Marshfield Bakery managing director Chris Smith, who last month won a regional Institute of Directors (IoD) award for the second year running, is in the running for a national IoD accolade.
Chris scooped the title of Best Small Company Director at the South West Director of the Year awards. Last year he landed the coveted top title of Director of the Year in the awards, which recognise and reward excellence in boardrooms across the region.
Now he is to compete in the UK finals against the best of the champions from the nine other IoD regions.
Marshfield Bakery, which makes private label and own brand tray bakes, cakes and biscuits, achieved annual sales of nearly £3m last year. It sells its products through a network of direct customers and wholesalers and is looking to licence manufacturing of its product in the US next year.
The strength of the South West’s winners is reflected by IoD judges selecting all of them to go into the national contest.
Joining Chris Smith in the awards will Simon Gould, managing director of Bath-based BMT Hi-Q Sigma, who received the IoD Director Development Special award for the highest-scoring candidate from the South West in the IoD Certificate in Company Direction exam over the past 12 months.
Other South West IoD award winners through to the national awards include Vashti Seth, director of the Bristol-based international development charity Deki (Third Sector category), and Neil Way, managing director of family-owned business Jeff Way, which installs commercial and domestic electrical systems, ( Family Director).
Other winners were Darren Ryemill, founder and CEO of Opus Recruitment Services, an IT recruitment company headquartered in Bristol and with offices in London, Sydney and Amsterdam (Young Director), and Julie Moore, managing director of Gloucestershire food innovation company Green Gourmet (Director of the Year).
IoD regional chairman Richard Ayre said: “Winning a regional award does not automatically qualify you for the national competition, so it’s a real achievement to have all our regional candidates taken forward to the national judging panel.
“I believe this is a reflection of both the quality of the entries we had this year and the breadth of enterprise and innovation that sits in this region.”
The national finals take place in London in the autumn.
Pictured at last month’s awards ceremony: Chris Smith of Marshfield Bakery, right, receives his Small Company Director Award from IoD regional chairman Richard Ayre with BBC Radio Bristol presenter and awards ceremony host Laura Rawlings. Picture by Clint Randall www.pixelprphotography.co.uk
