British Library chief named among Director of the Year winners

The Institute of Directors (IoD) has announced the winners of its Director of the Year Awards 2021 for Yorkshire and the North East.

The winners were revealed at a virtual awards ceremony hosted by IoD regional chair Delroy Beverley and Rashmi Dube, IoD national spokesperson for policy and governance.

The Chair’s Award for Excellence in Director and Board Practice went to Phil Spence, chief operating officer at the British Library.

Phil oversees services, finance, people management, technology, risk and estates across the British Library’s sites in London and Yorkshire. He is leading on a major, government-backed project to expand and refurbish the British Library’s site at Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, as well as plans to develop a British Library site at the historic, Grade I Temple Works building in Leeds, in partnership with Leeds City Council and developer CEG.

Julian Hartley, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, picked up two awards: Public Sector Director of the Year and the Judges’ Special Award.

Delroy Beverley, IoD Yorkshire and North East regional chair, said: “It was an honour to host our prestigious awards after a highly challenging period for all directors. We recognised some excellent individuals who have demonstrated skill and innovation in their fields. Once again, our awards have served to showcase the strength and diversity of directorial talent across Yorkshire and the North East.”

The judging panel was chaired by Simon Walton, managing partner of Berwick Partners/Odgers Berndtson, Leeds. He was joined by Ian Dormer of Rosh Engineering; Margaret Wood, ICW (UK); Diane Cheesebrough, Bloom/V4 UK Holdings; and Keith Jackson, Brandon Medical. The awards partners are the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and Sparq.

The winners are:

SME - Karen Mosley, HLM Architects
Highly commended: Neil Moles, Progeny

Family Business - Andy Bairstow, PFF Packaging Group
Innovation - Nigel Apperley, Trustist
Young - Tom Maxwell, Twisted USA-LLC Group
Agility & Resilience - Chris Simes, Collingwood Learning Solutions

Start-Up - Sarah Daniel, MOTIONrehab
Highly commended: Emma Conroy - Inclusive Consulting

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion - Karen Mosley, HLM Architects
Non-Executive - Sarah Sandle, Tribosonics
Public Sector - Julian Hartley, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Judges Special Award - Julian Hartley, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Chartered Director - Carole O’Neil, Cundall

Chair’s Award for Excellence in Director and Board Practice - Phil Spence, The British Library