MEET THE JUDGES

CHAIR OF THE JUDGES - BASILDON COUNCIL

I became an Executive Director in 2001.  In my current role I am responsible for the strategic management of a range of corporate and frontline services as well as working closely with my Executive Team colleagues and elected members to deliver the Council’s corporate and strategic objectives.  In addition I also have a personal statutory responsibility for the management of the Council’s financial administration. Following my qualification as an accountant, I held a wide range of roles in the finance function culminating in my promotion to Manager of Financial Services in 1995, which I held until 2001.  I have been with the Council for over 30 years, joining as a Trainee Accountant way back in 1975 - yes the days of the quill pen and abacus!  Having lived in Basildon for many years and been educated at Woodlands School, I am particularly proud to work for the Council and be part of delivering quality services to our local community and help shape the future of the District. Outside of work, my personal interests include going to see live music, watching most sports, going to the gym and playing golf (not as often as rumoured) and going on the odd holiday.  I am also involved in the Basildon Round Table, which undertakes and supports community initiatives throughout the District. The Basildon Business Awards aims to bring the whole community together to celebrate its success stories and recognise the years of investment of local businesses, entrepreneurs, the private sector and the public sector. Last year I was delighted to take on the role of Chair of Judges, and was overwhelmed with the quality of entries.  We saw the results of years of investment in time, commitment and enthusiasm from all sides.  I am delighted to be asked back for the 2nd year running, and I have no doubt that we will be in for a difficult time deciding a winner for 2007.

Alison Stewart – Operations Manager

Argos is delighted to be judging the Basildon Business Awards.  Judging this year’s awards will be Alison Stewart – Operations Manager – Alison joined Argos 1997 having previously worked at the Leicestershire Argos DC. 

The Basildon Argos site delivers stock to 135 stores across the South East. With over 430 permanent employees at our Distribution Centre in Basildon, promoting local business and putting something back into the community is a subject very much close to our hearts.  This is our sixth year of sponsoring the Basildon & District Business Awards – an awards programme we are proud to be involved with.

BASILDON DISTRICT COUNCIL JUDGING ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

Dawn French started her local government career at Brentwood Borough Council in 1983 as a student environmental health officer and having qualified moved to Colchester Council specialising in food and health and safetyShe joined Basildon in 1989 continuing to work on food and health and safety along with licensing issues.Dawn has now rejoined Basildon as Head of Development, Property & Health and is responsible for Planning, Environmental Health, Building Control and Property Services.   She also sits on the Health and Environmental Partnerships, which aim to bring partners together to promote improvements in health and protection and enhancement of the environmental. 

Keith Smith after many years as environmental manager for a large group of companies, Keith Smith’s work and enthusiasm for the Green Business Forum confirms his belief in the key role businesses of all sizes can and must play in protecting and enhancing our environment.                                                       

Both are looking forward to another stimulating event.

FIRST DATA INTERNATIONAL JUDGING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE

Steve Greenwood is Vice President and Managing Director First Data International UK, looking after the client facing areas as well as the new business function and operational areas including the Call Centre, Print, Plastics and Data Capture teams. A demanding customer himself and a passionate believer in delivering the best, he is looking forward to judging the customer service category.

Elaine Brown is a Production Director in charge of Mailing Services for First Data International’s UK operations.

Elaine first joined First Data 19 years ago as a Data Preparation Clerk and over the course of her career has built up experience across a wide range of product and service offerings.  In her current role Elaine is responsible for overseeing the mailing services that First Data provides to 25 of its clients – this includes ensuring that each of their specific requirements and service levels are consistently met. 

A true champion for the customer, Elaine is passionate about providing outstanding service to clients and enjoys working with her team to find new ways to deliver exceptional business performance.

Jo Milton Training and Development Manager has over 10 years learning and development experience within the financial services industry and is responsible for sourcing, planning and delivering learning and development solutions for First Data International.

Initially working in the insurance industry, Jo worked her way up through the customer service ranks to eventually manage her own call centre sales team of 40 staff before becoming an internal trainer. Jo is a licentiate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and strongly believes that learning should be constant and ongoing, contributing to both the individual trainee and the organisation for which they work.

EASTGATE SHOPPING CENTRE JUDGING RETAIL

Clive Pike is very pleased to represent the Eastgate Management Centre as a judge in the County Awards in the Retail Section.

He was for two years the Secretary of the Basildon Chamber of Trade and has been on the The Business Association of Basildon committee for over twenty years.

Clive started his own business in printing and graphics in 1968 and the business is now in the capable hands of his two sons.

His main hobby is photography.

SELEX JUDGING MANUFACTURING

BARBARA UDEN – EVENTS AND HOSPITALITY CO-ORDINATOR

Barbara Uden joined SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems UK Basildon site as Events and Hospitality Co-ordinator, in October 2006.  Prior to this Barbara worked for BAE Systems in Rochester for nine years in areas such as Commercial, Operations, Project Management, Communications, Bids & Proposals and Business Development.  Barbara is delighted to be a judge in this year’s Basildon Business Awards and is looking forward to meeting the local businesses within the area.

MARTIN TUHILL – OPERATIONS MANAGER BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & IMPROVEMENT

Martin Tuhill joined SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems UK in Basildon in 2001 and has worked in production and project management for several years. Martin has successfully project managed a £20M defence production programme and has championed a number of major change programmes in Operations. Martin is looking forward to the judging based on last years achievements of the local businesses.

