STEVE Secker has been appointed as the new regional managing director of builder McCarthy & Stone's York-based north east division.

Previously business development director of the firm's head office in Bournemouth, Mr Secker now heads a team of 75 people at Security House at Clifton Moor, as McCarthy and Stone's north-east region enters its sixth year.

The region covers North Yorkshire as well as West Yorkshire, the East Riding, Northumberland, Middlesbrough, Cleveland, Tyneside, Tyne and Wear and County Durham.

Mr Secker qualified as an accountant with Ernst & Young. McCarthy & Stone was one of his main clients before he joined it in 1993.

Now, he said, he is looking forward to rediscovering his childhood links with North Yorkshire. "My grandparents lived here and we used to come here for holidays to visit them. I'm looking forward to making my home here."

Updated: 10:07 Tuesday, December 07, 2004