East Anglia-based financial services provider Scrutton Bland has made four new appointments to its insurance department as part of its plan for continued growth of the firm.

It has appointed Amanda Cornwell and Claire Speakman as agricultural insurance executives. Both have previous experience within the agricultural sector.

The firm has also appointed new business executives, Sophie Earland, who joined the Ipswich office in September and Nina Simmons, who takes up her new role in the Colchester office.

Insurance partner Tim Long said: “We are delighted to welcome Amanda, Claire, Sophie and Nina to the insurance department at such an exciting time. Their knowledge and expertise will be a wonderful addition to the insurance team.” The Scrutton Bland Group has offices in Colchester, Ipswich, Cambridge and Diss.

::Ipswich-based specialist medical reporting company IPRS Medlegal, has appointed Amy Ratcliffe as client development manager.

In addition to consolidating relationships with new and existing clients, Amy will be developing the IPRS Medlegal brand presence with enhanced online communications channels.

IPRS Medlegal was formed in 2015 and is the newest company in the multi-million turnover Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation Services Group (IPRS Group). IPRS Medlegal provides specialist, independent medical reporting services to the legal sector, via the MedCo scheme and direct relationships with a wide range of clients.

Amy Ratcliffe, 27, joins from Workhouse Marketing, where, as senior account manager, she specialised in consultancy for legal clients and in new business development. Amy is a graduate of the University of Central Lancashire and has held in-house and agency roles for public and private sector organisations.

She is now working alongside experienced personal injury solicitor and fellow Lancastrian, Rhian Lowe, who joined the IPRS Medlegal team earlier this year.

“I am delighted to have joined IPRS Medlegal,” said Amy.

::Elly Worsley, 23, has joined Ipswich PR firm Prominent PR as PR executive.

She will be working alongside the rest of the team, supporting on the agencies range of local, national and international clients. She will also be working on social media accounts and video content creation.

Elly has a background in video content creation, having graduated with a degree in Film and Moving Image Production from Norwich University of the Arts. She is hoping to expand the company’s range of services provided to clients.

“This is such a great opportunity to have been given,” she said. “I am really looking forward to getting started and hope to bring some new skills to the team as well as learn some new ones myself.”

Helen Rudd, who started the company in 2014, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Elly to the team and we are all looking forward to how she will help the company to develop. It’s a really exciting time for the agency and we are delighted that Elly is going to be a part of it with us.”

::Two members of staff have passed year-long apprenticeships at Essex law firm Birkett Long.

Daisy Murfin, 21, is a marketing administrator and her colleague, Holly Croft, 20, who is a post-exchange assistant, works in the residential real estate team. They both shunned university courses in favour of apprenticeships.

Daisy was already in an admin role at the firm when she spotted that the marketing department was looking for an apprentice and so applied for and got the job.

“I studied creative media at the Colchester Institute, learning about advertising and the audience was a big part of the course,” she said.

“My career aim now is to learn as much as possible from the fantastic team here, which I really do love being part of. I feel happy all the time in my job. I really enjoy being here.”

Holly said: “I decided to get an apprenticeship as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do at university, but I knew I wanted to further my learning without committing to a long-term course.

“I chose to apply for the apprenticeship at Birkett Long as I had always been interested in law and I thought it would be a good way to get my foot in the door.

“My career aim is to develop the role I am currently in and get a better understanding of the whole process of buying and selling properties.

“Once I feel confident enough in my understanding of everything, I aim to become a paralegal and take some exams and hopefully by the end of it all become a solicitor.”

The firm has offices in Chelmsford, Colchester and Basildon.

::An Ipswich van rental firm has expanded its managerial team to meet growing demand as the company goes from strength to strength.

Will Smith has been appointed as the new dedicated business development manager (BDM) at Wolsey Van Centre and will be working in partnership with companies in the area to help strengthen its fleet operational needs.

Previously the role had encompassed both its Sproughton Road business as well as its Bury St Edmunds Van Centre site but to meet customer demand and business growth a more dedicated role was required at Ipswich.

The former soldier, aged 44, has dedicated the vast majority of his 22 years of industry experience to the commercial vehicle sector giving him a clear understanding of commercial and business environment needs.

“I know the area well, living in Clacton-on-Sea, which I see as an asset to my role,” he said. “This is an exciting challenge but I am very pleased to be working with such an inspirational brand and highly-regarded motor group.”

::Bury St Edmunds-based labelling and printing solutions firm Denny Bros has set its sights on developing its presence in European markets with the recruitment of experienced, multi-lingual international sales executive Anne Klermund.

Anne, who was born in Paris and studied in France until the age of 20, completed her studies in Taipei and worked for a further 10 years in South East Asia before returning to Europe. She brings with her extensive commercial sales experience in two global companies combined with outstanding language skills in English, French, German and Chinese.

Before joining Denny Bros in October, she was involved in promotional and marketing activities for world, cosmetics leader l’Oréal in Asia. Her international career also led her to take up a post with haircare products firm Wella in Singapore. After her work with foreign brands across Asian markets, Anne later went on to spend time in the USA, the UK and Austria before returning to her adopted roots in the UK.

“My new role represents a fantastic opportunity for me as I am not only able to combine my language skills and sales experience, but am also able to live in a familiar and beautiful part of the British countryside,” she said.

“I have every confidence that there is a lot of scope for a leading British print company, such as Denny Bros, to gain a significant market share in Europe. My aim is to bring in as many sales leads as possible across France as there are currently not many companies with the capabilities and products to rival Denny Bros’ Fix-a-Form®.”

Sales and marketing director, Stephen Jarrold said: “As we already have a strong customer base in the UK, we hope Anne will help us win more customers in France. The weak pound means the price of our multi-page labels is coming down for our export customers and so now is the perfect time to try to strengthen our market position in Europe.

“We are thrilled to have a multi-lingual Sales Executive on-board who can confidently support our sales objectives and show export customers why we have such a long-standing reputation for consistently delivering the best customer service, the highest quality product and for meeting the needs of our customers.”