HARROGATE'S new destination management organisation, Welcome to Harrogate Limited, has appointed eight directors to its board.

Peter Banks, managing director of Rudding Park; Sharon Canavar, chief executive of Harrogate International Festival; Sue Dalton, head of museums for Ripon Museum Trust; Chris MacKenzie, managing partner of The Whole Caboodle; Kate Robey, operations manager for Provenance Inns; Sandra Doherty, president of Harrogate Chamber of Trade and Commerce and proprietor of Alexa House Guest House, and councillors Caroline Bayliss and Pat Marsh from Harrogate Borough Council, all join chair designate Peter McCormick on the board.

Mr McCormick said: “I am confident that we have the right people sitting on the board. We wanted it to comprise those who have honed their skills in the key tourism sectors including accommodation and hospitality, visitor attractions, rural tourism, events organisations, finance and marketing. We also wanted them to be highly regarded within their own organisation and within their particular sector.”

• SOPHIE HUETSON, SMART DEALERSHIP

Sophie Huetson, who has spent most of the past year driving 23,000 miles around foreign lands, has been appointed brand manager at York's Smart dealership.

Sophie, 23, who has returned from travelling around Europe and North Africa, where she visited 21 different countries, has previously worked in customer service and marketing roles with companies selling caravan and motor-homes and aggregates.

She will oversee Smart of York’s heightened presence on facebook and twitter as well as planning a variety of events over the coming months.

• RICHARD HARRISON, COOPER & HALL

COOPER & Hall has promoted a former trainee surveyor to quantity surveyor and recruited a new apprentice.

Richard Harrison, who joined Cooper & Hall, based at Pannal Business Park, in 2007 as a trainee, has just completed a five-year, part-time quantity surveying degree, graduating with a First Class BSc Hons.

Over the next two years, Richard, who has been promoted to QS Level, will be taking the RICS APC, and hopes to become a chartered surveyor by the end of 2013.

Naseem Sharif, who is studying for a BSc in Quantity Surveying, has just completed his second year at Sheffield Hallam University, and, for the next 12 months will be learning the practical side of the business.

• NICOLA GIFFORD, D E FORD INSURANCE BROKERS LTD

D E Ford Insurance Brokers Ltd has appointed Nicola Gifford as senior legal counsel.

The appointment follows that of Rob Allison, former managing director of Zurich Municipal, as operations director of the Low Poppleton Lane-based insurer.

Nicola’s is a new role for D E Ford to provide a new service proposition to its clients. Nicola began her legal career with the solicitors firm DLA Piper before joining manufacturer DePuy International, where she rose to the role of European legal director before becoming group legal counsel and company secretary of The Broker Network Ltd/Towergate Partnership.

• ROBERT BELL and ROBERT MALVERN, RAPITA SYSTEMS

RAPITA Systems, the York software company which creates tools to test software in planes and cars, has strengthened its team with two new appointments. Robert Bell, who was chief software architect and software manager for Oregon-based Electrical Geodesics Inc for seven years, joins the product development team working on creating innovative solutions for customers.

Robert Malvern, a software engineer with experience in the automotive and industrial automation fields, joins the field applications engineering team which helps customers to integrate Rapita’s tools into their day-to-day work.

• ACCELERIS

COMMUNICATIONS agency Acceleris has made a series of promotions across its Harrogate-based team.

Simon Baylis and Emma Campbell move from senior account manager to account director. In their new roles, Emma and Simon will continue to oversee client activity while focusing on supporting the agency’s new business initiatives. Meanwhile, Chloe Ingham becomes account manager.

Ellie Smith and Rachael Hunter have been promoted from account executive to senior account executive taking, on increased responsibility for day-to-day running of account activity for clients.