Stockbroking and investment group WH Ireland has recruited Richard Ford, current head of private asset management group Spencer House, to be its new chief executive officer. The 41-year-old Ford, a barrister and fund manager who founded London-based ORN Capital, is joining Manchester-based Ireland in a boardroom reshuffle that will see significant shareholder Laurie Beevers move from his present role as chief executive to executive deputy chairman by mid November.

Beevers, one of whose contributions has been to carve out a role for the firm in the resources sector, will continue to have particular responsibility for Ireland’s stockbroking operations. Ford worked at Fidelity International in Bermuda before joining Spencer House, which was founded two years ago by Lord Rothschild and Richard Horlick, and he will, says Ireland’s chairman Rupert Lowe, ‘enable the group to achieve the next stage of its development’.