Engineering consultancy Clancy Consulting appoints two new directors
Engineering and design advisory firm Clancy Consulting has announced the appointment of Jane Saynor as its first female board director, alongside Chris Acton. The move comes as the consulting industry continues to push for improved diversity at the head of firms, with pay disparity and a lack of representation at the top of companies having been called into focus in recent months.
After years of sustained pressure, working toward gender parity in the workplace has increasingly become a priority for businesses around the world. Notably, the UK Government has steered British businesses toward taking a more pro-active stance on both pay and representation – having made the reporting of pay gap statistics a requirement, while the Women in Finance Charter has pushed financial sector incumbents to boost the representation of women at the top of their firms.
In the consulting industry, this has seen a number of companies make substantial commitments toward the promotion of diversity in their corporate structure. Recently, Brickendon committed to 50% of senior management being female by the end of 2019, while strategy giant McKinsey & Company aims to have 40% of its consultant roles filled by women by 2020, including 30% female partners and 15% female senior partners.
Now, Clancy Consulting, an Altrincham-based multidisciplinary engineering consultancy, has appointed Jane Saynor as the first female member of its board of directors. In another first, Saynor, who leads the HR function at the firm, is also the first non-engineer to join the board. Having arrived at Clancy in 2002, establishing the HR role she has occupied ever since, she also chairs the North West region of the Technical Apprenticeship Consortium.
Saynor remarked of her appointment, “The invitation came as a delightful shock. I have always felt involved in the Clancy business from the very start and my collaboration with the board has increased over the years, so I have always felt valued and respected by them all. With our different skills we make a great team.”
The promotion of Saynor was also accompanied by the appointment of Chris Acton, who has been with the firm since 2004. Following his assisting the business with its expansion into the Middle East – an increasingly lucrative market for consultants as the region re-positions its economies from a general dependence on fossil fuels – Acton joins the board, assuming a key role in working to develop the structural engineering team in Altrincham.
Clancy Consulting Chief Executive Alan Bramwell said of the appointments, “The appointment of Jane and Chris will add additional skills that will strengthen the capability of the board, whilst also recognising the significant and important contribution both have made to the business over many years. We are pleased to have made a number of promotions from 1 April, all from within the business, as part of the continued development of Clancy Consulting.”
Elsewhere, Clancy also appointed two Divisional Directors. In its Altrincham office, Nick Riding steps into the role, having spent a decade with the business. During his tenure, he has worked to build up the geo-environmental department of the firm. In Liverpool, meanwhile, James Gendall is also promoted to Divisional Director in the structures team, following a similar ten year period with the firm. In that time, he has played a leading role in the technical advancement of the office, delivering a number of high-profile projects.
In the firm’s building services division in Reading, Andrew Childs has been promoted to Associate, after several years building the team and client base in the South East, while in the central business support team, Lucy Brown was elevated to Finance Director and Company Secretary, having joined the business one year ago as Head of Finance.
