Meet the Judges for Panel 1 – Interviews will take place on Tuesday 11th June.

Working as a non-executive director and management consultant, Hywel Griffiths helps SMEs reach their business objectives. He helps them work on their growth strategies through foundational analysis, business plan development, financial analysis and accountability reports.

He has worked globally for 40 years, on small and large $million projects. He has presented to multi-national CEOs, becoming a trusted corporate and personal advisor, mentor and pubic keynote speaker. Currently, he is working with local companies in sectors including IT, health & safety, education and training.

Hywel’s vision is to empower as many people as possible by giving them the skills and knowledge to develop and grow as individuals, and to grow the business of their dreams.

Born in Bolton, Lisa worked in industry for many years before carving out a career in education, heading up employer Engagement divisions for various FE Colleges across Lancashire. During that time, Lisa worked with thousands of businesses, gathering years of feedback from employers.

Lisa is now the CEO of GB Shared Ltd – of which Lancashare, Mancheshare and Cumbriashare are trading arms. Hundreds of local businesses of all shapes and sectors are now signed up to these online platforms. They aim to ‘pool’ the counties’ resources in one place to make everyone’s business journey that little bit easier. They encourage collaborative working and local procurement whilst simultaneously providing a huge knowledge resource to industry.

Proud to be in the top 50 of Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Women in UK IT 2018, Naomi Timperley is an experienced partnerships and engagement consultant with established relationships across the UK. She works with start-ups and growth businesses particularly in the tech, digital and creative sectors. She was one of the Maserati 100 in 2015 – a list of entrepreneurs who support the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

Naomi has been a mentor for 8 years and mentored over 200 businesses. She is a champion of Digital Skills for everyone. She is one of 2 iDEA Industry Ambassadors in the world for the Duke of York’s Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award, a title she earned as a result of her work with Wakelet and iDEA.

She is also an Honorary Industry Fellow at the University of Salford Business School. She sits on GMCA’s Innovation Board, the board of arts organisation Future Everything, and she is chair of investment platform Capital Pilot.

Richard’s fascination with the sales process was sparked as a 13-year-old, when he began working in a golf pro’s shop. Over the following 17 years, he has grown his fledging passion into a respected, award-winning business; amalgamating a forensic, scientific understanding of sales with a person-centred approach that has garnered impressive results for start-ups and billion-pound corporations alike.

As the founder of Sales Geek©, Richard regards his raison d’être as being to help small businesses grow – by making top-level sales support and training affordable for all. His experience ensures that he has the knowledge and the insight to critically evaluate a business and provide guidance that will supercharge their sales.

Sales Geek won the Best New Business category at the Sub36 2018 Awards, and been a finalist in the New Business and Growing Business categories of the Red Rose Awards 2019. Richard is also a nominee for the Entrepreneur of the Year at the HIVE Awards 2019.

Meet the Judges for Panel 2 – Interviews will take place on Tuesday 11th June.

Danny Simpson is the CEO of MID Communications Ltd, the Northwest’s largest independent franchise of Telefonica O2 UK. It provides both B2B and B2C services across seventeen O2 retail stores throughout the North West, including a business call centre in Rochdale.

Danny started his mobile and telco career over 15 years ago, back when GPRS was the only form of mobile internet. He experienced the launch and impact of both 3G and 4G, and witnessed the release of the first ever iPhone in the telco marketplace. He has also seen the introduction of many other tech gadgets such as wearables, smart tech, Google Homes and Alexa, along with innovative apps and, of course, tablets.

He is a keen believer in giving back. He is a committee member for the IOD in Manchester, and he sits on the local executive board as a trustee for Hits Radio Cash for Kids, and their national board. He is also a public speaker on topics including leadership, motivation and inspiration.

Leanne has a background in finance, recruitment and people management. After a brief career in the banking sector, she joined Jobwise in 1993 and quickly worked her way through the ranks to take over as MD in 2009.

