Snakes and Ladders: Who is moving jobs in the City this week?
Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email [email protected] to be featured.
Firms are continuing to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic as they vie to be in prime position to recover from the economic fallout of the crisis.
This week, the capital’s business campaign group London First has bolstered its board to aid the city’s recovery from Covid-19 and London-listed mining firm Petropavlovsk has a new chief executive.
Pearson hires former diplomat as strategy chief in D2C push
Education publishing group Pearson has hired a former British diplomat as its chief strategy officer as it pushes ahead with a new strategy of targeting consumers directly.
The FTSE 100 firm said Mike Howells will be tasked with strengthening its relationships with learning institutions.
The appointment is the latest move by new boss Andy Bird, who has pledged to overhaul Pearson’s business model to adapt to the digital age.
Bird, a former Disney executive, last month announced plans for a new direct-to-consumer division that will look to channel the model used by streaming giants.
Pearson today said the appointment of Howell reflected its new strategy and the need to continue building partnerships with global educational institutions.
New CEO at London-listed mining firm Petropavlovsk
London-listed mining firm Petropavlovsk has hired Denis Alexandrov as its new chief executive.
Alexandrov joined the FTSE 250 company, which has its operations in Russia, yesterday.
He was previously chief executive at Highland Gold Mining, a Russian gold producer, and prior to that was chief executive of Swedish firm Auriant Mining.
Alexandrov has also held a managing director position at A1 Investment Company and was finance chief of Arlan Investments, which both had substantial holdings in the mining industry.
Maxim Meshcheryakov, who was interim chief executive of Petropavlovsk, will remain with the company in a senior position to work with Alexandrov.
Financial services veteran joins Kingswood
Wealth management firm Kingswood has hired financial services veteran David Lawrence to lead its UK business.
Lawrence has more than 30 years’ experiece in financial services with Lloyds Banking Group, including as commercial director and chief operating officer of its private banking and wealth businesses.
Most recently, Lawrence played a lead role in establishing Schroders Personal Wealth where he became COO in March last year, with responsibility for client proposition and experience, and business development.
London First bolsters board to aid with city’s Covid-19 recovery
London First, the capital’s business campaign group, has appointed former European director-general Dame Nicola Brewer to its board.
Brewer previously had a 30 year career in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and in 2006 was appointed as the first chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
She was British high commissioner to South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho.
From 2014 to 2020 she was vice provost of University College London.
Other board members who have recently joined include Sarah Sands, former Today programme editor, Dame Inga Beale, former chief executive of Lloyd’s of London, Tanuja Randery, a partner at McKinsey and Dr Alan Belfield, chairman of Arup Group.