BBC and Bodycote FDs among the region’s finest
DAVID Landless, the long serving finance director of Bodycote and Ian Haythornthwaite, chief financial officer of BBC North, were among the winners at last night’s North West FD of the Year awards.
The event at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester saw seven awards made to finance directors of leading regional businesses and public sector organisations.
It was sponsored by Ernst & Young, law firm Squire Sanders, Barclays and Sewell Recruitment.
Veteran Bodycote executive David Landless, who has been in his role at the Macclesfield company for 13 years, saw off tough competition from NCC Group’s Atul Patel and Chris Smith from API Group to win the listed company FD of the Year award.
Mr Haythornthwaite meanwhile received the Outstanding Achievement award for his key leadership role in BBC North’s move to MediaCityUK at Salford.
The former deputy chief executive of the North West Development Agency leads and manages finance in the BBC North Group including Sport, Children’s, Radio 5 Live.
The judges commended him for playing a leading role in driving the move of the BBC to Salford, with judges commenting that he impressively balanced his financial role with other roles within the organization.
The awards recognised the key contribution and exceptional performance of the region’s top finance directors and their ability to adapt to changing market conditions; this year introduced a new category for public sector FDs.
Keynote speaker was William Lees-Jones of North West-based brewer and pub operator JW Lees, who spoke about the challenges of running a family business, and also why businesses should play an active role in community life.
Other winners were:
James Bracewell, of Cheshire pet food manufacturer MPM Products, who won the FD of the Year for businesses with a turnover of up to £50m;
Paul Gilbert of retailer Matalan in the £50m+ turnover category;
Gabrielle Higham of Warrington-based contract catering group Waterfall Services, won the private equity-backed FD of the Year;
The hotly-contested Young FD – for those under the age of 40 – was won by Matt Freier of US-owned SG Games, who was presented with the award by his predecessor and last-year’s winner, David Jones, who has since moved on to sports brand New Balance.
The top FD working for a public sector organisation went to Steve Warrener, finance and corporate services director at Transport for Greater Manchester.
Mr Warrener, formerly with Manchester Airports Group, is leading the expansion of the city’s Metrolink’s tram network.
TheBusinessDesk.com was media partner for the awards, and founder David Parkin and North West editor Chris Barry co-hosted the event.
