Julie Pomeroy Shortlisted in the “Inspirational FD” Category

UK’s TOP FINANCE DIRECTORS UNVEILED IN FDs’ EXCELLENCE AWARDS SHORTLIST

Top performing FDs and up-and-coming talent shortlisted

The UK’s best-performing finance directors and the most promising young financial talent have been shortlisted for the 2014 FDs’ Excellence Awards, held in association with ICAEW.

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, the FDs’ Excellence Awards were created by Real Business and are supported by the CBI.

The programme covers two overall categories: the FD Awards, designed to recognise outstanding FDs from quoted and privately owned companies in the UK; and the Excellence Awards, recognising the service providers – accounting firms, banks, software firms and consultancies – that Britain’s FDs have rated most highly in the UK’s biggest survey of FDs. 

The nominees for FD of the Future, Private Company FD of the Year, Young FD of the Year and Inspirational FD of the Year, all of which recognise the key players in the UK’s financial departments, have also been announced today along with The Excellence Awards shortlist, based on the FDs’ Satisfaction Survey.

FDs from a range of leading organisations such as Standard Life, ghd and Hays are represented in the shortlist, which spans a wide variety of industries including housing, energy, healthcare and government.

Those in the running for FD of the Future Award are:
• Umar Khan, commercial finance manager, ghd
• Steven Swaby, financial controller, Industrial Chemicals Group Limited
• Tracy Waind, financial controller, Hemingways Marketing Services

The shortlist for Young FD of the Year is:
• Michael Teixeira, CFO, MVF
• Nicola Granger, financial secretary, Falkland Islands Government
• Andrew Green, FD, Survivex
• Andrew Langford, UK FD, Global Payments
• Chris Stamper, UK&I FD, Hays

The Private Company FD of the Year award will be contested by:
• Yvonne Sherry, group FD, Ceuta Healthcare
• David Lamb, CFO, Bowman Power Group
• Richard Gibson, CFO, SwiftKey
• Ivan Gunatilleke, FD, The Car Finance Company
• Andrew Northmore, South West FD, Forest Fuels
• Mark O’Hara, FD, Cheesmur Building Contractors

The shortlist for the Inspirational FD of the Year is:
• Peter Hoole, financial managing director and co-founder, Cact.us
• Julie Pomeroy, FD, Dillistone Group plc
• Tim Kowalski, group finance director, Findel plc
• Robert Kerse, executive director of finance, Circle Housing
• Mark Hesketh, finance director UK & Europe, Standard Life plc

The Excellence Awards shortlist features a number of prominent UK organisations, including Deloitte and Grant Thornton, which are in the running for the Accountancy firm of the year, and Scottish Widows and Standard Life which are nominated in the Pensions Adviser of the Year category.

These awards are determined by votes cast by FDs and senior financial decision-makers in our annual FDs’ Satisfaction Survey, which was completed by 1,300 finance directors and financial decision-makers in 2013.

Michael Izza, chief executive, ICAEW, said: “The nominated individuals have all been responsible for standout results either throughout a long and illustrious career in finance, or within a relatively short amount of time.

“The diversity of industries covered within this year’s shortlist really highlights the breadth of the economic recovery we’re starting to see across the country.

“Regardless of whether they take home an award on the night, everyone on the shortlist should be congratulated for setting the standard and inspiring the next generation of finance directors.”

Amy Carroll, group editor, Real Business and Real Deals said: “This is a significant year for the FDs’ Excellence Awards as we celebrate a decade of working to showcase the important work FDs do for our economy. It’s vital we continue to recognise the FDs’ achievements, and the effect these have on our country’s enterprises.”

John Cridland, director-general, CBI said: “The CBI is proud to support the FD’s Excellence Awards, working to recognise those who are making a major contribution to their organisations as economic growth across the country gathers momentum.”

The winners will be announced on 1 May 2014 at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, along with the winners of the FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and Smaller Quoted categories.

The business banks, auditors, financial software suppliers, recruitment firms and non-audit advisers that are best supporting UK firms will also be unveiled, following the results of this year’s FDs’ Satisfaction Survey, which was completed by 1,400 financial decision makers.

The awards are also supported by Drax, Ernst & Young, the Institute of Credit Management, the London Evening Standard, Lloyds Bank, Kyocera and MWB Business Exchange.

For media enquiries contact:

Victoria Holden
Citypress
0161 235 0316 / victoria.holden@citypress.co.uk   

Notes to editors:

The shortlist for this year’s FD Awards is:

FD of the Future

• Umar Khan, commercial finance manager, ghd
• Steven Swaby, financial controller, Industrial Chemicals Group Limited
• Tracy Waind, financial controller, Hemingways Marketing Services

Young FD of the Year

• Michael Teixeira, CFO, MVF
• Nicola Granger, financial secretary, Falkland Islands Government
• Andrew Green, FD, Survivex
• Andrew Langford, UK FD, Global Payments
• Chris Stamper, UK&I FD, Hays

Private Company FD of the Year

• Yvonne Sherry, group FD, Ceuta Healthcare
• David Lamb, CFO, Bowman Power Group
• Richard Gibson, CFO, SwiftKey
• Ivan Gunatilleke, FD, The Car Finance Company
• Andrew Northmore, South West FD, Forest Fuels
• Mark O’Hara, FD, Cheesmur Building Contractors

Inspirational FD of the Year

• Peter Hoole, financial managing director and co-founder, Cact.us
• Julie Pomeroy, FD, Dillistone Group plc
• Tim Kowalski, group finance director, Findel plc
• Robert Kerse, executive director of finance, Circle Housing
• Mark Hesketh, finance director UK & Europe, Standard Life plc

The shortlist for this year’s FTSE awards is:

FTSE 100 FD of the Year

• John Martin, CFO of Wolseley
• Bill Tame, group FD of Babcock International Group
• Tim Score, CFO of Arm Holdings
• Chris Kennedy, CFO of easyJet
• Tony Chanmugam, FD at BT Group;
• Neil Cooper, FD, of William Hill

FTSE 250 FD of the Year

• David Landless, group FD of Bodycote
• Jonathan Silver, FD of Laird
• Joe Lister, CFO of The Unite Group
• Paul Venables, group FD of Hays
• John Gibney, CFO of Britvic
• Chris Houghton, FD of Telecom Plus

Small Quoted FD of the Year

• John Samuel, group FD of Renew Holdings
• Bruce Morrison, CFO of Bond International Software
• John Swaite, FD of Adept Telecom
• Antony Walters, FD of Ashley House
• Dimitrios Gryparis, CFO of Globo
• Jane Hall, group FD of The Innovation Group

The shortlist for this year’s Excellence Awards is:

 Accountancy firm of the year (SME clients)
• Baker Tilly
• BDO
• Deloitte
• Grant Thornton
• Haines Watts
• KPMG

Accountancy firm of the year (larger clients)
• BDO
• Deloitte
• EY
• Grant Thornton
• KPMG
• PwC

Bank of the Year
• Bank of Scotland
• Barclays
• HSBC
• Lloyds Banking Group
• Santander
• The Royal Bank of Scotland Group

Financial software vendor (SME users)
• Access UK
• IRIS
• Microsoft Dynamics
• Pegasus
• Sage
• SAP

Financial software vendor (larger company users)
• Infor
• Microsoft Dynamics
• Oracle
• Sage
• SAP
• Unit 4

Finance recruiter of the year
• Alexander Charles
• Hays
• Michael Page
• Pure Resourcing
• Reed
• Robert Half

Pensions adviser of the year
• Aegon
• Capita
• JLT
• Mercer
• Scottish Widows
• Standard Life