This will be matched with local funding to deliver a £110,000 digital programme as part of the New Anglia Growth Hub.

Morgan Potter and William Millar will work alongside its existing nine Growth Hub advisers. The two will provide impartial advice and guidance to local small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) on broadband and internet issues, including how to access superfast broadband and to maximise its benefits.

There will also be a marketing campaign with 10,000 Broadband Basics For Business leaflets produced and distributed to SMEs across Norfolk and Suffolk.

The leaflets will provide easy to understand advice on how businesses can get access to high-speed broadband.

The programme was officially launched at New Anglia LEP’s innovation exhibition, iExpo, at BT’s Adastral Park in Martlesham in November and aims to help at least 200 businesses take positive action to increase their digital abilities.

Jason Middleton, business growth manager, at New Anglia LEP, said the lack of Broadband take-up was a major issue across both counties.

“We know from talking to businesses on a daily basis that a significant number are unaware that they can access Superfast Broadband despite the fact that a major high-speed roll-out is under way in both counties. Many also don’t realise that the service doesn’t happen automatically you have to ask for it,” he said.

“Our aim is to ensure that businesses know what service and suppliers are available to them, how to access it, get the best deal, and the benefits it will bring to their company.”

Family run Sudbury marketing agency Mackman has welcomed award-winning marketer Sarah Nagra to join its growing team.

Sarah joins Mackman as a client lead (account manager). She will be the main point of contact for a number of Mackman’s clients, working with the research, design, communications and technical departments to collaboratively achieve client’s key objectives.

Sarah is an experienced and qualified marketer, having worked across senior positions at Suffolk County Council and the University of Essex.

During her time at Suffolk County Council, she planned and implemented the Trading Standards social media strategy, creating the Consumer Champion Network. Her work won the Best Use of Social Media title at the UK Public Sector Digital Awards.

Sarah said: “The variety of Mackman’s clients makes this position especially exciting. All the companies we work with are experts in their field, just as we are in ours, and so by working in partnership, we really can grow together.”

Director Paul Mackman said: “We work with a spectrum of ambitious companies from our Sudbury-based office and invest in excellent people from the local area to best serve these clients. It shows that premium research and marketing services like ours do exist outside of London.”

Frinton-based staff survey and employee engagement firm The Survey Initiative has appointed the services of a highly experienced senior level human resources (HR) strategist to further strengthen its provision of employee consultancy.

Jacqueline Mitchell, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and director of Granta HR, will work with specialist teams at The Survey Initiative to analyse staff surveys and offer a blend of insightful solutions and experience to real life issues that businesses face.

“My approach is always to ask first: ‘What can I do to help this business thrive?’ With a strong commercial drive, I always look to optimise cost versus benefit, and reduce risk, while maximising the engagement and development of people at the heart of a business,” she said.

“I am naturally very analytical, reflective and insightful, which means that I have the knack of being able to look behind the raw feedback that surveys and focus groups provide, to interpret the impact of the current culture on the business and its staff.

“I also provide some often ‘straight down the line’ advice for focusing action for change.”

Director Gary Cattermole said: “Jacqueline is an outstanding specialist with unusually broad experience. She is an excellent strategist and analyst and will bring value added interpretive narrative to the survey analysis we provide for our clients.”

Jacqueline has worked in HR since 1989, and has worked from the bottom of the career ladder to the very top, having occupied a range of roles up to director level within successful national and international organisations, including Cambridgeshire County Council, WS Atkins Consultants Ltd and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Jacqueline also spent three years on the advisory board of the UK sector skills council for promoting skills and knowledge for careers in publishing. She will also continue to run her people management consultancy, Granta HR.

She has experience across all three main sectors - public, not-for-profit and commercial. She believes that organisations are more successful when they have the right practices in place to enable their staff to achieve their best and engender loyalty.