Andy joined EEF in January 2010 as Head of External Affairs for Yorkshire and the Humber and became Region Director later that year. Prior to this Andy was at leaving Business Link Yorkshire where he was Head of Operations. Prior to working at Business Link Yorkshire, Andy was Operations Director at Business Link Humberside. He worked here from April 2000 until the Regional Businesses Links were merged in April 2008.
Gary led the winning bid to bring the Grand Départ of the Tour de France to Yorkshire in 2014 and was instrumental in the entire process from start to finish. It has since been hailed as the grandest ever Grand Départ.
He helped galvanise the county’s public and private sectors to stand together to back the successful bid to bring the Tour – the world’s largest annual sporting event – to Yorkshire ahead of other bidders such as Florence, Barcelona, Utrecht, Berlin and Scotland.
Gary has been recognised for his contribution to the county he loves including being named Yorkshire’s Man of the Year in 2014, Yorkshire and Humber IoD Director of the Year 2014 and received Yorkshire and Humber IoD’s Lifetime Achievement award. He has also been presented honorary doctorates from the University of York and Sheffield Hallam University.
Since his appointment as Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire in October 2008 he has successfully raised the profile of Yorkshire at a regional, national and international level.
Welcome to Yorkshire is widely regarded as the leading tourism agency in the UK, is hailed by the Government as an example to be followed and has won international awards for its marketing campaigns.
A dynamic and motivational leader, Gary has an excellent track record in brand building and managing complex businesses. After 18 years with Royal Insurance, he built a reputation for turning around failing businesses. At Bradford and Bingley’s retail property services arm he quickly turned around four years of losses into profit. He also rebranded Prontaprint and Kall Kwik and is the former managing director of Johnsons Cleaners UK.
His love of sport extends into his work; he is President of the world’s oldest cricket festival at Scarborough and also on the Board of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
A passionate Yorkshireman, in his spare time Gary is also an award-winning Dales sheep farmer and lives on a working farm near Leyburn.
Scott is co-founder of Red’s True Barbecue, the fledgling brand currently taking the UK by storm with its blend of Authentic US Barbecue and craft beers. Founded in September 2012, the company now operates from Leeds, Manchester, Headingley and Newcastle and already plans for more openings later this year.
Employing over 200 people, and with an annualised turnover in excess of £13m and EBITDA at just over £1m Red’s True Barbecue has proven itself to be one of the most exciting UK concepts in operation today.
Prior to Red’s Scott’s had no experience in the leisure industry but being South African, huge cuts of meat have played a pivotal role if his life since birth. Obsessed with anything BBQ, Scott’s attention to detail when it comes to the smoking process is legendary, its often said Scott does all the hard work at Red’s and James just gets by being good looking. Scott’s expertise lays squarely with the meat, the smoking process and a good chunk of the history behind American BBQ, this all helped when he co-wrote the restaurants forthcoming recipe book “Let There Be Meat” available in July 2015.
Scott lives in Leeds, loves mountain biking, golf, squash and has a keen interest in custom motorcycles… though he doesn’t actually have a license yet.
James is co-founder of Red’s True Barbecue, the fledgling brand currently taking the UK by storm with its blend of Authentic US Barbecue and craft beers. Founded in September 2012, the company now operates from Leeds, Manchester, Headingley and Newcastle and already plans for more openings later this year.
Employing over 200 people, and with an annualised turnover in excess of £13m and EBITDA at just over £1m Red’s True Barbecue has proven itself to be one of the most exciting UK concepts in operation today.
Prior to Red’s James built a successful property company in Leeds which was subsequently sold to CountryWide in 2012. With no prior experience in the leisure sector he decided to take a punt based on an overwhelming and often obsessive passion for real Smokehouse BBQ. Scott normally takes the lead in all things food James created the companies most popular table sauce and co-wrote the Red’s True Barbecue recipe book “Let There Be Meat” both available in stores Summer 2015.
