Meet the Board

Susie Mortonson works as a partner at Andrew Jackson Solicitors, specialising in corporate law. Susie advises a variety of businesses in a wide range of sectors on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and investments, shareholder issues, corporate governance, partnerships, management buy outs and buy ins and group reorganisations. She previously worked as partner and Head of Department at another local regional law firm and, prior to that, with two major commercial law firms in Leeds. Susie has particular expertise in the agriculture and rural sector and has advised a wide range of farming and rural businesses on various different issues that they face.

Susie takes a pragmatic but commercial approach to all transactions, combining commercial and technical insight, with a calm, personal approach. She is passionate about championing local businesses and encouraging them to succeed in the regional market and beyond. Susie enjoys being able to provide a voice for local businesses through her role at York Professional and ensure that their views are heard within the local marketplace.

Outside of work Susie enjoys travelling, good food, and generally being housekeeper to her three children, two dogs and cat – plus the occasional stint of tractor driving to assist her partner Chris the farmer.

Lorraine Bonner is Managing Director of YorGuest Ltd, a family-run, York based Property Management company that specialises in managing holiday homes for property owners in Yorkshire. After successfully rising to the challenge of running her own holiday lets in York and Warwickshire, Lorraine established YorGuest to use her knowledge and experience to help others benefit from the advantages that short-term lets can provide. Despite launching in 2020 during a challenging time for hospitality, YorGuest has now grown to be one of the leading Holiday Let Management companies in York.

York-born and bred, Lorraine has an established presence within the York business community and was a finalist two years running in the York Women Mean Business Awards in 2018 and 2019. Lorraine is passionate about the local area and works closely with Make it York as part of the Members Advisory Board.

When not assisting guests with their own holidays Lorraine loves holidaying and eating out with her family.

Tracy is Head of Fundraising for Brainkind, based out of their brand new hospital in York. She has spent 20 years in the charity sector with the majority of that time serving organisations in Yorkshire. Tracy is an experienced third sector leader and part of the national Chartered Institute of Fundraising volunteer board and is delighted that York Professionals continues to include the third sector in its growing membership.

Tracy is delighted to be part of the York Professionals board and really looking forward to meeting members at our events, learning more about their businesses and supporting the York area.

After a brief hiatus, Dawn is back working in York and back on the Board as a Director! Here is what she had to say...

Being asked to rejoin the board at York Professionals is a huge honour. I feel privileged to represent the charity sector once again in my role as Head Of Development at York Museums Trust. It's fantastic that York Professionals continues to recognise the value of this sector and the significant contributions we can make, along with the mutual benefits.

Fundraising is now a chartered profession and requires a broad range of skills, one of which is networking, making it a perfect fit.

At York Professionals, I feel supported both personally and professionally. I'm always surrounded by people who nurture me as a person, which means I can give time, energy, and passion to everything I am involved with.

Great to be back!

Jonathan is an accounts and business advisory services partner at Clive Owen LLP, an independent regional accountancy firm with offices in York, Darlington, Durham, Middlesbrough and Newcastle.

York born and bred, Jonathan joined the firm in 2007 having graduated from Newcastle University, and qualified as a chartered accountant in 2011. He was appointed a partner in April 2025.

Jonathan's experience of working with clients from various industry sectors ensures he has a wide understanding of what challenges businesses face, with a personal and proactive service which aims to start where most other accountants finish, ensuring that not only compliance is dealt with efficiently and on time, but also building long term relationships which ensures he offers the best solutions to clients.

Outside of work Jonathan is a keen follower of York City, as well as an active member of City of York Hockey Club, and also a dedicated chauffeur to his young son.

Kelly is the founder and Managing Director of KD Recruitment. Having spent most of her career working in the corporate world within property, banking and recruitment; Kelly decided to use her vast skillset and experience to set up her own recruitment agency in 2017, knowing that being successful in recruitment was about a lot more than simply sending a CV to a job. She is passionate about being a flexible and supportive employer, especially with staff who have children as she didn't receive any support when returning to work after both of her children.

She is an expert recruitment and resourcing strategist who works closely with senior leadership teams across North and East Yorkshire. Supporting them with talent attraction strategies, staff retention, diversity and inclusion, employer branding, current market conditions and salary bench-marking. This then enables her team to recruit the best people for them within Accountancy and Finance, HR, Office Support, Sales, Marketing, Procurement, Logistics, Supply Chain and IT.

