International trade and young entrepreneurs highlighted at Director of the Year awards tonight
Tonight (14th) is ‘The Night’ for the North West business community. The City of Manchester Stadium will host over 600 guests for the Institute of Directors North West Director of the Year Awards 2006 with headline sponsor Yorkshire Bank. Leaders from all over the North West gather to recognise and learn about major success around the region.
Laura Wolfe, Regional Director of the IoD in the North West; “This year we wanted to highlight two areas important to directors in particular, success in international markets and success in business at a relatively young age, under 25. The awards aim to showcase directors who are making a difference within their respective industries and to highlight best practice from which we can all learn. They demonstrate that business is very much alive and doing well in the North West.”
Brian Colquhoun, regional director at Yorkshire Bank, added:
“We are honoured to be part of the driving force behind this excellent initiative and are delighted to be sponsoring all the IoD North West Director of the Year Awards for the third year running. This provides a great opportunity for staff and businesses across the region to showcase their achievements and receive the recognition they so richly deserve.”
“Experts at our network of more than 80 cutting edge Financial Solutions Centres across the UK provide support and guidance both financially and strategically to many entrepreneurs – be it as business or as private, high-net worth individual customers. Through building close relationships, we understand and appreciate how demanding striving to realise your ambitions can be. My heartfelt congratulations therefore go to all shortlisted and final candidates, coming this far is a huge result in itself.”
The finalists for the International Business Director of the Year 2006 are Tony Attard, Group Chief Executive of Panaz Ltd. Ned Montarello, CEO of RentSmart Limited and Chris Purslow, Managing Director of Willand UV Systems Ltd (trading as atg-willand).
Finalists for the Rising Star Award for an entrepreneur under 25 years of age are Lex Deak (23) Managing Director of Sell it Shack, Russell Hirst (24) Managing Director of Valueflora.com and Chris Morris (24) Managing Director of Peppered Sprout.
Broadcaster Fiona Bruce will be there to help present the awards. The IoD’s Director General Miles Templeman will also be present.
Headline Sponsor is Yorkshire Bank, for the third year running, with event partners Armstrong Craven, Betesh Fox, the City of Manchester Stadium, Daimler Chrysler Fleet Management, Mercedes-Benz, the Northwest Regional Development Agency, UKTI and VLM. Ends – 404 words Notes to editors The award categories are Director of the Year and Young Director of the Year (under 40) for each of the IoD Branch areas of Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Liverpool and Manchester. There is also an overall IoD North West Director of the Year and the Chairman’s Special Award for Services to North West Business. New, special awards this year are The Rising Star Award (under 20) sponsored by VLM and the International Business Director of the Year Award in association with UKTI.
The Judging Panel: - Chaired by Ann Jordan – Chair, IoD North West. - Professor Cary Cooper CBE – Pro Vice Chancellor (External Relations), Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health, Lancaster University. - Jane Davies – Chief Executive, Manchester Science Park Ltd. - Bill Docherty – Founder, Persuasion. - Steve Purdham – CEO, SurfControl Plc. Winner of the IoD North West Director of the Year Award 2004. - Sudarghara Dusanj, Joint Managing Director of Cains Brewery, Liverpool. - Mark Fuller, Chief Executive of Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF). - Edwin Booth, Chairman of E H Booth and Co Ltd. Winner of the IoD’s North West Director of the Year Award 2005. - Sue Craven, Chief Executive, Armstrong Craven – Awards Consultant.
More info available on finalists from www.marketingprojects.co.uk/news.asp?clientid=5
Caption: The overall award for North West Director of the Year 2005 went to Edwin Booth, Chairman of E H Booth and Co Ltd., seen here receiving his award from broadcaster, John Humphrys.
Yorkshire Bank, part of the National Australia Bank Group, combines global strength with the local service of a well established regional bank. It was founded in 1859 in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Today, the Bank has more than 230 branches, a strong personal customer base and a growing business capability in the North of England and the Midlands. Yorkshire Bank’s innovative Financial Solutions Centres (FSCs) were launched across the UK in 2005, offering customers a highly integrated business and private banking service. Yorkshire Bank is a trading name of Clydesdale Bank PLC. More information at www.yorkshirebank.co.uk
The Institute of Directors is a non-political independent organisation with 55,000 members. In addition to its wide range of business services, the IoD provides an effective voice to represent the interests of its members to government and key opinion-formers. It also brings the experience of business leaders to bear on the conduct of public affairs. More information at www.iod.com/northwest
Contact Points: Jane Harrad-Roberts, North West IoD Press Officer Mobile and out of hours: 07785 395705 Email: jane@marketingprojects.co.uk
Laura Wolfe, Regional Director North West Tel. 0161 209 3152 Mobile and out of hours: 07973 332564 Email. laura.wolfe@iod.com Web. www.iod.com/northwest
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