Winkworth has appointment its former general counsel to join the board.

Tara Tan has become an executive director of the agency franchise brand.

Tan, a qualified solicitor with more than 20 years’ experience, joined the Winkworth team in 2001 and became a director of Winkworth Franchising Limited (WFL) in 2004 as director of legal and business affairs. 

She left in 2006 to focus on other interests but rejoined in 2012 as a consultant, and in 2014 was appointed to work full time as general counsel before re-joining the Board of WFL in 2020.

Tan will provide strategic and transactional guidance to the business development team and to the day-to-day commercial operations team, as well as continuing her work on brand protection, network compliance and training. 

Commenting on the appointment, Simon Agace, non-executive chair of Winkworth, said: “Tara represents a fresh approach to helping franchisees manage compliance by combining training with a more aligned compliance team consisting of industry, legal and financial professionals. The aim is to offer better protection to Winkworth and its franchisees in a competitive industry facing increasing regulation.”

Tan added: “Winkworth is a heritage brand to whose success I and many at Winkworth, both as franchisees and franchisor, have devoted our careers. For me it has been almost 20 years of close involvement with the company, so I am delighted with the opportunity to further develop and grow the business.”