THEO DIONYSOPOULOS – PRODUCTION PROJECT LEADER

Theo Dionysopoulos joined SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems UK in Basildon site in 2003 as a Graduate Production Engineer and gained experience across a number of Operations functions.   He held the post of Lead Manufacturing Engineer where he pioneered the use of manufacturing modelling techniques across production and facilities management. He is currently working in production management, looking after the delivery of a number of projects. Theo has experience from business assessment and benchmarking exercises, including successfully project managing the SELEX S&AS submission to the Manufacturing Excellence (MX) awards in 2006 and participating in the SELEX S&AS Basildon assessment using the EFQM model. Theo is excited to engage with local business to exchange ideas on manufacturing aspects and is looking forward to the judging phase of the Basildon Business Awards

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL DATA SERVICES

JUDGING BUSINESS WOMAN OF THE YEAR

International Financial Data Services (IFDS) is a global provider of administration services and systems. Our UK operations are based in Basildon and Chelmsford and employ over 1,400 staff. We are the UK’s market leader, providing services to some of the top financial companies in the European investment industry.

Our success comes from our people and systems, and we continually invest in both our staff and technology. We recently implemented a Leadership Programme to equip our managers with the skills, knowledge and competencies needed to meet our changing business requirements. The programme provides a range of development courses, and mentoring from our Directors, and it is our “class of 2007” who will be representing IFDS as judges.

IFDS were pleased to win the Growing Business of the Year award in 2004 and have since sponsored this category in 2005 and 2006. Our state of the art office complex in Basildon will again host the Judging Day in June. We value our involvement in recognising and encouraging local business development, and this year are delighted to be sponsoring the first Business Woman of the Year award.

BARCLAYS JUDGING COMMUNITY

Simon Culling, Head of Local Business in South Essex, has been with Barclays over 20 years. Simon leads a team that supports businesses from ‘Start up’ to those with a turnover of £1 million. In his spare time Simon is a First Responder with the East of England Ambulance Service.

Michael Watts, Area Retail Director in South Essex, is celebrating his 20th anniversary year at Barclays. Michael has worked in many areas from the branch network to Barclays Stockbrokers. In the last two years he’s completed 2 self-build projects and when he has time, he loves to visit Italy.

Peter Laight, Head of Local Business in East Essex, leads a team that supports local businesses.  Peter has been in the bank since 1988 in a variety of different roles.  Outside of Peter’s pursuit of exceptional customer service, he enjoys relaxing with his family, playing golf and watching football.

Julie Overall, Local Business Manager, has over 20 years experience in banking.  Julie is passionate about working for Barclays, which helps her to win and support new business customers.  Julie won a trip to South Africa in recognition of her service and community work – where she bumped into Robbie Williams!

BOWDEN CARGO JUDGING BUSINESS 2 BUSINESS

David Read is a full group director whose field encompasses the transport and financial division of the group. David first joined the transport department in 1986 after developing experience within various companies in Tilbury Docks.

He is constantly striving to develop not only his own group, but other local companies within the local community and therefore feels passionately about the local awards.

C 2 C JUDGING BUSINESS MAN OF THE YEAR

c2c is Britain’s top performing train company and continues to win awards for its high standards of cleanliness and attention to detail. Our trains are amongst the most reliable in the country and our winning team has again been recognised in recent rail industry awards schemes.

Recent investment in our stations has seen major schemes completed at Grays, Chafford Hundred and Pitsea and work is about to start on a new ticket office at Benfleet and on a half million pound scheme to improve passenger facilities  at Southend Central. 

 Our customers’ security and well being is also high on our agenda and last year saw the opening of a 24 hour CCTV monitoring centre at Barking which keeps watch over stations and car parks helping us to achieve Secure Stations and Safer Car Park Mark awards.

Future proposals include the building of a new platform at Grays station replacing the current short bay platform there and in welcoming the forthcoming re-signalling of the West Ham station area in readiness for the 2012 Olympics which will enable more c2c trains to call at this busy interchange with the Jubilee Line and the Docklands Light Railway.

Alastair Pollock – Support Team Manager – Basildon Renaissance Partnership

Alastair began his role as Support Team Manager for Basildon Renaissance in May this year.

He is qualified as a Town Planner (MRTPI), with over 15 years post qualification experience and was previously the Senior Policy Officer at Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership.  Before that he held a similar post at the Thames Gateway Kent Partnership, and prior to this, he was Programme Director at the Greenwich Development Agency.

He has a wide range of managerial and planning experience covering regeneration, project management, policy and plans and development control. In his spare time, he is an active member of a local tennis club, windsurfs and would like to take up kite surfing!

Adam Keating – Senior Communications Officer – Basildon Renaissance Partnership

Adam has been at the Partnership since November 2004.  He graduated from the University of Lincoln in2002 with a BA (Hons) in Journalism, and worked as Communications Officer for the University’s Student Union for one year following his graduation.  He then moved back South to take up the role of Media Officer for Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, before joining Basildon Renaissance as Senior Communications Officer.

Adam is a year-round sports fan, playing rugby union for Rochford Hundred RFC in the winter, and cricket for Rayleigh Fairview CC in the summer.

Both Alastair and Adam are delighted to be involved in judging the prestigious Basildon Entrepreneur of the Year Award and wish all entrants the best of luck.