North West Leadership Awards – all the winners
Nick Oettinger, chief executive of The Furniture Recycling Group raised the roof at the Midland Hotel in Manchester tonight (Wednesday 27 March) after he was named the Overall Leader of the Year as the best of the region’s leaders were recognised at the 2023 North West Leadership Awards.
“Leadership is all about teamwork,” said Nick. “And I have a fantastic team around me.”
Also the winner of the Green leader category, Nick Oettinger is an esteemed circular economist and an influential green leader. His pioneering innovations in mattress recycling and rejuvenation have led to 3.5 million mattresses diverted from landfills, earning him recognition as a Global Recycling Hero and a leading advocate for sustainability.
The winners…
The North West Leadership Awards are hosted by TheBusinessDesk.com and sponsored by Pannone Corporate, Campaigner and The Win Academy.
LeeJ Walker, joint managing director of TheBusinessDesk.com, said: “We wanted the Leadership Awards to showcase the very best leaders in our region and tonight has recognised another fantastic cohort.
“Everyone on the shortlist has demonstrated authentic and successful leadership and the judges had a very tough job in choosing between many great candidates – and that has resulted in a great group of winners.”
There were 15 award winners, drawn from across the North West of England.
Before the awards presentation, the winner of the awards last year, Professor Janet Hemingway reflected on her recent journey with TheBusinessDesk.com’s North West editor, Michael Taylor, telling the story of how she has raised millions for further infection control research projects since she launched a new business, iiCON.
The North West Leadership Awards supported Rekindle as its charity partner and 24-year old Lisa Eigbadon from Rekindle Supplementary School lit up the room when spoke about the work they do to show an alternative route towards education for young people.
The winners
Young Leader Award
Presented by the Joint MD at TheBusinessDesk, Lee-J Walker.
Winner: Jessica Helliar, Bongo’s Bingo
- Ryan Brown, Browne Jacobson LLP
- Daniel Frampton, Acumen Financial Partnership
- Akeel Malik, Urban Splash Residential Fund
- Sid Sethi, Specscart.
Jess is Bongo’s Bingo Operations Director, leading a team of over 100 staff across the UK. Her role also involves planning the company’s expansion further across the UK and abroad, including last month’s launch in New York.
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Mentor Award
Presented by our charity partner, Lisa Eigbadon from Rekindle Supplementary School.
Winner: Petra Albrecht, Diversity Travel
- Leon Farnham, Alpine Fire Engineers
- Jessica Helliar, Bongo’s Bingo
Petra is head of education development at Diversity Travel, where she has a key role in mentoring and developing team members and part of a fast-growing new division in the business. She also mentors tourism students at Manchester Met University.
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Sales and Marketing Leader Award, sponsored by Campaigner
Presented by Peter Newbigin, Business Development Manager
Winner: Lisa Morton, Roland Dransfield
- Petra Albrecht, Diversity Travel
- Ethan Dent, River Capital
- Nicola Docking, Poke Marketing
- James McLaren, Chapelhouse Motor Group
- Lucy Lomas, Luma Marketing
Lisa has built Roland Dransfield to become the go-to agency for brands in a range of sectors, and more recently she co-founded a podcast production and marketing company, Purposeful Podcasts.
Lisa is a leader who believes in using her platform to help people and organisations within the community to have better opportunities and futures.
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Finance Leader Award
Presented by one of our judges; a director at Salford Red Devils Rugby Club, and local entrepreneur, Oli Randell.
Winner: Claire Alvarez, Foresight Group
- Claire Donnelly, Auxesia Homes
- Daniel Frampton, Acumen Financial Partnership
- Moira O’Shaughnessy , The Financial Planning Corporation LLP
- Philip Scott, Schroders Capital
Claire Alvarez is a dynamic leader and Partner at Foresight. With a passion for responsible investing, Claire has driven impactful investments in underserved communities, championing ESG principles and quality job creation.
She is also actively involved in a number of initiatives to promote more diversity in corporate finance and private equity, including the 6% Club.
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Emerging Entrepreneur Leader of the Year
Presented by one of our judges; Professor of Strategic Management at Alliance Manchester Business School, Professor Mark Healey.
Winner: Leah McGimpsey, APEM Group
- Daniel Frampton, Acumen Financial Partnership
- Jason McKnight, RECOM Solutions
- Martine Moore, 6Tine
- Sid Sethi, Specscart
Leah joined the global environmental consultancy in summer 2002, first as chief strategy officer before being quickly promoted to chief executive. She is spearheading an ambitious five-year growth plan, and has already completed a refinancing and three acquisitions.
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Public & Third Sector Leader Leader
Presented by one of our judges; Director of the Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub, Janine Smith
Winner: Noeleen Bailey, SSP Health
Shortlisted:
- Louise Brown, Wigan and Leigh College
- Darren Holmes, Kaizen Mindset Wirral CIC
- Brandon Leigh, Seashell Trust
Noeleen leads more than 500 staff across 40 locations providing NHS GP services. She holds an exceptional track record in achieving a CQC good rating at all sites with over 10% rated as outstanding – this is twice the national average.
