Chris Smith of cake and biscuit producers Marshfield Bakery has won the coveted title of Director of the Year at the annual Institute of Directors South West Awards.
Chris, who joined the family-owned firm two years ago, was presented with his trophy at an awards ceremony and dinner staged last night in Bristol, beating three other contenders to the top title. 
Simon Barbato, founder of fastest-growing Bath-based integrated agency Mr B and Friends, was highly commended by judges for the awards, which recognise excellence in the boardroom.
Before joining Marshfield Bakery, which employs 43 staff at its base in Marshfield, Chris worked in a number of turnaround roles in the retail wholesale and food manufacturing industries.
He has led Marshfield’s management team through a major restructure to develop a sustainable profitable growth strategy.
The firm has now had three years of consistent profit growth and its order book is projected to grow by £5m over the next four years, helped in part by exporting.
Chris, pictured after receiving his award from IoD regional chairman Richard Ayre, is also 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. He also sits on the rural sector group for the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), promoting the interests of rural small and medium-sized businesses.
Also shortlisted for the Director of the Year Award was Esther McMorris, CEO of Bath-based management consultancy Nine Feet Tall.
Helen Lacey of Shepton Mallet, Yeovil and Bridgwater-based Red Berry Recruitment won the Young Director of the Year award. Helen 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.
Shortlisted for the Young Director title was James Eades, managing director of IT support specialists Systemagic based at Monkton Combe.
Nick Sturge, director of SETsquared – the award-winning enterprise and innovation partnership of the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey – won the Public Sector Director of the Year Award.
Other awards were for Family Business Director and Corporate Responsibility.
Bath Business News and its sister titles Bristol Business News and Swindon Business News were media partners for the awards, which are now in their eighth year. 
The winners will now go on to compete for the national awards in the autumn.
Also speaking at last night’s event were IoD chief economist James Sproule and John Rubidge of UKTI.