Jobwise is a North West based multiple award-winning recruitment agency and was named the E3 Employer of the Year in 2016. Leanne understands just how important her team is to the success of the business. Her passion for people has created a dynamic and fun workplace, empowering ambitious people to develop their careers and progress, just like she did. A new ‘hub’ structure and a forward-thinking marketing strategy have enabled Jobwise to create new opportunities for growth. As a former winner of the Woman In Business Inspiring Leader of the Year award, she is a keen supporter of female entrepreneurship.

With over 15 years’ experience of putting people first and ensuring they are the heart of an organisation, CUBE HR has achieved excellent growth over the last 12 months.

Lisa is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has a master’s degree in human resource management.  An employment law expert, but with an ability to make it easy for employers to interpret, she is known for her straight-talking approach and commercial acumen. She has a proven track record of delivering people-focused operational improvements contributing to individual skills development, team dynamics and bottom-line performance.

Lisa is a commercially driven and strategy-focussed HR professional working to ensure that businesses achieve their business plan goals – e.g. revenue, sales, EBIT, cash.  She helps to translate strategy into workable individual objectives.

Liz is the owner of a strategy and high-performance coaching and consultancy business that serves clients across the North West and Yorkshire. She is a family-business specialist and works across the health, technology, creative and digital, retail and professional services sectors.

Liz is a television presenter, running “The Business Programme” for Kirklees Local Television, and is a corporate speaker, inspiring our next generation of business leaders.

Liz is passionate about entrepreneurship and encouraging more women and young people to run businesses.

Meet the Judges for Panel 3 – Interviews will take place on Wednesday 12th June.

Tracy Heatley is the Managing Director of networking organisation, Business Over Breakfast (North West), which she established in 2007. With her small team, Tracy operates BoB Club networking groups throughout Lancashire and Greater Manchester, whilst utilising all her skills to help BoB Club members to develop their networking skills to create continuous referrals and business opportunities. Tracy, who has been training business people in networking and communications for over a decade, has recently established a new training company, Better Networking, specifically for this purpose.

A former marketing consultant/Chartered Marketer, Tracy is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute Of Marketing (CIM), and a CIM award-winning business woman with almost thirty years of sales and marketing experience. She has helped thousands of businesses to gain new business through effective marketing and networking plans. As well as her formal academic qualifications, such as a Post Graduate Professional Diploma in Marketing, Tracy is an INLPTA NLP Master Practitioner and the presenter of her own weekly radio show, ‘Mind Your Own Business’, on Rossendale Radio 104.7fm.

Danny Callan is the founder of IceBoxDesigns, a digital agency based in Manchester. Danny founded the company when he was only 17, working from his bedroom where he learned how to code and how Google’s algorithm ranked websites.

IceBoxDesigns has grown into an award-winning agency that offers web design and development, marketing campaigns and SEO strategies to a variety of clients, ranging from medium to large sized businesses across Manchester and the UK.

Danny has been shortlisted and won a number of awards for his work – winning the Young Entrepreneur & Professional Innovator of Manchester award in 2011. He has been actively involved in mentoring technology start-ups and contributing his time to charities across Manchester; he was also shortlisted as a finalist for Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2013 E3 Business Awards.

Besides mentoring and advising, he is also an active hackathon participant. At the end of last year, Danny and his team made it to the StartUpBus Europe finals in Vienna, and later received investment for the idea.

Dionne Swift is founder and Director of Burnley Campus Social Enterprise Ltd, which won both the Social Enterprise of the Year and the Outstanding Woman in Business categories at the E3 Business Awards 2017. Burnley Campus is at the forefront of leading and delivering a wide range of education, health, wellbeing and intervention services to some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people across all age ranges.

Dionne is a motivated leader, with considerable experience within the education, charity, voluntary and business sectors. She is committed to promoting business growth through her work as an accredited growth coach. She is an advocate for social enterprises and is passionate about the contribution that such businesses make to the UK and local economy. She aims to help achieve sustainability for these businesses, their employees and their stakeholders.

