On the move: Latest appointments and promotions

Loreburn Housing Association has made two key appointments to its senior management team.

From left: Amanda Yellowley, Alison Anderson and Lorraine Usher of Loreburn Housing Association. Picture: Contributed

The Dumfries & Galloway social housing provider, which manages around 2,500 homes across the region, has named Alison Anderson as director of finance and corporate services, while Amanda Yellowley joins as director of operations.

“This as an exciting career change for me and I am pleased to have joined such a motivated team and and innovative organisation,” said Anderson. “I’m looking forward to helping Loreburn achieve even more success.”

Yellowley added: “Having worked in Dumfries & Galloway for the past 18 years I am very aware of the particular needs and challenges faced by the people living here. I’m joining Loreburn at a fantastic time, and I intend to ensure we deliver on our promise to create great places to live.”

Loreburn chief executive Lorraine Usher said: “Our aim is to be among the very best housing associations in Scotland and I really believe we can achieve that.”

Coatbridge-based steel plate processor Watson Towers has appointed prominent industry figure Mark Allard as its new managing director. Allard has spent his working life in the Scottish steel industry, and is the former managing director of Eterniti Steels ­Scotland, which he helped to set up in 2009 and ran for three years until it was taken over by global giant Edgen Murray, where he has been UK and export sales director for the last four years.

He said: “I was really surprised and impressed when I saw first-hand the size and huge capabilities Watson Towers have and also their desire to succeed. It was clear to me quickly that Watson Towers are a sleeping giant and my goal as MD is for this business to ­continue to evolve and for us to become the ­biggest, and the very best at what we do in the country.”

Marks & Clerk, Scotland’s largest intellectual property (IP) firm, has appointed Dr Graham McGlashan as a partner to the business in its ­Glasgow office. A chartered and European patent attorney, McGlashan joined the business in 2003 after spending several years working on the development of new technologies within the semiconductor and energy fields.

He said: “Being made a partner at Marks & Clerk is an honour and a milestone, and I am extremely proud. Since joining the firm, I have advised clients on a wide variety of IP-related issues. Innovators across the UK continue to push the boundaries and it is more important than ever to help clients develop their existing IP portfolio.”

McGlashan specialises in ­patent and design matters in a range of fields and has particular expertise with innovations relating to ­electronic, telecom, electrical, energy, cleantech, automotive, defence and software technologies.

Glasgow-based Nalanda Technology, a leader in precision data search and discovery technology with its Nalytics software, has appointed two young data scientists. As part of their MSc Big Data course at the University of Stirling, Leslie Salami and Moreno Vardannega worked with Nalanda for four months this year as part of an industry student placement ­programme in conjunction with The Data Lab.

David Rivett, co-founder and chief operating officer of Nalanda Technology said: “Leslie and Moreno impressed us with their technical knowledge and dedication to completing their research projects using our Nalytics software.”