JAN Eskildsen, the managing director of document services company, DocQwise Business Services Ltd, has been appointed chairman of the York and North Yorkshire Partnership Learndirect Hub Consumer Group.

The group represents the needs of those in and outside industry who require access to on-line courses provided by Learndirect, part of Ufi and the UK's largest e-learning network.

Mr Eskildsen, who acquired York-based DocQwise with a management buy-in five years ago, has become well known as a motivational speaker on training and staff development issues through taking part in conferences and workshops organised with JobCentre Plus.

Mr Eskildsen said: "Learndirect has an essential and very exciting mission in York and North Yorkshire where there are many isolated rural communities as well as vibrant conurbations such as York, Selby and Harrogate.

"I am delighted to have been appointed to chair the hub consumer group and to be working with such a dedicated team to represent the needs of people in higher and further education and business who require access to the right blended on-line learning in order to enhance their skills."

ANDREW Griffiths has been appointed Business Promoter with Science City York, the organisation responsible for developing York as an international science base.

Mr Griffiths brings with him 33 years of business experience, specifically in the bioscience and agribusiness sectors where he spent 25 years as a director of various organisations, including ICI and a number of its subsidiary companies.

At Science City York he will be responsible for helping businesses in the science sector from start-up through to future development and growth, helping them obtain funding, offering them mentoring and practical business advice and assisting them in the sourcing and application of relevant grants.

The appointment will be one of the key roles responsible for delivering the objectives set out in the Customer First framework, launched in Spring 2002 and which Science City York has just been awarded.

Customer First seeks to develop a regional framework of minimum quality assurance standards for all publicly funded business support services.

As part of his role, Mr Griffiths will be involved in business planning, trade missions, technology transfer between research and industry, the organisation of networking and cluster events such as the White Rose Bioscience Forum which will be held in York next month.

SOLICITOR Jayne Laws, 35, has joined legal practice, Guest Walker & Company, of York.

Jayne, who trained at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the College of Law in York, qualified as a solicitor in 1993 and specialises in legal services for the commercial and agricultural property sector.

At Guest Walker & Co, Jayne will be providing a range of services to clients including advice on business sales and purchases, as well as transfers of going concerns; advice to commercial and agricultural landlords and tenants; counselling on sales and purchases of freehold commercial and agricultural land; help with organising secured lending and remortgage finance; and general land law advice. Jayne previously worked in the corporate finance and commercial property department of Ward Hadaway solicitors in Newcastle Upon Tyne. She is also a part-time professional visiting lecturer responsible for teaching property law and practice to post-graduate trainee solicitors.

Econ Engineering, the North Yorkshire-based company which is the UK market leader in the highway maintenance equipment sector, has promoted Joanne Carver to sales executive.

Joanne has been with the Ripon factory for four years and was previously based in the marketing department before being promoted to this new post.

She now has specific responsibility for managing Econ's after-sales business in the North of England, the Midlands and Wales, liaising with local authorities and contractors over servicing, parts and refurbished vehicle sales.

Andrew Lupton, Econ's sales director, said: "Joanne's promotion is well deserved."

Business Link York and North Yorkshire has strengthened its team with three strategic appointments.

John Guy has been promoted to head of adviser services, while George Pye has been appointed head of marketing and communications and Stephen Milner takes the post of head of finance and resources.

Mr Guy worked in senior roles in the financial services sector before joining Business Link in 1997 as a specialist adviser and Mr Pye has in-depth experience of marketing and communications in both the private and public sector, working for many years in the energy industry before moving to Hull University, where he was director of marketing and communications.

Mr Milner, who has significant experience of working for local authorities, joins Business Link from City of York Council, where he was finance manager for the directorate of environment and development. The new appointments will aim to ensure that Business Link York and North Yorkshire continues to build on the successes it has achieved in serving local businesses.

Helen West, chief executive of Business Link, said: "Over the past seven years we have provided a consistently high standard of objective help and advice services to thousands of businesses - from start-up to more established enterprises."

Updated: 10:07 Tuesday, October 28, 2003