Hilton Edinburgh Carlton has expanded its team, appointing Shona Archibald as City Revenue Manager Edinburgh and Rona McGuire as Meeting and Events Sales Manager. The new appointments follow the hotel’s £17 million transformation and relaunch last year.
Shona Archibald has worked for Jurys Inn Hotel Group for over three years, most recently as Cluster Revenue Manager for Scotland where she was responsible for rooms revenue across the Group’s five Scottish properties. Prior to this she was Cluster Revenue Manager for the Group’s Sheffield hotel and two Newcastle-upon-Tyne properties. Shona brings a wealth of experience to the role having worked as Revenue Manager for both the five star Fairmont St Andrews Resort and the 5 star Old Golf Course Hotel, Golf Resort and Spa.
In her new role Shona will be responsible for rooms revenue at the 211 bedroom Hilton Edinburgh Carlton.
As Meeting and Events Sales Manager at the Hilton Edinburgh Carlton, Rona McGuire will manage the hotel’s sales team and will be responsible for overseeing events, converting existing sales leads and generating new enquiries.
Rona joins the four star Edinburgh hotel from the Macdonald Inchyra Hotel and Spa where she was employed as Meeting and Events Office Manager. Rona has worked in the hotel industry working with a number of hotel groups including Radisson Blu, Principal Hotels and Thistle.
The iconic Hilton Edinburgh Carlton, which is located on North Bridge Street, just off the historic Royal Mile, has been completely transformed following the recent investment.
Every part of the Grade B listed building, including the bedrooms, public areas and events space has been completely refurbished and a brand-new Marco Pierre White Steakhouse has been added.
Much of the investment has focused on the hotel’s seven flexible meeting and events spaces, which are located on the first floor of the hotel and boast spectacular views of the beautiful city through gothic-style high arch windows. The largest room, the Highland Suite, can accommodate 200 delegates theatre style and offers an abundance of natural daylight.
Talking about the new appointments, Interim General Manager, David Shiels, said: “Following the hotel’s relaunch we are delighted to welcome Shona and Rona to the close-knit Hilton Edinburgh Carlton team. Both of them have a huge amount of experience in the hotel industry and will considerably strengthen the team here in Edinburgh.”
Nestled in the heart of the city centre, the Hilton Edinburgh Carlton is within walking distance of all the city’s amenities and just a three-minute stroll from Edinburgh Waverley Station. Edinburgh International Airport is also just 8.4 miles away.
One of the largest full service law firms in Scotland has today (1 June 2017) announced the appointment of three new partners, expanding its senior team in Dundee and Edinburgh.
Two of the appointments at Thorntons are of existing associates, namely Chris Byrne and Jacqueline Henderson. The third appointment is Morna Coutts, who joins the firm after seven years at Morton Fraser.
Morna joins the Private Client team based in Thorntons’ Edinburgh office, enhancing the firm’s commitment to the capital and providing additional support to the existing team there. She boasts expertise in capital taxation and succession planning alongside wills and trust arrangements for high net worth individuals covering complex estate administration and powers of attorney.
Chris joined the firm when it amalgamated with Murray Donald in November 2014 after spending most of his career prior to that with a large commercial practice in Glasgow. He is an experienced corporate lawyer and, as part of the corporate team in Dundee, becomes partner after working closely with former chairman Jack Robertson.
The third appointment is residential property specialist Jacqueline, who joined the firm in January 2015 following roles at Fife Council and Pagan Osborne.
Scott Milne, joint managing partner at Thorntons, said: “I am delighted that our latest appointments include two internal promotions but also that we welcome Morna Coutts as a new recruit to the firm.
“Appointments like these are further evidence of our desire to invest in our people and our commitment to being a prosperous and sustainable firm.
“Congratulations to our three new partners, I have no doubt their appointments will enhance the firm and its continued aspirations to be the most respected full service law firm in Scotland.”
For more details on Thorntons and its services visit www.thorntons-law.co.uk.
