Irwin Mitchell has appointed food and drink sector expert Stuart Gallyot as a non-executive director within its business legal services division.
Gallyot will provide hospitality industry advice to the business and help strengthen Irwin Mitchell’s proposition and expertise within its manufacturing and retail sector groups.
He has 14 years of experience at Punch Taverns and has held a number of senior positions at the former FTSE 100 company, including legal and estates director and company secretary.
He has sat on Punch Tavern’s executive board and the PLC board and, during his time there, Gallyot dealt with a number of significant board events, including refinancing, legal challenges, estate management, and mergers and acquisitions.
Gallyot (pictured) currently works part-time at Punch Taverns as its legal and estates director. He launched his own consultancy in January 2018.
Commenting on the appointment as a non-executive director at Irwin Mitchell, Gallyot said: “Food and beverage retailing is under significant pressure but it’s important to remember that the disruption in the sector also brings numerous opportunities and a myriad of legal issues which businesses need support with.”
“I’ve been impressed with Irwin Mitchell’s approach to this sector and I firmly believe that together we can take advantage of the huge opportunities that exist.”
Gallyot added: “This is an exciting opportunity for me and I look forward to working with the team at Irwin Mitchell and with their new and existing clients.”
Victoria Brackett, chief executive of Irwin Mitchell’s business legal services team, said: “We are delighted to welcome Stuart to the team. He has a wealth of senior-level expertise in the food and drink industry and he will be able to offer hugely valuable insight into our business. I’m confident that he will enhance our market proposition and ultimately further improve our service for our clients.”
“Stuart is Irwin Mitchell’s first non-exec director to be appointed and we look forward to welcoming more into other sector groups as we continue to invest in our business team.”
