Two bosses from the Bath area who were among the winners of the recent IoD South West Director 2014 awards have been selected to compete in the national competition.
Chris Smith, managing director of family-owned cake and biscuit producer Marshfield Bakery, and Helen Lacey, founder of Shepton Mallet, Yeovil and Bridgwater-based Red Berry Recruitment, will join other regional winners for the national honours, which recognise excellence in the boardroom, in London in October.
Chris, pictured receiving his award from IoD regional chair Richard Ayre, was named the South West Director of the Year last month. He joined Marshfield Bakery in 2011 after working in a number of sector turnaround roles in the retail wholesale and food manufacturing industries. 
He has since led the management team through a major restructure of the business which, while successful, needed to develop a sustainable profitable growth strategy.
Since 2010 the company, which employs 42 staff at its base at Marshfield, has enjoyed three years’ consistent profit growth with the order book projected to grow by some £5m over the next four years, helped by the development of a sustainable export market.
Chris is an advocate of the role small companies can play in supporting young adults into work and is chair and director of an International Academy Trust with 3,000 students and staff, and sits on the rural sector group for the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) promoting rural SME interests.
He said: “The regional award was recognition for everyone who has contributed to Marshfield’s success over the past few years as we expand and look at different and wider markets. Whatever happens in London will be a bonus and I think all the regional finalists will just be pleased to be flying a big flag for South West business."
Helen Lacey will compete for the Young Director of the Year award. She founded Red Berry, which specialises in supplying temporary, permanent and contract staff to the commercial and industrial sectors, in 2007 and has grown its annual turnover to more than £3m.
This year all the South West regional finalists are being put forward for the national title in their category – something which doesn’t happen every year.
IoD regional chair Richard Ayre said: “We are thrilled that all our regional finalists have been shortlisted. I believe this is a reflection of both the quality of the entries we had this year and the breadth of enterprise and business talent that sits in this region.”
Simon Barbato, managing director of Bath-based integrated creative, brand and digital agency Mr B & Friends was highly commended in the Director of the Year category, while James Eades, managing director of Monkton Combe-based IT support specialists Systemagic was highly commended in the Young Director category.
Esther McMorris, CEO of Bath management consultancy Nine Feet Tall was also a finalist in the Director of the Year category.
The last time the South West boasted a national winner was in 2012 when Robert Varley of the Met Office in Exeter was named Public Sector Director of the Year.