Pictured (L-R): Scott Milne, Morna Coutts, Craig Nicol, Chris Byrne, Jacqueline Henderson.
Barclays has announced two key appointments to its Business Banking team as it continues to extend its on-the-ground support for Scottish SMEs and scale-up businesses.
Graham Cambridge has been named High Growth & Entrepreneur Business Manager and Grant McNally as Business Manager to help deliver the bank’s ambitious growth strategy in Scotland.
Graham will take responsibility for managing a portfolio of high-growth SME companies with up to £6.5m turnover as the Business Banking division’s first dedicated High Growth & Entrepreneur Business Manager in Scotland. His role will involve further expanding the local delivery of Barclays’ successful High Growth & Entrepreneurs strategy, which aims to help business realise their potential at the often challenging scale-up stage.
Graham started his career with Barclays as an intern in 2013, before progressing through the bank’s Corporate Banking graduate programme where he gained experience across a variety of sectors.
Grant’s new role as Business Manager will focus on business development in Glasgow and the west of Scotland, supporting companies with turnover of up to £5m. His appointment comes as the bank is undertaking a recruitment drive for five additional regional Business Managers to strengthen its presence across Scotland.
He joined Barclays through its Corporate Banking graduate scheme in 2012, working in business analyst and relationship support roles for a broad range of clients, from PLCs to high growth starts-ups.
Both will report into Head of SME Stuart Brown who is leading the bank’s drive to grow the bank’s SME and high-growth clients in Scotland.
Stuart Brown, Head of SME Scotland, Barclays commented: “Following the launch of our £500m SME fund last year, the time was right to expand our Business Banking team in Scotland.
“We strongly believe in a relationship approach to supporting business owners on their journey, whether they are start-ups, scale-ups or well-established. As our SME client base grows we are investing in the right people on the ground in the regions to understand their individual needs to then guide and advise them. Graham and Grant are homegrown Barclays talent and their skills and experience will help us further strengthen our relationships with existing and new customers.”
Barclays’ Scottish SME fund was launched in June 2016 to provide access to funding for businesses across all sectors with turnover up to £25m. It forms part of a wider commitment by Barclays to support fast-growing companies with its High Growth & Entrepreneurs programme. The programme offers locally delivered financial advice, business skills development, networking opportunities at a local, national and international level and access to Eagle Labs and RISE accelerators. The Bank also provides a unique Innovation Finance Venture Debt product via an additional £200m fund.
New alliances created with key developing cities in China as part of trade visit
Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) has announced the official opening of a new International Trade Office in the city of Yantai, China, as part of a trade mission by a Chambers’ delegation to explore new trading opportunities and links with business, education and government organisations.
The formal opening ceremony was hosted by the Vice Mayor Madame Zhang Bo, together with senior officials from Yantai Municipal Government. Both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding for trade engagement and partnership, designed to achieve an effective channel for exchange of business between Scotland and Yantai.
The Scottish delegation, led by SCC’s new President, Tim Allan and CEO Liz Cameron, comprised Presidents and CEOs from Chambers throughout Scotland: Aberdeen, Ayrshire, Dundee & Angus, Glasgow, Edinburgh and West Lothian. They were accompanied by senior business executives, including entrepreneur David Valentine of Valentine International, and former SCC Chair Nora Senior, UK Chair of international PR company Weber Shandwick, who have had a presence working in China for over 25 years.
During the trade visit, which was six months in the planning, SCC held a series of productive meetings with senior business people, highly influential politicians and local government officials including Vice Governor Wang Shujian, as well as national ‘think tanks’ bodies in Beijing, Yantai and Jinan in the Shandong Province
President Tim Allan commented: “The Chinese economy continues to grow at a faster pace than western economies and the rate of growth within new cities such as Yantai and Jinan opens up the potential for Scottish businesses to promote and sell goods and services which Chinese businesses Chinese businesses and consumers want and need. That demand, together with a more recent policy of ‘opening up’ to new trading partners and overseas alliances by the Chinese, presents a myriad of opportunities for Scottish businesses to capitalise on.
