Judges of The Orange Leader of the Year

A serial entrepreneur who took his own business Babygro Plc to a full stock exchange listing and others to AIM and Trade Sales, Sir Eric Peacock currently chairs a number of businesses including Baydonhill Plc (currency trading), AGM Transitions (transition outplacement), Mobile Technical Services Ltd (Recruitment), Halo International (Furniture), Buckley Jewellery Ltd (Jewellery and accessories), The Consulting Consortium (Compliance and recruitment), Stevenage Packaging Ltd, and Exemplas Group Ltd (Delivery organisation for government). He is also president of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management and is Founder and Chairman of The Peacock Foundation a charity which works with pre-school leavers and Chairman of Uniqueness a charity focussed on school leavers in Stevenage.

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Ian Cheshire was appointed Group Chief Executive of Kingfisher plc in January 2008.  Prior to this he was Chief Executive of B&Q from June 2005.  His previous roles at Kingfisher include Chief Executive of International and Development, Chief Executive of e-Kingfisher and Group Director of Strategy and Development.  Before joining Kingfisher in 1998 he worked for a number of retail businesses including Sears plc where he was Group Commercial Director.
 
He is a Non-Executive Director of Whitbread plc and lead non-executive member on the Department for Work and Pensions Board. He is also a member of the Prince of Wales Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change and a Member of the Employers’ Forum on Disability President’s Group.

Why has Ian decided to judge the National Business Awards?  
"In these challenging economic times it is important that we recognise leadership.  These well-established awards are an important way of doing that"

In January 2000 he became Director-General of the BBC and in his four years at the BBC he started four new digital television channels, five new digital radio channels, opened two new BBC regions, launched the BBC’s interactive television services and helped create Freeview, a new free to air digital platform.   He also made major commitments to expand the BBC’s education services and to improve the cultural diversity of the workforce.  

After leaving the BBC in January 2004 Greg Dyke was made Chancellor of the University of York in December 2004, Chairman of HIT, a large international television production company specialising in programmes for the under fives in 2005, and in January 2006 he became Chairman of Brentford Football Club. He is also a member of the supervisory board of ProSiebenSat.1, one of Europe’s largest free to air broadcasting groups.  

In March 2008 he succeeded the late Anthony Mingella as Chairman of the British Film Institute and in November 2009 became Chairman of ATG, Britain’s biggest theatre group.  He is also an advisor on leadership to the NHS.

His autobiography entitled Greg Dyke: Inside Story was published in September 2004 by Harper Collins.

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After a year running the Students Union at Nottingham University Andy join Bass plc on their graduate scheme, staying for 5 years across a number of roles in retail leisure including an enlightening two years managing Bingo clubs. In 1998 Andy left to join a technology start up business, carrying out an MBO in 1999 before growing the business year on year up to its sale to an AIM listed plc in 2006. During this time Andy was named as an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner in 2005 and the business was twice listed in the Deloitte Fast 50 technology awards and also in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100. In 2006 Andy joined NCC Group plc to head up its ethical computer hacking division, growing that from £2m in 2006 to the £40m business it is today. In 2010 Andy joined the board of Wolters Kluwer in the UK as MD of the Croner Consulting business.

Why has Andy decided to judge the National Business Awards?
"I am delighted to be part of the judging process for the National Business Awards as they really do reflect the fantastic array of talent that the UK has to offer. In a tough economic climate these Awards demonstrate that great leadership and a focus on delivering a quality product or service to meet the ever increasing demands of customers will still result in business success".

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Anthony Salz is an Executive Vice-Chairman of Rothschild.  He joined Rothschild in 2006 after more than 30 years as a corporate lawyer with the international law firm Freshfields, 10 as the Senior Partner.

He was Vice Chairman of the BBC from 2004 to 2006.  He is the lead non-executive member of the Board of the UK Department for Education.  He is a Trustee of the Royal Opera House, The Scott Trust (owner of the Guardian), the Tate Foundation, Reprieve, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Conran Foundation and Chair of The Eden Trust (owner of the Eden Project in Cornwall).  Anthony is also a member of the Advisory Boards of Swiss Re and Exeter University School of Business and Economics. Anthony recently chaired the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Antisocial Behaviour in England and Wales.  

Why has Anthony decided to judge the National Business Awards? 
"The awards give due recognition to the talents and efforts of some special individuals - and it is rather special to be involved in choosing the winners."

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David joined 3i in 1997 and leads their UK Growth Capital business, as part of 3i’s Private Equity activities. Over the last 14 years David has led over 18 successful transactions largely in the Business and Financial Services space including the recruitment business Morgan McKinley, Primetime and Hayley Conference and Training Centres. He has also completed deals in the retail space include MKM Building Supplies and Go Outdoors, in which he sits as a Non Executive Director.

Recent transactions and current board positions include Foster and Partners, the global architect Group chaired by Lord Norman Foster, SLR the global environmental consultants, and Hyperion Insurance Group, one of the fastest growing global Insurance groups. Prior to 3i David worked at Coopers and Lybrand in their Corporate Turnaround division.

Steve has been involved in investment, corporate, commercial and business banking for over 25 years and joined Santander UK (Abbey) in June 2008 as Managing Director and advanced to Head of UK Corporate and Commercial Banking in June 2009. Previously working with NatWest and RBS, Steve has experience of running businesses with profit and loss in excess of £1.0bn with over 5,000 staff and has also worked on a variety of financings, restructurings, capital market and equity issues during his time in NatWest Markets.

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