Appreciate Group Plc

Prior to their acquisition by Paypoint Plc in 2023, Appreciate Group Plc (formerly Parks Group) were an AIM-listed fintech business headquartered in Liverpool, providing both high street shopping vouchers for consumers and tailored rewards and recognitions products for corporate customers. With revenues of over £100m and employing over 200 people, they were one of the leading financial services businesses in the region at the time.

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General Counsel & Company Secretary

In 2019, having undergone a period of significant evolution in the organisations’ brand identity and change of leadership, an opening became vacant for a new General Counsel & Company Secretary. Requiring an experienced executive search partner to carry out a targeted search of the market for senior-level, in-house legal counsels, Appreciate Group appointed Sherrington Associates to manage the search campaign during the Winter of 2019.

Being located in Liverpool, the market for experienced legal directors in the financial services sector was limited in comparison to London’s financial heartland, yet there were a number of target candidates residing within the regional pool who were identified by Sherrington’s research team early in the process. To supplement the shortlist, candidates from outside the region were identified and approached, specifically working within the capital’s buoyant financial services sector.

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The Search

After several weeks of painstaking desk research, combined with targeted approaches to senior in-house legal directors, Sherrington carried out in-person assessments with all candidates, then presented a shortlist of five vetted candidates to the client. The shortlist combined candidates with both senior-level legal experience within both fintech and financial services sectors, along with company secretarial capabilities. After a thorough selection process, organised through Sherrington, Gareth Griffiths was appointed to the role, bringing valuable experience from his lengthy senior leadership career in the financial services industry with MBNA and Cox Automotive.

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