An economics graduate, Martyn Shaw qualified as an accountant and subsequently specialised in corporate finance, advising on mergers and acquisitions, MBOs and financing options. He then worked in the construction industry before joining the Business School at what was then Bolton Institute of Higher Education.

After overseeing the development of the Business Access programme, he led the Business Management programme, and assumed overall responsibility for the Business School’s international activities. He later became Director of the University’s Marketing and Recruitment function, subsequently becoming Director of Bolton Business School. In 2015, Martyn was appointed as the University’s Director of Business Development.

Apart from his extensive involvement in the development of the University’s engagement with China, Martyn is involved in new initiatives to support talent and enterprise development, leading to increased numbers of internships and work experience opportunities for students across the University. After its recent amalgamations with Bolton College and Alliance Learning, the University of Bolton Group has launched ‘ConnectED’, a one-stop-shop for Apprenticeships, Education and Training.

Meet the Judges for Panel 4 – Interviews will take place on Wednesday 12th June.

Working as a non-executive director and management consultant, Hywel Griffiths helps SMEs reach their business objectives. He helps them work on their growth strategies through foundational analysis, business plan development, financial analysis and accountability reports.

He has worked globally for 40 years, on small and large $million projects. He has presented to multi-national CEOs, becoming a trusted corporate and personal advisor, mentor and pubic keynote speaker. Currently, he is working with local companies in sectors including IT, health & safety, education and training.

Hywel’s vision is to empower as many people as possible by giving them the skills and knowledge to develop and grow as individuals, and to grow the business of their dreams.

Danny Callan is the founder of IceBoxDesigns, a digital agency based in Manchester. Danny founded the company when he was only 17, working from his bedroom where he learned how to code and how Google’s algorithm ranked websites.

Having worked at every level of the corporate world, from small start-ups to running international teams for some of the largest organisations in the world, Anne-Marie set up Swift-Solve Consulting Ltd in 2012.

Anne-Marie’s best days are spent working with professional business women, female entrepreneurs, and female thought leaders and influencers to help them get connected and to grow themselves and their businesses. She does this through training, mentoring and coaching – providing the tools and know-how to create and grow fantastic female-led businesses.

She also leads Women in Business Network groups across the North West – creating opportunities for business women to connect with other like-minded professionals. She is also a sought-after conference speaker, contributor and panel member.

A humble, responsible and giving person, Ram believes in the philosophy of high ethics, good customer values and treating people correctly. These ethics have helped him build an IT business of some magnitude. Providing value solutions with rapid response times, Nybble enables businesses to thrive, whether the challenge involves infrastructure, cloud, software development or mobile applications.

Ram’s appointment as Technical Director of Alpha Digital produces a strategic synergy that allows Nybble to offer the entire spectrum of AV and IT. As a result, Nybble has become a true one-stop IT solutions provider.

Thomas Kirk is Managing Director of Francis Kirk Group, which has been providing fasteners, fixings and other industrial products for 151 years. Based in Denton, Manchester and with 24,000 square feet of stock holding, the company offers solutions to most challenges.

The company is a previous winner of the Family Business of the Year category in the E3 Business Awards. It has also won categories in the Insider International Trade Awards (International Trade), three National Family Business Awards (including Lifetime Achievement Award) and a Special Achievement Award in Innovation.

Tom applies his interests from inside and outside the business to help customers develop the most cost-efficient ways to streamline their supply chains and improve outputs within their organisations. He is supported by a fantastic team with over 250 years’ combined experience. Tom has overseen steady growth and considerable changes during the last 16 years:  fully integrated stock management systems, new computer processes, barcoding and full traceability – all generating further benefits for new and existing customers.

Meet the Judges for Panel 5 – Interviews will take place on Thursday 13th  June.