James Lives in North Yorkshire and enjoys skydiving, scuba diving, rock climbing, building and riding racing motorbikes, pretty much anything high adrenaline, a bit scary and very dangerous!
Frank Ashton is Turbo Aftermarket Strategic Marketing Leader at Cummins Inc, the world’s largest independent engine manufacturer. He is a senior manager at Huddersfield site which makes new and remanufactured turbos – Cummins Turbo Technologies is world market leader in commercial vehicle turbos.
Through four years at Cummins and 20 consulting for PwC and KPMG he has delivered change, strategy, supply chain and performance improvement projects.
He is a member of the Business, Innovation and Growth Panel for the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Panel and is a strong advocate for the role remanufacturing, local supply chain development and the Circular Economy can play in the region’s growth.
Previously from joining HS2, Nigel spent 25 years in the Oil and Gas industry, working for organisations such as Bechtel, and Kellogg Brown and Root and more recently 10 years at Lend Lease, where he was the Group Head of Procurement and Supply Chain for the European region.
His last position was as Project Manager on “Elephant Artworks” which is a pop up box park creating niche low cost rental retail spaces using recycled shipping containers.
Nigel won a global safety award from Lend Lease in 2009 for the “Best Collaboration project” for improving the safety management systems for their top 150 supply chain companies . Nigel was one of two founders of” BuildingConfidence” an industry wide supply chain accreditation scheme and in 2010 which is now utilised by 18 main contractors in the UK to prequalify their supply chain.
In 2011 he won the BiTC exemplar project for “Responsible Sourcing” in all industries in the UK and along with “Fair Trade” went through to the European Responsible Business Awards. Also in 2011, Nigel was one of the 7 founder members of the “Supply Chain Sustainability School”. An online training resource for the SME community within the construction industry.
In 2012 Nigel was named as an industry game changer for his work in progressing “Responsible Sourcing and Sustainable Procurement” in the UK construction industry. Prior to joining HS2 Nigel was a member of the Lafarge Tarmac Sustainability Panel, where he was the responsible procurement expert.
Nigel is also a part time lecturer at Sheffield university, where he lectures on Global Procurement in their MSC programme.
Michele is the Commercial and Business Partnerships Manager at the re:centre for the Circular Economy at the University of Bradford.
She has a background in partnership development and has worked extensively with companies such as: Coca Cola, Beecham Group, The Pacific Institute and Common Purpose.
Her role is to initiate and develop resilient partnerships with innovative organisations where there is a desire to build Circular Economy capacity and grasp the opportunities. Her passion is to facilitate business to work effectively with the University and enable organisations to transfer Circular Economy theory into practice.
Herwig Vennekens joined Dunhills Ltd (HARIBO) in 2007, taking the position of Managing Director for the UK’s leading gums and jellies brand, overseeing double digit growth year-on-year and the construction of a £92m factory, which is set to create hundreds of job opportunities and economic prosperity in the region.
As a result of the success of HARIBO UK, becoming the number one confectionery brand in the UK, Herwig has also been appointed to the international marketing board and is Managing Director, Marketing and Strategy, for the Scandinavian countries.
Mr Vennekens started his career at Procter and Gamble, progressing to Marketing Manager for Vicks in Europe and Commercial Head for distributor managed markets in France and Italy.
In 1999 he became Managing Partner in a privately owned management consultancy in Germany before joining McCormick Ltd in 2002. As Commercial Director Northern Europe and later Director of Business Development Europe, Mr Vennekens was responsible for sales and marketing programmes across the region.
June Durrant has spent most of her career in adult and further education, culminating in her recent appointment as deputy principal at Kirklees College. June has a passion for skills development and ensuring that the college truly is employer-ledwhen developing its curriculum. June also shares the college’s focus on ensuring all students leave college ‘job-ready’, and equipped with the wider employability skills that employers need.
Sophie Jewett is the owner of York Cocoa House, a chocolate emporium where guests are invited to discover the magic and mystery of chocolate and indulge in a feast for all of the senses in the heart of York, the Chocolate City. A career in hospitality, event management, marketing and PR underpinned by a love of food, chocolate and York created the idea of York Cocoa House which opened in 2011.
