And the winners are … North West Leadership Awards 2025

NWLA winners

19 winners were crowned in front of the North West business community at the Midland Hotel in Manchester city centre tonight (27 March 2025).

The overall winner was Nicola Ryan from One + All who also won the HR Leader category. Asked what her secret is to build what the judges identified as “an amazing team with a great culture,” she said: “I think it’s really simple. And for us, it’s just been about showing true, genuine care for our colleagues and respect, and in return for that, they’ve absolutely flourished and thrived, and so has our business.”

The awards were independently judged by a panel of region’s business leaders and our panel of judges for this year consisted of Elise Wilson Janine Smith, Oli Randell Catherine Brown Elizabeth Cameron in a the session hosted at Alliance Manchester Business School.

TheBusinessDesk.com’s North West editor Michael Taylor, who chaired the panel, said: “Congratulations to all our winners – and those shortlisted. The standard of this year’s nominations was higher than ever, displaying the depth and breadth of the leadership talent in the North West.”

Special guests at the start of the night were Joseph Adams and his Dad Phil, who talked about Joseph’s efforts to run 10 x 10KM runs in 10 countries to raise money for disabled sport projects, initially led by Altrincham FC.

Over the course of six intense days, Joseph completed the challenge of running 10x10ks, finishing his remarkable journey in his hometown of Altrincham on Sunday, 1 September at the Alti 10k.

The night was started with an insightful opening message from Roy Ellis, CEO and founder of Mission Mars.

Check out the North West Leadership Awards 2025 gallery.

THE WINNERS

Young Leader: Sara Auty, Saz Media

Shortlisted: 

Nile Henry, The Blair Project
Lawrence Perrt-Hall, CYFOR Group

Ollie Plastow, Consensus Workplace

Scot Rothwell, DASCO construction

Kate Winstanley, Morson Group

 

Public and Third Sector Leader: Amer Gaffar, Manchester Metropolitan University

Shortlisted

John Herring, NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care

Jo Henney, Nugent

Yvonne Sampson, GM Business Growth Hub – Enterprise & Growth

Revd David Ireland, Francis House Children’s Hospice

 

Mentor: Louise Stephenson, Drax

Shortlisted

Victoria Price, Alvarez and Marsal

Renata Bochenek-Gasiorkiewicz, SGI Consulting Engineers 

Nick Leech, Chase de Vere

Karen Turton, Purple Story

Brian Moran, Jigsaw Homes Group


Emerging Entrepreneur: Sid Sethi, Specscart

Shortlisted

Nile Henry, The Blair Project

Scott McNicol, Harper

Mitchell Walsh, Integras

Mark Kearsley and Laura Leslie, DSG Accountants

Nick Owens, Magnify PR

 

Diversity and Inclusion Leader: Claire Ebrey, The Level Consultancy

Shortlisted

Nile Henry, The Blair Project

Sam Days, THG

Kate Winstanley, Morson Group

Louise Stephenson, Drax

Kate Cowan, Hope Capital

 

Professional Services Leader: Victoria Price, Alvarez and Marsal
Shortlisted

Karen Garrattley, Complete Office Support Bookkeeping

David Kendrick, Cooper Parry

Caroline Grant, Slalom

John McCaffery, Alexander & Co

Josh Chinn, Wealth Recovery Solicitors

 

Transformational Leader: Ebrahim Sidat, AMS

Shortlisted

Nigel Oddy, American Golf

Phil Wedgwood, Engage

Rachel Fletcher, Slater Heelis

Greg Johnson, Warwick North West

Josh Chinn, Wealth Recovery Solicitors

 

Green Leader: Amer Gaffar, Manchester Metropolitan University

Shortlisted

Dr William Beer, Tunley Environmental

Suzy Jones, Urban Splash

Asif Ghafoor, Be.EV

Celia Gaze, The Wellbeing Farm

Tom Bloor, evec

 

HR Leader: Nicola Ryan, One+All

Shortlisted

Marc O’Hagan, p3od

Sam Wilkinson, AMS Group

Elaine Wrigley, American Golf

Katie Winstanley, Morson Group

Claire McLean, Realise HR

Natasha Clarke, Aptus Utilities

 

Hospitality Leader: Celia Gaze, The Wellbeing Farm

Shortlisted

Viki Tahmasebi, THG

James Bates & Thomas White, QVO Hospitality

William Lees-Jones, JW Lees Brewery

David Fox, Tampopo

Marcello Distefano, San Carlo Restaurant Group

 

Manufacturing Leader: Steve Mulcahy, Contact Originators Group

Shortlisted

Greg Johnson, Warwick North West

Donna Edwards, Made Smarter North West

 

Education Leader: Chris Hill, Northcoders

Shortlisted

Mark Parello, Daintree Wealth Management & Daintree Wealth Tomorrow

Amer Gaffar, Manchester Metropolitan University

Sales Leader: Ian Bold, Aqueous Digital

Scott McNicol, Harper

 

Marketing Leader: Marie-France van Heel, Be.EV

Shortlisted
Constance Smith, Evolve B G

Scott Taylor, American Golf

Nick Owens, Magnify PR

Kristen Drummond, Slater Heelis

Anna Heyes, Active Profile / Tech Climbers

 

 

Technology Leader: Nikolaos Charalampous, CredAbility
Shortlisted

Lawrence Perrt-Hall, CYFOR Group

Antony Seddon, Evolve

Jon Dunning, Nomical

Phil Wedgwood, Engage

Anna Heyes, Active Profile / Tech Climbers

 

Finance Leader: Lucy Williams, JS

Shortlisted

Tanzeel Rehman, TR Forensic Accountants

Mark Lyons, Puma Growth Partners

Craig Cornick. I Quote

Scott Marshall, Roma Finance

Nick Leech, Chase de Vere

 

Property Leader: Sean Keyes, Sutcliffe
Shortlisted

Stephanie Cox, E3P

Ollie Plastow, Consensus Workspace

Lynn Haime, Baltic Creative CIC

Mitchell Walsh, Integritas Property Group

 

Company Leader (up to 50 employees): Dr William Beer, Tunley Environmental
Shortlisted

Ben Craven, Safeseal Roofing

Ollie Plastow, Consensus Workspace

Karen Turton, Purple Story

Sid Sethi, Specscart

Michelle Laithwaite, FuelHub

 

Company Leader (51-100 employees): Steve Mulcahy, Contact Originators

Shortlisted

Chris Bliss and Chris Renshaw, The Momentum Group

Jonathan Murphy, Assura

Andrew Wood, ESP Play

Lucy Williams, JS

Stephen Johnson, For Everyone

 

Company Leader (101+ employees): Nick Cooper, Adept Corporate Service
Shortlisted

Ryan Stephenson-Brown, Evolve B G

Jo Henney, Nugent

Matthew Moulding, THG

Scott Rothwell, DASCO Construction

Rachel Fletcher, Slater Heelis

 

Leader of the Year: Nicola Ryan

 

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close