Winners announced for Midlands Director of the Year awards 2020

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The Institute of Directors (IoD) has announced the winners of its Midlands Director of the Year Awards 2020.

The winners were unveiled at a virtual awards ceremony, streamed live last night, November 12, to an audience of business leaders from across the East and West Midlands.

It was the first time that the IoD East and West Midlands regions had joined forces for the prestigious awards.

The Chair’s Award for Excellence and Board Practice for the East Midlands went to Pat Doody, chair of Great Lincolnshire LEP.

The Chair’s Award for Excellence and Board Practice for the East Midlands, Pat Doody.

Lincolnshire finalists who achieved an award are both Bill Skelly from Lincolnshire Police and James Pinchbeck from the Lincoln College Group.

Achieving the Non-Executive Director of the Year award was James, who said:

“It is truly and honour and an accolade to be the recipient of the Non-Executive Director of the Year for the Midlands.”

“The IoD through its professional development and focus on governance plays a key part in ensuring the effectiveness and role of Directors, including Non-Executive on Boards.

“It is therefore personally, especially pleasing receiving recognition of my roles as a Non-Executive and in particular as Chairman of Lincoln College Board of Corporation as well as a Board member of the regional enterprise agency NBV Enterprise Solutions.

“Like many Boards and organisations we face unprecedent times, the role and contribution all directors make is therefore especially important as we seek to provide strategic vision, insight, support and rigour as we negotiate the months ahead.

“It was great to be a part of the Awards which profiled the excellent work of Directors, my congratulations go to all the finalists and category winners.”

The winners are as follows:

Large Director of the Year – Peter Jarvis – Contechs Ltd, West Midlands

Third Sector Director of the Year – Toby Porter – Acorns Children’s Hospice, West Midlands

Start-up Director of the Year – Tracey Paxton – The Employee Resilience Company Ltd, West Midlands

Highly commended – Sonu Bubna, Shopper.com, West Midlands

SME Director of the Year – Jonathan Hemus – Insignia Crisis and Reputation Management, West Midlands

Highly commended – Ian Walters, SLC Rail, West Midlands

Public Sector Director of the Year – Bill Skelly – Lincolnshire Police, East Midlands

Non-Executive Director of the Year – James Pinchbeck – Lincoln College Group, East Midlands

Director of the Year for Innovation – Chris Clay – Escalate Law, East Midlands

Highly commended – Steven Greenall, Warwick Music Group, West Midlands

Director of the Year for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion – Roger Dix – Wesleyan, West Midlands

Highly commended – Mark Esho, Easy Internet Services, Easy Internet Solutions, DREME Ltd and Access Rating CIC, East Midlands

Family Director of the Year – Helen Wathall – Wathall’s, East Midlands

Director of the Year for Social Value & Sustainability Impact – Kevin Watson – Amadeus, West Midlands

Highly commended – Dale Parmenter, DRPG, West Midlands

Young Director of the Year – Suleman Sacraine – The GP Service (UK) Limited, West Midlands

Highly commended – Daniel Evans, Birmingham Enterprise Community CIC, West Midlands

Gary Headland, chair, IoD East Midlands, said: “This year’s awards attracted an excellent standard of entries and for the judges, choosing the winners in each category was no mean feat.

“Innovation, leadership and determination were among the qualities which shone through in our 2020 winners.”

Award winners were announced by this year’s category sponsors: BHSF, Business Link magazine, Schroders Personal Wealth Management, Finance 4 Business, Midlands Engine Investment Fund, Morningside Pharmaceuticals, Nelsons Solicitors, Smith and Williamson, University of Lincoln and University of Wolverhampton.