Sophie is passionate about creativity and community collaborations and is inspired by the philanthropic chocolate makers of the past and the desire in us all to play in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Sophie leads several courses with the University of York Adult Education based on the social, political & economic history of chocolate, is a lead member of the UK Guild of Fine Chocolate, sits on the Leeds City Region Business, Innovation and Growth Panel, CBI Enterprise Forum, Regional Council and is an Enterprise Ambassador working with local schools.
Paul has been with Cummins Turbo Technologies for 17 years, all of which has been spent in Purchasing. His key focus objectives are to develop local supply bases to meet the needs of High Variety Low Volume requirements
Fraser began his career in Wm Morrison back in 2008 having worked with Nissan for 7 years previously. He has a wide range of experience across many product lines and now heads up the Core Grocery Category. Quoted as being a “humble Yorkshire man”, Fraser is an award winner across the organisation for “Bringing the Best out of Our People 2014” and he is looking forward to bringing out the best of Yorkshire Suppliers at Manufactured Yorkshire.
He plays rugby for Wharfedale Rugby Club, likes mountain biking and has recently become the proud father of a baby girl.
Stuart has worked in the nuclear sector since for 25 years, both for site operators and in the supply chain. His early career was dominated by technical roles in waste management and decommissioning whilst in the last decade, he has held senior positions at a range of companies, focusing on business development in the nuclear and engineering sectors where he achieved successful company growth. In 2014 he was appointed Business Development Director for the Nuclear AMRC, the leading centre for manufacturing innovation and nuclear supply chain development within the UK.
John has been at the leading edge of economic development and business support nationally and internationally for 20 years, working collaboratively to connect the public and private sectors and drive progress and innovation.
John likes life at the commercial coal face, analysing governments' complex challenges and creating powerful integrated solutions and harnessing his management experience and motivational leadership style to guide companies through change to growth.
From his early career at the Department of Employment, John has been immersed in the world of government-funded business support. Regional roles followed, enabling him to build his experience through the coordination of employment and training services, the management of support services for small firms and the leadership of public bodies providing skills, enterprise and business support programmes.
Aagrah is UK and Europe’s largest Kashmiri restaurant chain.
Prime Minster David Cameron honoured Mohammed Aslam MBE with a Special Recognition accolade at The British Curry Awards 2013. The prestigious award acknowledges his significant contributions to services to industry. The 2000 strong audience gave a rapturous standing ovation to Mohammed Aslam in appreciation of his commitment and dedication.
Just over three decades ago Kashmiri Cuisine was virtually unheard of in the UK. Thanks to Mohammed Aslam from the Aagrah Group of restaurants it has become one of the most popular Asian food types in Yorkshire, rapidly picking up new and dedicated fans all over the UK. It is now seen as a distinct area of cuisine, not just another type of ‘Indian’ food and Aslam is credited by many for spreading that crucial awareness.
A hard, stoical work ethic, keen sense of humour, innovation, philanthropic attitude and an overwhelming determination to succeed has reaped rewards for Aslam and his Aagrah business has had a hugely positive impact on the communities in which it operates. From humble beginnings, this group of 15 restaurants, a multi million pound purpose built conference and banqueting centre, The Midpoint suite, is on the border of Leeds and Bradford, seating 450.
Aslam is also the vision behind Aagrah’s home dining experience. He produced the recipes for Aagrah’s Tarka Cooking Sauces. The sauces were launched 2011 in Tesco and Asda, these have proved to be hugely popular. The range has since expanded further with new sauces added as well as Chutnies, Pickles and Marinades.
The company employs 450 staff.
Seabroook Crisps - Marketing Director.
A graduate with BA (Hons) Marketing who started his career in tobacco working in Russia and Central Asia before moving to a UK based brand marketing role within the same industry. A classically trained FMCG marketer who then joined the pharmaceutical division of Reckitt Benckiser in 2006 before moving to Kellogg’s as a Marketing Manager in 2009. Joined Seabrook in September 2012.
