Succeeds Dawn Rollins as head of agricultural team

Chris Solt FCCA has been appointed manager of the agricultural team at East Anglian chartered accountants Lovewell Blake.

The team had been headed for the past two years by Dawn Rollins, who lost her life in an aircraft accident in June while holidaying in Africa.

"Dawn was liked and respected throughout the agricultural community and we all deeply regret her loss," said Douglas Young, the firm's lead agricultural partner. "I am sure that Chris will continue the success that Dawn achieved in helping build the reputation of our agricultural team and in developing the business."

Mr Solt has been with Lovewell Blake since 2002 and has been a manager in the Norwich office's corporate services team dealing predominantly with larger corporate businesses. Although Chris' family has a history of farming and fishing in Cornwall, he grew up in South Norfolk before obtaining a BA Hons degree in economics and geography at Middlesex University following which, he worked for a year for an accountancy firm in Maidenhead before returning to the county.

He qualified as a chartered certified accountant in 1996 and during nine years with another Norwich firm worked extensively with farming clients. In recent years he has been part of the Professionals in Innovation team working with science and technology based businesses at Norwich Research Park and the UEA.

Mr Solt said he was looking forward to his new role. "We have a strong team and considerable commitment to the farming community," he said. "Our role is to help our agricultural clients make the most of their assets in an era of unprecedented challenge and opportunity."

Agriculture was one of the first industry specialisms developed by Lovewell Blake, which now serves more than 400 farming businesses. This summer the firm published a major study into the future of East Anglian farming (Farming 2020), researched jointly with the University of East Anglia and Cheffins.