Here at Today’s Conveyancer, we wanted to share with you the good news we’ve had within in the industry of professionals joining firms and those who have moved up the promotional ladder.
This week we’ve seen the following announcements with regards to appointments and promotions:
Richard Bray joins the Board of CoPSO
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) today announced the appointment of Richard (Richie) Bray from Move Reports to its Board of Directors. Richie joins James Sherwood-Rogers (Chair), Paul Albone from TM Group and Tom Backhouse of TerraFirma on the CoPSO Board.
James Sherwood-Rogers said:
“We are delighted to welcome Richie to the Board as he brings over 25 years-experience in the search industry, and set up Move Reports in 2002. Richie brings a fresh perspective to the Board at a time when the search industry is challenged by the circumstances of Covid-19 which may result in some long-term far reaching changes in how property information serves the homebuying process.”
Richie Bray commented:
“I very much look forward to making a positive contribution to the CoPSO Board at what is a testing but exciting time for our industry. There will be an inevitable progression towards a wholly digital world of property data, and the value-added interpretation of that data in a timely fashion should help to significantly improve the home buying and selling process for consumers. It is a great time to be involved on the Board of the trade body that is helping to shape the digital future.”
Richie’s appointment is for an initial period of 3 years.
Russell Foley joins Thirdfort as Product Strategy Lead
Legal tech start-up Thirdfort has appointed Russell Foley to lead its product development strategy. As Product Strategy Lead, Russell will focus on developing and optimising Thirdfort’s offering to the conveyancing and broader legal services markets, whilst overseeing the security specialist’s longer-term roadmap in relation to product development and client experience.
Russell brings over 20 years’ experience to the role, primarily working in product and proposition development within consumer-focussed legal and financial services. Notably his expertise includes utilising data and customer feedback to identify opportunities for product development, and he has a deep understanding of the needs of both conveyancers and consumers in the residential property market.
Most recently, Russell was Head of Client Proposition at conveyancing and property services group Simplify – parent company to legal services brands such as MyHomeMove and QualitySolicitors. He spent the past five years building, delivering and scaling eWay, MyHomeMove’s multi-award winning, digital client portal. Prior to Simplify, Russell held product and proposition roles at the likes of Irwin Mitchell, ASDA Money, Halifax Insurance and Capital One, in addition to marketing development and analysis roles at TDX Group, Boots and Co-operative Insurance.
Russell joins the business during a period of fast expansion, in response to increasing demand from law firms and conveyancers looking to accelerate their adoption of secure, remote, user-friendly technology. Since March the team has tripled from 15 to 44 and the business continues to hire into the new year. Thirdfort has attracted seed funding from a number of high-profile investors including law firm Mishcon de Reya, James Meekings and Andy Mullinger (co-founders of Funding Circle), David Rutter (founder of R3) and Alex Chesterman (Zoopla founder).
FCA regulated Thirdfort is a web and mobile app that combines document scanning, facial recognition technology and Open Banking, to streamline identity and source of funds checks carried out by lawyers. Thirdfort lets conveyancers and lawyers onboard their clients quickly, securely and entirely remotely.
Olly Thornton-Berry, co-founder and Managing Director:
“As we continue to expand and evolve, recruiting the right people and expertise is crucial. Russell is a market leader when it comes to product development within legal services, and we’re delighted to have him on board. Our growth strategy centres on building, delivering and optimising market leading, innovative solutions for lawyers and their clients. We believe there is an enormous opportunity to help lawyers cut out fraud risk, while improving the client experience during life’s big moments, through a slick and simple mobile app. I’m in no doubt that Russell will play a key part in this.”
Russell Foley, Product Strategy Lead:
“Thirdfort’s a unique and innovative business, with ambitious growth plans, and I’m excited to join the team. Our technology transforms the highly inefficient, manual methods used by many firms, improving identity verification and money laundering compliance, and reducing the risk of cybercrime. I see huge scope for the development of our offering and can’t wait to get stuck in.”
If your firm has any recruitment news please let us know at press@todaysconveyancer.co.uk