Even as a Yorkshire school boy, chef Tim Bilton – of The Spiced Pear Hepworth – lived and breathed great British food. From his early days working as a kitchen porter in the school holidays, peeling and washing huge sacks of carrots and potatoes, he was aware of the importance of quality produce and ingredients.
After two years training under Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons he returned to his roots as head chef at Bibis Italian Restaurant in Leeds city centre and, in 2008, took on The Butchers Arms in Hepworth, transforming it from a failing business into a family-friendly dining pub with British food at its heart.
Passionate about simple, sustainable food, his policy was (and remains) to use ingredients from within a 75 miles radius – with neighbouring gardeners even dropping off their trugs of local vegetables and fruit on his doorstep – and a flurry of awards followed including a Deliciouslyorkshire for ‘The Best Use of Regional Produce on the Menu’, beating off stiff competition from 450 other entries, ‘Best Gastropub’ at the Great British Pub Awards and a listing in The Good Food Guide.
At every opportunity, he would shout about British (and Yorkshire) food, first by representing the North East in two seasons of the BBC’s Great British Menu, and then as ‘2011-12 Deliciouslyorkshire Champion’ – the official ambassador of Yorkshire food and drink. He also reinstated the local Hepworth Feast, bringing families and community members together through regional food and music at a truly local event.
In May 2013, Tim opened The Spiced Pear in Sheffield Road turning it into Yorkshire’s destination fine dining restaurant, vintage tearoom and cocktail bar, with a Yorkshire Tasting Menu, offering bespoke bites from the local area. Awards for his best of British food have included Deliciouslyorkshire ‘Best Afternoon Tea’, Yorkshire Life‘Newcomer of the Year’ and ‘Chef of the Year’, and ‘Readers Restaurant of the Year for the North East’ from theWaitrose Good Food Guide 2015.
Despite the accolades, however, the team’s focus remains on the produce, which continues to be sourced from a band of loyal, local British suppliers, made using pure, artisan or traditional methods, with minimal intervention and lashings of skill and craftsmanship. Suppliers include Shepherd’s Purse, Greedy Little Pig, Ampleforth Cider, Cannon Hall Farm, Round Green Farm, and the list goes on.
With a Raymond Blanc-inspired allotment plot, which supplies fully traceable herbs, salads and fruit, it’s hoped the restaurant will be fully sustainable by 2015 with ingredients grown even closer to home!
Rupert Parsons, Managing Director of Womersley Fruit and Herb Vinegars, took over his family business in 2009 and has since transformed the business by rationalising the product range, developing the brand and reviewing his routes to market. He has also recently secured Somerset Cuisine, the food branch of Crabtree & Evelyn, as his manufacturing partner. Rupert is now driving growth based on the rich history and heritage that stemmed from his father’s passion for gardening in his own fruit and herb garden at Womersley Hall near Pontefract.
Peter is Director of the University’s Centre for the Circular Economy, based in the new £6M re:centre, a cross-university research and business engagement centre focused on innovation, enterprise and strategy around resources, materials and energy within industrial economies.
He is also Director of the academic collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, leading the new online MBA in Innovation, Enterprise and Circular Economy, as well as the Executive Education course for the Global CE100.
His primary focus is to help businesses to develop new Circular Economy strategies to support organisational resilience, especially in areas around remanufacturing and developing new business models.
Starting off as market traders in Hull and Doncaster, Dan Cluderay and his wife Nichola progressed into food wholesale, supplying other market traders. From wholesale they moved into a number of retail outlets that supplied both the public and wholesale trade and finally Approved Food was born in 2009.
Dan may be known for appearing on "Dragon's Den" in February 2015 where he was ousted from the Den - only to come up trumps with £400k investment the day after the show was aired from a Yorkshire Company.
Approved Foods has recently been named as one of the Top 500 UK Internet Retailers.
