Business leaders air their views at top board dinner

MANY of Yorkshire’s business leaders believe that their companies are not seeing things getting worse but are yet to see conditions improve.

That was the mood at a dinner held by leading executive search firm Odgers Berndtson this week for 110 board members of Yorkshire private and public sector organisations.

While the region’s most senior business people are resolved to drive their companies forward despite the recession, they highlighted key issues of concern including the high level of public debt and how that will impact on the recovery, the continued lack of bank funding, higher tax rates and also the effect of negative stories by the national news media on the confidence of UK firms.

A panel of leaders from the private and public sectors took questions from the audience before the dinner at Rudding Park.

The panel members included SIG chairman Les Tench, Costcutter and Yorkshire County Cricket Club chairman Colin Graves, chief executive of Yorkshire Forward

Tom Riordan, Barbara Richmond former finance director of Croda and Inchcape and Stephen Geraghty, commissioner of of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.

Jeff Morris, regional managing partner of Odgers Berndtson, hosted the dinner. The firm has recently been named the number one in the industry.

Now in it’s ninth year, Executive Grapevine’s annual Market Share Survey found that Odgers Berndtson retained first place for a second year with a 9.5% share of net fee income out of the top 30 executive recruitment firms in the UK.