Movers & Shakers: Diana Infanti and Marie Allen appointed as partners at Gotelee Solicitors

Diana Infanti and Marie Allen have both worked with the firm for more than 10 years, contributing greatly to the firm, and the promotion is in recognition of this.

Diana has been with Gotelee since 2002 and specialises in medical negligence claims, helped by her background in nursing before she joined the legal profession. She has successfully represented many clients in complex and high value medical negligence claims.

“It is an exciting time for me to be joining the Gotelee partnership. I am looking forward to contributing to the growth and success of the business as a partner of the firm,” she said.

Marie Allen has worked in the employment team since 2005 and has a strong reputation in the area, helping local businesses and individuals on all areas of employment law.

She regularly presents at seminars and provides bespoke training for managers on employment law issues, as well as writing articles for local press and HR publications.

“I’m thrilled by my promotion and look forward to joining the Gotelee partnership. Gotelee has a fantastic reputation for providing high quality legal services to the local communities,” she said.

Senior partner Brian Morron said: “Both are talented lawyers with strong reputations in their areas. We are pleased to be able to recognise their contribution to the firm over several years.”

: : Ensors Chartered Accountants has appointed Kate Baines to its corporate finance team in Ipswich.

Kate, who previously worked as a lead adviser for a national firm specialising in business sale mandates, brings with her a wealth of experience in successfully managing business sales and has specialist experience in the sale of small and medium-sized enterprises within healthcare, property management and commercial cleaning.

David Scrivener, partner in charge of the Ensors corporate finance team, said: “It’s great to welcome Kate on board. As well as being a highly skilled negotiator and project manager, Kate is also experienced in liaising with major accountancy, law, venture capital and private equity firms.

“We wanted to recruit a specialist sales negotiator to the team to enhance our offering and Kate’s skills complement the existing team very well as we continue to move forward and grow.”

: : Mick Biegel and Patricia Long have joined Suffolk Chamber of Commerce to manage the Employer Training Incentive Pilot (ETIP), which offers a 25% return against cash paid for additional training to a maximum grant of £1,000 per learner.

Mick Biegel has joined the chamber as its employer training incentive pilot manager.

He is BEd and Chartered MCIPD qualified, with a Level 4 NVQ in quality management. After 10 years in the Army (with The Green Howards) Mick’s career has led him through a number of challenging and developmental training and HR appointments. Most recently, he has been working on a self-employed basis for the Army and Royal Navy to help ensure the best results from their 90 busy electronic learning centres.

The highlight of his career to date was his OBE for the achievements of the training and education team he led at the Military Corrective Training Centre.

He worked for four years as head of training for Essex TEC and has also held training and HR manager appointments in the car industry and for a hi-tech speech recognition company in Cambridge.

His hobby is guiding First World War battlefield tours to France and Belgium, mostly for school groups.

Mick said: “I am delighted to have joined the team at Suffolk Chamber of Commerce. I look forward to doing all I can to help connect small and medium-sized enterprises in Suffolk and Norfolk– who are looking to achieve growth through training to the training providers most appropriate to their needs.”

Patricia Long has joined chamber as administrator for the ETIP.

She has extensive managerial and administrative experience, mainly gained in health and other government sectors. She has also run her own business in the sport and leisure industry.

Her hobbies include sport, especially playing golf and tennis, and also photography and water colour painting.

Patricia said: “It’s great to have joined the team at Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and to be able to provide help to employers to grow their business by offering cash-back for training their employees.”

: : Gipping Construction, based at Baylham near Needham Market, has promoted Emma Brine to associate director.

Emma joined Gipping Construction in 2004, and has played a pivotal role in the success of Gipping, as purchasing and office manager. In her expanded role, she will be responsible for managing communication and procedures throughout the company.

Working in a male dominated industry and organisation, Emma has seamlessly moved from an administrator, working her way up to a key role managing various construction operations.

“I’ve worked for Gipping Construction for 10 years and it is nice to be recognised for the work I have put in,” she said.

Emma successfully managed the procurement on award-winning projects at Haughley and Coddenham.

: : Ipswich-based law firm Ashton KCJ has welcomed a new solicitor and trainee legal secretary to its agriculture team in Norwich.

Stephanie Metcalfe-Mason has joined Ashton KCJ as a solicitor working alongside Simon Cunningham in Norwich as well as four other members of the team in Bury St Edmunds.

Stephanie qualified as a barrister in 2010, re-trained as a solicitor in 2012 and worked in criminal law before moving practice areas to concentrate on agricultural and estate matters. She is a member of the Agricultural Law Association.

She said: “I absolutely love the outdoors and have been around and owned horses for many years. I believe this gives me a genuine understanding of agricultural and equine matters both legally and personally, be it as a business or hobby. I really hope that experience will add to the much established team here at Ashton KCJ.”

Chloe Peek joins the team as a trainee legal secretary from a local property services organisation.

Partner Simon Cunningham said: “We are delighted to welcome Stephanie and Chloe to the team and are pleased to be attracting so much new talent to the firm. Their recruitment is an important part of our strategy to continue to grow our agriculture and estates services across the region.”

: : Accountancy firm KPMG has appointed Mark Prince as head of enterprise for the region.

Mark brings more than 20 years’ auditing experience to the role and has worked with private businesses and private equity-backed companies throughout his career.

Over the past six months Mark has driven the KPMG Enterprise programme in East Anglia, which is a strategic investment totalling £40million designed to bolster the firm’s offering to private businesses.

This includes a new small business accounting service, which uses cutting-edge digital technology to provide KPMG’s services via the cloud.

Mark, who will operates out of KPMG’s East Anglia offices in Cambridge and Ipswich, will have overall responsibility for the firm’s relationships with privately owned businesses across East Anglia. He will report to Ben McDonald, head of enterprise at KPMG for London and the South East, and office senior partner Steve Muncey.

Ben said: “Mark’s appointment is testament to not only his experience and local market knowledge, but also the integral role he will play in helping to drive forward the growth of East Anglia’s entrepreneurial community.”

: : A graduate who went to Colchester-based PR firm Mosaic Publicity on work experience, has been snapped up by the firm.

Sophie Riordan, 21, who gained a BA (Hons) in human geography at Northumbria University, has been taken on as a marketing and events executive, joining the 12-strong team to help manage its growing client base.

“I’m really excited to be working at such an innovative PR and digital marketing agency where I will be not only helping with client projects but also looking after the company’s own social media channels,” said Sophie, who lives in the Colchester area.

Chief executive Karen Ainley said: “It is really important when young people are on work experience that they embrace the opportunity presented to them.

“We were so impressed by Sophie’s hard work and willingness to learn and embrace the tasks she was set that we knew we didn’t want to let her slip away.”