Born in Bolton, Lisa worked in industry for many years before carving out a career in education, heading up employer Engagement divisions for various FE Colleges across Lancashire. During that time, Lisa worked with thousands of businesses, gathering years of feedback from employers.

Lisa is now the CEO of GB Shared Ltd – of which Lancashare, Mancheshare and Cumbriashare are trading arms. Hundreds of local businesses of all shapes and sectors are now signed up to these online platforms. They aim to ‘pool’ the counties’ resources in one place to make everyone’s business journey that little bit easier. They encourage collaborative working and local procurement whilst simultaneously providing a huge knowledge resource to industry.

Liz is the owner of a strategy and high-performance coaching and consultancy business that serves clients across the North West and Yorkshire. She is a family-business specialist and works across the health, technology, creative and digital, retail and professional services sectors.

Liz is a television presenter, running “The Business Programme” for Kirklees Local Television, and is a corporate speaker, inspiring our next generation of business leaders.

Liz is passionate about entrepreneurship and encouraging more women and young people to run businesses.

Richard Alford has run the award-winning Black Bear group for nearly 10 years and has worked with IT for much longer. He was previously a senior leader in a secondary school, where he managed strategy for whole school ICT. This gave him the knowledge of public sector processes that has underpinned the company’s Education division. Richard has a caring personality and he makes sure the ethos of the company is about caring for both the staff and clients.

Richard is also a director of other companies including Havmore – a web development company – and CAARS Property – a property management business. Richard believes it is important to give back and is a director for Lancaster BID and for The Network Group, as well as being the part of the PC advisory group for the PCR magazine, where he advises the IT channel.

Meet the Judges for Panel 6 – Interviews will take place on Thursday 13th  June.

Andrew Dewhurst is the founder and Managing Director of Affilius Group, which has been providing business support services in the UK and overseas since 1991. Ever since, Andrew has been striving to live up to his old school motto – disce prodesse – “learn to be of service” . Along the way, Affilius has delivered over a thousand business improvement projects in the UK, Europe and USA.

Andrew is a specialist in aligning business and IT strategy to produce profitable growth. He is experienced in setting up, running and selling businesses in UK, Switzerland and the USA, and is expert in developing intellectual property rights in IT. He has implemented business-centric IT solutions in 16 countries and is an approved and accredited growth coach specialising in sales, marketing and IT strategy.

Richard’s fascination with the sales process was sparked as a 13-year-old, when he began working in a golf pro’s shop. Over the following 17 years, he has grown his fledging passion into a respected, award-winning business; amalgamating a forensic, scientific understanding of sales with a person-centred approach that has garnered impressive results for start-ups and billion-pound corporations alike.

As the founder of Sales Geek©, Richard regards his raison d’être as being to help small businesses grow – by making top-level sales support and training affordable for all. His experience ensures that he has the knowledge and the insight to critically evaluate a business and provide guidance that will supercharge their sales.

Sales Geek won the Best New Business category at the Sub36 2018 Awards, and been a finalist in the New Business and Growing Business categories of the Red Rose Awards 2019. Richard is also a nominee for the Entrepreneur of the Year at the HIVE Awards 2019.

Sam Ashton is the Commercial Director of Packaging Automation Ltd, a leading designer and manufacturer of specialist packaging machinery supplied to food manufacturers, processors and packers across the world. Packaging Automation is family owned and Sam is the only third-generation family member to be involved in the business. Prior to joining the business over 20 years ago, Sam worked in corporate finance, specialising in mergers and acquisitions with a focus on SMEs and family businesses.

She has worked alongside the other directors in the pursuit of accelerated growth in revenue during recent years. She has developed a wealth of experience of manufacturing, continuous improvement and employee engagement through this growth period as a result of the challenges faced and overcome by the management team.

Packaging Automation is an award-winning company and has previously been a winner in the E3 Business Awards 2017 & 2018, the EEF National Future Manufacturing Awards 2017, Made in the North West 2018, and the PPMA Awards 2018.