“The aim of our mission was to strengthen relationships and increase engagement with existing and new contacts in sectors where there are direct B2B or knowledge-share opportunities for Scottish companies. Yantai is a city of 7 million and SCC’s base in Yantai will enable us to plan a comprehensive approach to exploiting the many opportunities in Yantai and further afield.”
Shandong Province represents the third largest economy in China with a population of over 97 million and a GDP in excess of 6.3 trillion yuan (£0.7 trillion). It is China’s best wine growing region accounting for over 25% of all wine production. Yantai is the biggest trading port in North China and in 2016, the city imported over $19 billion (£14.7 billion) of goods and services.
The city of Jinan is home to one of the first national high-tech business incubators and since its foundation in 2002, it has incubated more than 1,000 small and medium sized science and technology enterprises. It focuses on cultivating fast-growing sectors such as biomedicine, ecommerce, energy, environmental protection and new materials.
Key sectors for Scottish interest to meet key economic needs in the Chinese target cities include: electronic information, robotics and artificial intelligence, pharmaceutical, bioscience, R &D, manufacturing, engineering and smart technologies, energy including upstream and downstream products and services, logistics, agriculture, food and drink, and indeed football management.
The accelerated growth of consumers in Shandong province also opens opportunities in consumer goods, recreation and tourism services, financial and professional services and education.
Chief Executive, SCC, Liz Cameron OBE said: “This exploratory visit is part of the new partnership which was formed between Scottish business, through our extensive Chamber network, and the Scottish Government to utilise the world-wide connectivity of the business community. We now have a deeper understanding of how we can achieve the best exchange for business, where the opportunities exist for Scottish organisations and how we can best pursue these.
“We have also identified several potential opportunities for inward investment into Scotland and will be working with Scottish Government and SDI as well as other trade organisations to explore these and leverage the momentum of change within China.
“Our next steps will be to undertake a deep dive of companies based in Scotland who have products, skills and expertise which have the potential to be exported to the Shandong Province area. Our aim is to add impetus to the Scottish economy by assisting companies who have not previously thought about exporting to grasp the potential that international trade offers.
“The new more open trading environment in fast growing cities such as Yantai, Jinan and the wider Shandong Province, together with the practical advice and direct B2B links Chambers now have within this market, will facilitate more effective trading partnership opportunities for Scottish businesses and educational institutions.”
SCC intends to return to Shandong Province later this year to conclude discussions on further Memorandums of Understanding and explore new ways to foster co-operation between the two countries.
Chambers in Scotland have already led trade missions to Italy, Iceland, Iran, Germany and the US, with further country visits planned this year to a number of key destinations.
Lunch at the Edinburgh Chez Mal brasserie is relaxed and informal, featuring the full á la carte menu, plus seasonal menus and local specials, you have choices galore.
Drop an anchor and settle in with divine dining from our carefully crafted menus at Malmaison Edinburgh. Atmospheric and ambient, you can enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner served in the Brasserie, with tip-top service. Take your tastebuds on a journey, from tantalizing starters to perfect puds. Raise a toast to all that is good with an expertly matched wine or ale.
Our New Summer A la Carte Menu
Our chefs are renowned for their magic touch, and our new a la carte menu really does have something extraordinary about it. From Seared Cornish sea scallops – and beautifully-balanced flair dishes such as Yorkshire Dales lamb cutlet, your dining companions will be envious of whatever you choose.
Or why not share? Our menu also includes new sharing stands, allowing you to order a 21 day aged Chateaubriand with onion rings, chunky fries and Béarnaise sauce, all without the guilt.
Situated for the ideal creative business lunch or long, lazy afternoon with friends, the cool, calm and friendly atmosphere, Malmaison Edinburgh’s Brasserie offers a bountiful selection of delicious dishes to enjoy on your quest for the lunch of all lunches.
Bookings should be made via email brasserie.edinburgh@malmaison.com or contacting the brasserie team on 0131 285 1478
