Search is on for the stars of the North East business world

Aug 28 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

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 2009.

And the awards will also recognise an individual who has made a special contribution to the region’s business world, economy and wider community in the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Last year’s very worthy winner was Sandy Anderson, the coalminer’s son who started at ICI on Teesside as a graduate research engineer and rose to become one of the most important figures in the company.

He not only took a leading role in the restructure of the chemical firm’s North East business, running the Teesside operation and working as operations director of Tioxide Group but become ICI’s senior vice president of technology worldwide.

And having spent a lifetime in the petro-chemical industry on Teesside, he is now driving a new generation of process companies as non-executive director with the Centre of Process Innovation research centre and by chairing Ensus, which is building Teesside’s £250m bioethanol plant.

The judges also chose the Scot, who lives in Darlington, because of his contribution to the wider community. He is a former director of Teesside Training and Enterprise Council and chairman of both Teesside Training Enterprise, and the business and education liaison group Teesside Tomorrow Ltd. He also served as governor of Cleveland College of Art and Design.

He was director of Teesside Development Corporation, one of the largest development corporations in the UK, which helped attract £1.1bn of private-sector investment, creating more than 12,000 jobs, and eventually brought 1,300 acres of derelict land back into use.

For the past four years he has steered the University of Teesside through one of its most exciting periods as chairman of the board of governors.

He is currently also Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Durham.

This year once again, the awards, organised by The Journal and its Teesside sister paper the Evening Gazette, will recognise three winners from each of Tees Valley, Durham and Wearside and Tyneside and Northumberland, and the overall winner will be picked from these.

To mark a quarter century of success, last year a new category was launched, the North East Non-executive Director of the Year Award.

There will be a separate trophy for the North East Young Business Person of the Year, who must be aged 30 or under on November 19.

The accolades have attracted the backing of major sponsors, including Dickinson Dees, Knight Frank, Teesside Business School at Teesside University, Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University, Allied Irish Bank (GB) and Newcastle University Business School.

Nominations will be considered by a judging panel chaired by Sir Fred Holliday, which this year includes One North East director of business and industry Ian Williams, Brewin Dolphin divisional director Vinay Bedi, North East Chamber of Commerce chief executive James Ramsbotham, CBI North East regional director Sarah Green, Storeys SSP director John Irwin, Northern Recruitment Group chief executive Lorna Moran, Bank of England regional agent David Buffham, Trinity Mirror North East managing director David Simms, ncjMedia head of business and business development Andrew Hebden, North East business journalist Brian Nicholls, IHC Engineering Business managing director Dr Tony Trapp and Evening Gazette business editor Sue Scott.

The winners will be announced at the Newcastle Marriott Hotel, Gosforth Park, on Thursday, November 19.

To book a table, or for further information, log on to www.nebusiness.co.uk/businessexec or contact Kirsty Tarn on (0191) 201-6072 or email kirsty.tarn@ncjmedia.co.uk