The Wakefield Excellence in Business Awards will be judged by the main sponsors who will be joined by the respective category sponsors and guest judges.
Gavin Murray, Editor, Wakefield Express
He Joined Wakefield Express as a trainee reporter in the early 2000s.
He has held many briefs during his time including Horbury reporter, Crime reporter, business reporter, editor of Business Express supplement, news editor and now editor.
Between 2015 – 2018 he also ran eight weekly titles across West Yorkshire.
And his role has also seen him train and help develop many talented journalists and has been involved in and led many award winning campaigns.
Jon Hughes, MD – HARIBO UK and Ireland
Jon Hughes is the Managing Director HARIBO UK & HARIBO Ireland.
Developing talent is a key focus, with Haribo supporting engineering scholarships with Arkwright and running a full apprenticeship scheme. Jon is also a Trustee at Castleford Academy Trust, working with the Board to support excellence for all across the academies five schools.
Sam Wright, Principal & CEO – Wakefield College
Sam joined Wakefield College in March 2011 having worked in the FE sector for more than 25 years and is committed to securing economic and social value.
Sam believes that FE has the power to transform lives for the better and is immensely proud of the work the College does for the benefit of our communities.
Mike Denby, Business and Skills Service Manager – Wakefield Council
Joining Wakefield Council in April 2013 as Business and Skills Service Manager, Mike is responsible for engaging the Wakefield business community to encourage inward investment, business start-ups, economic growth, jobs and careers and the upskilling of Wakefield’s workforce.
Martin Hathaway, Managing Director of Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce
Martin has been representing and supporting the regions business with the Chambers of Commerce for over 20 years.
He also is Chair Partnership Investment Finance which invests in Yorkshires businesses and is Chair of Wakefields Economic Recovery Group.
Camille Johnson, Director Pab Studios Ltd
Camille, has spent 26 years at Wakefield based Media Company PAB Studios and more recently created The Hive, Wakefield within the Pab premises on Thornes lane, which is a brand new co-working / meeting room venue born through Covid. The advertising business specialises in Automotive, property and retail advertising with billings exceeding £7.5 million, pre-covid.
During 2020, Camille also founded a sustainable preloved clothes swapping, buying and selling brand called Clobber Swap which has become a popular subscription service serving over 6000 members in a private Facebook group and an app on Apple / Google play stores.
Annette Barber, Haribo
Having achieved a masters in human resource management, Annette has worked for a number of different organisations throughout her career, working with teams to deliver strategic people plans. She joined HARIBO in 2017 as Head of HR for Haribo Uk and Ireland and, working together with key leaders, is responsible for the whole employee lifecycle incl. developing new talents and overseeing Haribo’s support of the engineering scholarships with Arkwright.