And here are our winners ...

Nov 7 2007 By The Journal

ON the day the 2007 North East Business Executive of the Year Award winner picked up his award, his company announced its latest acquisitions.

John Clough MBE picked up this year’s title just hours after the ink had dried on £17.6m contracts to take over three companies.

And John, who lives in Hexham, made reference to this in his acceptance speech.

“This is a very humbling experience. This is a tribute to my team on table 27.

“We were 3,500 people, and from today, we are 4,000 people. This award is a tribute to the efforts of all those who work for eaga.

The 2007 awards ceremony at the Newcastle Marriott Hotel were hosted by TV personality Pam Royle in front of an audience of 500.

Sir Fred Holliday, chairman of this year’s judging panel and winner of last year’s Lifetime Achiever accolade spoke highly of the quality of the candidates.

He said: “All of the people on the shortlist are substantial achievers. All of the candidates have spoken of how their success has depended on good teamwork, but without the vision and drive of these people, their companies could not have achieved what they have.”

Journal editor Brian Aitken, addressing the guests, said: “Tonight is about highlighting and celebrating the exceptional achievement of business executives from across the North-East.

“Tonight’s winner will be added to a select group of 23 people who have been such role models for North-East business and who have helped give this event such credibility.

“Many of the 23 are here tonight and I’d like to say a special welcome to them.

“Choosing tonight’s winner was a difficult job. We had a very long list of impressive candidates.

“What challenged the judges more than anything was balancing the merits of track record with potential. There’s no doubt that one or two of the business leaders you will see later have a lot more ahead of them than behind them.

“That may have counted against them in the judging, but it’s extremely encouraging for the future.

“To meet any future challenges we, as a region, are going to need good leaders.

“Leaders with skills, the knowledge and the inspiration to further improve the prosperity and standing of the North-East.

“I am pleased there is an increasing recognition that leadership is extremely important to our medium and long-term prosperity and standing of the North-East.

The judges spent days whittling down the final candidates from scores of entries.

The judging panel included Vinay Bedi from stockbrokers Wise Speke, David Buffham from the Bank of England, James Ramsbotham from the North East Chamber of Commerce, Sarah Green from the Confederation of British Industry, Ian Williams from One NorthEast, John Irwin, director of Storeys;ssp, last year’s winner Gordon Banham, from Hargreaves Services, and Iain Laing, business editor of The Journal.

The awards are sponsored by Dickinson Dees, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the University of Teesside Business School, the University of Newcastle Business School, Knight Frank and PricewaterhouseCoopers. A representative from each of the sponsors also took part in the judging.

Journal business editor, and competition judge, Iain Laing said: “It was, as ever, an extremely difficult task to find a winner from such a strong field. But John Clough stood out as an exceptional executive who’d had an exceptional year.

“He not only shows rare qualities of entrepreneurialism in leading eaga through a stock market float and huge expansion, but also that of social responsibility."

On the day of the awards, eaga announced it had acquired three new companies costing a total of £17.6m to take its total workforce to almost 4,000. The dinner also saw Mark Berriman, 27, managing director of on-line pet supermarket and presentation drinks company Viverdi, win the 2007 North-East Young Business Person of the Year award.

The Lifetime Achievement award was presented to leading lawyer Robert Dickinson.

On accepting his award Robert, 73, said: “This is a total surprise. But whether this has come as a total surprise to my wife is another matter!

“I am honoured and delighted.”

The Business Executive of the Year Awards are run by The Journal and its sister paper, the Evening Gazette, in Middlesbrough.

They honour business executives in the following three geographical areas: Tyneside and Northumberland, Durham and Wearside and Tees Valley. The winners in these three areas competed for the North-East Business Executive of the Year 2007 title.

John Clough picked up the award for Tyneside and Northumberland. The Durham winner was Owen McFarlane, chief executive, CAV Aerospace Ltd, Consett.

The Teesside winner was James Dickson, chief executive, Brulines, Stockton.

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The award hall of fame

THE first winner of the North-East Business Executive of the Year, formerly the North-East Businessman of the Year Award, was unveiled in 1984. The 24 winners are as follows:

1984 Ian Gregg, chairman, Greggs, Newcastle.

1985 Peter Cussins, chairman, Cussins Property, Newcastle.

1986 Bent Henriksen, managing director, TSL Thermal Syndicate, Wallsend.

1987 Sir John Hall, chairman, Cameron Hall Developments, Wynyard.

1988 Sir Peter Vardy, chairman, Reg Vardy, Sunderland.

1989 Bernard Robinson, managing director, Tallent Engineering, Newton Aycliffe.

1990 Ian Harris, managing director, Bonas Machine Company, Gateshead.

1991 Dr Ralph Iley, managing director, Cookson Group, Newcastle.

1992 Karl Watkin, managing director, Crabtree, Gateshead.

1993 David Goldman, chairman, Sage Group.

1994 Chris Thompson, managing director, Express Engineering, Gateshead.

1995 Robert Kilsby, managing director, Edwin Trisk Systems.

1996 Guy Readman, chairman, Tor Coatings, Birtley.

1997 Jim Johnson, managing director, Stadium Group, Hartlepool.

1998 Lorna Moran, chief executive, Northern Recruitment.

1999 Alan Robson, joint managing director, Rotrax Engineering, Middlesbrough.

2000 Alan Noble, executive deputy chairman, Northgate plc, Darlington.

2001 Mike Browne, chief executive, ScS Upholstery, Sunderland.

2002 John Sands, executive chairman, Pubmaster, Hartlepool.

2003 John Cuthbert, managing director, Northumbrian Water, Durham.

2004 Paul Walker, chief executive, Sage, Newcastle.

2005 Sir Mike Darrington, managing director, Greggs plc, Newcastle.

2006 Gordon Banham, chief executive, Hargreaves Services, Esh Winning

2007 John Clough, chief executive, eaga, Newcastle