New appointments, promotions and awards in the Cumbrian business community this month.

*Mike Nicholls from Carlisle has been appointed as Head of Department at the Wills, Trusts and Probate team at Burnetts Solicitors.

He joined the firm in 2021 and specialises in private client and property law, particularly in tax and estate planning.

Rachel D’Souza, who worked previously in Whitehaven, has joined as a Senior Associate and specialises in wills, estate administration and lasting powers of attorney, and Newcastle graduate James Worsick has joined as a Solicitor

The team has also seen the return of West Cumbrian Probate Administrator Lucy Wallace following her maternity leave.

*Jacqui Gale, CEO of Wax Lyrical, is stepping down from her role.

She says she is looking forward to taking a break before considering taking up another post.

After her four years as CEO at Wax Lyrical and Group Commerical Officer, Jacqui is leaving in September.

Her post at Wax Lyrical is not being replaced and will be absorbed by the Group CEO.

*Cumbrian businessman Neil Jurd has been shortlisted in this year’s British Ex-Forces in Business AAwards.

The entrepreneur, from Kendal, is in the running for the Military Values in Business category when the awards are announced on September 8.

Mr Jurd, who is an in-Cumbria columnist, set up his own specialist leadership development business in 2017

A former Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, he also founded the Michelle Jurd Trust, in memory of his late wife, which supports and challenges young people and ex-service personnel in Cumbria.

He said: “I’m very proud to have served in the Armed Forces, and it is an honour that our business has been shortlisted for this award.”

*Former Assistant Chief Constable Mark Pannone and Zoe Billings have formed a new business, the Adapt and Evolve Consultancy. The pair met while Mark was an Assistant Chief Constable for North Yorkshire Police and Zoe was his Staff Officer.

Mark who lives in North Cumbria, served with Essex Police, Cumbria Police and latterly with North Yorkshire Police as an Assistant Chief Constable while Zoe from York is still a serving officer. Both realised that they had a passion for training, engagement and community focused work, with helping people being at the core of their shared values.

*A digital expert with experience in leading transformative projects for Morrisons and Halfords has joined The Cumberland as a non-executive director.

Anna Barsby has a wide experience in using technology to drive change in businesses that have also included TUI Travel and Whitbread.

“My whole career has been about change and transformation - both in technology and in business. I have worked in a wide breadth of organisations, but mostly consumer industries with lots of customer facing work. I’ve lived through lots of digital and technology and data transformations and it feels like that’s a skill set that The Cumberland could do with for the next few years as we undertake such a fundamental change to our system landscape,” she said.

*The Cumberland is in the running for a number of prestigious national customer

experience awards. The building society is a finalist in three categories at the UK Customer Experience Awards 2022, the biggest such event in the country.

*Conveyancer Wednesday Jones at Wragg Mark-Bell Solicitors in Carlisle competed at the 2022 Veterans’ Commonwealth Fencing Championships in London last month. She fenced for Wales in the individual Veterans’ Women’s Sabre event, having only returned to the sport in 2021 after five years off due to injury.

*Tom Speight, of Cumbria Arts and Culture Network, has launched a new podcast dedicated to arts and culture in the county.

Tom draws on his background as a BBC broadcast journalist and former Radio Cumbria news editor.

“Cumbria is full of creativity and talent and this new monthly podcast will explore and showcase every aspect of that. I aim to surprise. And to introduce people to lots of things they didn’t know about. There is such a lot going on in the arts and culture scene in Cumbria but not everyone realises,” he said.

Tom, 53, lives in Cockermouth and has worked for the BBC for 25 years.