22nd September 2022
Following on from the formal appointment of Dan Booth as Group CEO of Leonard Curtis, a new management structure has been put in place to accelerate and promote focus on growth.
Leonard Curtis is the largest privately-owned professional services provider of corporate restructuring and insolvency in the UK employing over 250 people across 21 offices including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds as well as the Channel Islands.
As part of his role, Dan will be instrumental in the delivery of strategic direction for the Group – which recently announced its plans to double in size in the next three years – and will be assisted by the experienced Jon Mercer, who steps up from Group Finance Director to Chief Operating Officer.
Reporting into the executive board, the new leadership team will comprise of four regional heads, looking after restructuring and insolvency across four UK territories and two divisional heads looking after finance raising and legal services.
In addition, Dan and the executive board will be working alongside and supported by Brand and Communications Director, Paula Castle and Compliance Director, Diane Shovelton. Catherine Reynolds will be joining later in the year as HR Director in preparation for Nicky Mitchell’s retirement.
Regional heads include Andrew Poxon – Head of North & Scotland (Bury, Manchester, Preston, Chester, Liverpool, Glasgow); Sean Williams – Head of Yorkshire & North East (Leeds, Gateshead, Barlborough); Conrad Beighton – Head of Midlands (Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Worcester) and Alex Cadwallader – Head of South & Offshore (London, Hampshire, Dorset, Bristol, Cardiff, Taunton, Kings Langley & Guernsey).
Gary Cain – Head of Funding and Paula Smith – Head of Leonard Curtis Legal pick up the divisional responsibilities.
John Bluer will remain Head of Personal Insolvency services at Leonard Curtis and a new Group Finance Director, Paul Birks, joined the group in early September.
Confirming the new structure Dan Booth said: “I am delighted to be working with such an experienced leadership team and looking forward to seeing what we can all achieve. We are confident we can significantly scale this business and now we have clarity – by region and division – on how we will achieve it. Our plans for growth and development will be delivered by applying our key principles of confidence, commitment, and consistency.”
Demand for the firm’s services has been increasing rapidly as businesses look for recovery solutions after the pandemic and face challenging economic conditions currently.
COO Jon Mercer said: “Growth will undoubtedly come from our current three pillars of expertise – legal services, restructuring and insolvency, and raising finance – and we will also be looking to add on complementary skills – like M & A or tax consulting where the synergies align very well.”
Simon Lord, founding partner at Arete Capital Partners, who invested £15m in the business last year, in partnership with Svella, welcomed the official news of Dan Booth’s appointment to Group CEO.
“Dan has outstanding leadership qualities and is absolutely the right person to be fronting this exciting growth plan. The leadership team that has developed at Leonard Curtis, together with the new appointments, demonstrate the depth and quality of management. This team, led by Dan is already delivering exciting growth and the three year plan has been laid out for what should be a fruitful, constructive and where possible, enjoyable journey.”