The University of Teesside's new personnel director Richard Tait has come back to his roots.

The 50-year-old was born in the Tees Valley and said: "There really is no better place to live."

Married with three children, Mr Tait left the North-East when he was 18 to study at the London School of Economics and worked in the transport and clothing industry for more than 25 years.

Now living in Darlington, he intends to put his experience in various personnel, training and staff development roles to good use at the University of Teesside.

* Martin Kelly, the deputy chief executive of the Middlesbrough-based B&N Group, will succeed Desmond Oxley as chief executive when he retires in October after 23 years.

Mr Oxley will formally hand over operational responsibility for the group's 14,000 rented homes, related services and healthcare facilities nationwide to Mr Kelly from August .

Mr Kelly has recently undertaken a review of the group's governance, legal structure and strategic plan following the appointment of a new group board in October last year.

While also leading the health care side of the group's operations, he successfully negotiated a £47m private healthcare partnership agreement with a Community and Mental Health Trust based in Leeds.

* Phil Atkinson has been appointed as international sales executive at Lindy International after three years working within the Lindy UK technical sales team.

Mr Atkinson, from Middlesbrough, will have responsibilities including overseeing the day-to-day operations of the international division of the computer connection technology specialist company.

* Phil Smeaton has been appointed manager of the newly operned Pine Unit at Middleton St George Hospital and Care Homes. The unit has been opened as a 14-bed high dependency unit as part of the financial investment to develop a wide range of mental health services on the hospital site. Mr Smeaton has a background in acute adult psychiatry and this is his first position back in his native North-East.

* Gordon Hanna has joined the new corporate sales team at Rycroft as a key account manager. He joins from Mill Garages in Sunderland where he held a similar position.

* Greggs of the North has appointed a new training and development manager based at its Gosforth bakery. Judith Mearns, 45, will be responsible for the design and development of all training courses at Greggs for bakery, shop and office staff.

* The Sunderland branch of Tenon has recently appointed Dawn Collins, 40, as its new receptionist and telephonists.

She joins the company after four years working at Sunderland Royal Hospital.

* Twenty-six-year-old Ashleigh McMillan from Northallerton has been appointed as marketing and design executive at Gateshead IT assurance provider ICM Computer Group. She has joined the firm's expanding marketing department.