Kelly also makes sure that she supports jobseekers throughout their journey with KD Recruitment by providing bespoke careers advice, guidance on their CVs and personal branding, as well as supporting them with interview preparation.

After 12 months in business, Kelly was shortlisted for a number of business awards in the local region and won the prestigious “STAR Women in Business” award for best Micro business, which shows the impact that she made in such a short space of time. Since then she has gone on to be a finalist for the Yorkshire Choice Awards, Scarborough Business Awards, Regional FSB Awards and the Chamber of Commerce Awards. Kelly has grown the team steadily and they continue with the same values as her which is clear to see as KD Recruitment are now recognised as one of the leading recruitment agencies on the region.

John has spent his entire career in Financial Services and brings broad, hands-on experience to his Business Development Manager at RH Mortgages. He has worked across sales and marketing in both large organisations and independent York-based businesses.

John focuses on building strong, long-term relationships with businesses and individuals across North Yorkshire

supporting RH Mortgages' continued growth and its reputation as trusted, independent mortgage advisers.

Outside of work, John enjoys spending time with friends and family and is often out and about with his Golden Retriever,

Norman - making the most of everything North Yorkshire has to offer.

Sue Newton-Denton has worked at York College & University Centre for many years, holding a variety of project management and employer engagement roles. As Business Partnerships Manager, she works closely with curriculum teams to connect students with employers and organisations, creating opportunities that enrich learning, broaden understanding of the world of work, and inspire future career aspirations.

Sue is passionate about building strong partnerships that benefit both students and businesses. She regularly attends networking events across the region, with a particular fondness for York Professionals!!, promoting the College's wide range of education and training opportunities. These include apprenticeships, adult learning, higher education programmes, work experience placements, and T Level Industry Placements.

Outside of work, Sue enjoys spending time on the water as a keen paddleboarder and can occasionally be found lacing up her running shoes for a run.

Luke is the Director of Fewell Wealth Management and also co-owner of Home Instead York, Scarborough & Ryedale, a multi-unit home care franchise. Fewell Wealth provides financial advice and wealth management to clients seeking to make financial decisions that will deliver the quality of life and retirement for which they are working so hard.

Luke began his career in investment banking working in corporate finance for S G Warburg (latterly UBS), moving to equity research in 1999. After completing an MBA at Warwick Business School, Luke joined BT's leadership development programme working in commercial finance. A move from London back to Yorkshire in 2008 led to Luke starting Home Instead York which provides care at home to older people throughout York. In 2020 Home Instead Scarborough & Ryedale was launched to meet the growing demand for services outside York. Luke is a trained executive coach and, returning to his financial roots, Luke launched Fewell Wealth Management to combine coaching and financial experience. Fewell Wealth helps business owners and other professionals reap the rewards of their hard work by achieving their financial goals.

Starting his career in the music industry, Joe has extensive experience working on PR campaigns across a wide range of industries in agencies and client-side.

Now an account manager at Partners PR, Joe works with clients including food processors, insurance brokers, telecoms and tech companies.

Outside of work, Joe is a passionate music and sports fan. He spends much of his free time at gigs, riding his bike and attending Grimsby Town or Leicester Tigers games.

Jackie Senior is Group Head of Accounts and Business Advisory Services for Fortus, a leading Yorkshire based accountancy practice.

Jackie has spent almost 30 years working with owner-managed businesses of all sizes and across many sectors. She believes accountancy is much more than ticking compliance boxes with HMRC and Companies House. It is about working collaboratively with her clients helping them to understand their financial position and achieve their goals through the delivery of in year financial information using cloud-based technology.

Outside of work, Jackie is a busy mum to two teenagers and loves starting her day with an energetic early morning workout at the gym.

Emma Whiting is the co-founder of Torque Law, an award-winning employment law practice in York.

Emma has specialised in employment law for over 20 years. She has a wealth of knowledge across the full spectrum of employment law issues, with a particular emphasis on providing strategic employment advice to SMEs and OMBs on complex and reputationally significant matters. She is also recognised as an accomplished negotiator, securing favourable outcomes for some of the region's most senior executives on their exit arrangements, as well as a first-class trainer, providing practical, tailored training programmes for HR teams and managers.

When she's not chauffeuring her two children, Emma spends her free time on the tennis court, attempting to perfect her backhand.

As Administrator for York Professionals Jo supports the Board of Directors. She organises, manages and delivers an annual events plan, arranges meetings, delivers marketing, social media and PR, acts as Treasurer and plays an active role in membership recruitment.