Search is on to find stars of North-east business world
Aug 19 2008 by Karen McLauchlan, Evening Gazette
The search is on to find the stars of the North-east business world in our prestigious North East Business Executive of the Year Awards 2008. Three finalists from each of the sub-regions, including Tees Valley, go forward to the final in November. Today we head to the north of the region for the Tyneside and Northumberland category.
JOHN Clough was crowned the king of the North-east business world at the 2007 Business Executive awards.
Taking the Tyneside and Northumberland title, the chief executive of environmental services company Eaga went on to be named overall North-east winner.
And success at the awards, organised by the Evening Gazette and its sister paper The Journal on Tyneside, was the start of another good year for the fast-growing Newcastle-based business.
Northumberland born and bred, John followed in his father’s footsteps with his first job at British Coal, but in management rather than down the pit.
He studied chemistry at Newcastle University after turning down a place at Oxford University and worked in a managerial role with British Coal for a decade, which included the 1984/5 miners’ strike.
He was then head-hunted to run the Monkton Coke Works in Hebburn, South Tyneside.
He joined Eaga in 1990 with a vow to himself that he would create at least as many jobs in the region as the 300 that were lost at Monkton.
As head of Eaga, he oversaw its transition to an employee-owned organisation, where each member of staff has a stake in the business, after deciding against a management buyout.
The business employs around 4,000 people spread between its Newcastle headquarters and 50 bases across the UK, as well as operations in Ireland, Canada and India.
It has recently won a £200m energy efficiency contract with Scottish Power and a massive deal to run the BBC’s digital switchover help scheme, designed to help people change from analogue to digital television. On the back of these contracts it is creating another 270 jobs.
It is 25 years since the awards were launched and to mark a quarter century of success this year, we are launching a new category.
The inaugural North East Non Executive Director of the Year Award aims to recognise the key contribution that non-executive directors play in businesses across the North East. The winner of the inaugural award would be someone who had made a significant difference to their organisation, or who had, perhaps, helped overcome a major issue or problem. In any event, their contribution would be clearly recognised by the chairman or managing director of the organisation concerned.
There is also a lifetime achievement award and another trophy for the North East Young Business Person of the Year, who must be aged 30 or under on Thursday, November 1. Judges will reward excellence shown by executives from any sector, whose success is seen through published results and who show promise of even greater things. The judging panel includes One NorthEast director of business and industry Ian Williams, North East Chamber of Commerce chief executive James Ramsbotham, CBI North East regional chairman Bob Davies, Storeys SSP director John Irwin, Brewin Dolphin divisional director Vinay Bedi, Bank of England regional agent David Buffham, Trinity Mirror North East managing director Steve Brown, Journal assistant editor (business) Andrew Hebden, North East business journalist Brian Nicholls, Journal business editor Iain Laing and Sue Scott, the Evening Gazette’s business editor.
The winners will be announced at the Newcastle Marriott Hotel, Gosforth Park, on Thursday, October 30.
To book a table or for further information log onto nebusiness.co.uk/businessexec Alternatively contact Kirsty Tarn, events manager on 0191 201 6072 or email kirsty.tarn@ncjmedia.co.uk
