Judging panel revealed for East Midlands Leadership Awards

A high profile judging panel has been unveiled for the inaugural East Midlands Leadership Awards.

The East Midlands Leadership Awards will take place for the first time this November to showcase the very best leaders and organisations across the region.

TheBusinessDesk.com has created the East Midlands Leadership Awards to celebrate the people that are role models within their organisations and raise the bar for their competitors. The winners will show the qualities of extraordinary leadership and be able to demonstrate the positive impact this has had.

We have been inundated with over 60 entries for our first-ever Leadership Awards in the East Midlands. The winners will be crowned at a special awards ceremony on 6 November at the Crowne
Plaza in Nottingham, from 12-3pm. Tickets are now available.

Our judging panel will consist of:

Adam Simpson

Adam Simpson, commercial director at Liquidity Club. Adam has over 25 years’ advisory and cashflow experience assisting SME businesses. He has built businesses himself during his career including most recently with Liquidity Club, a financial intermediary established to help SMEs raise funding.

His other experience includes:

– Partner leading the Receivables Management team at Mazars, assisting growing SMEs with funding and outsourcing.

– Regional director for RBS Invoice Finance for Yorkshire and the North East.

– Operations and risk director in Leeds at Euro Sales Finance.

Richard Blackmore

Richard Blackmore is CBI East Midlands regional director. The CBI speaks for companies of every size, from micro businesses to FTSE 100, family-owned businesses to trade associations. There are four major benefits to membership: influence on policies through lobbying opportunities, connections with the right people through networking events, decision-making advice through business intelligence, and brand enhancement through its influential thought-leadership reports, surveys and events.

Sophie Dale-Black

Sophie Dale-Black is regional director for the Midlands at ICAEW, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. In this role, Sophie focuses on engaging ICAEW’s more than 14,000 members in the Midlands region, and making close connections with regional stakeholders.

Sophie joined ICAEW from Innovate UK, the UK Government’s innovation agency, where she worked in various roles supporting the growth of innovative UK businesses. Her work there culminated in heading up the chief executive’s Office, where she focused on communications and strategic support at CEO and board levels.

A PhD-qualified scientist by training, Sophie’s career has so far spanned business, academia and the public sector. She holds a wealth of experience in management, operations, communications and marketing, and, in particular, an awareness of the needs of businesses in a variety of industrial sectors as they grow.

Alex Alcock

Alex Alcock, director, Distinct Recruitment. Alex has spent that last 13 years working with a variety business leaders across the East Midlands to recruit the best talent that the region has to offer, working closely on a personal level to understand the specific challenges & aspirations of their organisations. Alex and his team at Distinct Recruitment are passionate in their vision to make the East Midlands the best place in the UK to develop a career.

Stephen Barker

Originally from Coventry, Stephen Barker has held several senior marketing roles at Nottingham City Council. More recently, he was director of communications & Government relations for the Midlands Engine, which was established to bring together LEPs, local authorities, businesses, academic institutions and others into a voluntary, partnership to drive growth across the Midlands.

Stephen is now responsible for building on the high profile that the Nottingham Creative Quarter has achieved over the last four years and developing it in line with a vision for it to become a destination of first choice for students, businesses, investors and the local and visiting public.

Chairing the judging panel will be TheBusinessDesk.com’s editor Sam Metcalf