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Diversity & Inclusion Leader Award
Presented by Elise Wilson, business owner and director of the Growth Company
Winner: Claire Cook, Employability Solutions
Shortlisted:
- Claire Alvarez, Foresight Group
- Ryan Brown, Browne Jacobson LLP
- Katie Gallagher, Manchester Digital
- Zoe Wallace, Agent
Claire is the founder of Employability Solutions, an inclusive organisation with 17% of staff employed declaring some form of neurodiversity.
As someone with a later life diagnosis, she discovered the untapped potential of employing people with a broad range of neurodiverse brains and the benefits to the business and the bottom line.
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Green Leader Award
Presented by one of our judges Jack Stopforth, Taylor Stopforth Consulting.
Winner: Nick Oettinger, The Furniture Recycling Group
- Tom Bloor, evec
- Asif Ghafoor, Be.EV
- Phil Marsden, Muse
Nick Oettinger is an esteemed circular economist and an influential green leader. His pioneering innovations in mattress recycling and rejuvenation have led to 3.5 million mattresses diverted from landfills, earning him recognition as a Global Recycling Hero and a leading advocate for sustainability.
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Professional Services Leader Award, sponsored by The Win Academy
Presented by Sales Director of The Win Academy, Ben Waterhouse
Winner: Warren Middleton, KPMG UK
Shortlisted
- Claire Alvarez, Foresight Group
- Ryan Brown, Browne Jacobson
- Peter Fendall, DSW Capital
- Alison Lobb, Morecrofts Solicitors
- Lisa Wilson, Cowgills
Warren has led KPMG’s 1,500-strong workforce based in Manchester as well as its Emerging Giants business. Although retiring shortly, Warren’s career has been wholly committed to the success of the region.
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Technology Leader Award
Presented by one of our judges; Professional Coach, Trainer and Barrister at Skilful Conversation, Catherine Brown
Winner: Jen Fenner, DefProc Engineering
Shortlisted:
- Mo Isap, IN4 Group
- Dr Hao Pang, Quantum Science
Jen is the managing director and co-founder of design engineering company, DefProc Engineering. Her small team in Liverpool is helping businesses develop ideas to create exciting products that positively impact the world.
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Property Leader Award
Presented by Sarah Walsh from TheBusinessDesk.com
Winner: Phil Marsden, MUSE
- Alex Atkinson, Identity Consult
- Sean Keyes, Sutcliffe
- Will Lewis, OBI Property
- Michael Pemberton, BEC
- Colin Sinclair, Sciontec
As managing director of Muse, Phil Marsden has overseen the delivery of large scale, multi-phase regeneration projects. Through trailblazing and pioneering projects such as Eden, Phil, with the team at Muse, is helping to lead the construction and property sector to deliver in more sustainable ways through smart regeneration and innovation.
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Transformational Leader Award
Presented by Sarah Walsh from TheBusinessDesk.com
Winner: Steven Nanda, Alpine Fire Engineers
Shortlisted
- Mark Flanagan, Shield Safety Group
- Brandon Leigh, Seashell Trust
- Michael Pemberton, BEC
- Zoe Wallace, Agent
In his six years as chief executive of Alpine Fire, Steven has trebled the workforce to more than 100 people, and quadrupled revenues to £60m – achieving this while relocating the business and securing a round of investment.
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Company Leader (up to 100 employees) Award
Presented by our guest speaker, Professor Janet Hemingway
Winner: Chris Smallwood, Anchor Removals
- Vaughan Allen, CityCo Manchester
- Stephen Johnson, For Everyone Group
- Lisa Morton, Roland Dransfield
- Moira O’Shaughnessy , The Financial Planning Corporation LLP
- Michael Pemberton, BEC
Chris has owned Anchor for 15 years and has been committed to looking after his team, in a sector that is well known for difficult conditions and low pay. He is also an advocate for the Living Wage Foundation and the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, encouraging others to reap the benefits he has seen in his own business.
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Company Leader ( 100+ employees) Award, sponsored by Pannone Corporate. Presented by Employment and HR Partner, Jack Harrington
Winner: Andrew Botterill, Travcorp Holdings
Shortlisted:
- Noeleen Bailey, SSP Health
- Jessica Helliar, Bongo’s Bingo
- Brandon Leigh, Seashell Trust
- Leah McGimpsey, APEM Group
- Warren Middleton, KPMG UK
- Steven Nanda, Alpine Fire Engineers
Andrew Botterill leads Travcorp Holdings, which owns two of the UK’s most-respected Tour Operators, Destination2 and HolidayGems. He joined as chief executive in 2018, and since then the business has more than trebled in size, adding £100m in sales.
