future-pro Educate: Foundations for Future Success

I work full time as a Paralegal in the Residential Property department at Kuits Solicitors and have accepted my Training Contract offer to start September this year. I am also studying part-time for my SQE (Solicitors Qualifying Exams) and sit my SQE1 exams in July, having been awarded with a full scholarship from the Law Society as part of their Diversity Access Scheme last year.

I started working as a legal assistant part time in 2022 whilst in my second year of university. When I graduated in July 2023, I took on a full-time role as a conveyancing assistant before moving to Manchester early 2024 to begin my role at Kuits.

Debra Cooper is a banking partner at Hill Dickinson and specialises in Real Estate Finance with over 20 years’ experience acting for institutional lenders, debt funds, challenger banks and property developers and investors.

Debra has a number of other roles including chair of the Northern Investment Property Forum and board member of the Northern LandAid board. Debra also sits on the board for the NW Props.  In the last couple of years Debra has won North West Professional Advisor of the Year and also Business Desk Professional Services Leader.

Nick Rose MSc is a Sales Leader who specialises in coaching and developing individuals to achieve their full potential at Sharp UK.

Nick is responsible for helping to set and implement the sales strategy to navigate the business through a period of transformation and is passionate about a ‘people first’ approach. Nick considers the creation and delivery of Sharp UK’s successful Sales Academy to be one of his greatest professional achievements.

In addition to his role at Sharp, Nick takes every opportunity that he can to help promote sales as an inclusive profession for all and is also proud to be a board member at pro-Manchester.

Nick holds a master’s degree in Senior Sales Leadership from Middlesex University, has won numerous awards, has helped to raise more than £100,000 for charitable causes, and has held a Guinness World Record for organising and playing in a 72-hour long football match!

Away from work Nick is a proud parent and a keen runner, recently completing his first ultra marathon.

Sean is the Global Head of Corporate Trust Operations and is part of the Executive Committee responsible for that business. This encompasses his Platform Leadership Operations practice role for the Loans Enablement Enterprise Platform and Structured Debt Client Platform, soon to include Conventional Debt Client Platform.

Hired in 2005 in Manchester, UK, as part of an apprenticeship / early careers programme, during his almost two decades, Sean has worked across multiple businesses and disciplines within the firm.

His career has spanned Custody, including Settlements, Income and Tax operations, supporting the Asset Servicing business; Payments, Investigations, Reconciliation and Client Services, primarily supporting our Treasury Services business; and Liquidity, Central Bank & Infrastructure monitoring, supporting our Corporate Treasury and Finance function.

During his tenure, Sean has played an instrumental role in some of the firm’s most notable successes, including becoming a direct participant and shareholder in the UK Clearing House Automated Payment System (CHAPS) and in TARGET2, the equivalent Eurozone payment system, as well as some of the biggest technology and operating model enhancements.

In 2016, Sean was named ‘Banker of the Year’ in the Greater Manchester, ‘Made in Manchester’ awards.

In December 2017, Sean was appointed as ‘Senior Director’, and in 2022 an ‘Executive Manager’. He is responsible for 2,000 people over 16 locations across the globe.

In addition to his functional, operational role, Sean has also been appointed the role of Manchester Site Executive. Manchester is 1 of 6 Strategic Global Locations and has 2,000 employees across 30 functions. Sean is responsible for the site, driving the strategy, including people engagement, our relationship with charity, government and industry partners, amplifying the firm’s brand to attract talent and for the development of our real-estate and infrastructure execution.

James joined BNY in 2025 to lead Strategy and Core Custody Product for the Custody Client Platform.  In this role James is focused on advancing our strategic vision for Custody which includes leading our Commercial Product, Brazil Custody, Prime Custody, and Direct Markets teams.

James brings over 25 years of industry experience, most recently serving as Head of Data and Innovation for Financing and Securities Services at Standard Chartered. During his tenure he held several senior leadership roles, including Head of Strategic Client Solutions and Innovation, Head of Securities Services Hong Kong, and Head of Custody Product for Greater China and North Asia. James also spent eight years at BNP Paribas Securities Services in sales, relationship management and product management. He began his career in London with BNY Pershing, where he specialized in Client Services and Account Management.