Rick has spent his career in various buying roles with Asda, massing up a wealth of experience across many product lines. In his spare time, he enjoys crossfit, cycling and snowboarding.
Barry Sheerman is the Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament for Huddersfield, having first been elected in 1979.
He was formerly Chairman of the Education and Skills Select Committee from 2001 – 2007, and then the Children, Schools and Families Committee from 2007 - 2010.
Barry currently Co-Chairs the Skills Commission which is conducting an enquiry into the quality of vocational education in the UK. He is also leading on the Tristram Hunt review of ‘Schools to Work’, a commission looking at equipping young people to leave education with relevant work force qualifications.
Having started his professional life as a University Lecturer, he is currently a visiting Professor at the Institute of Education, London University, and is also a visiting Professor in Social Enterprise at Huddersfield University.
Barry is an energetic social and political entrepreneur having initiated over 30 different social enterprises over the past 20 years. Currently he is Chairman of independent think-tank Policy Connect and involved closely with the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, Urban Mines (an environmental charity), The John Clare Trust and The Dominic Rodgers Trust.
John is a lean manufacturing specialist with hands on improvement implementation experience, a sound technical background, and over 25 years’ experience of implementing quality systems and lean practices for multi-national first tier suppliers to the nuclear, aerospace, automotive and sectors.
John is highly accomplished in business and process analysis techniques which lead to improvements in all areas of a company. Previously John was employed as a Senior Consultant for WCS International, creating strategies for improvement and implementing the changes throughout many major blue chip companies.
He has been involved in over 130 projects in a wide range of sectors and has identified and achieved combined savings within SME clients of over £30 million.
John is sector lead for the Nuclear, Rail and Electronics/Photonics industries at the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) now part of the Business Growth Service.
Steve is a highly experienced Manufacturing Professional, with a background in manufacturing operations and continuous improvement with major Blue Chip companies. His strength is his drive and passion for improving business performance and a pragmatic approach, making a difference to a company.
From a background in the specialist pre-print industry he has worked in the Food, Chemical and Printing industries. Steve specialises in Business Improvement through various and appropriate Lean Techniques including Process Mapping, Management Information Systems, Operational Improvements, SMED, Route Cause Analysis, Six Sigma etc. He also has a vast experience in managing manufacturing business.
Tracie has worked in engineering and manufacturing recruitment for the last 15 years and holds over 20 year’s recruitment experience with knowledge and expertise across Automotive, Energy & Utilities, Oil & Gas, Nuclear, Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Machinery & Components, FMCG, Food, Renewable Energy, Packaging, Facilities Management, Public Sector, Petro-chemical, Aerospace Industries
Tracie is a dedicated Director/Business Partner with excellent attention to detail and listening skills and a determination to do the best for both her clients and candidates.
Having built and maintained lasting relationships with companies which include a wide portfolio of returning clients she has an ability to source and attract key personnel in hard to fill roles.
Starting her career as a consultant Tracie very quickly mapped a path into management working with SME and blue chip organisations in the Recruitment Industry renowned for building result driven teams and mentoring and developing consultants to deliver consistent results. Instrumental in new business start-ups within the Engineering Manufacturing Recruitment Arena.
In 2013 Tracie choose to go into partnership with 3 other likeminded, driven individuals to reposition Engineering Recruitment by launching E3 Recruitment. The business since then has grown from strength to strength working closely with Clients and candidates offering solutions that truly add value to all areas of business and career development.
Jay currently holds the position of Head of Machining Group at the Nuclear AMRC, responsible for advanced machining, metrology, portable manufacture and leading a team of highly motivated engineers. He is a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He studied at Bradford University and holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Manufacturing Engineering, he also studied Mechanical and Production Engineering at Wakefield College. Prior to his appointment at the Nuclear AMRC he started his career as an engineering apprentice and spent 14 years heavily involved in production engineering; servicing the aerospace, mining, medical and general engineering sectors.
