National Grid director is brightest spark at IoD awards

Ian Graves with the IoD West Midlands Director of Year Awards
Ian Graves with the IoD West Midlands Director of Year Awards

National Grid’s European business development director has been named the IoD West Midlands Director of the Year.

The IoD’s judging panel saluted his remarkable leadership, saying that “from the outset, Ian has demonstrated all the qualities of an overall winner: vision, clear strategy, entrepreneurial spirit, confidence and drive”.

They were particularly impressed by his work in securing a major joint venture with French energy supplier RTE, which will deliver 10000MW of electrical capacity as part of an £800m electricity interconnector project.

The IoD also marked the contribution of Peter Maskell, chief executive of BHSF Group, who retires this August. Peter received the Chairman’s Award from the IoD’s Dr Jason Wouhra, who praised his remarkable contribution to the West Midlands business sector over a 54-year career.

Ian Graves was also named Director of the Year in the Large Company category, while Daniel Wilson of PSL and Andy Wilkinson of OWB were named Directors of the Year in the medium-sized business and small business categories respectively.

There was a double win for the family behind Synectics Solutions. Carol Shanahan was named Director of the Year for her unwavering commitment to the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility policies, while her daughter, Kate Beardmore, was named the Family Business Director of the Year.

The IoD’s Young Director of the Year was Ahmed Farooq, Wesleyan Assurance, while the Not-for Profit Award was won by Marie Bawden of Castel Forma, a charity which proves specialist care to patients with a range of neurological conditions.

Dean Kavanagh was named the West Midlands Non-Executive Director of the Year for his voluntary work with the Romero Catholic Academy.

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