BYPY finalists out to impress judges
FINALISTS for this year’s Birmingham Young Professional of the Year have been grilled by the competition’s panel of judges.
The eighteen candidates took it in turns to try and impress the panel in the hope of landing one of Birmingham’s premier titles.
The contenders, who are competing in six categories: Finance; HR, Recruitment & Training; Legal; Marketing & Communications; Property & Construction and Technology, now have to wait until finals night on May 12 before finding out if their presentations were strong enough to win.
The awards ceremony, which takes place at the ICC, will also see an overall winner crowned, together with the announcement of this year’s Aspiring Talent and Inspiring Leader titles.
The judging panel was chaired by SCC’s Executive Director, Tracy Westall.
Bina Ganatra, chair of this year’s BYPY organising committee, said: “This year’s judging panel is a great representation of Greater Birmingham’s BPS sector, with expertise across our six awards categories.
“It was really important for us to find a blend of professionals who could not only identify people excelling in their careers, but who are also true advocates for the city and showcase their passion.
“The judging day was as competitive as ever and the finalists made the decision extremely difficult.”
One person used to judging was The Honourable Mr Justice Ian Dove, who sat alongside Ms Westall on the panel. He was appointed a High Court Judge in October 2014 and is an Honorary Professor of Law at Birmingham University.
The BYPY16 panel included two financial services experts: Mike Steventon, Midlands chairman of KPMG, and the Wesleyan’s Chief Financial Officer, Ahmed Farooq.
Clive Bawden and Jason MacKenzie were appointed to bring corporate finance, marketing and PR expertise to the judging line up. Mr Bawden is Commercial Director at Breaking Free Group. He trained at KPMG Birmingham and worked for Inchcape, Saint-Gobain and Catalyst Corporate Finance before starting his own business in 2013. Mr MacKenzie is Managing Director of PR and marketing consultancy, Liquid PR and President-Elect of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR).
Katie Kershaw, who was awarded the Property & Construction category and overall winner of BYPY winner in 2015, also featured on the judging panel. She is a director at Node, an award-winning urban design, landscape architecture and heritage practice, based in Birmingham.
Completing the judging panel was Rebecca Simkiss, joint Managing Director of SimkissGuy Recruitment and chair of BPS Birmingham Future. She has spent the last 12 years working in the city as an office support and graduate recruitment specialist.
