Winners announced for IoD East Midlands 2019 awards

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 28 June 2019

UPDATED: 28 June 2019

Mark Samworth of Samworth Brothers in Leicester was yesterday awarded the Chairs Award for Excellence in Director and Board Practice at the Institute of Directors (IoD) East Midlands Awards.

He was praised by Regional Chairman Garry Smith who commented: “Mark has played an integral part in ensuring that the Samworth Brothers business lives it’s values of quality, commitment to people and communities and excellence in customer service. Mark is a worthy winner of this prestigious award which recognises excellence and professionalism in the role of director.”

Over 150 guests attended the IoD East Midlands Director of the Year 2019 awards, held this year at Winstanley House in Leicestershire. Forty six of the region’s successful, established and emerging directors and business leaders were finalists in the awards. Winners of the twelve categories will go forward to the IoD’s national finals in London on 18 October. The event was hosted by Anne Davies BBC East Midlands presenter.

The awards were sponsored by Leicester Castle Business School, De Montfort University

Ron Lynch, IoD East Midlands Regional Director commented: “In a fast-paced and challenging business world it is great to see the effectiveness and entrepreneurial qualities of directors in the East Midlands. We have so many great businesses being run by excellent directors.

East Midlands Awards

East Midlands winners and highly-commended by county:

All the winners were interviewed briefly by Anne Davies on receiving their awards and some of their words are included below…

Derbyshire

Katrina Starkie of Purpose Media and Russell Copley of Greenborough Management were both highly commended in the SME small business category.

Nottinghamshire

Sam Kirk of J-Flex and Jake Third of Hallam Internet were jointly awarded the Young Director award and complimented each others achievement. Richard Weaver of XenoGesis was named Director of the Year SME business Small and said it’s particularly gratifying to be recognised as a business owner in this tough climate. Tracey-Jane Duncan-Moir of A1 Flue Systems was highly commended in the SME Business Medium category. Gareth Davies of Essential Site Skills was highly commended in the SME Business Small category. David Eade of Nottingham Trent University and Claire Marie Cuthbert of The Evolve Trust were both highly commended in the Public Sector category. Sanjiv Corepal of Unlimited Wellbeing was highly commended in the start up category and Marie Pritchett of Skillforce Development was highly commended in the Young Director category.

Leicestershire

Ashley Cooper of Edward Cooper Young chartered surveyors won the Director of the Year Corporate Social Responsibility and said he had been told he wouldn’t succeed and so was particularly pleased to be recognised. Adam Burrage of Trident was named Director of the Year in a family business. Mark Esho of Easy Internet Services won the Director of the Year for inclusivity and highlighted the importance of giving back to society. Gareth Thomas of Peritus Learning and Development Ltd won in the Non Executive Director category and said the most important task for a non-executive Director is to get the governance right. Director of the Year SME Medium Business was Stephen Smith of EMB Group.

John Fennell of Rotherwood Group was highly commended in the Innovation category and Chris Everard of Alex’s Wish charity was highly commended in the non executive Director category. Julie Colan of Secret Whispers was highly commended in the category of Start up.

Lincolnshire

Bruce Spencer-Knott of Minster Surfacing won the Director of the Year in the Innovation category and said how important it was to attract the next generation into business. Bill Skelly, Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police was named Public Sector Director of the Year and said it was important to look outside of the organisation to the wider community. Caroline Killeavy of the Lincolnshire YMCA won the Director of the Year Third Sector and paid tribute to the support of fellow Directors. Naomi Watkins of NW Counselling Hub CIC won the Start Up category and said 2 years in it was great that a community interest company was recognised in the start up category. Sean Ramsden of Ramsden International won the Large Business Award which was collected by Ruth Hargreaves who described him as an inspiration to work for. Gary Headland of Lincoln College was highly commended in the International Category.

Northamptonshire

Guy Schanschieff MBE of Bambino Mio was named Director of the Year in the International Category and paid tribute to his team and David Cooper of FFP Packaging Solutions was highly commended in the SME Business Medium category.

Award categories for 2019 and sponsors