Lesley Gulliver is Brand Strategy Director at The Engine Room - the Huddersfield-based award winning design and brand agency. With twenty years’ industry experience, she is a highly experienced brand strategist – always remaining focused on clients’ commercial objectives and staying grounded to project drivers. Lesley is also one of a small number of Design Associates for The Design Council – the national strategic body for design.
Bill brings his extensive experience from the military, industry and academia to support the ICW in developing effective business relationships and collaborations.
With a RAF career of 20 years Bill became the most senior uniformed expert in special technical areas and a trusted intelligence officer. He had several aircraft front line command tours responsible for aircraft availability, and was the MoD Integrated Project Team leader for the procurement and management of airborne equipment. He became a Visiting Professor at the prestigious and world class Cranfield University (Defence Academy) lecturing on defence technologies, and formed and then served as Managing Director of a leading and prestigious new defence business changing the culture from a manufacturing led to market leading and customer focused business exporting world wide – later reaching the position of Group Vice President holding Directorships in the UK, US and Aus. In parallel with the operational duties Bill held a Directorship in a leading, not for profit, Trade Association and was a Chairman of a SME company specialising in Simulation and Training.
Bill is established as a highly successful business management consultant, where he provides deep insight, expertise and advice to businesses that are forming alliances and joint ventures, and who are bidding into and operating in the Defence, Rail, Government and Nuclear Industry.
Specialist Emerging Market Entry company Sannam S4 offers its clients a comprehensive support eco-system in key markets such as India, Brazil and China and has helped hundreds of manufacturing organisations make significant inroads into some of the fastest growing economies in the world. Keith is, therefore, perfectly placed to advise on the challenges and opportunities to be found in these emerging markets and will walk you through some of the common pitfalls companies make when expanding internationally. He is an internationally recognised speaker on this topic and is happy to answer any questions and conduct one-to-one clinics throughout the exhibition.
James has worked within the manufacturing and engineering recruitment industry for over 10 years, specifically account managing and providing recruitment based solutions to a number of leading International, UK and regional engineering and manufacturing businesses. Being a solution based recruiter, James can demonstrate vast experience working upon contingency, retained and branded advertised search and selection campaigns, placing skilled engineering and technical professionals, from shop floor through to senior level executives.
Demonstrable experience within the following market sectors: Automotive, Energy & Utilities, Oil & Gas, Nuclear, Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Machinery & Components, FMCG, Food, Renewable Energy, Packaging, Facilities Management, Public Sector, Petro-chemical, Aerospace.
Key core skills within, Candidate Acquisition, Business Development, Recruitment and Employment Law (permanent & contract/temporary), Marketing and Strategic Business Management. Strategic Business Planning - Corporate Strategy, underpinned by leading and managing teams of recruitment professionals within Manufacturing, Engineering and Technical markets.
Will is a member of the team working in the re:centre for the Circular Economy at the University of Bradford. His roles include teaching and research into Higher Education practice, and supporting academic staff in the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning.
Over the past 4 years he has worked on the University partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation designing and delivering online courses on the Circular Economy for managers and other key people in some of the top global companies in the World. His background is in Biology and Environmental Science.
Corporate Partner - Blacks Solicitors LLP
Nigel began his career as an engineering apprentice at Kirklees College in 1977 (known at the time as Huddersfield Technical College). Now as Engineering Learning & Development Manager at Syngenta, Nigel is responsible for personnel having the skills, knowledge and competencies required to work on a top tier COMAH chemical manufacturing facility. He is also responsible for the recruitment, training and development of the engineering apprentices on site in order to ensure Syngenta has high calibre apprentices capable of meeting the future needs of the business.
Nikki Davis gained her degree in Hospitality and Business Management at Leeds Met University, and then worked in the hospitality industry (her first catering job was at age 14!). Nikki completed her PGCE at Leeds Trinity University and then a Masters in 14-19 Education at Leeds University. Previously at Calderdale College and Park Lane College (Leeds City College), Nikki joined Kirklees College over five years ago.