Meet the Business Awards 2023 Judges!
We cant wait for this years Business Award's at the Winter Gardens on Thursday 15th June! The event will celebrate the excellence of our apprentices, trainees, and learners that completed an industry placement - as well as recognising the work of our business network. We welcome nominations for anyone that you feel is deserving of recognition for the work they have completed in the last year. All entries will then be looked at by our judges and shortlisted on their merits.
The winners will be announced at the event on Thursday 15th June. Nominations are OPEN until 28th March, nominate here.
These are our judges for this year's Business Awards:
Sir Paul Phillips CBE
Principal and Chief Executive, Weston College Group
Sir Paul has worked at four further education colleges over 25 years and has a wealth of experience and a history of academic excellence in maths, economics, law and statistics. Sir Paul is highly regarded in education, having won a string of personal accolades, including: FE Leader of the Year, Principal of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and also being awarded a CBE for his work in the education and community sector.
Sir Paul’s background includes high profile roles in both business and education, and he regularly contributes to developments in further education both regionally and nationally. His involvement in the FE sector is significant and he represents the South West Colleges at the Association of Colleges’ London Board as well as leading on many regional issues regarding funding and support. He is one of the 7 National Leaders in FE for the United Kingdom.
Paul Lowndes
Programme Director, Gravity
Paul Lowndes is a Programme Director with more than 30 years of international experience delivering high-value property and infrastructure engineering programmes. Paul and his team take care of every aspect of project delivery from the initial brief, to analysing and advising on risk, helping appoint the project team, issuing procedures and managing development programmes. Paul is playing a key role in the development of Gravity, located near Bridgwater, a 616-acre smart campus. He was instrumental in the development of a large residential property portfolio and light industrial site in Brazil, the redevelopment of OneOcean Port Vell in Barcelona (a superyacht marina) and in the construction of Bulgaria Mall, one of the largest mixed-use schemes currently being developed in Bulgaria. Before joining Salamanca Group, Paul was a Director at First Engineering Holdings Ltd where he oversaw a number of very large rail infrastructure projects. Prior to this he was General Manager at Gammon Construction Ltd responsible for the Philippines and prior to this was a Director at WTP overseeing major Real Estate developments in various locations throughout Southeast Asia and Australia. Paul is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor [BSc, ARICS, AAIQS, AHKIS].
Emma Rawlings
CEO, Somerset Chamber of Commerce
Emma joined Somerset Chamber of Commerce & Industry as CEO, at the beginning of December 2021. Before this she was CEO for a charity based in Swindon, offering services to victims of domestic abuse. She was also the Director of a spiritual retreat just outside Bath, with conference rooms, accommodation of 42 bedrooms, full catering facilities and a comprehensive programme of courses for all.
Emma was also in the Further Education Sector as Head of Student Services for Strode College, where they gained Outstanding from Ofsted. At Weston College she was also Head of Student Services, across all three campuses. Her other skills are in retail, as Store Manager for Safeway, where I was also seconded to managing the opening new stores across the region.
Ruth Lambert
Development Manager, Federation of Small Businesses in Somerset and Wiltshire.
Ruth Lambert is the Development Manager for the Federation of Small Businesses in Somerset and Wiltshire. She looks after members across that area and aims to represent the views of the small business community to local decision makers. The Federation of Small Businesses is a membership organisation with a mission is to help smaller businesses achieve their ambitions. It offers members a wide range of vital business services including advice, financial expertise, support and a powerful voice heard in government. Find out more at www.fsb.org.uk .
