Pipe and slippers gamble pays off

Oct 31 2008 By Iain Laing

A FORMER academic who started a company at the age of 52 with money from his pension fund was last night named the North East Business Executive of the Year 2008.

Dr Tony Trapp, managing director of the IHC Engineering Business at Riding Mill, Northumberland, was given the region’s highest individual business accolade in Newcastle last night.

The 25th North East Business Executive of the Year Awards, run by The Journal and the Evening Gazette, reached their climax last night at an awards ceremony at the Newcastle Marriott Hotel, Gosforth Park.

Dr Trapp said: “I’d like to thank not only The Journal and Evening Gazette, but the people in the business without whom this would not have been possible. People don’t always get to the position where they can reach their full potential. In these tough times we need to create an environment where people can step up and achieve.”

After a successful career in which Dr Trapp moved from research associate at Newcastle University to a senior director of Newcastle engineering company SMD, he decided to become an entrepreneur at an age when many business people are thinking of slowing down.

He drew up his bold business plan in the bedroom of his Northumberland home and it led over the next decade to the creation of a highly successful business which is helping bring new life to the dockyards of the Tyne.

After spending most of his working life as a senior director of Wallsend engineering business SMD, he joined three former colleagues to start a venture bankrolled from their pension funds.

Earlier this year, Dr Trapp concluded the £30m sale of The Engineering Business to Dutch company IHC Merwede. The sale not only secured a strong future for the company, but £90,000 of payouts for the 70 staff who had taken share options in the business.

The company, which has 150 staff, has a promising order book, with the Dutch company sending its ships to the Tyne to be fitted with engineering equipment designed and built in Dr Trapp’s company’s Wallsend workshop. IHC Engineering Business designs, builds and supplies products for the offshore oil and gas, submarine, defence and renewable energy industries.

Andrew Hebden, assistant editor (business) of The Journal, said: “This has been my first experience of the North East Business Executive of the Year Awards, but it is fair to say I was hugely impressed by the calibre of individuals vying for the honours.

“Tony Trapp’s career has seen him progress from a lowly garden centre worker, via academia and many years as a successful sales director, to his current role as a genuine entrepreneur. To launch a company using your pension fund and take it from nothing 10 years ago into a thriving enterprise that was eventually sold for £30m this year is particularly inspiring. He is a worthy champion.”

Dr Trapp was first picked as Tyneside and Northumberland Business Executive of the Year. He was chosen for the top prize ahead of Tees Valley winner PD Ports chief executive David Robinson, who this year led the growth of Teesport in Middlesbrough and opened the way for its future as one of the country’s biggest deep-water ports and Trevor Mann, Nissan’s senior vice-president of manufacturing Europe.

Guest speaker was shadow foreign secretary William Hague, who amply demonstrated his ability as a raconteur and anecdotalist. The winner of the first non-executive director of the year award, launched to mark a quarter-century of the awards, was David Clipsham of Utilita. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Sandy Anderson, who in many roles, including senior vice-president technology at ICI on Teesside and chairman of governors at the University of Teesside, has contributed a great deal to the region in business and beyond.

In a supplement in today’s Journal some dates in the Hall of Fame panel on page four are incorrect. No award was made in 2000. Dates elsewhere in the supplement are right.