The winners of the first ever North West Finance Director of the Year Awards were announced on Thursday 12th February at a glittering award ceremony held at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester.
The highly anticipated event highlighted the achievements of Finance Directors across all business sectors in the North West, with the winners announced as follows:
Finance Director of the Year (company turnover over £50m)
- Tim Kowalski of HomeForm Group Ltd in Old Trafford, Manchester Finance Director of the Year (company turnover under £50m) - Christopher Fisher of Alex Stewart Group Ltd in Prescot
Finance Director of the Year (company turnover under £25m) – Jane Jackson of izziwotnot.com in Manchester
Young Finance Director of the Year – David Robinson of Norkem PLC in Knustford, Cheshire
PLC Finance Director of the Year – Ben Whawell of Stobbart Group PLC in Warrington
Lifetime Achievement – John Brown of Norcros PLC in Wilmslow, Cheshire
The awards, which have been established by financial recruitment specialist, Sharp Consultancy with support from Barclays Commercial Bank, Grant Thornton and Halliwells attracted over 200 quality nominations, of which a large proportion were of an exceptionally high standard.
Therefore the judging process was extremely tough and involved a challenging interview process whereby the panel of four judges (Chris Sharp of Sharp Consultancy, James Cliffe, Corporate Director at Barclays, Graeme Whittaker,Managing Partner at Grant Thornton and Frank Shepherd, Partner at Halliwells) selected finalists based on strict criteria. This included assessing the tangible results of how their role impacted the profitability and growth of the business.
Over 100 guests from the financial industry attended the prestigious event which was hosted by Mark Edwardson, the news presenter of the BBC North West Tonight radio show.
Furthermore, Steve Purdham – a multi award winning entrepreneur and the CEO and founding investor of We7, the new ad funded music phenomenon was on hand as an after dinner speaker, providing guests with tips and advice on best practice and sharing his entrepreneurial experience of the business world.
Founder of Sharp Consultancy, Chris Sharp said: “We’re delighted with the success of the first ever North West Finance Director of the Year awards. The judging process was much harder than we had anticipated because of the exceptionally high standard of entrants, so the winners should be extremely proud of themselves as they had heavy competition.”
He added: “The event brought together professionals from a variety of sectors within the North West economy so they were all able to meet and share their business expertise with one another.
“We hope we receive as much support for next year’s event as these Awards are our way of recognising and rewarding the outstanding contribution of Finance Directors in the North West and the importance of their role to a company’s ongoing success.”
From left to right: Frank Shepherd, Partner of Halliwells(Sponsor), Tim Kowalski of Homeform Group (Winner), David Robinson of Norkem (Winner), John Brown Chairman of Norcross (Winner), Jane Jackson of Izziwotnot (Winner), Chris Sharp Director of Sharp Consultancy (Sponsor), Chris Fisher of Alex Stewart (Winner), Graeme Whittaker of Grant Thornton (Sponsor), Ben Whawell of Stobbart PLC (Winner) and James Cliffe of Barclays Commercial Finance (Sponsor)
